On November 28 the chairman of the Internet Society of China said China was in the process of exploring and testing a system of “limited real-name registration” for the Internet capable of “balancing personal privacy, the public good and the national interests”. The announcement was an attempt to calm controversy over a proposed system many Web users feer could destroy the vitality of the Chinese Internet and trample the limited but growing speech freedoms online platforms provide in China, where the very idea of personal expression in a public forum is in its infancy.
This weekend, an editorial in China Youth Daily, a newspaper published by the Chinese Communist Youth League, said the debate over the proposed real-name Web registration system in China, while “animated”, had shown an unprecedented degree of civility, with emotions less prominent and more “reasoned criticisms approaching [the question] from a technological standpoint”. There is no clear indication yet as to whether the debate happening in traditional media and online will forestall or otherwise impact the registration system, but the frankness of the debate could itself be read as encouraging.
The China Youth Daily editorial is translated in full below:
“Real-name Web Registration System Should Go Forward Only With Extreme Caution”
China Youth Daily
December 3, 2006
Recently the Internet Society of China has proposed trying out a limited real-name registration system for the Web, so that when a user registers their account with a blog or bulletin board (BBS) site, they must provide their identity card, other necessary documents, their real surname, etc. But when they are onstage (在前台) they may use whatever name pleases them. This proposal has brought animated discussion from a number of quarters.
The real-name Internet registration system first became a hot topic in 2003 after a conversation involving Tsinghua University professor Li Xiguang was leaked, in which he advised the People’s Congress to prohibit anonymity online and roll out an Internet real-name registration system. At the time this proposition was strongly opposed by the vast majority of Web users. In recent years, as space on the Web and the population of Internet users has grown by leaps and bounds, the role of the Web in [China’s] daily work culture has become more obvious by the day. A number of things have also smeared the Web and had an increasingly negative impact — for example, insults and attacks appearing on a number of Web forums and blogs, pornographic materials hidden on personal Websites, etc. Given this situation and in the name of better regulating behavior on the Internet, the [idea of] a real-name registration for the Internet has floated to the surface again. Like before, [differing views on this issue] are at a deadlock. But what is different now is that the debate is so hot it burns one’s brain. Still, emotions are less a factor, and more people are offering reasoned criticisms approaching [the question] from a technological standpoint.
Lately, the Internet has entered a period of rapid growth. If the rules for the Internet are changed suddenly, this might actually worsen the situation. It can be said that the original beauty of the Internet lies in its anonymity. “Online, no one knows that you’re a dog”, “small dogs can bark as loudly as big ones” — these basic principles of the Web are the source of its vitality. They safeguard its vital force. But [the idea of] “anonymity onstage, true identity offstage”, while it may seem to allow Web users to avoid facing most people [online] using their own identities, [while it may seem] to preserve their freedom to write, actually means that at no time and in no place will they be free of scrutiny from a set of strange eyes. This [real-name registration] means essentially that the virtual world is dragged into the real world, and Web users forfeit the possibility of flying freely. What’s more, the creative potential of the Internet and the thirst to express oneself are both thrown into question.
If a real-name registration system for the Web is now implemented, and Web users must register in blogs and online forums, offering up their actual identity card numbers, surnames, addresses and other information, how is their safety to be ensured? Currently, there are more than 100,000 Websites available to the [Chinese] people. How will the government carry out its oversight of this vast group? And what government office is going to take responsibility in the event the personal information of Web users is compromised? We already have real examples of this in cases where Websites have sold the personal information of users for profit, doing damage to users’ legal rights. Because of the loss of personal information, people are now routinely pestered by commercial businesses [spam], their personal accounts plundered, the information on their computers pilfered, their personal privacy thrown to the winds – the problems are numerous. Considering the current state of the Internet and the management capacity of relevant [government] authorities, it would be difficult to avoid the abovementioned conditions [should a real-name system be put in place]. The plug all of the loopholes, moreover, would require significant resources and a great deal of time.
Aside from these [considerations], what is to ensure that once the Internet real-name registration system is put in place and the official notice sent out people will register their identities according to regulations? If [the system] doesn’t mean people have to go out and register in person, then what’s to prevent Zhang Three from using Li Four’s name to register? In today’s world, where honesty is not in plentiful supply, I’m afraid a real-name Internet registration system will descend into [worthless] formalities. And if registering for Web use requires us to register in the same way as we would to open bank accounts, well then how much more does that ratchet up the superfluous costs [of such a system]?
Summing up various opinions [on the topic] we can come to a conclusion about the long-term development of the Internet: before we are able to adequately eliminate the negative affects the real-name registration is likely to bring, the real-name Internet registration system can only go forward with great caution. Well then, can we think in some other way about how to address the original intention of better regulating Internet culture? Researching the current state of the Internet, we find that the vast majority of those expressing themselves through blogs or online forums are basically conducting themselves in a civil and ethical manner. They go online in order to get information, interact with their friends, come into contact with ideas, and to varying degrees they are able to find what they’re looking for. Only a very few people issue verbal attacks, or physical threats. But even this has to be looked at from two aspects. [First of all] if language of this kind is limited, then in the short term it does not pose serious spiritual [psychological] harm or have widespread impact – well then, let’s leave that issue to the Website operators and Web authorities (网管). [Secondly] if their language has already transgressed the limits of the law, endangering personal rights or social stability, then using technology already at hand, law enforcement authorities have sufficient means at their disposal to weed out these harmful elements and deal with them according to the law. That is to say, promoting [the idea of] taking responsibility for one’s language and ensuring order on the Web can be thoroughly accomplished through other technological means. It’s not necessarily the case that we must use the double-edge sword of a real-name Web registration system.
[Posted by David Bandurski, December 6, 2006, 1:07pm]

Signaling the birth of a new media policy buzzword, Politburo member Li Changchun, Hu Jintao’s top propaganda official, told a gathering of propaganda ministers over the weekend that China had to “strongly promote the building of harmonious culture” in order to create the proper ideological environment for the building of a Socialist Harmonious Society (社会主义和谐社会).
In 2002 it was Li Changchun who ushered in another of Hu’s media policy buzzwords, the “Three Closenesses”, which outlined a vision for savier, more approachable media products in China and a toning down of official rhetoric.
Introducing the term “harmonious culture”, which invokes Hu Jintao’s broader social policy of creating a “harmonious society”, is likely an attempt by top leadership to integrate and streamline its ideological positions on a range of domestic and foreign policies (“harmonious world”). The term encompasses another of Hu Jintao’s recent creations in the cultural sphere, the theory of “socialist honor and disgrace” (or “eight honors and eight disgraces”), a campaign of moral rectification setting out to raise the overall behavior of people at all levels of Chinese society. Some have said the “honor and disgrace” theory was created to mollify Leftist elements within the Party who have spoken out against the excesses brought on by China’s commercialization drive.
The rise of the “building harmonious culture” terminology can be seen clearly in the rapid increase in use of the term since the recent National CPC Congress:

[SOURCE: WiseNews Database, including 120 mainland Chinese newspapers]
The term, which does not appear until September 1, 2005, in an article in Henan Daily, Henan province’s official party mouthpiece, appears in just 8 articles in Q2 2006, but rises to 57 articles in Q3. In the current (incomplete) quarter, from October 1 to December 5, there are 1,032 articles in mainland newspapers using the term “building harmonious culture”.
The idea of a “harmonious culture” might be seen as the latest attempt to combine the media commercialization strain of the earlier “Three Closenesses” policy with the social harmony theme of the “harmonious society” and “honor and disgrace”.
Li Changchun made it clear in his speech that media control would remain the centerpiece of party media policy. He emphasized that propaganda leaders must “work hard to raise [the party’s] ability to guide public opinion, creating a postitive and healthy opinion environment”.
[Posted by David Bandurski, December 5, 2006, 1:20pm]

November 28 — A court ruling in what has been called “China’s first court case against a Chinese Weblog” held that popular Chinese blog portal blogcn.com must post an apology to Professor Chen Tangfa (陈堂发) on its homepage for 10 days, and compensate the academic to the tune of 1,000 yuan (US$120). Professor Chen sued the blog portal after colleagues alerted him to personal attacks against him that had been posted on the site in September 2005. Chen initially asked the operator of blogcn.com, Hangzhou Blog Information Technology Co. Ltd (HBIT), to delete the posting, but the company reportedly refused. A December 3 article in Guangming Daily, a newspaper run by China’s central propaganda authorities, hailed the court’s decision as a victory in the upholding of citizens’ rights (维权). [Chinese coverage here].
November 28 — According to a report by the Chinese Communist Youth League (CCYL), the number of internet users in China had reached 123 million by mid-year 2006. Of these users, roughly 15 percent were under 18. A CCYL spokesperson said it was a positive sign for creative talent for Chinese youth to be taking enthusiastically to the Internet, but stressed that the problem of Internet addiction among youth in China was also a serious social issue. According to a related Chinese study, about 17 percent of Internet users between the age of 13 and 17 show signs of Internet addiction. The vice-minister of China’s publishing industry overseer, the General Administration of Press and Publications, announced last July that “anti-gaming addiction systems” had been successfully tested on such popular online games as “Legends” and said the system would be rolled out nationally. Development of the “anti-gaming addiction system” was completed in September 2005. The principal idea behind the system is that an individual player’s ability to play is automatically inhibited once a certain length of play has been reached.
November 29 — The chairman of the Internet Society of China said China is exploring and progressively trying out a system of “limited real-name registration” for the Internet capable of “balancing personal privacy, the public good and the national interests”, Chinanews.com reported. But it was not clear from Chinese media reports how this newly announced approach to the proposed real-name registration system differs, if at all, from previous proposals.
December 1 — In a sign of increasing openness on the issue of Aids in China, Chinese media offered a variety of coverage to commemorate World Aids Day. China’s own battle with Aids began to attract international attention in late 2000, more than a year after a young Chinese reporter named Zhang Jicheng wrote the first expose on the Aids epidemic in Henan province, the result of illegal blood selling practices in the countryside. Chinese World Aids Day coverage this year underscored sharp differences in treatment between party and commercial newspapers.
December 1 — A journalist was sentened to seven years in prison by a court in Hangzhou for attempting to extort money from companies with the threat of negative news reports. Meng Huaihu (孟怀虎), the former Zhejiang bureau chief for China Commercial Times, a business paper published by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC), was convicted for extorting 630,000 yuan from various companies and attempting to extort as much as 3.7 million yuan. [Renmin University Professor Chen Lidan Responds to Problem of News Extortion (Chinese)].
December 1 — Chinese actress Xu Qing dropped a libel suit against Guangdong’s Southern Daily Group, the publisher of Nandu Weekly magazine, and accepted an out-of-court offer by the media group pledging public apologies for an article for which it admitted it “had insufficient support”. Xu Qing filed the lawsuit against Southern Daily Group in Beijing’s Chaoyang District Court in October after Nandu, a magazine spinoff of Southern Daily Group’s Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper, ran an article on August 30 about Xu Qing’s relationships with a number of famous personalities. Nanfang Daily Group has issed an apology to readers and to Xu Qing and her father, and Nandu Weekly’s entertainment section has posted an apology on its Website. [Chinese coverage here].

Gone are the days when China could pass World Aids Day with nary a mention of its own struggle against the disease. Seven years after a young Chinese reporter named Zhang Jicheng wrote the first expose on the Aids epidemic in Henan province, the result of illegal blood selling practices in the countryside, China is facing up to its Aids problem in new ways. But there still sharp differences in how the story of World Aids Day is treated in the Chinese media. And once again, the contrasts are most obvious when one sets party and commercial newspapers side by side. [BELOW: World Aids Day image on Page 4 of Southern Metropolis Daily]. [pdf_nanfang-daily-coverage.pdf: On the front page of Nanfang Daily, an Aids photo is hemmed in by official news].

Coverage of World Aids Day was missing today from the front page of People’s Daily, the official mouthpiece of the central party leadership. Both of the top stories are central party meetings, the first on a forum of top leaders and outside economic experts (attended by Hu Jintao), and the other on population control policy. [BELOW: Today’s front page at People’s Daily].

Coverage did appear on page five, however. The first half of the article follows:
People’s Daily
December 1, 2006, A5
December 1 is “World Aids Day”, with the theme of “Stop Aids. Keep the Promise”, and various places are holding many kinds of publicity events, including some news stories that have received attention and discussion. For example, relevant authorities in Harbin have held a special education program on Aids prevention and promoting the use of condoms for more than 50 women working in entertainment spots [sex workers], and have left a phone number [these women] can contact at any time.
Some people do not understand the work of getting involved with this group of entertainment workers at high-risk for Aids, and believe such methods … amount to [an unacceptable level of] tolerance or even acceptance of the existence of prostitution that might promote bad social practices. Prostitution is not permitted by the laws of our country. Actually, our normal activities in cracking down on prostitution and drug sales and drug use have never ceased. But due to complex social causes, these detestable occurrences can not be eradicated in the short term. A release from the Ministry of Health shows that during the first 10 months of 2006, drug use and sexual conduct were the primary means of [HIV] infection. The number of people infected through sexual conduct is on the rise. Prostitution has already become the primary means of transmission of Aids.
We must admit these facts, and must not, like ostriches, bury our heads in the sand to avoid danger. As we continue to press on to deal with these nagging social problems, we must work along both lines, using the necessary means of prevention to lessen the chance of Aids spreading to those people of dissolute social habits, and doing our utmost to mitigate the dangers to our society. Cutting off the means of Aids transmission can also reduce the enormous costs of treatment, and so this realistic and practical approach should be seen as social progress …

At The Beijing Times, the commercial spinoff of People’s Daily, World Aids Day gets a great big headline on the front page: “Number of People Infected with Aids Up 34% in Capital”. [BELOW: Today’s front page at The Beijing Times].

The Beijing Times gives readers more than three times as much World Aids Day coverage as People’s Daily by word count (8,000). Stories include:
1. A report on the current situation of Aids in Beijing that uses a city health bureau report saying Aids cases were up 34 percent during the first 10 months of 2006.
2. A report about Aids activists and students with Aids in China protesting cases of misuse of World Aids Day’s trademark red ribbon for commercial purposes.
3. A story about a “No condom, no sex” drive in the city of Lanzhou and efforts nationwide to promote condom use among sex workers.
4. A special interview with a World Health Organization official taking part in Aids prevention and condom distribution programs in the city of Lanzhou.
5. Coverage of a recent The Public Library of Science Medicine report which said Aids may become the world’s number three cause of death.
Moving south to Guangdong’s Nanfang Daily, the mouthpiece of top provincial leaders, coverage of World Aids Day does in fact appear on the front page. There are no reports on the front page, but the photo at center is of a baby born in Guangzhou to a mother with Aids (See PDF above).

The photograph refers readers to a larger story on page 3 about the Aids mother and her decision to have a child despite the risks. On the front page, the lead stories deal with economic development. The top story is about a 45 percent increase in patents registered in Guangdong province for the first 10 months of the year. The story to the immediate left of the Aids photograph is a news brief about an “economic work” conference held by top Chinese leaders. The story below that is about US-China trade talks in Beijing. Immediately to the right of the Aids photo is a story about 14.1 percent GDP growth in Guangdong for the first 10 months of 2006. The story below: “9 Provinces Sign Cooperation Agreement to Accelerate Tourism Promotion”.
Page 2 of Nanfang Daily includes an editorial on World Aids Day, “Looking at Aids Prevention with New Concepts”, partially translated here:

Nanfang Daily
December 1, 2006, A2
Today is the 19th “World Aids Day”. This year the theme is: “Stop Aids. Keep the Promise”. While the theme has not changed, a number of new things have appeared – for example, we have moved away from our ignorance of Aids prevention, and people have began to look more openly at Aids and this special group. Of course, the struggle between ignorance and general knowledge goes on as ever in our country, and the outcome of this [struggle] will impact the social management concepts used [in China to combat Aids].
Measured by traditional concepts, the examples below are perhaps rebellions against orthodoxy: On October 11, 50 female sex workers in the city of Harbin received education on Aids prevention and the use of condoms openly and publicly for the first time, making clear their identities and profession; Guangzhou has officially opened a “Work Team for Aids At-risk Groups”, which not only has held more than 30 free Aids education events, giving out more than 30,000 free condoms, but has also offered training to those managing people working in the sex industry (性从业人员的管理者).
[History of illegal blood selling in China and “Aids villages”]
Aids poses a risk to all humankind, and governments bear responsibility for prevention, opening up attitudes, gathering resources and changing management mindsets. First it requires the media disseminating information to the people about Aids and accepting people with Aids. Next it requires creating a comprehensive and efficient national network for monitoring and preventing the illegal selling of blood products. Thirdly, it requires strengthening the system of public monitoring, taking action strictly against blood stations, putting an end to illegal blood selling. Fourth, we must face head on those groups most at risk, using effective means of lowering their risk of contracting Aids. On this “World Aids Day” we need not just to ensure the health of our own bodies, but also need to cure those diseases of thought, using an attitude of light (阳光的态度) to face the risks of the spread of epidemic disease, treating those with Aids and their families with kindness, and in this way building a new social management system appropriate to the situation we face to create warmth for those with Aids and open a new chapter in social health.
Another story on page 3, below the story about the Aids mother, refers to a study of 423 gay men in Guangzhou that found 7 infected with HIV, an infection rate of 1.65 percent. The report said Guangdong province would launch a program of education and free condom distribution among high-risk groups in 2007, including drug users, sex workers, migrant laborers and college students. The report said Guangdong had reported an 8 percent rise in Aids cases during the first 10 months of this year.
At Southern Metropolis Daily, a commercial spinoff of Nanfang Daily much further along the commercial spectrum than The Beijing Times, World Aids Day gets major play, including a prominent image on the front page. Of the first nine pages of the newspaper, five pages focus on Aids and four are advertisements. The newspaper includes a full 25 articles dealing with Aids in nearly all sections of the paper, with a total of nearly 25,000 words of coverage (more than three times that of The Beijing Times).

Southern Metropolis Daily coverage includes editorials, scientific reports on Aids, reports focusing on Aids prevalence among migrants, a feature about a Website for gay men in Guangdong, entertainment coverage about an MTV special on Aids. The newspaper’s editorial on World Aids Day is partially translated below:
Southern Metropolis Daily
December 1, 2006, A2
Today marks the 19th World Aids Day. The theme of 2006 is “responsibility”, and the slogan is: “Stop Aids. Keep the Promise”. From utter ignorance to consciousness marked with looking but not seeing, from discrimination and prejudice to contact and assistance, from cold uncaring to enthusiasm about prevention – as Aids and information about Aids has spread, humanity has at last learned to face Aids head on, taking a proactive approach.
The theme and slogan [of World Aids Day] is full of the spirit of civility, but actually in many ways is merely an ideal. The road to facing Aids head on, to universal knowledge of its prevention, to making prevention and treatment work routine, is still very long. In China the government and the people have only just begun to accept the fact that Aids exists and is spreading. The taking of responsibility, the keeping of promises, everything has just begun.
Our country’s Ministry of Health recently sent out a release saying that up to October 31 this year China has 183,733 cases of Aids. Just five years ago the government was still keeping silent about the Aids situation; three years ago, the Ministry of Health was still not publicizing accurate figures for the number of Aids cases in China; two years ago, media reports on Aids were still frequently being stymied by local governments. Not only have national officials gone themselves to visit Aids villages and care for those infected with Aids, but the “Ordinance of Aids Prevention” was passed earlier this years and took effect in March. As a public health issue Aids has already entered the government agenda with much more fairness …
… Even though China has only recently taken the road to facing Aids head on, even though it is still a long way from the beautiful wish of taking responsibility and keeping the promise, when all is said and done everything [needed to get there] has already begun. Just like that child just born yesterday to a mother with Aids, even though his life is already faced with extraordinary difficulties, we can hope that by the time he has grown up Aids and all of its problems will no longer cast a shadow over his life. In their fight against Aids, China and the world can back out of the lows and begin to move toward the light.

[Posted by David Bandurski, December 1, 2006, 6:20pm]

The chairman of the Internet Society of China said yesterday that China is exploring and progressively trying out a system of “limited real-name registration” for the Internet capable of “balancing personal privacy, the public good and the national interests”, Chinanews.com reported. But it was not clear from Chinese media reports how this newly announced approach to the proposed real-name registration system differs, if at all, from previous proposals.
During yesterday’s “2006 Convention on Promoting Information Technology in China” (二00六中国信息化推进大会), held in Beijing, Hu Qiheng (胡启恒) said: “In the past the recognition of personal privacy has tended toward absolutism. But now not only China but the whole world recognizes that there needs to be a balance between personal privacy and national interests, and we should not make personal privacy absolute”. Hu Qiheng did not specify the particular shifts in global views on privacy to which he was referring.
Addressing the recent wave of public opinion against the proposed blog registration system, Hu Qiheng said China’s “limited” registration system would involve only “backstage” registration (后台实名) – that is to say, users would be required to provide their ID cards and the “necessary documents including their real name” when registering accounts on blog or bulletin board sites (BBS). But when they were “onstage” (前台) users would be free to use whatever aliases they wished. This is unlikely to appease opponents of the real-name registration, many of whom have pointed out that the vitality of China’s Internet and protection of privacy require that users feel their participation is free from government intrusion.
Other Sources:
The Real-Name Blogger Registration System (ESWN)
[Posted by David Bandurski, November 29, 2006, 11:20am]

November 20 [not included in previous almanac] — China’s primary broadcast overseer, the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT), announced it would tighten controls on so-called “legal programming” (法制节目) in China, a category that deals generally with programs showing law-enforcement activities such as police raids. Programs of this kind (resembling the “COPS” series in the United States) have grown rapidly in popularity in recent years. SARFT said regional “legal programming” had problems in 11 categories of behavior, including “leaking of secrets, violence and content of a sexual nature”. [Chinese coverage here].
November 21 — The resignation of top CCTV sports commentator Huang Jianxiang drew attention to the political workings of the state-run network. Rumors circulated in the media and on the Web said Huang had been forced to resign by an internal letter of criticism from a colleague at CCTV.
November 21 – China’s official People’s Daily reported the launch of the Communist Party’s annual “Three Points” program for indoctrination of young reporters and journalism students in the spirit of party journalism. The annual “Three Points” forums, which tour major cities in China, are designed to familiarize journalists with such concepts as the Marxist View of Journalism, “correct” public opinion guidance and other major party media policies. [Chinese coverage here].
November 23 — A prominent Chinese columnist for Southern Weekend, Dang Guoying (党国英), took the opportunity afforded by Chinese President Hu Jintao’s recent public praise of Vietnamese reforms at the APEC meetings in Hanoi to issue an understated challenge to the president to speed up political reforms in China. The editorial suggested that any leader of a large nation (such as China) who led the drive for political reform would ensure his place in history. Such use of a public statement from a political leader to safely write what might otherwise be regarded as too bold is called in Chinese jieti fahui (借题发挥), or, translated roughly, “using a current topic of conversation to put out one’s own ideas”. [Chinese article here].
November 24 — As two scandals in China’s entertainment industry topped the news in China, Southern Metropolis Daily turned in its editorial page from the more superficial aspects of the stories to ask what kind of action, if anything, would be taken to address serious issue lurking behind the news.
November 25 — Hong Kong’s Ta Kung Pao reported a record number of former propaganda officials taking up provincial party secretary appointments in China. The article, re-run in scores of Chinese newspapers, implied this new group of “news officials” pointed to a shift in central party appointments and said the officials were working to improve public relations for the regions they represented. CMP sources called the logic of the Ta Kung Pao report misplaced, and said it is not unusual to find officials with media or propaganda department backgrounds — notably, Bo Xilai (薄熙来), China’s current minister of commerce. [Chinese report here].

Over the last week in China two entertainment scandals have topped headlines and chatrooms. Today, in one of the first editorials approaching the scandals from a larger social perspective and pointing out blindness to more fundamental issues raised by the cases, such as sexual abuse and harassment, Southern Metropolis Daily criticized China’s speech controls implicitly and media and Web users directly for turning speech into a “mechanism for sealing oneself off and obviating the need for any sort of action whatsoever”.
The first case involves actress Zhang Yu’s (张钰) online posting of a short video showing a young woman purportedly hired by Zhang having sex with a film director for what Zhang says was exchange for a more prominent role in a production, and her revelation to media of more than 20 tapes of herself having sex with well-known actors and directors. The second case surrounds actress Rao Ying’s (饶颖) online postings of diaries detailing her alleged sexual abuse by CCTV director Zhao Zhongxiang (赵忠祥). Both stories have brought widespread media coverage and a firestorm of postings from Web users. [ESWN on Zhang Yu Affair]. [ESWN on Rao Ying Affair]. [Zhang Yu page at Sina.com].[IMAGE BELOW: Special page devoted to Zhang Yu Affair at Sina.com].

The Southern Metropolis Daily editorial, once again, links these cases with larger questions of free speech and social responsibility. The points are relevant to other ongoing debates, such as the proposal for a nationwide real-name registration system for blogs in China. While the word most often on the tongues of proponents of the registration system has been “responsibility”, editorials like this one beg the question: How is responsible speech possible in a system where speech is not protected or respected?
The Southern Metropolis Daily editorial follows:
Southern Metropolis Daily
November 24, 2006, A2
“As Public Opinion Trends Toward Entertainment, Online Denunciations are Futile”
[Summary of Zhang Yu and Rao Ying cases] … In [an informal] study of 100 stars in the entertainment world, only one responded that there were “unwritten rules” [in the profession]. But this doesn’t prevent the Internet world from believing overwhelmingly that what Zhang Yu says is true, or at least the tapes she’s presented are true. About three years ago Zhang Yu went purposely to a newspaper to expose ugly rumors about [film director] Huang Jianzhong’s (黄健中) sexual behavior. But at that time there were some who believed it and others who didn’t, and eventually the story vanished from the media. Perhaps this was because no one actually heard the tapes that were rumored to exist. Actually, in that case mainstream media were not sufficiently on their game. They did not follow up on the story until there was a breakthrough, perhaps because they had scruples about going up against the entertainment world (their long-term and regular sources for news). This time is different. We can see that Zhang Yu has succeeded in grabbing the headlines and gaining an audience that, seeing the evidence she had provided, believes her story.
The turning point of the story this time is the strength of her evidence – a video broadcast directly on the Internet. There is one camp that believes that by doing this she [Zhang Yu] has violated the rights of the person in the video, and that this is illegal. Setting aside for a moment the issue of the law, this incident shows us once again the immense power of the Internet. Some believe online public opinion might become a new form of moral supervision, remedying the division and fuzziness about morals that has come with the greater anonymity of urban life. This is one point of view about the Internet’s power, but as to the actual function such power might serve, this forecast might be a bit too optimistic.
Why? Because we can see from the Zhang Yu and Rao Ying affairs that online opinion is trending clearly toward [bottom-line] entertainment. The people anticipate live sex videos and serial diary entries. They hanker for the snowballing of events and the uncovering of personal affairs in a climax of rave excitement. Just as the motives of both Zhang Yu and Rao Ying imply hatred and the desire for revenge, so does the storm of language conjured up by Web users harbor a kind of fatuous anger and boldly self-assured linguistic violence. What Web users spout out for any story – be it the Zhang Yu and Rao Ying affairs, news of official corruption or stories about miscarriages of justice — are the same sort of obscenities marked with the same sort of fury. Perhaps it’s that they know at the very moment they post their words that saying them is pointless, and if they’re “pointless” why not just put a little more bite into them? [NOTE: “Pointless” here implies China’s censorship regime]. Who anywhere is treating this news seriously? Who anywhere is putting real pressure on those concerned? Can the kind of strict moral judgment Zhang Yu is expecting truly be rendered on the Internet? Relying on language alone, can people truly achieve judgment and lead a [successful] crusade?
Follow-ups on the Zhang Yu affair are already appearing in the traditional media. But the traditional media too are going through a wave of news as entertainment [NOTE: a blurring of the boundaries, in other words]. Of course, this isn’t what’s most important. What’s most important is that no matter whether on the Internet or in the actual world, language is becoming a kind of mechanism for sealing oneself off and obviating the need for any sort of action whatsoever. No one will, on the basis of a serious and principled report in Southern Weekend, go and organize a protest, urge the creation of a new law, or boycott such and such a director’s film. And that means no one in the entertainment world will step out to seriously protest or offer up an explanation of any kind. All we see are monologues of heartfelt anger from two female characters. All we see are a number of media and netizens coming out to have a good time of it. Like those involved we can probably safely suppose that just as happened a few years back this will all blow over. When language fails to prompt action, when it results in no actual consequence, it becomes a house of cards [“built on stilts”], a game and recreation, something to be taken trivially – and the status quo can roll on with its brutal chain of interests.
And why, in fact, has China’s Internet world been marked from its very beginnings with such a fierce emotionalism? Because there are so many things we have to get off our chests. And also because, as people have long understood habitually, our most earnest words, even should they not bring us trouble, cannot really and truly change anything.
Other Sources:
“Xinhua: Actress shows sex tapes to media“, Danwei.org
“China’s Yellow Journalism“, David Bandurski, Far Eastern Economic Review, June 2006
[Posted by David Bandurski, November 24, 2006, 3:30pm]

Hu Shuli, editor-in-chief of China’s influential Caijing magazine, was listed on the Wall Street Journal’s list of “Ten women to watch in Asia” on November 20. Hu Shuli is “worth watching”, said the Wall Street Journal, “because of her deftness in pursuing hard-hitting journalism while working her publication’s Communist Party connections”. Caijing can be seen as a pioneer of more independent journalism in China, managing to walk a line between the party’s media control regime on the one hand and the pressures of media commercialization on the other [Caijing on Wikipedia].

The China Media Project has maintained close contact with Caijing journalists in recent years, including Hu Shuli, managing editor Yang Daming, editor Wang Shuo and investigative reporters Yang Haipeng and Kang Weiping.
Caijing has in the last two years been unrelenting in its criticism of the government’s handling of the real estate market in China. In her editor’s letter for the November 13 issue of Caijing, Hu Shuli criticized the central government for not doing enough to curb manipulation of the market for their own benefit. “In a number of public policies, from the residential housing reforms of July 1998 … to National Section 6 in early 2005, we can see the government is clear in principle about its role [in regulating the runaway property market]”, Hu Shuli wrote.
“But in the actual implementation, this overarching policy direction has not, and has no way of, being actualized in the public measures chosen by local governments. Rather, the influence of powerful pockets of entrenched interest has steered the policy this way and that; added to this, the slow opening up of the land market, as well as the current system of allocation of land-sale proceeds between the local and central governement, strengthen the impulse on the part of local governments to seek personal profit in the development of the real estate market.”
Related Articles:
[The Most Dangerous Woman in China, Danwei.org]
[Leading business editor pushes China to the limit, Asiamedia]
[Nieman Report, Harvard University, on SARS coverage]
[Enthusiastic blog on Caijing coverage of recent draft emergency management law]
[Posted by David Bandurski, November 22, 2006, 12:22pm]

Since his resignation from China Central Television (CCTV) last week, celebrity sports commentator Huang Jianxiang (黄健翔) has topped news headlines in China, and some media have suggested popular animosity toward CCTV and its political culture lies at the heart of interest in what might otherwise be a story of relative insignificance. [IMAGE: Screenshot of Sina.com homepage today. Huang Jianxiang coverage circled at right, directly below coverage of Hu Jintao].

Since his resignation on November 16, Huang has tried to quell rumors that he was forced out and insisted he was leaving CCTV for “personal reasons”. But whispers in the media and on the Internet have suggested there are deeper reasons for Huang’s departure. Hao Hongjun (郝洪军), a sports journalist and former editor of Football Daily, wrote on his blog shortly after Huang’s resignation that “XXX of the Sports Channel [at CCTV] wrote a letter informing on Huang Jianxiang”. This blog posting fanned speculation that Huang had indeed been the victim of internal political battles at CCTV. [NOTE: Letters of this kind were a common feature of work units under the state-controlled economy. Often politically driven, they concerned not necessarily work-related matters, but could also be criticisms of personal lifestyle.]
Huang Jianxiang, seen by many football fans in China as a youthful and energetic alternative to the dry and wooden commentators often associated with state television, has lately been the source of much controversy. Huang provoked anger from some football fans back in June when he expressed clear bias for the Italian side after it ousted Australia from the tournament in a last-minute penalty kick. He later apologized to Australian football fans for his outburst. [Huang commentary during Italy-Australia match via YouTube]. [BELOW: Special feature page at Sina.com devoted to Huang Jianxiang and news of his resignation].

Taking issue with a statement by a CCTV official that Huang Jianxiang had resigned under increasing pressure brought on by negative media coverage (or “spoofing”), an editorial in today’s Southern Metropolis Daily suggested the real problem was CCTV’s culture of “rigid correctness”, or zhenggao (正搞), a term the author coined to contrast with the concept of “spoofing”, or e’gao (恶搞). This is a problem that has been argued repeatedly in recent years, as CCTV has attempted to balance its role as a key propaganda mouthpiece with its need to be more commercially savvy in a changing media marketplace [ESWN on CCTV versus Super Girl]:
Southern Metroplis Daily
November 21, 2006, A31
pdf_southern-metro-daily-on-huang.pdf

Up to this point a number of details about Huang Jianxiang’s resignation are still foggy … Huang Jianxiang has written on his blog that “it owes entirely to personal reasons and has nothing whatsoever to do with other people or other matters”. Clearly, this [explanation] amounts to a kind of “official line” (官方表态) [on Huang’s part], and fails to convince the public. According to the head of CCTV’s Sports Channel, Huang Jianxiang’s letter of resignation points to media spoofing (恶搞) [of Huang] as the principle reason for his resignation, that while Huang wished to get on with his work a number of media persisted in reporting malicious rumors, quoting Huang out of context, fabricating stories and putting him under a great deal of stress … (November 20, Beijing Star Daily). I don’t know whether this was truly Huang Jianxiang’s intention [in resigning], but this focusing on media spoofs avoids the important and dwells on the trivial. If there were indeed “malicious and fabricated news” involved, CCTV or Huang Jianxiang could have dealt with these through legal means. [The news of Huang’s] resignation, far from putting an end to rumors, can only set them off.
Regardless of what relationship the resignation does or does not have with storm over [Huang’s] words during [the recent] World Cup, the controversy surrounding Huang Jianxiang must be the starting point for any discussion of what’s happening here in this most recent case. There were more than a few storms [surrounding Huang] last World Cup …
Huang Jianxiang has said he wishes to “lay low for a short time” but contrary to his state wishes he has become the central figure in the news. Saying [Huang’s resignation] was sparked by media attacks is not as accurate as saying it was due to long-standing [culture of] “rigid correctness” at CCTV – that is to say, [the network’s] persistent stance of self-righteous superiority. What the public is interested in is not perhaps any particular commentator so much as [what the situation] reveals about differences over news concepts [at CCTV]. When CCTV recently announced it would switch out news anchors for “News Relay” [CCTV’s nightly newscast] people had hope that these changes signaled the rise of a new concept of journalism in China, but in fact they were due purely to considerations of the age of [“News Relay”] anchors [and signaled no real change]. While the public made too much of the changes at News Relay, their reaction underscored their desire to see change to a new concept of journalism [or media]. The Huang Jianxiang Case can be seen as the latest installment in the conflict between old media values and new media values.
Whether or not the media have spoofed [Huang Jianxiang] is in question; but the fact of CCTV’s “rigid correctness” has long left viewers dissatisfied. Perhaps Huang Jianxiang does object to spoofing [by the media], but the the reason viewers love him is possibly also because he has distanced himself [in his work] just a bit too far from CCTV’s “rigid correctness”.
In a November 18 editorial, Southern Metropolis Daily criticized the “work unit” culture at CCTV, saying the network was locked in a contradiction between its traditional role as a propaganda tool and agent of the serious and the needs of commercialization:
From these two incidents [Huang’s resignation and his controversy back in June] we can see the China Central Television is not only a “work unit” lying somewhere in between the administrative agency and the corporate enterprise, but that it is also a unit lying between the propaganda agency and the media enterprise. This kind of work unit with naturally display a degree of division in the language it broadcasts, for example the strict and sober “News Relay” versus the “Happy Dictionary” [game show] so well liked by ordinary people, and to boot investigative programs with a strong sense of social responsibility [like “News Probe”]. But compared with the media domain as a whole, CCTV has a definite air of self-righteous superiority. This is precisely why “China Dream” [an American Idol-style singing contest] is always compared [unfavorably] against “Super Girl” [a very successful program from Hunan Satellite Television].
During the controversy surrounding his commentating [for the World Cup] many people felt that Huang Jianxiang’s behavior was unprofessional. But many of those who got worked up about the incident were still able to step back and see that his actions were the product of “enthusiasm”. For the sake of enthusiasm and entertainment value they were willing to support him and accept his apology. “Enthusiasm” and “entertainment” should be par for the course in television programming, particularly for football matches. Why should people be overly guarded about such things? Clearly, in the view of some there is a power in wider society that stands against enthusiasm and entertainment.
———————–
[Selected Web postings from Sina.com]
[IP:219.154.211*]
I can’t stand any other commentators on CCTV 5. I won’t be able to stand not having Huang’s commentating. Huang, come back please! Don’t worry about what those petty people said. The football fans of China will stand beside you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[mobile user 135****2568]
Huang’s departure means the end of an age.
[IP:202.101.38*]
Huang Jianxiang doesn’t even speak clearly. How can he be a commentator??? And these people even want to open a “commentating school”!
[IP:218.25.77.*]
Without Huang Jianxiang, football isn’t worth watching!
[mobile user 135****1010]
I support Huang Jianxiang’s leaving CCTV, because no matter where he goes he’s a talent, and his leaving is a big loss for CCTV … This whole thing just shows how bad things are in China.
[sunli790822]
Without Huang Jianxiang I’m not sure I’ll bother to watch football anymore!!
[xiepeng65]
You should have gone a long time ago. Your commentary is shameful for the world of football. Ive always muted the sound when I’ve watched CCTV-5. Your commentary wears me out.
[IP: 221.219.60*]
I’ve watched European football [on CCTV] for some many years, and last week suddenly watching it made my head hurt — the reason is the changing of anchors! You people at CCTV, you can go to hell!!!
OTHER LINKS:
Italy-loving Chinese football announcer gets the boot (Nov. 21)
Sports host to tackle rumours (Nov. 19)
China’s anti-Aussie rant commentator quits (Nov. 18)
[Posted by David Bandurski, November 21, 2006, 6pm]

November 13 — While national television media in China were under orders not to report on the Qin Zhongfei (秦中飞) case in Chongqing, in which a government employee was jailed for writing and transmitting by mobile phone a poem satirizing local leaders in the municipality’s Pengshui County, coverage of the case did appear from China’s central Xinhua News Agency. In a November 13 feature story Liaowang, an official magazine published by Xinhua, criticized the actions of local officials in Chongqing in dealing harshly with Qin Zhongfei, and called their suppression of the right to free expression a “huge step back in an age of democracy and rule of law”.
November 12 – Chinese writer Tie Ning was appointed chairman of the China Writer’s Association (CWA), an official organization that nominally represents the interests of professional writers but which some have said serves as a tool of ideological control. Following in the footsteps of writers Mao Dun and Ba Jin, Tie Ning is the first female chairman of the organization, a post that has been empty since Ba Jin’s death just over one year ago. She is also the first chairman under the age of 50. Tie Ning’s appointment comes as China’s world of arts and letters stands at what some say is an important crossroads, with the role of the writer in society in question. In its extreme, uneasiness about the state of Chinese letters has led to cries of the “death” of Chinese literature, a question writer Ye Kuangzheng (叶匡政) addressed in a recent online essay.
November 18 — China Central Television’s annual advertising auction concluded in Beijing, with the state-run network drawing in 6.8 billion yuan (US$833 million) in ad revenues, up 15.7 percent over last year. This year’s “big king”, or successful bidder from the most-coveted spot just before the daily national nightly newscast, was Proctor & Gamble, which paid 420 million yuan (US$51 million). [Chinese coverage at MediaChina.net].