Upstart provincial television broadcaster Hunan TV has been one of China’s hottest media topics since its fabulously popular “Super Girl” program topped the ratings charts last year. Some said it was giving the state broadcaster, China Central Television, a run for its money. “Super Girl” has apparently survived talk of an official crackdown and is now rolling out its second season. But as a pioneer of internal television station reforms in China and an unapologetic provider of purely entertainment fare, Hunan TV finds itself at the center of the debate over media reform and commercialization. In its May 11 issue, People Weekly devoted 23 of its 80 pages to interviews with Wei Wenbin, the “commander” of the Hunan-led entertainment revolution, and others in the province’s broadcast industry. Selected translations of the issue follow:
Wei Wenbin Carves Out an Entertainment Empire (editors’ note)
Open up the pages of local rule in Hunan and you see peasant revolts, insurrections, wars … Its modern history too is one of courage … [Article cites the Wuchang Uprising of 1911, which precipitated the downfall of the Qing Dynasty, Hunan as a centre of rural movements, an important battleground during the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)]. Hunan’s history is one of rebels and resistors standing proud. [Link to online version of editors’ note]
In this peaceful time of change, the courageous and stand-out people of Hunan are perhaps designated by fate with the power to create commotion and restlessness … In 2005, the enthusiastic welcome of the people across China brought the 10-year procession of Hunan broadcasting to a critical juncture, one of infinite possibilities but at the same time infinite risk.
This entertainment force arising from “Xiang Shui” [an ancient name for Hunan], now entertains “the greatest mass of people” [最广大的人民群众, a phrase often appearing in official party documents to refer to the people of China], and has managed to “rally together” a great mass of wealth and a substantial market. It has made industry colleagues bitterly envious and competitors uneasy in their beds and at their dinner tables.
But along with this [success] have come troubles that are almost impossible to count. The fate of the [immensely popular] “Super Girl” program, which was held in doubt earlier this year, has only in the last few weeks come back to life through much hardship … [NOTE: There were rumors the program might be shut down by officials] …
“Big brother” eats meat, “little brother” drinks soup. Under China’s national television structure, divided up according to administrative rank, there has always been just one big brother at the top … “The wolves are coming!”, Chinese intellectuals once chattered [of multinational media giants and China’s entry into the World Trade Organization]. But nothing has changed in the last few years. Multinational media giants, who came coveting the fat [of China’s media market], found in the end that they could only gather outside the big doors. Moreover, their sense of superiority meant they could never resolve local issues [dealing with the political hurdles, finding the right partners, etc]. The academic-styled stars serving as anchors for [Hong Kong’s] Phoenix Satellite Television can only talk cautiously about essential topics of news, politics and culture to the guests of Chinese hotels three stars or above.
For the last 10 years, on the silent and wide open field of China’s television industry, this force of restlessness and vitality [Hunan’s broadcasting entertainment mechanism] thrashed about and pushed the bounds. They made the first public offering of a broadcast media company on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (Hunan Broadcasting Group) [Coverage of ill-fated link-up with News Corporation here]. They founded the country’s first provincial-level electronic media group (Hunan Radio, Film and Television Group) [People’s Daily coverage here in English]. They hosted the first “Golden Eagle China TV Art Festival” [a television awards program in which viewers vote for the top entertainment awards]. The audience ratings of their flagship satellite station, Hunan Satellite TV, directly pressured the industry’s big brother, China Central Television, with programs like “The Rose Contract” [a dating show] and “Kuaile Da Benying” [a game show] and a whole series of other programs bursting onto the national scene and bringing a host of imitations. 2005’s “Super Girl” [a singing competition modeled after “American Idol”] brought even more fierce interest from people all over the country.
Through endless difficulties and outside skepticism a powerful entertainment media group quietly emerged, including the Hunan Broadcast Television Center, Changsha’s ColorfulWorld [a multimedia website], Hunan International Convention & Exhibition Center, Golden Eagle Television Arts City (金鹰影视文化城). The people of Hunan are dreaming the bold dream of building a “Hollywood of the East”.
Someone once said that Hunan has two major brands – one is Yuan Shengping (袁隆平), the other is Wei Wenbin. One developed Chinese rice hybrids [profile here in Chinese], the other mustered Hunan’s television forces (电视湘军).
In China, system reforms have always been an incredibly difficult topic. Wei Wenbin’s importance lies in the fact that he is a pioneer in an extremely sensitive area [media reforms, specifically commercialization], and has won major successes. Still, people can push, but they cannot push the bounds of the system. In the current system, it would be unrealistic to have too many hopes for Hunan TV, because it too is a monopolist. And it is by virtue of the fact China Central Television must bear the heavy burden of serving as China’s national television broadcaster that the people of Hunan the space to be clever and break out [In other words, CCTV is bound most tightly by state propaganda mechanisms because what it says is seen as a representation of China. In contrast, Hunan TV, though also subject to the pillars of media control, is free to dance and be footloose, carrying out its project of commercialization].
Television Giant Wei Wenbin (interview portions)
… In 1993, 43 year-old Wei Wenbin was appointed to a new position as Director of Hunan Province’s Broadcast Office [This is a ting ji (厅级) level position, the second tier in the national bureaucracy, below provincial-level officials]. At the same time he served as secretary of the office’s Party Organization (党组) and station head of Hunan TV, holding all of the power of Hunan’s broadcasting network in his hands. Entrusted with such power, Wei Wenbin felt a debt of gratitude and was seized with emotion. “At that moment, I made a pact with myself, that I would set broadcasting right in Hunan”.
He wanted to know how television stations were run overseas. He found materials and researched for over a month. “As soon as you saw it, it bowled you over. The production value of the American newspaper industry long ago surpassed the steel industry, and one Hollywood built an entire Los Angeles. Media groups can bring in tens of billions of US dollars every year. How exciting and scarifying it is [to learn that].
“I realized that this industry I was a part of had enormous potential. The demands of the viewers were a mine of riches, and whoever could tap into that would stumble onto a goldmine. I think we should approach the media as an industry, one with great room [for growth] and a vast market. What is an industry? … An industry is about having commercial products. Only when you have commercial products do you have a market economy”.
In the 1990s China faced a new form of hunger. Those who had just resolved the question of subsistence found themselves grasping leisure time and some discretionary income, and they had no idea what to do. As non-material products were in great scarcity, we all at once had “one billion people playing Mah-jongg”, and feet washing, massages and other forms of entertainment started popping up on the streets and becoming popular. Among young people, Hong Kong music became hot, and television dramas had a strong impact.
To have a full stomach but be full of desires. This concerned Wei Wenbin. “This is a severe social problem. If a country lacks cultural products, then its people lack calcium, they are pale and face destruction. If a country is fostered on imported culture, it faces destruction.” In the early 1990s he appealed many times for the building of customs and piers for [the control of imports of] cultural products …
PW: “Did you have any worries you would fail when you visualized building a 1.3 million square meter industry complex?”
Wei Wenbin: (slowly and resolutely nodding his head) Of course I thought of the consequences. If I knew beyond a doubt that I couldn’t do it, dragging so many people into it, wasting energy and money – speaking as an intellectual, I would not have done it. This is a city [Changchun] you know, and we’ve invested several billion yuan. Back then it was 1.3 million square meters, but now its 1.7 million. Before this was wild country. There was nothing here except a few rural family homes – there weren’t even roads, and there was no water or electricity. If I had thought it couldn’t be done, I wouldn’t have done it. I did it with enthusiasm. I firmly believed it could be done. I thought it had to be done. Of course, it was a wonder to see it done.
PW: How much encouragement did you get from other officials for this huge undertaking?
Wei Wenbin: They don’t have the know-how [to understand it]. If there are a lot of people who don’t support you, you just do what you have to do, and don’t get hung up on this question. Once the thing is done and people have seen it, it will speak for itself. This is how it works. I didn’t buy this black gauze hat [official position] or pick it up somewhere; the party put it on my head. It was given me by these times and this opportunity. So when I face my colleagues and the people, I don’t think of protecting it [this official post]. When the wind comes and blows it off, that’s that. When I started off on this path I was already pretty well prepared psychologically.
PW: “When the people were raising their voices against it, how did you feel then?”
Wei Wenbin: l’ll tell you, at the time some of the big things I did, like send up a satellite, build this center, take the company public – a lot of people didn’t support those things or approve of them. They didn’t get it, because doing these things was too unprecedented. In the past, Mao Zedong said that the masses created history, but the masses and the decision-makers are always different. This difference is that decision-makers or leaders always have to move ahead of the masses on some things. If the decision-makers are always with the masses there is no distinction between leaders and the masses. When your ideas run ahead into the distance, running far, far ahead, resistance to what you’re doing is strong. (He takes a long sigh and is quiet for a moment). They don’t understand you, and don’t support you. If something is not understood and supported by the masses you can well imagine how difficult it is. We don’t want to gripe about the masses, but their perspective on problems is different from yours. They see things from their own angle, seeing only a small piece. Herein lies the difference.”
PW: “Can you give us your take on that time?”
Wei Wenbin: “I was talking about this with someone yesterday and I talked myself to tears. It was tough, and very sad. I lost my sensibilities, lost … (he falls silent) … perhaps lost everything I had. When the basic building had been done and I’d just made the investment, I knew then just how many tough years I had ahead, how many years of blame I would endure. Neither those above nor those below understood me. I was upbraided, and people said I was hungry for glory. I heard it all. The year we had just clinched our investment capital, as I was meeting with our earliest team in an office in the city, I said something to them that still resounds in my heart. At that moment I was really moved, and everyone there cried. I said, ‘Comrades, I beg one thing of you. What we’re doing is magnificent work, and I hope none of you makes a misstep. Do not make any mistakes when we’re doing our building, inviting public bidding, or making contact with heads of labor contractors or various other businesspeople.’ I said, ‘Whatever you do, let’s not have our own people sliding one by one as our building is going up stone by stone. This is a fierce battle. I hope everyone is mentally prepared’. I was afraid, afraid that they might cause trouble for the sake of a few thousand yuan [in kickbacks]. At the time, I had two hopes. The first was a prayer to the powers that be that my health be safeguarded, that if fate had cancer in store for me, it waited for the completion of the [broadcast] center. [The other was that] if I wasn’t careful enough and made a misstep, and higher-up officials dealt with me, this happened after the center was built …(sigh) … I can’t say clearly myself how it was that I accomplished this …”
PW: “What made you set out to complete a job that by its very nature would take several generations of people to accomplish? For such a huge price, do you think personally that it’s worth it?”
Wei Wenbin: “After everything I’ve just said, you’re still not understanding me. If I were one of the masses, I wouldn’t think this way. You ask if I’ve had difficulties or not. Has it been risky? Did I stand a chance of being utterly discredited? I never thought about (these things). But there’s one answer I’m clear about. You ask whether I will succeed or not? I will definitely succeed!”
Wei Wenbin and his Hunan television troops have always set their sights on breaking through the limitations of local television and moving out of Hunan [expanding their market]. This means that CCTV, a family which once had a plate all to itself [the privilege of a total monopoly], now has to fight for food with several families. For several years now, Hunan TV has topped the list of local satellite broadcasters in terms of audience ratings, and several explosively popular programs have put some pressure on “big brother”. CCTV must rethink the makeup of its entertainment programming, its packaging, and begin to take stock of this local competitor.
In 2005 a program called “Super Girl” made relations between CCTV and Hunan Broadcasting stickier than ever. As the “Super Girl” craze swept the nation, well-known anchors and spokespeople from CCTV stood on their moral soapboxes, condemning “Super Girl” for its sensationalism. On the other hand, many media and netizens used pointed language to vent long pent-up disappointment over CCTV. In April 2006, weathering the suspense of an “official document” [seeking the closure of the program], “Super Girl” again rung up the curtain, but under severe criteria of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.
In the wake of the “Super Girl” craze, research into the competitive postures of CCTV and Hunan TV became a focus of media big and small – financial media looked at revenue figures of the two, and several major papers said things about the stations’ respective television dramas. “PK”, the new word arising from “Super Girl”, all at once become the most frequently used word on both TV networks.
The end of 2005 was the time when nationally broadcast television stations assessed their achievements and fought for advertising clients. According to numbers from CCTV-SuoFuRui [a CCTV market research group (央视-索福瑞)] for 2005, between January and September, Hunan TV was ranked fourth among all satellite stations in China based on audience ratings, following closely between CCTV’s main channel and CCTV channels 3 and 8.
Hunan TV held its bidding for 2006 advertising on November 9, 2005, in Beijing. Nine days later, CCTV held its annual bidding for prime-time [advertising slots] here [in the capital]. Hunan TV took the following attitude toward this: “CCTV is the Big Mac [the big kid on the block], and its clients are concentrated in Beijing. We can bask in CCTV’s rays (我们可以沾沾央视的光).”
Here you can see the caution and reticence. Interestingly, an academic expert in media sales structures gave this appraisal: CCTV’s attitude at its 2005 bidding was somewhat changed, “more self-effacing than ever”.
So the relationship between Hunan TV and CCTV becomes a topic impossible to avoid in this interview. As soon as the subject comes up, the free and easy Wei Wenbin becomes more guarded. He says several times that he wishes to avoid this topic, but under the persistence of the reporter, he finally answers with extreme prudence.
PW: “What is your position on competition between Hunan TV and CCTV?”
Wei Wenbin: “Why is it that you media like this question so much? I can’t say I don’t have my reasons for backing out [of this question], but I don’t really wish to answer that question. I don’t understand why everyone cares about this question.”
PW: “Because you have definitely made CCTV nervous.”
Wei Wenbin: (laughing) “There is nothing strange at all about that. Making CCTV pay careful attention to a series of things, that’s good. There’s no need to say it has [made them] nervous. Good competition is a very normal thing, and there’s no ill-meaning in it. I’m sure CCTV also hopes the local stations below them offer something good for their reference. How could we possibly compete with CCTV? How could a child of just 10 years compete with a mature person of 30 years? They are on entirely different scales. What is more, if we must talk about CCTV’s competitiveness, I have only one hope, and that is that CCTV gets better and better. I don’t hope that Hunan TV does things better than CCTV.”
PW: “Why don’t you want Hunan TV to go things better than CCTV? That’s a bit tough to understand.”
Wei Wenbin: “Because, after all, CCTV is our national TV station, and I’m a part of China. I hope it gets better and better. If it’s not done well, I’ll have my own opinions.”
PW: “But what if one day the market picks you guys?”
Wei Wenbin: “Mm … What do you mean by that? How can the market possibly discard CCTV?”
PW: “I don’t mean discard. What I mean is what if Hunan TV wins out in terms of market competition?”
Wei Wenbin: “This is something that’s impossible. It’s absolutely impossible within the next 10 years. In terms of talent and resources, including policy [political] resources, Hunan TV cannot conceivably overtake CCTV. You want me to speak the truth? I think that under the same blue sky, Hunan TV and CCTV having a bit of competition is a good thing. I don’t want the audience to have that kind of an attitude – that one station is good and the other one bad, or that I can only choose one between two stations. I don’t harbor these kinds of intentions, or that kind of ambition.”
PW: So you mean it’s the public and other media that have made you out to be CCTV’s enemy, hoping you’ll play the role of challenger?”
(An assistant at Wei Wenbin’s side points out that it’s not good to talk about things in such a way, to make out Hunan TV as having this kind of role, that this is actually unfavorable for the station)

Wei Wenbin: Of course CCTV will have some programs that aren’t done so well. This is only natural. They have more than ten channels of programs, and more than 10,000 people. Isn’t it laughable to expect every program to be perfect, every channel to be the best there is? There are some CCTV programs that are not done so well, and as it would happen there are some programs from local stations that are done better. Isn’t this just normal? Thirdly, CCTV is the national network, and it must safeguard the interests of the country. CCTV has things about it that make people uneasy, for example that it monopolizes all of the [national broadcasting] resources. If it monopolizes everything and orders others around, of course this is going to make people a bit uneasy. But we only want to improve it, not to overturn it. If certain reporters or programs at CCTV say things they ought not to, this of course doesn’t represent CCTV’s leaders. Zhao Huayong (CCTV’s network head/台长) once said to me, your ‘Super Girl’ program is very successful.”

[October 2000 coverage of Wei Wenbin by The New York Times]
[November 2005 coverage by The New York Times via China Digital Times]
[Hunan TV on Chinese Wikipedia]
[Posted by David Bandurski, May 11, 2006, 11:05am]

The New York Times’ Howard French writes about how universities in China are enlisting student Internet monitors to quietly police the Web conversations and surfing habits of their classmates. [Article at the International Herald Tribune website].

As Vietnam concluded its Tenth Party Congress, discussion among media in the Asia-Pacific region turned to the country’s progress in the area of political liberalization. Mainland media, however, tersely avoided the topic, focusing instead on the country’s economic goals. This is demonstration once again of China’s determination to push economic reforms while it keeps political reforms at bay.
Writing in today’s South China Morning Post (“A course for political change”), Martin Gainsborough said there had been increased discussion at Vietnam’s recent congress about “citizen participation in the decisions that affect them. There was even talk about introducing greater competition into the process of electing the party general secretary.” Here is more from that article:
During the congress, the former party general secretary, Le Kha Phieu, said in an interview that what Vietnam needed was renovation in the area of democracy, just as it did 20 years ago in the economy. Mr Phieu was not advocating an end to one-party rule but an end to what he described as the disease of “partyisation”, whereby the party dominates everything. The party took a step towards allowing private entrepreneurs to become members, without actually sanctioning it, at the congress … So we may be witnessing the beginning of a new loosening up: political liberalisation Vietnamese style.
Hong Kong’s Yazhou Zhoukan wrote that the “success of the Vietnamese Communist Party’s political reforms are another form of pressure on the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP must have a response addressing the shortfall between the economy and politics”.
The following is People’s Daily’s coverage of Vietnam’s Tenth Party Congress:
People’s Daily
2006-04-26
Vietnam’s Nong Duc Manh Again to Serve as General Secretary
Xinhua News Agency, Vietnam, April 25 (reporter Huang Haimin). As the eight-day long Tenth Party Congress closed its doors on April 25, Nong Duc Manh was once again chosen as general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party.
Speaking before the congress that day Nong Duc Manh said the Tenth Party Congress was a historic occasion for the Party, government and people of Vietnam.
Nong Duc Manh said the congress had resolved over the coming years to work hard to improve its leadership and fighting strength. At the same time it would use the strength of the nation to push ahead with its reform and opening so that Vietnam could soon throw off its lack of development, with the goal of setting the stage for Vietnam’s becoming a modern industrial base by 2020.
An article in Shanghai’s Wenhui Bao offered almost identical coverage, adding only Hu Jintao’s congratulations to Nong Duc Manh: “We are happy to see that in the last 20 years, and especially since the last Party congress, that Vietnam has achieved excellent results in its building of Socialism and reform efforts. It has maintained long-term political stability, its economy has developed rapidly, and its international standing has improved. I trust that the correct leadership of the Vietnamese Communist Party and the path of the Tenth Congress will lead Vietnamese society and reform forward”.
[Posted by David Bandurski, April 28, 2006, 4:46pm]

China Media Project co-director Qian Gang will give a speech on Chinese media trends under commercialization at “Changing Media, Changing China”, a workshop to be held at the University of California, San Diego, on May 5 and 6. The workshop is organized by UCSD political science professor Susan Shirk. [More @ NewsWise].
Participants will include journalists from China and the United States as well as communications scholars, political scientists and sociologists.
[Posted by David Bandurski, April 28, 2006, 3:40pm]

In what is possibly the fourth revelation of Yahoo!’s cooperation with Chinese authorities resulting in the jailing of a Chinese citizen, non-profit association Human Rights in China (HRIC) said dissident Wang Xiaoning was sentenced to 10 years in 2003 in part on the basis of information provided by the US Internet giant. An announcement on the HRIC website said:
Among the evidence against Wang cited in the judgment is information provided by Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. stating that Wang’s “aaabbbccc” Yahoo! Group was set up using the mainland China-based email address [email protected]. Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. also confirmed that the email address [email protected], through which Wang sent messages to the Group, was a mainland China-based account. The judgment does not indicate whether Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. or Yahoo! China (which is now operated by mainland-based Alibaba.com) provided specific information regarding Wang’s identity. The judgment also notes that in 2001, administrators of Wang’s mainland China-based Yahoo! Group noticed the political content of Wang’s writings and did not allow him to continue distribution through the Group. He then began distributing his journal by email to individual email addresses. [Statement from Human Rights in China].[Reuters coverage @ CNN.com].
[Posted by David Bandurski, April 28, 2006, 12:52pm]

As the campaign for the “civilized” kicked into full gear in China, an April 24 editorial in Market News, published by the official People’s Daily, talked about the need for self-censorship for a more “civilized” Internet — a goal to be accomplished by pacts of good behavior between Internet companies in China, including Yahoo!. Clearly, this is about more than simply “indecent” material on the Web (April 14 People’s Daily coverage), but represents the systematic buying in to the censorship system on the part of Internet companies under pressure from the Chinese government. The Market News editorial is a revealing snapshot of the influence of Hu Jintao’s “Eight Honors and Eight Disgraces” campaign on Internet media in China and how the campaign is being sold to the people:
[QUOTE: “After the self-discipline pact was issued, many Websites went through a process of self-examination. In total, they shut down more than 200 undesirable discussion forums and deleted some 1.5 million harmful Web postings.”]
People say “civilized” and I weep,
I’ve wallowed enough 10 years on the Web,
My back is bent and my stomach creaks,
And today, at last, an end to my anguish.
You might say this ragged verse expresses my deepest feelings, and I believe many people will feel the same. The Internet is essentially a good thing, allowing for faster and broader communication of the information of humanity and culture. But if one spends too much time sloshing about there, the good turns to evil, the civilized turns to the uncivilized.
To this point, the idea of going online in a civilized manner (文明上网) is a question of degree, of knowing what the limits are. This is easier said than done, and the proper “degree” is not an easy thing to grasp — it is the same for the individual, for the Website, for the government watchdog. And there might also be some things that transcend national boundaries and are tough to control. These questions can’t help but leave one troubled.
The Civilized Movement Has Begun
In recent days, Qianlong.com and 14 other Beijing Websites took the lead in raising the “Web Media Self-Discipline Pact” (网络媒体自律公约) to run the Internet in a civilized manner. After this, signees to the pact quickly reached more than 40, and now perhaps all of Beijing’s major Websites are party to the agreement. The curtain has drawn back on a vigorous cultural movement for the spirit of the Web.
Speaking of the Web, of course, the question of how to distinguish clearly between the “civilized” and the “uncivilized” has to be answered first. The self-discipline pact defines 11 categories of content, with specific cases of uncivilized behavior including: broadcast of information that violates national law, impacts national security, destroys social stability, harms relations between ethnic minorities, or [transmits] any material of a religious nature; fake news, paid-for news [有偿新闻/a vague concept covering various forms of unethical news under commercialization], news that violates the rights of others, sensationalist news and false advertising; unhealthy text, images, text or multimedia messages, advertisements, or voice messages; games containing violent or pornographic content; vulgar expressions, images, sound or video; violations of personal privacy, etc. Obviously, most of these problems target Websites …
Certainly, the question of a civilized Web touches on not only how to “run” the Internet, but also on how to behave online. I first went online in 1996, so could probably be considered one of China’s first Web users. In my more than 10 years using the Internet, much of my own behavior was not sufficiently civilized. For example, playing online games too much, or sparring with others, looking at things with a touch of “sexy” to them, etc. Of course, these are old scores, and lately I’m much more civilized, even to the point on occasion of writing a wholesome critique of some form of uncivilized behavior …
There are more than 100 million Web users in China, and I won’t say there aren’t those who can remain totally insulated from uncivilized behavior, but I would venture to say they are very few. The situation of most Web users is probably like my own — they all, at one level or another, have a touch of the uncivilized about them. The reason is that uncivilized things generally speaking are powerfully stimulating and seductive. We, who are flesh and blood creatures, find such inducements tough to withstand. But after we’ve toyed with them and seen them for a while we can’t help but find them tedious.
Most of us probably have our own way of looking at Websites. People often talk about the Internet as “eyeball economics”, and Websites are certainly a product of this — if they lose the user’s attention they can’t make money and shut down. Understanding this, we should look with heightened skepticism on the civilized quality of Websites. Speaking simply, some sites (especially comprehensive portal sites and online game sites) have for years done everything they possibly can to attract users, and will not hesitate to “hit line balls” [or walk the edge of the permissible/push the envelope as far as possible]. If overnight they awaken and realize the error of their ways, how much credibility will they have? …
Who Put the Civilized on the Sidelines?
[The author praises the flood of editorials on civilized use of the Internet]
Of course there are many different understandings of what “civilized” means, but when we talk of running and using the Web in a civilized manner, we mean something very specific, which in fact is quite easy to understand. Even so, the self-discipline pact does not always express it very clearly, and in some areas is ambiguous …
More importantly, different countries and social classes have different understandings of what is meant by civilized. Mr. Lu Xun once said that in the eyes of some the bare arm of a woman was the ultimate expression of beauty, while for others beauty was more oblique and suggestive. What is true of arms is true of other questions.
The Internet is the sign of the information age. It is a symbol of human progress and development. So when we have so many uncivilized things, we must ask: How is it that we have become deluged with uncivilized things? Why can’t the civilized be more prevalent? Is it our fault, or that of the Websites? Is the arm to blame, or the eyes? Is it the fault of science and technology, or of our hearts?
After the self-discipline pact was issued, many Websites went through a process of self-examination. In total, they shut down more than 200 undesirable discussion forums and deleted some 1.5 million harmful Web postings. We all know vaguely what these “undesirables” represent, but we also have reason to suspect that they are not entirely behind us”.

[Posted by David Bandurski, April 25, 2006, 2:03pm]

Judging from Chinese media reports, the outlook on traditional media was generally dark at a recent mass media forum held at Beijing’s Tsinghua University. At the forum, Tsinghua jointly released a report called “Chinese Mass Media Development 2006” with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Here are some numbers and predictions from the forum and the report:
Tsinghua’s report on mass media, released April 12, said China’s newspaper industry faced critical drops in advertising income in 2005, following a decade of rapid development. Overall ad spending on newspapers was down 15 percent year-on-year in 2005, the report said. The report cited the rise of new media, including the Internet, as the chief cause of the downturn, and also noted that the newspaper sectors overseas, including the United States, Europe and Japan, had also logged decreases since 1995. Cui Baoguo, director of Tsinghua University’s Media Management Center, predicted newspapers would in the future be replaced by new media.
Not surprisingly, the report was more optimistic about the business prospects of the Internet in China. In particular, the report offered eye-raising figures on the development of blogs, with blog users expected to surpass 60 million in 2006 and reach 100 million in 2007.
China’s film industry also made a strong showing in Tsinghua’s report. Output growth in the industry was ahead of the country’s GDP growth in 2005, it said, but noted Chinese films were struggling to shake off their conservative image.
Other bright areas included digital multimedia broadcasting and 3G business.
[Posted by Brian Chan, April 24, 2006, 11:45am]

Bowing to Chinese President Hu Jintao’s campaign of moral rectification, called the “Eight Honors and Eight Disgraces”, well-known Chinese blog sites issued a pact of self-discipline to promote what they called “civilized Web use”. The announcement followed a similar pact among major Internet portals operating in China, including Yahoo, on April 9.
The pact generally called on participants to “obey the law and uphold social morals”, but much Chinese news coverage focused on the need to eradicate the use of blogs to spread insults, defamatory language or sensationalism, practices that have been on the rise. Sites signing on to the pact pledged to delete such language as soon as it appeared on the Web.
The agreement once again showed the willingness of Internet sites and service providers to cooperate with Chinese government censorship. Neither the April 9 agreement between Internet portals nor the latest between blog sites specify what types of speech will pass muster. [Coverage by Beijing Entertainment Post]. [Coverage by Yangcheng Evening News]. [Shenzhen Coverage].
[Posted by CMP Intern Reona Hu, April 24, 2006, 10:32am]

As China kicked up its campaign for a more “civilized” Internet, domestic media reported the country’s first-ever lawsuit against Internet spammers, brought by a Beijing resident against two companies in a city district court. The plaintiff alleged incessant e-mails impacted her ability to do her job and violated her rights.

According to an April 10 report in the Beijing Morning Post, plaintiff Mrs. Wang alleged continuously receiving unsolicited e-mail advertising about skills training programs in two private e-mail accounts. The messages, allegedly sent by Guangzhou’s Internet and Computer Company (网络计算机科技公司), advertised the services of Shanghai’s Yijuan Enterprise Management Information Company (上海易腾企业管理咨询公司). Wang sought 1,100 yuan (US$140) in compensation, according to the newspaper. [ABOVE: User bowled over with “Garbage Mail”, from ChinaByte.net]
On her personal Weblog, Chinese technology reporter Sun Hui suggested removing the system of free e-mail might solve the issue, and called new regulations issued by China’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII) in March a good first step toward resolving the e-mail spam problem in China. Sun’s posting is translated below:
“Oftentimes, we simply tolerate the evil of junk e-mail, partly because there’s so much of it we can’t prevent it, and partly because we haven’t felt it’s reached a point of such seriousness that it has trampled our rights, not to the point where we want to use the tool of the law to protect ourselves. And when it has reached this point, the question is where to go, because for a long time there have not been clear methods or programs for dealing with junk e-mail. But beginning March 30 this year, with the passing of ‘Methods for Internet Mail Service Management’ by the MII (‘Methods’ for short), there is a ray of hope.
“Article 15 of the ‘Methods’ states clearly: Internet mail service providers and those who make use of their services should accept reports of offenses from users concerning Internet mail, and provide a means for users to offer such reports. From the standpoint of users, this opens a door for redress. As to whether e-mail service providers will be fair and reasonable in accepting user complaints, this remains to be seen. But the ‘Methods’ do represent a real breakthrough for how China deals with junk mail. Even though the above legal case [brought by Mrs. Wang] has not yet been decided, and we don’t know whether such cases will be taken on by the courts, a victory in the case would be an encouragement to China’s Internet using masses.
“Policies and methods [on this issue] mean users can rely on rule of law, and this is a good thing. Relying solely on the power of the government is not enough. Can Internet mail service providers and those who use their services fight junk mail together with the government? Actually, one reason for the serious nature of junk mail is the fact that e-mails are free of charge; if there were appropriate charges for such mail, I believe the junk mail problem would largely be solved. Of course, such specifics as how to charge, and how much, requires more discussion and market research. Ever since the Internet began, e-mail usage has been synonymous with ‘free’. If we now want to change this, it would not be such an easy thing.”
Reports of the case in Beijing came just one day after fourteen leading Web portals in the Chinese market, including US-based Yahoo, issued a joint proposal on April 9 for a “civilized” Internet, free of so-called false and indecent content. The proposal was a nod of assent to Chinese President Hu Jintao’s most recent policy statement calling for a campaign of moral rectification at all levels of Chinese society.
[Posted by David Bandurski, April 18, 2006, 1:24pm]

The non-profit association Reporters Without Borders (RWB) said Yahoo had been implicated for a third time in the conviction of a Chinese Internet writer on subversion charges, citing a copy of the court verdict against Jiang Lijun (姜力均/姜力军), a former private enterprise boss in China’s Liaoning Province.
According to the group, the Chinese court alleged that in 2002 Jiang posted an article on the Web advocating the overthrow of the Chinese Communist Party. “The verdict indicated that Jiang Lijun wrote that the Chinese regime was ‘autocratic’, that he favoured a ‘so-called western-style democracy’ and planned to set up a political party. It also said that he planned to disrupt the 16th Communist Party Congress by phoning the police with a false bomb alert,” said the group’s announcement.
According to the verdict, said RWB, Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) had verified that Jiang Lijun and Li Yibing, another “pro-democracy activist”, were the users of the e-mail account from which the article in question had been sent.
Associated Press and Reuters stuck to the original RWB press release in writing their own news reports on the incident. These were picked up by ABC News International, Hong Kong’s Apple Daily (Article: 雅虎又助京拘人) and others.
In the past, Yahoo has been criticized for its alleged involvement in the convictions of Li Zhi (李志) and Shi Tao (师涛). Li Zhi was sentenced after posting online comments criticizing official corruption. Shi Tao was convicted after allegedly sending internal documents overseas via e-mail.
The Dui Hua Foundation, a human rights group, made copies of the court verdict in the Jiang Lijun case available on its Website in both Chinese and English.
READ: Help US Firms Free China’s Web (IHT)
[Posted by David Bandurski, April 20, 2006, 10:41am]