Who came up with the phrase “positive energy” I don’t know. But the phrase getting hot goes back to a Zhang Lixian film called Beijing Blues, in which his character says “positive energy” over and over again — and that’s how its popularity took off. Of course, anyone who knows the rudiments of physics knows that energy doesn’t give a hoot about positive or negative, that it’s all about where energy goes or is induced. But when people in the arts use such a term it has a kind of infectious simplicity about it, and it goes right to the heart.
However, this term having now become popular, we find that the Party and government, and those closely aligned with them, are especially fond of using this term too. they open their mouths or shut them, and it’s all about positive energy.
Originally, the notion of positive energy was directed in our minds toward light, sunshine, love and decency. So a play, or a novel, so long as it made one feel a sort of warmth, we could say it was full of positive energy. Now, however, as use of the term has become habitual, we find its meaning has changed its flavour.
So-called positive energy now denotes patriotism, love for the government, love for the Party. It even bears along with this the sense of opposing Japan, opposing America and opposing the West. Articles, or posts on Weibo, no matter what the content, even if they are nothing more than abusive name-calling, are considered positive energy as long as they have this flavour. Some people make the most outlandish claims online, saying that the United States has no forced demolition because it massacred all of the native Americans, that the French president’s dining budget runs to 96 million euros, that US President Barack Obama and his family spend four million dollars each time they dine together, or that Obama’s mobile costs 27 million dollars. But because all of these statements suit the demand that we love the Party, the government and the country, and that we oppose Japan, America and the West, they all pass the positive energy test.
Positive energy having evolved to this point, we are now in a state of confusion as to what exactly is positive and what is wicked. Even if it were true that the American and French presidents were unpardonably evil, that they were the chieftains of imperialism, we can’t just throw mud indiscriminately, can we? If the definition of political correctness makes allowances for wild rumourmongering, if the ends justify the means anda all is fair however foul, how do we think the people of the world will view this country of ours?
The authorities, perhaps, have seen the situation prevailing online and feel that their own image is too lamentable, that there is too much praise for South Korea, Japan, America and the West. They imagine articles leaning in a different direction, that can be written in such a way as to suit the online style and earn approving eyes, and that they might, if energetically promoted, bring some balance or even turn the tide of public opinion in their favour. For the authorities, this is a kind of Operation Rescue, and there is no time to consider its implications more carefully.
But this term, “positive energy,” has been utterly befouled. It has become a political correctness utterly devoid of principle. And as a direct consequence people not only hold the concept itself in low regard, but beyond this look down on the authorities themselves, who have seen fit to elevate [online propagandists] like Zhou Xiaoping (周小平) so solemnly. The inference people draw from this is that the authorities have a weak capacity, insofar as they are incapable of finding writers of better quality.
Actually, in most places in the world, when people talk about positive energy they mean pretty much the same thing — those things that warm our hearts like a ray of sunshine. In any country in the world, regardless of its political system, regardless of the complexion of its people, love is something invariable. Without love, there is no positive energy. To politicise positive energy, and to uphold as champions of positive energy a group of hacks who will say anything in the pursuit of political correctness — this might deceive fools who lack any basic common sense, but the losses ultimately outweigh the gains.
In the end, public opinion cannot be swayed by the lowliest of fools. They are credulous and fickle. And never in history have they won the day.

Chinese lawyer and former CMP fellow Pu Zhiqiang will face trial in Beijing today on charges of “inciting ethnic hatred” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” stemming from a series of posts he made to social media between July 2011 and May 2014.
The circumstances of Pu Zhiqiang’s case clearly indicate that this is a political witch-hunt meant to silence one of China’s most outspoken advocates for social and legal reform. We will all be watching the case closely.
The following is a comment on Pu’s case posted late last night by Taiwanese writer and former cultural minister Lung Ying-tai.

The sun will be up soon!
The lawyer Pu Zhiqiang is a courageous and principled citizen of China. Today at 9AM, he will be brought before the Beijing Second Intermediate People’s Court to face trial.
The judge should understand that all the Chinese people of the world will be waiting for this 9AM, waiting and watching: Under the greatness of the “Chinese Dream,” how will the machinery of the state handle Pu Zhiqiang and the 600 words that he wrote?
That’s right, Beijing, please show us what you do. We want to know just how civilised this “Chinese Dream” of yours is.
Lung Ying-tai (3:10AM)

Just over a year ago, leaders from tech firms around the globe converged on the ancient canal town of Wuzhen, in China’s Zhejiang province, for the 1st World Internet Conference (WIC). At the event, which Reuters dubbed China’s “online coming-out party,” Internet industry leaders from China rubbed shoulders with executives from Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Samsung — to name just a few — as well as attendees on Internet governance, such as Fadi Chehade, president and chief executive of the non-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
If China’s agenda in establishing the WIC “summit” was unclear to anyone at the start, it became unsettlingly clear after the Chinese hosts slipped a draft declaration under the hotel room doors of attendees on the eve of the conference’s final day, hoping to rush through a “consensus” on the need to establish “an international Internet governance system of multilateralism, democracy and transparency” that would “respect [the] Internet sovereignty of all countries.”

[ABOVE: “Xi Jinping, Painted Portrait,” photo by Thierry Ehrmann available at Flickr.com under Creative Commons license.]
Internet sovereignty, or cybersovereignty, is now a central policy concept for the Chinese Communist Party in dealing with the Internet. And the concept will be the unquestioned theme from the get-go at this year’s World Internet Conference, to be held once again in Wuzhen from December 16–18: “An Interconnected World Shared and Governed By All: Building a Cyberspace Community of Shared Destiny.”
Last year’s event apparently had something of a slapped-together feel. That’s understandable, perhaps, when you consider it was China’s first official international summit on the Internet. But there have obviously been hiccups this year too. The first announcement for the event came in late September, and said the conference would be begin on October 28. This was eventually pushed back six weeks. (Could international guests not make it on such short notice?)
The WIC, it seems, is still a bewildering work in progress. Don’t believe me? Go to their English-language website and scroll across the content tabs.
Click on “Sponsors” and you get “Coming Soon.” Click on “EXPO” and you get “Coming Soon.’ Click on “Partners” and you get “Coming Soon.”
But of course, the 2nd World Internet Conference is just around the corner. So, how soon is soon?
What about the conference agenda? There’s a special tab for that on the WIC website too. Let’s have a look . . . Oh.

Well, fortunately we have China’s trusted state media to tell us everything we want to know. And today, in anticipation of the upcoming World Internet Conference, the “Studying Xi on the Road” column is devoted to Xi Jinping’s utterances concerning the Internet.
Enjoy.

Studying Xi On The Road (学习路上): Xi Jinping’s “Web View”: Working to Build an Strong Internet Power, the Fruits Benefitting the People
People’s Daily Online / December 8, 2015
The Internet is one of the great inventions of the 20th century, turning the world into a “global village,” and profoundly changing people’s basic production and living conditions. As a term, the Internet has featured highly in the speeches of Xi Jinping, [with such utterances as] “letting the 1.3 billion people of China benefit from the fruits of Internet development,” “the Internet is not a ‘realm outside the law,’” and “without cybersecurity there is no national security.” These involve both practical considerations and strategic considerations.
The 2nd World Internet Conference (Wuzhen Summit) will be held in Wuzhen, in Zhejiang province, from December 16 to 18. In light of this, “Studying Xi On The Road” will look back with you at Xi Jinping’s “Web View.”
1. Building a Strong Internet Power (建设网络强国)

“Cybersecurity and informatisation concern national security and national development, and are a major strategic issue for the work and lives of the masses. [We] must, starting from major international and domestic trends, make overall arrangements, coordinate various aspects, and seek innovation and development, working hard to build our nation as a strong internet power.” — February 27, 2014, Xi Jinping addresses the first conference of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs

“Strategic deployments for the building of [China as] an internet power must proceed in step with the struggle toward the ‘Two Centenary Goals’, with steady progress toward basic popularisation of Internet infrastructure, the strengthening of our capacity for basic innovation, the full development of the digital economy, and strong cybersecurity protections.” — February 27, 2014, Xi Jinping addresses the first conference of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs
“China is now actively promoting Internet construction, so that the 1.3 billion people of China benefit from the fruits of Internet development.” — November 19, 2014, Xi Jinping’s message of congratulation to the 1st World Internet Conference

2. Safeguarding Cybersecurity

“Internet and information security are matters of national security and social stability, and they are a new comprehensive challenge that we face.” — November 15, 2013, Xi Jinping in “Explanations Concerning ‘Decision of the CCCPC on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms’”

“Without cybersecurity there can be no national security; without informatisation there can be no modernisation.” — February 27, 2014, Xi Jinping addresses the first conference of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs
“Cybersecurity and informatisation are two wings on a single body, two driving wheels, and they must work together, be deployed together, be advanced together, and be implemented together. To properly do the work of cybersecurity and informatisation, [we] must properly handle the relationship between security and development, ensuring they are coordinated and advance together, so that security guarantees development and development guarantees security, and we make efforts for the long-term and secure growth of the industry.” — February 27, 2014, Xi Jinping addresses the first conference of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs
“In the world today, the Internet raises new challenges for national autonomy, security and development, and we must meet these seriously. Although the Internet is highly global in nature, the autonomy of no country must be encroached upon in the information sphere. Even as Internet technology continues to develop, the information autonomy of no country can be violated. In the information sphere, there are no double standards, and every country [has the right] to defend its own information security. It must not be the case that one country is secure while others are not, or that some countries are secure while some others are not. Nor can [a country] seek its own so-called absolute security while sacrificing the security of other nations.” — July 16, 2014, Xi Jinping speech to National Congress of Brazil
“As one of the great inventions of the 20th century, the Internet has made the world a ‘global village,’ profoundly changing people’s basic production and living conditions and promoting social development, and it is highly global in its character. However, this ‘new frontier’ (新疆域) is not ‘a realm outside the law,’ and it too must respect rule of law, it too must preserve national autonomy, security and development interests.” — September 22, 2015, Xi Jinping in an interview with the Wall Street Journal
3. Grasping Core Technologies

“To build an internet power, [we] must have our own technologies, technology of the highest quality; [we] must have full and comprehensive information services, and a rich and developed Internet culture; [we] must have a sound information infrastructure, creating a strong information economy.” — February 27, 2014, Xi Jinping addresses the first conference of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs
“Information technologies and the level of [Internet] industry development determine the level of development of informatisation. [We] must strengthen independent innovation of core technologies and the building of basic infrastructure, raising our capacity in terms of information gathering, handling, dissemination, use and security, ensuring the people benefit.” — February 27, 2014, Xi Jinping addresses the first conference of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs
“In many ways, scientific and technological strength determine changes in terms of where [a nation] stands politically and economically in the world, and it determines too the fate of the people of various nations.” — June 9, 2014, Xi Jinping speech to the Chinese Academy of Engineerring general assembly at the 17th Academic Conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
“Only with core technologies in our own hands can we truly grasp the initiative in competition and development, and only this way can we ensure national economic security, national defence and other forms of security from the roots.” — June 9, 2014, Xi Jinping speech to the Chinese Academy of Engineerring general assembly at the 17th Academic Conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

4. A Clear and Bright Online Space

“[We] must consolidate and strengthen [the Party’s] mainstream ideas and public opinion, carrying forward the main theme (弘扬主旋律), spreading positive energy (传播正能量), exciting among the whole society a great strength in moving forward. Most critical is raising quality and properly grasping the timing, degree and effectiveness [of information], increasing its attractiveness and infectiousness , so that the masses love to listen to and watch it, and [so that they] develop a sense of resonance, giving full play to positive propaganda in inspiring and motivating people.” — August 19, 2013, Xi Jinping to the National Propaganda Work Conference

“[We must] persist in the active use, scientific development and legal management [of the Internet]. With the guiding principle of ensuring security, we must increase the intensity of legal management of the Internet, and improve our leadership system for Internet management (互联网管理领导体制).” — November 15, 2013, Xi Jinping in “Explanations Concerning ‘Decision of the CCCPC on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms’”
“Properly conducting public opinion work online is a long-term task, and [we] must innovate and improve our online propaganda, using the principles of Internet communication, carrying forward the main theme, exciting positive energy, and energetically fostering and fulfilling the socialist core values, ensuring a good grasp of the timing, degree and effectiveness of online public opinion channeling, so that the online space becomes clear and bright.” — February 27, 2014, Xi Jinping addresses the first conference of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs

[NOTE: Two sections following, on “gathering Internet talent” and “increasing international cooperation,” are not translated.]

On Friday, during a summit with African leaders in Johannesburg, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged 60 billion dollars of development funding for the continent over the next three years. News of this astonishing generosity — for so it was portrayed in China’s state media — made the rounds online the very same day that the president’s African tour was covered with notable Xi Jinping monomania in the official People’s Daily newspaper.
With China’s senior leadership, wound tightly around Xi Jinping, sending a clear message that “improper discussion” of central Party policies will not be tolerated, and with a pall of silence hanging over the domestic media, criticising the gift to Africa is probably ill-advised.