For decades, the Chinese Communist Party has controlled the nation’s public opinion through the Ministry of Propaganda, blocking what it considers “negative news” and suppressing the true speech of the people.
For decades, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has controlled the nation’s public opinion through its Propaganda Department, shutting down what it considers “negative news” and suppressing the true speech of the people. Recently, WikiLeaks leaked internal directives from the Ministry of Propaganda to ban reports or delete articles and posts from the Chinese media before the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Mainland netizens have dubbed the Ministry of Propaganda and a series of other speech censors as the “Ministry of Truth.
Wikileaks: Internal Instructions from the Ministry of Propaganda in April 2008
According to Wikileaks, the Ministry of Propaganda issued 40 directives in April 2008, mainly focusing on the blocking of the Tibetan protests, the distortion of the Olympic torch relay, and the manipulation of the Carrefour boycott.
- The Communist Party of China (CPC) ordered to block the Tibetan “3.14 Riot Incident”
The main focus of the month was the CCP’s attack on the Tibetan leader-in-exile, the Dalai Lama, because of the March 14 incident, which the CCP accused of being a “premeditated and elaborate plan” by the Dalai clique.
In terms of content, the Ministry of Propaganda issued directives from April 1-3, 8, 11, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 25-27. The CAC requested to strengthen the guidance of online public opinion regarding the incident and asked all websites to uniformly forward articles from the People’s Daily and Xinhua News Agency.
(Screenshot from Wikileaks)
The March 14, 2008, demonstration in Lhasa, Tibet, sparked by Tibetans protesting against Chinese Communist rule, was the largest protest in 20 years. Communist officials said 10 people died, and the Tibetan government-in-exile said it received information that 100 Tibetans had been killed by Communist military and police.
- Olympic-related bans
The Chinese Ministry of Propaganda issued bans on Olympic-related coverage on April 11, 16, and 19.
April 11: All news websites that mention the Olympic torchbearers as armed police fighters were removed.
(Screenshot from Wikileaks)
At the time, media reported that the use of armed police officers in the Olympic torch relay drew opposition from countries such as Australia and Japan, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu arguing that “these runners are volunteers.
April 11: The article “Chinese company involved in Greek doping case under investigation” was immediately removed from various websites.
At the time, the Chinese media reported that a Chinese company may have supplied the Greek national weightlifting team with supplements containing banned ingredients in the scandal in which 11 people failed doping tests, and admitted to sending an apology letter to the team for the incident.
- Directives to manipulate public opinion on the Carrefour boycott
On April 7, 2008, Jin Jing, a disabled female athlete from mainland China, was attacked while escorting the Olympic torch in Paris, causing many “patriots” to boycott Carrefour (a French company). At the time, Jin Jing’s “heroic act” was widely reported in the official media, and she received the support of a large number of water forces and some netizens.
After that, the Ministry of Propaganda issued instructions on how to report on the boycott of Carrefour on April 18, 19, 20 and 28.
April 18: “All websites around the world should be appropriately cooled down to prevent it from getting out of control and affecting domestic stability”, such as “to protect the patriotic enthusiasm of netizens who support the Olympics, oppose Tibetan independence, and denounce Western media reports and statements. To point the finger at CNN and a few other Western media.” “To adequately and flexibly guide netizens’ discussions on the boycott of Carrefour and the boycott of French goods.”
(Screenshot from Wikileaks)
April 20: The boycott of Carrefour has attracted “attention from the central leadership” and instructions to “use the Internet, SMS and media to guide” and “delete negative information in a timely manner and strengthen the monitoring of public opinion.”
(Screenshot from Wikileaks)
From these instructions, it seems that the Chinese Communist Party incited people’s nationalist sentiment in the Carrefour case and manipulated the development of the whole case.
- No headline coverage of Chen Liangyu’s case
April 11: News about the verdict of Chen Liangyu’s case was not reported in the headlines. It was also requested to “strengthen the guidance and management of the followers of forums and blogs, and promptly delete all kinds of information that take the opportunity to attack the government.”
Chen Liangyu, a former Shanghai Party Secretary and a key member of the “Shanghai Gang,” was sentenced to 18 years in prison on April 11, 2008, for “bribery, abuse of power and negligence.
At the same time, the Chinese Ministry of Propaganda issued a ban on all kinds of breaking news. For example, various websites quickly deleted the article “Peng Yu case final mediation inside a mystery”; information about the mass incident at the Chaihe Forestry Bureau was not reported, and did not appear on forums and blogs; the article “Hefei: Primary school students detonate big protest” was quickly deleted; and instructions were given on how to report on the stock market, etc.
Wikileaks: Internal Instructions from the Chinese Propaganda Department in May 2008
According to WikiLeaks, as many as 50 directives were issued by the Chinese Propaganda Department in May 2008.
The bans before May 12 were mainly for various events, including directives issued by the CAC on May 1, 2 and 8 for news coverage of Tibet.
After May 12, the directives from the Ministry of Propaganda focused on the Wenchuan earthquake, which struck Sichuan’s Wenchuan County on May 12, a magnitude 8 earthquake.
12th: “Regarding Sichuan earthquake propaganda, online commentators should use blogs, forums and other columns to guide online speech”; “All local websites should strengthen online opinion monitoring and establish a 24-hour duty system.”
14: “Don’t focus online on the damage to school buildings and student casualties in the disaster area, but focus more on the damage and casualties to party and government organs, industrial and mining enterprises and institutions in the coming days.”
(WikiLeaks screenshot)
15th: The websites immediately deleted the article of “Southern Daily”, “Reporters hiked 12 hours into Yingxiu: mudslides everywhere and the smell of corpses floating all the way”.
16th: Websites immediately deleted the article “Save Zipingpu” published by the 21st Century Business Herald.
21: Websites immediately deleted the article “What makes Russian rescue workers so angry”.
(WikiLeaks screenshot)
At the time, an online article said that when the Russian rescue team rescued the first survivor, one of the team members yelled at the camera in anger. Why? Because the camera’s glare was pointed right at the survivor’s eyes. The Russian team members then closed the door behind them, and CCTV reporter Xu Bo went so far as to enter the operating room to force an interview during the live broadcast.
23: Immediately clean up negative information on the internet about the then Gansu Secretary Lu Hao, Sichuan Secretary Liu Qibao, and Sichuan Mianyang Secretary Tan Li’s ineffectiveness in fighting the earthquake.
(Screenshot from Wikileaks)
Judging from the directives regarding the earthquake, the CCP controlled the entire public opinion coverage and propaganda, immediately removing real reports and negative information from the media, and reporting only the news it wanted the public to see.
According to official figures released by the Chinese Communist Party, 68,712 people were killed in the Wenchuan earthquake. But civilians generally question the veracity of this figure, believing that the actual number of casualties was higher than the official figure.
WikiLeaks: Internal Instructions from the Chinese Propaganda Ministry, June-August 2008
According to WikiLeaks, from June to August 2008, until the opening of the Olympics on August 8, the Chinese Propaganda Ministry issued many internal directives, mostly related to the Olympics itself. One of these directives involved then-CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao, whose speech-related reports were asked to be removed.
June 3: On May 30, the Communist Party’s official media, People’s Daily Online, reprinted a message that Hu Jintao suggested that cross-strait athletes carry the sacred flame into the Olympic opening ceremony. The websites immediately checked this message, pressed it into the background, and after at least three pages, stopped and cleaned up the followers. all followers were cleared on the morning of the 3rd.
(WikiLeaks screenshot)
June 3: Websites delete “netizens expect compatriots across the Taiwan Strait to hold the Olympic torch together” and other related messages as soon as possible. news followers, forums, blogs and other interactive columns do not discuss or repost.
July 10: “Heating up! Heating up! Heating up! Now the online Olympic atmosphere is far from the central ‘rapidly warming up’ requirements, the implementation of each website around the world, news sites compared to CCTV, commercial sites compared to Sohu.com!” .
(WikiLeaks screenshot)
On August 8, 2008, the 29th Summer Olympic Games were held in Beijing.
The Chinese Ministry of Propaganda issued a ban on the same day: the website will gymnastics competition “China stable, wrestling Japan”, Lin Dan posed to refuse interviews, Brazil coach wrestling menu, and Rudd’s ancestors are all thieves related reports pressed to the background.
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