Since Xi Jinping became general secretary of the Communist Party, he has been sparing no effort to tighten ideological control. A national English speech contest for Chinese university students used to focus on topics closely related to their lives, either about adversity or Chinese culture; this year, however, the topic was “Red Star Over China,” asking participants to sing praises to the Party. This year’s topic was “Red Star Over China,” which required participants to sing praises to the Party, causing widespread discontent among university students; the authorities even removed all critical or sarcastic comments from the Internet. (Fang Dehao reports)
“The “National Talent Cup English Speech Contest” is organized by the Foreign Studies Society, a publishing house affiliated with Beijing Foreign Studies University; the preliminary rounds are held from June to October; the provincial finals are held before November 8; and the national finals are held from December 6 to 10.
Netizens have bluntly denounced the organizers for directly starting to sing praises to the party this year and train a new generation of party spokespersons. Meanwhile, online criticism and even ironic comments have been deleted, and the Chinese intranet is basically banned.
Red Star Over China, also known as A Journey to the West, is the work of Edgar Snow, an American pro-Communist journalist who described the Chinese Communist Party to Western readers while it was still in guerrilla status.
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