Officials will expand the use of government spokespeople, boost the overseas reach of state media, and further promote the use of microblogs to interact with the public, Wang Chen told reporters.

“In this new year, we will adopt an even more open attitude and even more forceful policies,” Wang said.

[...] Wang said news and information about government’s day-to-day activities as well as emergency responses would be expanded and systematized. Spokesmen would receive intensified training with an emphasis on obtaining first-hand information rather than simply passing on information from other departments, he said.

[...] Wang said the government would compel those opening new microblog accounts in Beijing and other major cities to use their real names and other information. The requirement would later be expanded to cover those with existing accounts, he said… “Our only purpose is to ensure the rapid, healthy expansion of the Chinese Internet,” he said.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Internet control, propaganda, transparency
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The Pike incident was not the most extreme case of police overreaction against OWS demonstrators (Oakland occupies the pole position here) and Li Qiming’s desperate, drunken bravado (if it actually occurred) was not the most heinous display of princeling impunity in China.

But they were neat, irrefutable morality plays starring blatantly abusive villains and unambiguously innocent, tragic victims. They validated convictions and attitudes that until then had lacked clear illustrations of who the bad and good guys were ….

Incidents like the Li Gang affair (and the handling of events after a high-speed train crash of July 23, 2011, which provoked a similar outpouring of righteous indignation), apparently provoked some soul-searching within China’s official Internet apparatus.

However, confronted with the defiance and invincible ingenuity of China’s netizens, China’s cyber-establishment did not respond to the futility of censorship with surrender. For the time being, the CCP … still believes that the role of the state is to give overt guidance to a captive Internet.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Internet control, Internet culture, Li Gang, Li Qiming, Occupy Wall Street, perry link, United States, Xiao Qiang
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With nearly half a billion people surfing the net in China, more than half of them using microblogs, the Internet has quickly become a vital forum for debate in the world’s most populous country — and a major sounding board.

That fact has obviously registered with the country’s Communist leaders, who pay careful attention to the conversations that unfold online despite the heavy government restrictions on what can and cannot be discussed in cyberspace.

Enter the “web commentators” who, either anonymously or using pseudonyms, spread politically correct arguments — many of them for money. Who are these high-tech propaganda wizards, infiltrating blogs, news sites and chat rooms?

“It is very mysterious… these people don’t talk to the media! Everyone is just guessing,” Jeremy Goldkorn, editor of the China media website Danwei.org, told AFP.

Imprisoned artist and activist Ai Weiwei conducted a lengthy interview by phone and email with a Fifty Cent Party member, which provides some insight into the work performed. China Media Project translates:

Question: How do you describe yourself the work you’re now doing?

Answer: My basic job is working for Internet media, but I don’t do journalism per se. Mostly I handle entertainment events, and from time to time I’ll go out and conduct interviews and things like that. Because I spend a lot of time on the Internet, I can do this online commentary work (网评的工作) as a part-time gig. Whatever you want to call it is fine — Internet commentator (网络评论员), public opinion channeler (舆论导向员), or even the “50-cent Party” (五毛党) everyone is so familiar with.

Question: What sort of conditions and qualifications are required of public opinion channelers?

Answer: I’m not sure what qualifications and such are required for other Internet commentators. When I started doing this, it was all just through the help and connections of this friend. All I did was provide proof of identity, and there weren’t any special or rigorous qualifications or conditions. Personally, I think to do this you need a definite degree of competency with language, because you have to write constantly.

Question: Did you go through any special work training? And if so, what specifically did it involve?

Answer: No, my friend just introduced the basics of the work process.

Question: What are the standards or criteria that govern the work?

Answer: I’m not sure how to answer that. Actually, there are no standards. If there are, I would have to say it’s understanding clearly what the guiding ideology of your superiors is (上级的指导思想). You first get a clear sense of what the public opinion orientation is up top, then you start your own work.

Read much more about the Fifty Cent Party via CDT.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: fifty cent party, Internet control, online public opinion
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Hu told a meeting attended by top Communist Party leaders that despite rising prosperity, China was facing deepening social conflicts that would test the party’s ability to maintain firm control.

Hu did not mention the Internet-fed unrest that has shaken authoritarian governments across the Middle East and unseated Egypt’s long-time President Hosni Mubarak. But he told Chinese officials they needed to come to grips with “virtual society” in their nation with some 450 million Internet users.

“At present, our country has an important strategic window for development, but is also in a period of magnified social conflicts,” Hu told the meeting at the Central Party School in northwest Beijing, which trains rising leaders.

Among the steps Beijing had to take to counter these risks, Hu said, one was “further strengthening and improving management of the Internet, improving the standard of management of virtual society, and establishing mechanisms to guide online public opinion.”

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Hu Jintao, Internet control
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People’s Network (Renmin Wang), Beijing, 1/28 (by: Yang Tiehu): With the spring festival approaching and the spirit of the season intensifying, the Internet has become filled with jubilance for the New Year.

Under the leadership of the State Council Information Office, and with the warm response of websites from all areas, the coming days will see the opening of the “First Annual National Exhibition of Heartwarming Blogs and Online Posts.” This activity will be a grand online holiday affair offered to people across the nation during celebrations for the Year of the Rabbit. It will use rich and colorful online cultural productions to create a strong festive atmosphere. It will reflect the happy welcome that the vast population of Internet users extends to the New Year, and the wonderful experience those users have celebrating this joyous holiday. It will also reflect the prosperity and peace of the nation and its people, and raise up delightful scenes of the nation’s jubilant celebration.

On January 28, responsible officials from the Internet Affairs Bureau of the State Council News and Information Office informed People’s Network reporters that the activity would be formally unveiled on February 2nd. All sorts of “tear-jerking,” “heartwarming,” and “hilarious” New Year’s messages, created by Internet users, will be widely displayed and disseminated. Each day, participating blog websites and forums will issue related headlines on their front pages. Until February 18th, they will recommend good messages for Internet users to read.

The websites will offer original, mostly recent creations, including written, photographic, video, and comic works. Their messages will emphasize respecting the elderly and cherishing the young; assisting those in difficulty; showing compassion; extending kindness; enthusiastically promoting the public welfare; taking pleasure in assisting others; improving customs and habits; and celebrating the holiday in a civilized fashion. They will be captured by recording vivid practices of our people that promote the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation and create the core value system of Socialism. The messages will spread to the people poignant examples of unselfish contributions to others, to society, and to the nation, showing how the public moves from solitary happiness to communal happiness, and from the inner family circle to a lively realm where all are contented. They will reflect our contemporary view of stable unity, social harmony, and universal renewal, and create a warm and jubilant holiday atmosphere.

On the basis of website promotion, the activity will unfold with various pieces including “Top Ten Heartwarming Blogs,” “Top Ten Heartwarming Posts,” excellent blogs, and excellent posts, chosen by online users and specialists.

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Internet control, propaganda, SCIO, spring festival 2011
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I have always had a pretty good relationship with NetEase.*  The news section of their website frequently posts articles I’ve written.  Four years ago I quietly started a blog on NetEase.  Afterwards, a NetEase editor sent me a letter inviting me to start a blog, to which I responded that I already had.  Thereafter, the editor took it upon herself to repost articles from my other blogs.  This practice has continued to the present.  They often promote articles I’ve written on my blog which has greatly increased the number of hits I get.  Because of this, I’ve always felt a great sense of gratitude towards this website.

Going into the latter half of 2009, however, the number of hits on my blog dropped off sharply.  The reason was not clear.  Netizens informed me that when they searched for my blog articles they discovered that “Zhang Lifan” had become a “sensitive word.”  I gave it a try myself.  When I searched [on NetEase] under blog titles for “Zhang Lifan” a window popped up that read: The content you have entered contains a sensitive keyword.  Displaying [the relevant search result] is prohibited!”

On July 20, 2010, my NetEase blog was blocked.  Ten days after I asked around to get a diagnosis, my blog was unblocked.  Since then, blog entries are still continually being screened at the same time as notices appear on my page stating that content on my blog is in violation of the rules and that I can apply online for an expedited review of the matter.  After I click on the button to apply to have the matter reviewed, the lock on my blog is lifted within one or two days.  However, there have also been times when the lock has not been lifted.  Recently, the screening has become more and more serious.  The language informing me that content has been screened has also changed:

“Dear user, because this entry contains content which violates the nation’s “Administration of Internet Information Services Procedures,” we cannot at this time make the content available externally.  We are keenly aware of the effort you have poured into writing this article and are keenly aware of your anxiousness to share this content with your friends.  However, this is in order to be able to continue to provide you with reliable service.  We hope that you will understand.”

The wording is pretty “humane and sympathetic,” but after this friendly reminder the button that once read “apply for review online” has disappeared.  The subtext was clear: when [we] block [you] there is nothing to discuss, and there’s also no way to complain.  I inspected the article myself and found that there was nothing in it that violated the rules.  A lot of articles that I post on my blog have already been published by the print media and can be found on other websites and blogs.  They can also be reposted by other people who have blogs on NetEase.  It looks as though my blog is enjoying “special treatment.”  They are more willing to mistakenly kill a whole article than to let even one character slip by.  An article is run through the filter of “sensitive words” and is automatically blocked if it contains any of those words.

Take my article, “K.P. Chen Sees Through Both Nationalists and Communists” for example.  This article was published in 2010 in issue 37 of New Century.  A number of websites and online forums reposted this article.  NetEase’s news center also reposted this article.  However, this same article was blocked on my personal NetEase blog.

Even though there was no real way to complain, I still had to complain somehow.  After performing a search I discovered that one can complain to the “NetEase Assistant.”  The address is:

http://help.163.com/special/007528M7/xiaoyi_intd.html?a35aqa2

So at around 12:30 on September 10, 2010 I got on this interface.  Below is my conversation with “NetEase Assistant, Little E.”

Zhang Lifan: Posts on my blog are continually being blocked.  Can you tell me whether some filtering setting has been applied [to my blog]?

Little E: Currently there are two main reasons that blogs are being blocked: the content of users’ blogs, and the conduct of users.

Content of users’ blogs: This mainly refers to spreading on one’s blog some content that violates the nation’s laws such as content that is pornographic, gory, violent, etc.  If [your blog] has been screened for this reason, then first delete the illegal content on your blog and then click the link on the message sent to you by the system that reads, “apply online” to resolve the block.

Conduct of users: This mainly refers to certain users that use the blog to send spam or use the blog to engage in personal attacks on other users or other behavior.  It also refers to users who have been reported by other users.  In these instances the system will also block [the reported user’s blog].  Please clean up the illegal content on your blog and then click on the link on the message sent to you by the system that reads, “apply online” to resolve the block.

Zhang Lifan: The content is not illegal, you’re just blocking it based on the fact that it contains certain words that are filtered.  Also, the “apply online” function has disappeared.

Little E: We have recorded your message.  Thank you for your feedback!

Zhang Lifan: The same blog post that is being blocked on my blog is being reposted on the NetEase news center.  Isn’t this a bit ridiculous?

Little E: We have recorded your message.  Thank you for your feedback!

Zhang Lifan: When can I get a real response?  Am I speaking with a robot?

Little E: I don’t understand.  Perhaps you can describe your problem one more time.  When you ask questions, please use correct grammar and avoid using incorrect characters, for example, [don’t say]: “How do blogs change their clothes.” [Note: this is an informal way of saying, “how do I change my blog’s skin, or appearance.”]

Zhang Lifan: I haven’t used incorrect grammar or incorrect characters.  It looks like there is no difference between robots and bureaucrats.  Goodbye.

Little E: Bye Bye ~ If you run into any more problems don’t forget to find me again!

The replies didn’t address my questions.  Besides constantly repeating some precompiled set phrases all I heard was, “We have recorded your message.  Thank you for your feedback.”  I was really speechless.  I could only admire. . .

After this complaint, the article “K.P. Chen Sees Through Both Nationalists and Communists” disappeared from NetEase’s news center.  One week later, the blog post of the same title was unblocked.

Apparently, the robot speaking to me was just a small time gangster; the real mob boss is the robot known as “GFW” [great firewall of China].  The GFW reigns over the virtual “Sensitive Empire of the East.”  This country is experiencing an epidemic of “sensitive-itis.”  The pathogen is a type of “super-filtered virus.”  Every netizen is a carrier of this disease.  Outbreaks are controlled by the programming of the internet.  The scale of the outbreak can be large or small depending on the mood of the mob boss.  At any time, at any place, there is always the possibility of violent outbreaks.

At this point I’m really not sure; is it us that have this disease or is it the empire that has the disease?

September 21, 2010, Wind and Rain Reading Room

* NetEase is a Chinese internet company that operates 163.com, a popular internet portal which supports a search engine, email service, news, and blogs.

** “Little E” is an automatic online interface that attempts to resolve problems people encounter when using NetEase.  The translator has verified that all the replies (and emoticons) given by “little E” are the automatic responses to Zhang Lifan’s queries.

Little E

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Internet control, netease, Zhang Lifan
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Traditionally, the propaganda department has preferred to use the telephone and face-to-face meetings to transmit its directives to editors-in-chief, who are generally selected by the department.

The idea has been to leave no paper trails and editors are often ordered not to take notes but memorise instructions and deliver them verbally.

But the advent of digital media has opened a crack in the system.

With a multiplying number of websites and media outlets to deal with, the internet monitoring department now delivers instructions via email, creating documents that are more easily leaked, said Xiao Qiang, founder of China Digital Times and adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Journalism, University of California at Berkeley.

The US-based, bilingual website CDT, which is blocked in China by the Communist Party’s great firewall, started to translate and publish a selection of these directives in March.

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Internet control, media control, Ministry of Truth, Xiao Qiang
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Hong Kong Ming Pao reports, during an Internet Oversight Meeting recently held in Beijing, the government gave orders to all Internet media about establishing a “self-discipline commissioner.” Eight websites which have micro-blogging services – Sina, Sohu, Netease, Iphonixe, Hexun, SOufang, 139Mobile and Juyou9911 – will make a commitment to set up a “self-discipline commissioner.”

Those “self-discipline commissioners” are specifically responsible for monitoring and censoring online information including porn, violence and politically-sensitive content. Although “self-discipline commissioner” is responsible to his/her own Internet media, his/her work agenda is independent from those company’s internal editorial control processes.

Please click here to read a report from Chinese domestic media.

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Internet control, Internet regulation, micro-blogs, Self-discipline Commissioner
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Following images of “fifty cent party” are being circulated among Chinese netizens and translated by CDT:

To all Party committees and departments:

On the afternoon of April 16, 2009, Xinhua Net will release information regarding “Guangdong Provincial CPPCC Chairman Chen Shaoji, Zhejiang Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission Secretary Wang Huayuan Suspected of Serious Disciplinary Violations.” In order to guide public opinion (舆论引导工作), follow the unified deployment plan proclaimed in the classroom of the [Central] Commission for Discipline and Inspection. Put forward the following requirements:

1. Each Party committee and department should organize discipline & supervision of Internet commentators to create posts regarding Chen’s and Wang’s investigation. Focus areas are Sina, People Online, other central news websites, as well as Sina, Sohu, NetEase, TenCent, and other commercial websites. Make repeated postings on [sites] containing related news or reports to guide online public opinion effectively.

2. The following are important points regarding the direction of [public opinion] guidance: (1) central authorities are extremely resolute and strong in their campaign against corruption; (2) anyone who violates discipline or the law will be thoroughly investigated, as all are equal before party guidelines and state law; (3) as regards Chen and Wang, neither blot out their former achievements, nor excuse their disciplinary violations – let achievements be achievements, and violations be violations; (4) prevent corrupt individuals previously investigated by [Chen and Wang] from using this opportunity to overturn their verdicts; (5) anti-corruption action’s reach is limitless, discipline and inspection cadre leaders who violate regulations will be investigated — this shows the Central authorities’ stance against corruption; (6) news distribution by central and provincial authorities is for the attention of the online public, etc.

3. For local websites that republish news or related reports on this story, do the work of guiding online opinion; you have the responsibility of taking care of your own territory.

4. Only post comments and follow-up comments, do not write commentaries.

5. Each Party committee and department must post at least 5 follow-up comments and one substantive post, to be reported to the regional Discipline and Inspection commission classroom.

6. Before April 25, each Party committee and department will send all posts, and also indicate the number of follow-up posts, choice posts, their length, their number of characters, their organizational clarity, and their richness of content.

How do ordinary netizens think about “fifty cent party” members and their work? Here is a spoof advertisement from the Government Scandal website, translated by CDT:

Love to hide, do not love the truth
Love to comment, also love to be highlighted
Love to guide public opinion, and love even more to pretend to be netizen
My ten fingers are black
I do not have eyes
Who am I? You cannot see me.
I am an Internet commentator
I am a member of the Fifty Cent Party

Read more about the Fifty Cent Party via CDT.

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: fifty cent party, Internet control, online public opinion
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Word leaked out slowly, spread by web-savvy folks on Twitter: Internet porn that once was blocked by Chinese government censors was now openly available.

“Are they no longer cracking down on pornographic websites? A lot of porn sites and forums are accessible,” technology blogger William Long wrote on his feed.

…Yet eight weeks later, the porn sites are still accessible. Still unanswered are questions about whether it’s an official change in policy, a technical glitch or some sort of test by the usually disapproving Chinese internet police.

…Because a dozen or so agencies regulate the Internet in China, the porn availability may have resulted from a shifting of responsibilities, said Xiao Qiang, director of the Berkeley China Internet Project at the University of California-Berkeley.

“The Great Firewall is not that serious toward blocking porn sites. It never was,” he said. The true targets, he said, include political information, current affairs, negative reports about leaders, and anything that may trigger a protest.

“That kind of information is where the censorship focus is really,” Xiao said. “Porn, they’re just halfheartedly doing it.”

Yet Xinhua insists that fighting porn remains a priority for Internet cops:

China has established a special working group for coordinating a nationwide campaign to sweep out pornography and other illegal online publications.

Officials with government agencies, including the police force and other law enforcement powers in attendance at the meeting, were asked to not only examine websites but also trace the sources of online

pornography and break the profit chain from producing online pornography and lewd information.

Operators of Internet websites, servers, telecom and even advertising agents will be under scrutiny for any pornography or lewd information spread by their services, according to a statement released at the meeting.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Internet censorship, Internet control, Online porn
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