Speaking of the “Fifty Cents Party,” the following article was published on China Youth Daily on November 30, 2009, excerpts translated by CDT:
League Cadres Establish an Internet Department, Build a Corps of Commentators that Work “Undercover” on Internet Forums to Provide a “Window Into the Communist Youth League”
China Youth Daily: Zhoukou City Serves and Guides the Youth in Creating a New Internet SpaceZhu Liangcai (朱良才), Secretary of the Zhoukou Communist Youth League Committee
“The reason we don’t use our true identity while communicating with netizens is because by not revealing our identity we allow them to feel our mutual equality, and avoid creating a feeling of opposition. At the same time the work can be smoothly accomplished without revealing what goes on behind the scenes; this achieves very good results.”
The Inside Story Behind Why the Book, The Six Why’s*, Sold So Well in Zhoukou
Recently, Xinhua bookstores in Zhoukou had a book that was selling extremely well, and even sold out at one point. This hot-selling book, entitled The Six Whys, mainly explains why our nation must continue to be led by the Chinese Communist Party, why only socialism can save China, and other major political questions. According to a salesperson at a Xinhua bookstore, these types of political books did not sell very well in the past. So how could a political book, the type of book that would normally be neglected, suddenly become a book that everyone was crazy about? This is best explained by first describing an internet posting.
On July 10, on Zhoukou’s “Longdu Community” online forum (BBS) a netizen whose screen name was Qun Yan Tang** posted a comment. In his posting, he recommended a book about politics entitled The Six Why’s. Right after it was posted, it attracted the attention of netizens, quickly garnering more than 3000 hits. A netizen who went by the name of “Cherishing Sunday” stated: “People should read this book. Our generation of young people should really study these kinds of books to reinforce their political beliefs.” But at the same time, some netizens had inappropriate discussions; however, the author of the [original] posting would, in a timely manner, use his own words to tell netizens about the problems explained by the book. After fierce debates, a lot of netizens posted back and wrote, “people definitely have to read this book.”
However, what most netizens, and even many members of the city’s Communist Youth League Committee did not know, was that the author of the post, Qun Yan Tang, was actually Zhu Liangcai, the Secretary of the Zhoukou City Communist Youth League.“The reason we don’t use our true identity while communicating with netizens is because by not revealing our identity we allow them to feel our mutual equality, and avoid creating a feeling of opposition. At the same time the work can be smoothly accomplished without revealing what goes on behind the scenes; this achieves very good results.”
On December 11, 2008, Zhoukou held a working meeting to discuss young adults. At that meeting, Mao Chaofeng, the Secretary of the Zhoukou City Committee of the Communist Party strongly encouraged all levels of youth league organizations, and all league cadres to use the internet to strengthen the ideological education of young adults, to guide the “internet generation”, and to guide netizens to dedicate their active efforts to the development of Zhoukou and the progress of society.In response to the new mandate issued by the City Committee to develop the Communist Youth League’s work of using the internet to guide young adults’ thinking, in January of this year, the city’s Communist Youth League Committee established an internet department. The purpose of the department is to use the internet to grasp trends of opinions among young adults and at the same time, to use the internet to organize, guide, and serve the body of young adults.
According to Mao Lei, Head of the Internet Department of the Zhoukou City Communist Youth League Committee, cadres of the Youth League all sign into “Longdu Community” where Zhoukou’s young netizens gather. After signing in, they fulfill league cadre responsibilities on the internet.
“We usually participate in online discussions using the identity of an ordinary netizen. When there are uncivilized acts or inappropriate discussions, we actively admonish [those who wrote the comments],” stated Mao Lei. “Aside from this, we put a lot of emphasis on the work of guiding the opinions of young people, expressing correct opinions about hot current events in a timely manner.”
Chen Zhijie, Deputy Secretary of the Zhoukou City Youth League Committee stated that in order for the work to be done in a thorough manner, the Youth League selected more than fifty young internet users from throughout the city to form a corps of internet commentators. These young people had a high level of political consciousness, and good communication skills. By assuming the identity of regular netizens and using Fetion and QQ [Tencent’s instant messaging service], they interact with other young adults, proactively create hot topics that netizens care about, engage in positive guidance, explain points of confusion, and guide young people to be civilized, healthy, active, and to keep moving forward.
*See: http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/06/the-six-whys/
** Qun Yan Tang literally means: 1. To allow everybody to air his/her view; 2. speak one’s mind freely中国青年报：周口引导服务青少年有了网络新空间
新闻日期： 2009年11月30日 14:14:11设网络部建网友评论员队伍团干“潜伏”论坛开“共青视窗”
周口引导服务青少年有了网络新空间
团周口市委书记朱良才“我们之所以不使用真实身份和网友交流，是因为这样更能让网友感觉到我们相互的平等，避免网友们产生抵触情绪，同时，工作也‘不显山不露水’的顺利完成，还能得到很好的效果。”
《六个为什么》在周口热销的内幕
近段时间，周口市新华书店有一本书卖得非常火，并且一度断货。这本名为《六个为什么》的热销书主要阐述我国为什么要坚持中国共产党的领导、为什么只有社会主义才能救中国等重大政治问题。而据新华书店售货员反映，像这样的政治性书籍，以前不是很畅销。为什么一度受冷的政治性书籍一下子被大家追捧得火热？这还得从网上的一篇帖子说起。
7月10日，周口“龙都社区”上出现了一篇网友“群言堂”的帖子，他在帖子中给广大网友推荐一本叫做《六个为什么》的政治性图书。此帖一出，立即引起了网友的关注，帖子的点击率也很快超过了3000人次。一个名叫“怀念星期天”的网友表示：“应该看，我们青年一代很应该学习这类书籍，坚定自己的政治信仰。”但同时也有些网友发出了一些不当的言论，而帖子的作者及时地用自己话的把书中阐述的问题反复告诉给网友，经过激烈争论，很多网友回帖，“一定要看看这本书”。
而众多网友包括很多团市委的工作人员不知道的是，帖子的作者“群言堂”其实正是团周口市委书记朱良才。
“我们之所以不使用真实身份和网友交流，是因为这样更能让网友感觉到我们相互的平等，避免网友们产生抵触情绪，同时，工作也‘不显山不露水’的顺利完成，还能得到很好的效果。”朱良才说。
2008年12月11日，在该市的青年工作会议上，中共周口市委书记毛超峰明确提出各级团组织和团干部要在网络信息社会，学会运用网络手段加强青年思想教育，引领“网络一代”，引导网民为周口发展、社会进步贡献积极力量。
针对市委提出的利用网络引导青少年思潮、开展共青团工作这一新要求，今年1月，团周口市委专门成立了网络部，通过网络来把握青少年思想动向，同时，运用网络手段，组织、引导、服务广大青年。
据团周口市委网络部部长毛磊介绍，按照网络部要求，团市委机关干部全部在周口青年网友聚集的网络场所“龙都社区”注册网名，在网络上履行团干部的职责。
“我们平时都是以一名普通网友的身份参与网上讨论，针对一些不文明的行为和不当言论，我们都要积极进行规劝，”毛磊说，“除此之外，我们还十分注重对青年舆论的引导工作，及时针对时事热点发表正确的言论。”
团周口市委副书记陆志杰介绍说，为了使工作做到深入，团市委还在全市范围内选拔了50余名政治素质高、沟通能力强的青少年网友组成网络评论员队伍，通过飞信群、QQ群，以普通网友的身份与广大青少年网友进行交流，主动打造网友关心的热点话题，进行正面引导、解疑释惑、引导青年网友向文明、健康、积极、向上的方向发展。
