Mr Xiao Fan served as a radio journalist for Radio Beijing from 1975 to 1988. The following is his talk given at the Nine Commentaries Forum in Melbourne, Australia June 2007. It gives an insight into how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) controls the media.
When people describe China's Xinhua News Agency's reports they would say "Nothing is true but the date. When people describe the programs of China's Central TV Station they would say "Nothing is true but 'Animal World'". Chinese people are used to the false news reports. People have even described Chinese news agencies as the Party's dog. A folk song has it: "It is a dog raised by the Party, guarding the Party's gate. It would bite anyone the Party wants it to bite, and bite however many times the Party wants it to."
Today, I am going to talk about how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has controlled the media and can the CCP be trusted.
1) Chinese Media Is the Mouthpiece of the Party and Government
In China, the media is strictly controlled by the CCP. On the first day when I went to work at Radio Beijing I was given a lecture. I was told: "Our radio is the mouthpiece of the party and government, and therefore serves to promulgate party and government policies. We must follow the party line." The newspapers and the TV stations are the same – they are all propaganda tools of the party and the government.
Now let's see how it worked. When any major event happened in China, such as the June 4 Massacre, or elsewhere in the world - for example the Iraq war - we would have briefings from the party propaganda ministry or even higher officials and they would set the tone for how we would report the issue. All the media without exception would be expected to "speak along the same lines".
For example, on April 5, 1976 people in Beijing went to Tiananmen Square to mourn the death of Premier Zhou Enlai but the authorities did not like people to morn the premier so ordered to disperse with force.
Politburo member Yao Wenyuan, who was in charge of propaganda, came to the then broadcasting administrative bureau and gave a briefing. He declared the gathering an anti-revolutionary activity. Therefore all the media directly under the central government would follow the same line. This is the central government level.
As for the local media; they have no editorial rights for those kinds of major events and they can only reprint from Xinhua News Agency. For the local major events, the media takes its instructions from the propaganda department of the local party organizations. In these media there has been only one editorial policy and that is to declare how great, how glorious and how correct the party is. Sometimes when the government or party is clearly at fault, people will simply be told to have the faith in the party and the government.
What people read, listen and watch are all decided by the party and the government. When this kind of brainwashing goes on day after day, month after month and year after year people become accustomed to it and assume that what they read, hear and watch is the truth. Even when you are wrongly accused, imprisoned or thrown into the forced labor camps you and your family would thank the CCP for its leniency when you are released.
2) The CCP Tries Every Possible Means to Block the Outside Information from Reaching the Chinese People
To make sure its lies are not exposed, the CCP has always tried to cut off all links with the outside world. In the days before the Internet, the CCP jammed the BBC, VOA, and Taiwanese radio stations, and branded these as enemy radio stations. Those who were discovered listening to these radio stations would be punished.
In the summer of 1978 I went back to Shanghai to visit my parents. One day, I switched the radio on and tuned to Radio Beijing's English broadcast. Since it was very hot inside the house I turned the volume a bit louder so that I could hear from outside the house.
Not long afterwards, the lady from our neighborhood committee came round. Since she could not understand the language she thought I was listening to a foreign radio station. She started to question me about the content. When I explained to her it was one of OUR own radio stations she was not convinced. Only when the music "East Is Red" came out of the program she was satisfied and left.
When satellite TV and the Internet came into being, people outside China thought that the Chinese people could access information freely now. They have been proven wrong. The CCP screened the Internet content with what they called the "Golden Shield" firewall which screens out all the so-called "sensitive" topics.
Installing a satellite dish is illegal in China. Individuals receive a 5,000 yuan fine and organizations a 50,000 yuan fine for installing a dish. In the absence of any alternatives, people still read what the party allows them to read from the Internet and continue to watch CCTV.
3) The Effectiveness of the Brainwashing-type Propaganda
I think a lot of you still remember the June 4th Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. I was working at Radio Australia so I am not qualified to talk too much about the massacre itself. I only want to tell you how effective the CCP's brainwashing-type of propaganda was.
We received thousands of letters from China. All the letters from Beijing described the massacre they had seen or experienced. These listeners all accused the CCP and the government of murdering its own people with guns and tanks. Some listeners described vividly how people were shot dead around them. As a matter of fact the deputy director of Radio Beijing's Russian Department was shot dead on his way back from work.
However, those listeners from other parts of the country all believed the version in the Chinese media. There was no one killed and in their letters they enclosed a lot of local newspaper clippings accusing the "mob" of anti-revolutionary activities and claiming that the students attacked the soldiers.
Here are some more examples of the CCP manipulating news. When SARS occurred in China the Chinese media covered up the facts for a long period, and then when it could not cover up the true situation any more it admitted the existence of the epidemic. The strategy then switched to blanket coverage of how much the party and the government concerned about people's welfare, and that under the direct leadership of the Party, SARS would be brought under control and finally eliminated.
In the current campaign to wipe out Falun Gong, the CCP, on the one hand, has mobilized all the media and bombarded the Chinese people with fabricated stories to demonize Falun Gong and scare people, so that they will shun Falun Gong practitioners; and on the other, destroyed all the Falun Gong books and materials so that people have no way check whether what the media says is true or not. With no other source of information, many people believe what the media says.
The recent visit to Australia by the Tibetan Spiritual Leader the Dalai Lama reminded me a lesson I learned earlier in life. When I first came to Australia in 1988 I had a chat with one of my neighbors. During our conversation he mentioned that the Chinese army and police beat up the Tibetans. Without any hesitation and without thinking I said: "no, that is not true". Only when he invited me to go inside his home and showed me the footage he taped from western television was I convinced it was real.
Back in China, the CCP always described the Dalai Lama as a separatist who tried to split China. In a word he is a bad guy. On the other hand the Chinese media would tell people how kindly the CCP rules Tibet and how kindly the Chinese Army treats the local Tibetans. The Chinese people do not know how popular the Spiritual Leader is around the world and the justice of his cause.
4) CCP's Media Has Always Said that Socialism Is a Better System than Capitalism Which Is Decadent, Corrupt And Doomed. Socialism Will Prevail Over Capitalism
I was born after the CCP took over power in 1949 and was brainwashed by the 'education' I received when growing up. Therefore I always believed what I had learned was the truth and never had doubts about what the CCP told us.
After the Cultural Revolution all the intellectuals including teachers and students of higher learning must go to the so-called cadre school to temper ourselves through labor. In 1974 I went to a cadre school in Fengyang County, Anhui Province. We all stayed at local peasants' homes. I was very shocked to see how poor the peasants were. It was a mud house.
Inside the house there was no normal furniture as I would have expected. A small table and a home-made bed (a wooden frame with strings woven across) were the only things standing. Kids were dressed in rags, if dressed at all, and survived on sweet potatoes. They all had a big belly because of malnutrition. We were told that all the grains were handed in for the city people. If they could have one meal with pork during an entire year it was considered a good year.
The most shocking thing to learn was that during the three-year famine from 1959 to 1961 the locals had to eat tree bark and grass and when these were gone they had to eat earth. Finally they began to eat people. If I had not heard this in person it would be hard for me to believe. The CCP attributed the famine to natural disaster. Now we learned that the weather then was not a problem. It was callousness, ideology and stupidity on the part of the government that had caused the famine during which about 40 million people died.
5) How the CCP Fools the Foreign Devils
One happened during Nixon's visit to Shanghai in early 1970s. That was when American officials visited China for the very first time after the communist party took power. Traveling with Mr. Nixon there was a group of what people called China experts. In order to leave the American visitors a good impression a big campaign was organized.
A friend who lived in Huangpu district where the famous Nanjing Road is located told me a story. She said her neighborhood committee asked her to go to Nanjing Road on such and such date and at such and such time. She was asked to dress in her best clothes and walk along a certain section of the road. So at the time when Mr. Nixon arrived there would be a lot of very smart people walking along the Nanjing Road looking prosperous. Of course they were there to fulfill a political task.
Then the store Nixon was about to visit also received orders and got fully prepared. They prepared a whole new set of the price tags for every commodity on sale in the shop. On these tags the prices were all marked down. The shop assistants were advised that when certain music was played they had to change all the price tags with the new ones. In this way the Americans would be impressed how cheap prices were in China. That was a very complicated campaign involving thousands of people and the coordination of many departments. However, the CCP managed it with ease.
Now think about it how easy would it be for the CCP to stage a Tiananmen Square Self-immolation or take the American diplomats to the hospital at Sujiatun and "prove" to them that there was no organ harvesting going on there. It would be a piece of cake.
Some people might question whether what I say is accurate. Now let me to tell you something; I have been personally involved in one of these campaigns of deception. In 1978 when a film crew from America's NBC network was making a documentary on China's education system I worked as their interpreter. During their filming they requested to take shots of a food market in Beijing.
We, the hosts, contacted Dongsi Market telling them foreigners would go there to shoot a documentary and advised them to get well prepared. I have to explain here, the host would be held responsible if the image of the party or socialism was damaged.
On the day when we arrived I was amazed myself. The normally barren market was full of goodies. There were live chickens and ducks, live fish, lean pork meat, all sorts of fresh vegetables and soybean products like tofu. When the documentary was broadcast in America, people would think that is a typical food market in China, but actually it is not.
We Chinese have a saying: "Domestic shame should not be published." The CCP took that to heart and created the theory of: "Keeping inside information from outsiders or foreigners." At that time I did not think it was bad, but believed it was my duty to do what was necessary to make the party look good and not lose face. I thought it was important that we must leave the foreigners with a good impression of China. When the party and government were in difficulties we had to help it to "cheat the foreign devils." This expression was very commonly used by the CCP.
6) Will the CCP Collapse Soon?
A lot of people do not believe that the CCP will collapse very soon. I still remember a description of the CCP by a former professor in the Economics Faculty of Monash University, Mr. Yang Xiaokai. This well-known economist said in an interview that the Communist Party is like someone sitting on a pile of dry firewood and China only needs a Chen Sheng or a Wu Guang, or a new political party" To light the wood and destroy it. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were leaders of an armed uprising against Qin rule following the death of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. He said the best thing the CCP could do was to vote itself out of power, then it might preserve its existence. Otherwise, the lives of its members would be in great danger when the uprising starts.
He painted that picture a few years ago. Now since the publication of the Nine Commentaries s more and more people have learned the true nature of the CCP and quit the CCP and its subordinate organizations, namely the Youth League and the Young Pioneers. This trend is building momentum; therefore I am optimistic that the CCP will collapse very quickly.
7) What Has All This to Do With You?
You might ask what has all this to do with Australia and you. Many people have invested in China and many others buy Chinese shares and Chinese products. China's corrupt business practices have resulted in many financial losses for foreign investors. My personal experience is that neither the Chinese Communist Party nor anyone associated with it can be trusted.
I sincerely hope you think twice before investing any more money in China. Your money might be used to persecute dissidents, be used to develop or purchase high tech equipment to enhance control over the Internet, develop weapons, manufacture shady copies of western brand name products, or simply end up in the overseas bank account of a corrupt official.
Only after the collapse of the CCP and the restoration of traditional Chinese culture and the establishment of sound business and financial practices can you safely do business with China and be assured that products from China have been subject to proper standards of quality control.
Let us all look forward to that day and hope that it comes sooner rather than later.
Feeds