Recently, the Chinese communist regime's behavior has left the international community nonplussed. On the one hand, Chinese authorities appear to have displayed their incessantly reckless confidence.
This is exemplified by China's anti-satellite missile test, which has aroused extensive concerns among the international community. On the other hand, the Chinese regime has shown an extreme lack of confidence and a real political panic by exerting increasingly tighter control over the media.
First, the Chinese regime declared China's Anti-rightist Movement in 1957 and the July 7 Incident of 1937 1 as two forbidden topics for the media and the public in general.
Later, in a recent announcement, China's General Administration of Press and Publication has banned the distribution or sale of eight books by prominent writers and intellectuals.
The regime also formed the Internet Propaganda Administrative Bureau under the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council in order to "guide public opinion on the Internet."
Chinese people have disciplined themselves to talk about national issues with great caution. Therefore, the major current mission of the authorities is to deconstruct real historical memories, to construct fake collective memories, and further to separate people by the means of media control and information blockage.
This is actually nothing more than pursing the old ruses used in the Mao Zedong era, many of which were grounded in something like the following ideology: Only if each being is isolated apart as an individual atom in the society will individuals not gather their organized strength and build their collective power to fight against the Chinese Communist Party.
If one still has somewhat sober judgment of the current situation in China, one will understand that it was out of political panic that China conducted the recent anti-satellite missile test. Through this missile test, China was warning the United States against criticizing China's human rights and political system.
China's Citzens Must Actively Resist Censorship
Yet, it is clear that Chinese citizens' waiting will not engender the guarantee of civil rights such as freedom of speech in China. On the contrary, such passive acceptance of the regime's tighter control over the Internet would have the effect increasing that control. This point is clearly illustrated by the development of ideology and culture in China during the latter half of the 1990s.
Hu Ping 2 once vividly compared the correlation between the Chinese intellectual circles and the Chinese authorities during the 1990s to "a shoal of fish and fishing net." Since the June 4th Tiananmen Massacre, the Chinese authorities have strengthened its fishing net while narrowing the mesh openings of the net.
Consequently, the fish that considered themselves always smart tried to force themselves through the mesh [reconsidered their prospects] and have given up struggling to destroy the net. Since I had personally experienced this process, I consider Hu's metaphor quite suitable.
After much difficulty, I finally released my book, The Pitfalls of Modernization , and some articles in China years ago. In fact, the publication of my book could be regarded as an act of "passing through the net mesh." At that time, foreign media wrongly believed that the successful publication of my few books could mark another "Beijing Spring." 3
I had realized that these books were just "a few fish that had slipped through the net." Nevertheless, I still had high expectations of the act of squeezing through the openings. I remained optimistic that there would be more fish advancing through the mesh spaces of the net, thus enlarging the spaces, and, hopefully, developing into much bigger holes.
But the situation in the following years has also shown me that the fishing net could not be destroyed by a few fish that managed to advance through its openings. Whenever several fish squeezed themselves out of the mesh spaces, the authorities would certainly have the net more closely-woven. As a result, the fish that have been able to slip through the net are getting fewer and fewer.
Some have expected the authorities to be more open-minded and to eventually grant Chinese people freedom of speech. Such an expectation has been proven to be their own wishful thinking. Take, for example, the recent banning of Yuan Ying's latest collection of essays, The Other Stories of History . Yuan once said that most of the topics included in his book had already been discussed previously by many writers.
Seeing Through Guise of Democracy
On Nov. 13, 2006, Premier Wen Jiabao had "a heart-to-heart with literary writers and artists" and promised to "constitutionally guarantee freedom of academic research and freedom of creative writing within the scope of the Constitution."
In reality, at that time the Chinese regime had been callously exerting tight media control and arresting dissidents. But Yuan Ying was still excited about such insincere and hollow statements, and responded, "Premier Wen's statements have really inspired and given support towards literary writers and artists."
Ironically, Yuan's flattering response was immediately succeeded by the accusation that his book, The Other Stories of History, allegedly "leaked state secrets," and he was thus imprisoned. Such a case could be considered typical black humor in contemporary China.
I mean no offense to Mr. Yuan Ying by citing him in this way. My purpose is to point out that freedom of speech will never come into the hands of those waiting for favor given by a totalitarian regime founded on deceitful lies. At the current stage, Chinese society is experiencing irreconcilable conflicts and ceaseless political turbulence.
Even when Chinese people exercise strict self-discipline, the authorities, under political panic, continue to lose their nerve and overreact. One apparent example is the recent banning of eight books.
The stupidity of the Chinese authorities lies in their ignorance of the circumstances by which media control is realized. Media control can be easily achieved in a closed society whose social circumstances include a backward communications system, a relatively foolish populace, and blind worship of political authority. The Chinese society in the Mao Zedong era was this kind of the closed society.
However, Chinese people today are not as naïve as they were in that time. Furthermore, the advanced technology of the Internet has also made it increasingly difficult for the authorities to exercise media control.
This difficulty brought about by such advanced technology has severely weakened the political authority of the Chinese regime. As a result, the Chinese authorities' efforts to tighten media control have not brought them closer to their desired goal.
Solidarity Among Intellectuals is Key
China's intellectuals must become aware that the fishing net will never be torn into pieces by forcing themselves through the mesh openings. At present, China's intellectuals satirize politics and disguise themselves in protective colors against political suppression in their efforts to strive for publication for their books.
These intellectuals are just like the smart fish trying all possible means to get through net openings. Unfortunately, very few of them have actually succeeded in slipping through the net. The best way is to have the fish unite to destroy the net.
It is encouraging to note that Ms. Zhang Yihe, author of the book, Past Stories of Peking Opera Stars , one of the eight banned books mentioned earlier, had her protest and outrage heard by the authorities. In turn, some literary figures in China stood up to support her. China's intellectuals need to take this path of being outspoken and supportive of one another. Through such timely solidarity, the net can be broken.
Article also published by Huaxia Dianzi Bao No. 177
[1] The July 7 Incident of 1937 (also known as the Lugouqiao Incident) was a battle between the China's National Revolutionary Army and the Japan's Imperial Japanese Army, marking the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945).
[2] Hu Ping was chief editor of Beijing Spring from 1996 and a regular commentator for Radio Free Asia.
[3] The Beijing Spring refers to a brief period of political liberalization in the People's Republic of China which occurred in 1977 and 1978.
