The Asahi Shimbun: Xi Jinping Displeased With Liu Yunshan And Propaganda Department’s Handling Of Southern Weekly Incident

Liu Yunshan and Xi Jinping
Japan’s highly respected daily The Asahi Shimbun suggested in an article on Monday that Xi Jinping was unhappy with the way the “media control division” handled last week’s Southern Weekly ordeal. Specifically, Xi was unhappy with the way Liu Yunshan, chief of the propaganda department and a longtime Hu Jintao guy, forced newspapers around the... Read more »

Chinese Media Ordered To “Discontinue Voicing Their Support For Southern Weekly,” Publish Global Times Editorial

China Digital Times featured image
China Digital Times, with its indispensable series on leaked directives from the “Ministry of Truth,” published this amazing leaked memo from China’s propaganda department yesterday: Central Propaganda Department: Urgent Notice Concerning the Southern Weekly New Year’s Message Publication Incident: Responsible Party committees and media at all levels must be clear on three points related to this matter:

To Serve People: Ai Weiwei vs. Global Times Reveals Propaganda Can Be A Fickle Mistress

TAR Ai Weiwei vs GT
On Tuesday night, the Global Times published an article damning Elton John for dedicating his performance to Ai Weiwei and encouraging Chinese people to boo future similar performers off the stage. On the same day, GT published “‘Top thinkers’ list a reflection of US values,” a scathing indictment of Foreign Policy’s list, which features, among others, Ai Weiwei.

Under The Banner Of The Celestial Kingdom

Banners, banners, banners
The Party Congress is, mercifully, over. For those of us here in Beijing, it feels good, like a massive cold-water colon cleanse. Now with the brown-nosers out of the city, we can reflect. Now that it’s over, I mourn the loss of the banners. The propaganda rags had a few different roles to play during the Congress. 1) Don’t report bad news. 2) Make sure everyone loves the Congress. 3) Love our dear leaders. 4) Publish editorial rimjobs about the Party Congress. 5) Convince people that change will happen gradually, after they die. 6) Hate the US and their pussy-ass elections. 7) Bang on about the Party Congress, no matter how boring and un-news-like, until you kill yourself, go on, do it, just kill yourself. Do it. You pansy. Go on. You don’t have the balls, do you? Do it. DO IT!

The Official Red Dawn Trailer Is Here, And It Features A Grammatical Mistake Within The First Eight Seconds

Red Dawn trailer featured image
I can't wait for Chinese people to overreact to this shitty movie full of Hollywood cliches about "freedom" and for everyone else to talk about it like it isn't a classic piece of Western propaganda. What's that? The invaders in the movie are North Koreans, not Chinese? Every soldier I see better look skinny and malnourished then, because I've been to Pyongyang, and that military is far from invading anyone. I wonder how many Americans who watch this will find the irony in a bunch of civilians fighting for their turf against an invading military.

The PRC’s “Human Rights Record Of The United States In 2011” Explained

Human rights record of the US 2011 featured image
Last Friday, the State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China published a report called The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2011. It was in response to the US State Department's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011, which featured information on about 200 countries, China included. China's report, published on Xinhua, et al., was about 8,000 words. We read it so you don't have to -- and brought in TAR Nation to explain what it all means.

Bob Fu, Who Was Instrumental In Freeing Chen Guangcheng, Can Shut Up Now

Bob Fu
Foreign Policy, that award-winning online magazine devoted to “analyz[ing] the most significant international trends and events of our times, without regard to ideology or political bias,” just gave an evangelical pastor 1,200 words to promulgate his religious propaganda. “Like most Chinese, I was educated an atheist,” writes Bob Fu to begin his panegyric to God... Read more »

They Don’t Make Propaganda Posters Like This Anymore

...and then insects eliminated the crops...
Via Vintage-Ads.livejournal.com Just as the Great Leap Forward was beginning to yield its first casualties — and on through the years when hundreds and then thousands and then millions died of starvation and disease — China continued to print propaganda posters like the above (more after the jump) to boost morale and do whatever it... Read more »