Opinion Culture wars

In an essay published this week in the Chinese Communist Party’s theoretical journal,Seeking Truth,Hu declared that “hostile international powers are strengthening their efforts to westernise and divide us”.

“The fields of thought and culture”,Hu said,“are important sectors they are using for this long-term infiltration. We must clearly recognise the seriousness and difficulty of this struggle”.

Hu called on the party and the government to “take powerful measures” to counter the Western strategy. He urged greater efforts to develop Chinese culture to meet the “growing spiritual and cultural demands of the people”.

Hu’s essay is being interpreted as a signal for tightening state control over traditional media as well as new Internet and social media sites that have often threatened the CCP’s control over the national conversation.

Some see the essay on defending Chinese culture as a definitive political legacy of Hu,who will retire this year at the CCP congress that convenes every five years. In the last 10 years he has been at the helm,Hu has consistently emphasised the importance of building a “harmonious society”.

Last October,the CCP ordered stricter control of social networking sites,better supervision of the print and electronic media to “improve positive publicity” and guide public opinion on “hot and hard social issues”.

Reality TV

The hugely popular reality programmes have become new targets for the CCP. They have been accused of promoting “low taste” and “vulgarity”.

The TV crackdown is based on the premise that excessive lowbrow entertainment has begun to undermine the balance of values within Chinese society.

Beijing has long struggled to promote what it believes is a healthy cultural environment,in contrast to more brash television shows and movies from Hong Kong,Taiwan and the West,which circulate widely online and via pirated DVDs.

A widely cited example of the negative impact of TV is the highly successful dating show If You Are the One. The programme raised eyebrows among the CCP’s cultural gatekeepers when a female contestant said she would rather be unhappy dating a man with a BMW than live with a man who rode only a bicycle. The programme has now accepted restrictions on its content and has survived the censor’s axe.

Following the new rules that came into effect this week,TV broadcasters have reduced the number of entertainment shows aired during prime time to 38 from 126. Each broadcaster must now limit the number of entertainment programmes to two each week and a maximum of 90 minutes between 7.30 pm and 10 pm. TV broadcasters must now air at least two hours of news programming between 6 am and midnight. They must each broadcast at least two 30-minute news programmes between 6 pm and 11.30 pm.

“Satellite channels have started to broadcast programmes that promote traditional virtues and socialist core values,” Xinhua reported this week. “The move to cut entertainment programming”,according to Beijing,“is crucial in improving cultural services for the public by offering high quality programming”,Xinhua added.

China has the world’s largest number of television viewers,an estimated 95 per cent of its 1.3 billion people.

Soft power

In calling for resistance against foreign cultural influences,Hu also emphasised the importance of taking the media war abroad. “The overall strength of Chinese culture and its international influence is not commensurate with China’s international status,” Hu insisted. “The international culture of the West is strong while we are weak.”

To remedy this situation,Hu is pressing for stronger cultural diplomacy. Beijing has already earmarked $7.2 billion to fund the expansion of state-owned media groups including CCTV,China Daily,Xinhua and China Radio International.

Beijing has also built hundreds of Confucius Institutes around the world to promote Chinese language and culture. China plans to establish a thousand institutes by 2020.

The writer is a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research,Delhi