Freedom of Expression

At a seminar held on June 20 to promote implementation of the new Regulation on Religious Affairs, Deputy Governor Li Hanbo described Yunnan's plan to "standardize management" over large areas of the internal affairs of religious sites. He said: "Yunnan province will hereafter guide, inspect, and supervise the management of the internal affairs of religious venues, and help the venues comply with regulations on personnel, finance, accounting, policing, fire prevention, cultural protection, and preventive healthcare."

In addition, Deputy Governor Li warned that, in the future, construction of Buddhist and Daoist temples and open-air religious images would be regulated.

Li added that the new Regulation also clarified punishment of those who violate the legal rights and interests of the religious community, including citizens' freedom to believe.

The publication Southern Weekend has reported that government agencies in several places in China have begun to employ "online commentators," apparently in an effort to manipulate public opinion on Internet forums and bulletin boards. According to a May 19 article entitled "Suqian: Practicing Guidance of Internet Public Opinion," Suqian, a city in Jiangsu province, has hired 26 "politically reliable" Communist Party propaganda officials and government spokespersons to "actively develop the guidance of public opinion at home, and work hard to establish Suqian's image abroad." Authorities have also established an "Online Commentary Supervision Office" and an "Internet News Management Office" pursuant to the recently promulgated "Opinion on Suqian Municipal Online Commentary Work Implementation," which is designed to "...implement day-to-day coordination of the ranks of online commentators..."

Hu Zhanfan, deputy director of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television, has criticized hosts on China's domestic television entertainment programs, according to a June 25 Beijing Youth Daily article. The article cited Hu as saying he believes that problems with the programs arise partly as a result of the hosts' "political quality." Televisions hosts, like journalists and editors, are de facto employees of the government and serve at the government's discretion. Under these circumstances, a rebuke from a senior Chinese government official is equivalent to a warning to hosts to conform their political ideology to that of the Communist Party or face termination.

The following is a partial translation by CECC staff of a Xinhua report discussing the work of China's Sweep Away Pornography and Strike Down Illegal Publications Task Force:

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According to statistics, as of today, throughout the city [authorities] have shut down a total of 110 street stands, and have tracked down 250,000 units of illegal and pirated publications, of which over 2,000 volumes were illegal political books and periodicals, over 3,000 volumes were pornographic and obscene books and periodicals, over 50,000 volumes were illegal and pirated books, and over 110,000 units were illegal and pirated electronic publications.

The General Administration of Press and Publication will immediately begin keeping a list of book wholesalers, large-scale retailers, and online bookstores that violate China's publication distribution law, Xinhua reports. All book distributors that are added to the list "will become the targets of focused supervision by press and publication agencies at all levels." Chinese law prohibits anyone from distributing books without prior government approval.

The following is a partial translation by CECC staff of an article entitled "Build a Firm Ideological 'Firewall'," which appeared in the September 27, 2003 edition of the People's Liberation Army's "Liberation Army Daily" newspaper.

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International and overseas spy organizations use the Internet as an important means to get intelligence; they frequently set online "traps" to obtain intelligence. Although we have set up 'fire walls' and other measures to ward off such harmful information, there is some information we cannot 'ward off' or 'fend off."

Coinciding with China's State Administration for Radio, Film, and Television ("SARFT") issuing a Notice last week further restricting foreign participation in China's domestic television and film production, the People's Daily Web site has reprinted an article by Xiong Zhonghui expressing concern about how Chinese media outlets can compete in a global marketplace. Xiong, a media scholar in China, notes that one of the issues facing Chinese news media outlets is the fact that the primary purpose for their existence is to spread Chinese government propaganda:

The Communist Party must "grasp public opinion guidance and correctly guide society's public opinion" to "lead the masses of people to establish a prosperous society," according to a People’s Daily editorial published last week. The piece offers the view that "various problems" could result if the Party does not focus on guiding public opinion, even though the development of mass media and the increasing speed of information dissemination has made doing so more difficult.

According to the People's Daily, at the 4th Plenum of the 16th Party Congress (which concluded last September), the Party decided to address this situation by emphasizing it is necessary to 'persist in the principle that the Party supervises the media, strengthen their ability to guide public opinion, and take the initiative in public opinion guidance work.'"