18 months after waiting for things to improve under the new leadership of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabo, two professors at Beijing University tell Joseph Kahn of the NY Times that censorship in China is worse than ever, and compare the censors to Nazis.
I don’t see how anyone can come away from this superb article feeling much hope for increased fredom of speech in China. Jiao Guobiao, a journalism professor at Beijing University, says that as in the days of the Cultural Revolution, censors still stifle free speech, and it’s getting worse, not better.
“Their censorship orders are totally groundless, absolutely arbitrary, at odds with the basic standards of civilization, and as counter to scientific common sense as witches and wizardry,” he wrote in the article – which has been widely circulated by Internet in Beijing despite, not unpredictably, being banned by the Communist Party’s propaganda department.
Such explicit outbursts of dissent are still rare in China. But Mr. Jiao is not alone in expressing frustration that, even after a long-awaited transition to a new generation of leaders some 18 months ago, China’s political scene remains stultifying. Intellectuals, Mr. Jiao said, are “supposed to act like children who never talk back to their parents.”
The leadership team headed by the president and party chief Hu Jintao that many hoped would tolerate more open debate has instead slapped new restrictions on free speech and the press that some say remind them of the repressive years after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
State security agents have been scouring the Internet and pressing charges against people who use it to distribute information or express opinions deemed unfavorable. The authorities harassed scholars who took part in a debate about constitutional changes, disappointing some who believed that Mr. Hu had once invited discussion about how to strengthen the rule of law.
It’s another of those articles where I’d like to quote just about every line. Jiao’s scorn for the censors is palpable, and his outspokenness refreshing.
His [Jiao’s] treatise mocks the 10 “forbiddens” and 3 “musts” style used in propaganda orders and describes “14 diseases” and “4 cures,” one of which is abolishing censorship.
Among his criticisms: propaganda officials “protect thugs and corrupt officials” by banning reports on corruption. The reason, Mr. Jiao wrote, is that the propaganda officials “use the media administration power granted them by the Party to enrich themselves” with bribes.
During SARS, Mr. Jiao wrote, propaganda officials used the excuse of “social stability” to prohibit reporting about the disease. In fact, he argued, social stability was threatened because reporting was so inadequate, panicking people who felt they could not trust official sources of information.
“There’s not a shadow of scientific rigor in their brains,” he wrote. “They simply follow their own ignorant feelings.”
I keep seeing examples of individual bravery like this, and look for a sign that they are making a difference. Kahn, too, is obviously exasperated, referring to the “glacial pace of change” and noting that more topics have recently become forbidden for the media to discuss, like corruption.
When it comes to censorship, there’s no getting around the fact that Hu and Wen have brought the country backwards, badly disappointing those (like me) who foolishly took their initial overtures of reform and openess at face value.
1
By deepocean
i told you before and even sent a email commenting the kaiser kuo’s blog(about the so called bright future in Mr. HU’s China).
no answer.
i feel you guys are gullible guys.
I FEEL SOMETIMES some laowai are very naive.
i told kaiser that we chinese are not free.
hs told me that we are very free to speak everything.
beyond me.wow!
May 3, 2004 @ 12:49 am | Comment
2
By Tom
There was a recent column in the People’s Daily that said Hu urged more study and support for Marxism.
Watching CCTV9 in the mornings I see the agressiveness of the Chinese press to cover things kind of ebb and flow. I guess it’s a bit like the opening of China to freedom… when it’s in the interests of the leaders in power, you’ll see more power to journalists cover corruption and when the party pushback comes up the grapevine, the power is taken back away from the journalists.
Call it naivete, but I have a hard time believing in a monolithic CCP leadership that has a uniform vision for how China should be now or in 5 years.
May 3, 2004 @ 5:10 am | Comment
3
By boy
caixing!
caijing!
whatever its called.
May 3, 2004 @ 5:17 am | Comment
4
By BIHK
Joseph Bosco Brings Up the Name of Jiao Guobiao
There’s not much to the post, really, only Mr. Bosco
May 3, 2004 @ 7:26 am | Comment
5
By richard
Deep ocean, apologies if I didn’t respond to your earlier comment; sometimes it’s a little overwhelming. Kaiser is extremely intelligent and he is trying to give the system the benefit of the doubt. We do not see eye to eye on everything. I think comparatively, China is certainly enjoying greater freedom of speech. God knows what would have happened to these professors if they did this back when Mao, or even Deng, were in power. But the Chinese people certainly are not free to say and print what they choose, and in some ways the reforms in this area are being withdrawn, not increased.
Tom, you’re right. There is no monolithic CCP, and there are all kinds of inconsistencies and paradoxes. Still, the current general trend is toward more censorship, as the professors and many others say.
May 3, 2004 @ 9:29 am | Comment
6
By Eric
And help from the United States is becoming less helpful
http://news.com.com/2010-1028_3-5204405.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news
May 3, 2004 @ 9:49 am | Comment
7
By Iron
While I am in complete agreement about highlighting the continued censorship problem in China, I think we should be careful about alluding to China as Wilhelmine or Nazi Germany. Such comparisons are drawing upon powerful imagery for hype without much concern for historical accuracy.
Furthermore, the one thing my Beijing friend said about Hu was that he was “yinxiang” (insidious). We will have to see how the future plays out.
May 4, 2004 @ 9:22 am | Comment
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By richard
Iron, I agree. I have never compared China to Nazi Germany — that is what the Bei-Da professor said. Interesting, to hear Chinese people themselves making the comparison.
May 4, 2004 @ 9:25 am | Comment
9
By richard
Also, that descriptor of Hu is fascinating — I’d love to hear why your friend says that.
May 4, 2004 @ 9:33 am | Comment
10
By Simon World
Enemablog
Yes, the weekly blog round-up has been christened by no other than my Da. Sort of. I’ve taken the liberty of changing Enemalogue into Enemablog because that’s my perogative and it gets me out of giving out a prize. I like to look at this as a way of pu…
May 7, 2004 @ 1:52 am | Comment
11
By kevin
hey guys,
i really wanna read the original article in chinese, but i am in shanghai and am having a bitch of a time trying to get this article. if anyone has any time, and if it is convenient, feel free to cut and paste the chinese of this article into an email and send it to me at nanjingrob@hotmail.com
it would be greatly appreciated
May 10, 2004 @ 8:59 pm | Comment
12
By JazzOne
Hello. I am an Americana scientist doing cancer research in Beijing. I too have been a victim of internet censorship. It seems that my access to AOL instant messenger has been cut off, probably because of comments I made about the government. If my AOL service is not restored, I will be making arrangements to leave the country as soon as possible. I had no idea that the intellectual environment here was so stifling. It saddens me deeply to observe the strangulation of such a rich culture.
May 21, 2004 @ 7:04 pm | Comment
13
By richard
Welcome to China.
May 21, 2004 @ 7:30 pm | Comment
14
By Duck reader
I think you can get overexcited about this issue. Yes, there’s censorship in China. Big deal. There is also – effectively – a kind of censorship in the USA and the UK too. Certain topics are clearly out of bounds, i.e. attempting to understand the deep hatred of the USA that led to 9.11 (the US) and anything that questions the government’s immigration/multiculturalism policy (the UK).
I’m British. In the UK we can talk about many things, yes; but if you have certain political views you will simply not be given a platform. Anyway, when we do protest – as we did against the war – the government simply ignores it.
Yes, laowai are naive – so naive (and so brainwashed) that they can’t see the limits of their own society.
October 10, 2005 @ 6:14 pm | Comment
15
By thomas
I think you can get overexcited about this issue. Yes, there’s censorship in China. Big deal. There is also – effectively – a kind of censorship in the USA and the UK too. Certain topics are clearly out of bounds, i.e. attempting to understand the deep hatred of the USA that led to 9.11 (the US) and anything that questions the government’s immigration/multiculturalism policy (the UK).
I’m British. In the UK we can talk about many things, yes; but if you have certain political views you will simply not be given a platform. Anyway, when we do protest – as we did against the war – the government simply ignores it.
Yes, laowai are naive – so naive (and so brainwashed) that they can’t see the limits of their own society.
October 10, 2005 @ 6:16 pm | Comment