{"id":46767,"date":"2021-01-29T22:37:45","date_gmt":"2021-01-29T14:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinamediaproject.org\/?p=46767"},"modified":"2021-04-22T08:40:33","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T06:40:33","slug":"propaganda-soars-into-orbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinamediaproject.org\/2021\/01\/29\/propaganda-soars-into-orbit\/","title":{"rendered":"Propaganda Soars Into Orbit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In December, Xi Jinping formally declared victory<\/a> in his\npush to eradicate poverty in China. Resorting to a phrase commonly at the heart of China\u2019s external\npropaganda<\/a> on poverty, state media claimed that 100 million people in\nthe country had been \u201clifted out of poverty<\/a>\u201d since\n2013. A momentous achievement, surely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But like any momentous\nachievement in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has invested its legitimacy\nand standing, this victory was always in the cards. It was never a matter of\nensuring the right outlay of resources, or that resolute government officials had\nthe right set of strategies. From the moment Xi Jinping pledged to eradicate\npoverty in 2015, the story had been written. It needed only elaboration \u2013 through\na vast national network of county and city propaganda offices, and through the\ndogged work of a media system whose allegiance had already been pledged<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not to say that China\u2019s anti-poverty\nwork has been nothing but empty propaganda. Nationwide efforts at \u201cpoverty\nalleviation,\u201d or fupin<\/em> (\u6276\u8d2b), have quite possibly had a real impact on the lives\nof many. They can, if one so chooses, be viewed through the lens of social and\neconomic policy. But to ignore the role of China\u2019s vast media and propaganda\nsystem, single-mindedly trained on the direction of public opinion both inside and\noutside the country, is to ignore one of this story\u2019s central threads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gearing Up for Victory<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As 2019 came to a close, it was already\nplain that the achievement in 2020<\/a> of a \u201cmoderately\nprosperous society\u201d and a decisive victory over poverty<\/a>\nwould be the central propaganda theme for the coming year. The phrase \u201ctargeted poverty alleviation<\/a>\u201d\n(\u7cbe\u51c6\u6276\u8d2b), which Xi\nhad introduced in 2013, was everywhere, a buzzword even in the real estate sector<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the CCP readied itself to\nclose the book on the 13th<\/sup> Five-Year Plan<\/a>\nand inaugurate the next economic era with fanfare, Party-state media stacked\ntheir editorial plans with touching retrospectives<\/a> and\nintimate portraits<\/a> of rural\nlives that had been transformed by the compassionate hand of the Party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even as the epidemic raged in\nWuhan in January, as yet not publicly acknowledged as a serious national\ncrisis, the fight against poverty was the story of the year, and Xi Jinping was\nits main protagonist. The Party\u2019s flagship People\u2019s Daily<\/em> set the tone\nwith a series called \u201cThe General Secretary Visited Our Home,\u201d featured repeatedly\non the paper\u2019s front page, but also disseminated widely, through app-ready content<\/a>, in numerous state media outlets<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The app-based content featured brushed-up\nimages like the one below, echoing propaganda images of Mao from\na bygone era<\/a>. Xi Jinping, hand-in-hand with the people, in touch\nwith their immediate concerns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
An image of Xi Jinping visiting a rural home, included in China Daily<\/em> online coverage<\/a> of the People\u2019s Daily<\/em> series \u201cThe General Secretary Visited Our Home.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The epidemic in Wuhan eventually upended\nthe publicity objectives of propaganda officials, at least for a time<\/a>. But by\nApril and May 2020, the focus had been drawn back to poverty<\/a>\nand the achievement of a \u201cmoderately prosperous society.\u201d The demand for\nanti-poverty coverage necessitated a wealth of local stories from across rural\nChina. Such stories were in ready supply. After all, the narrative push had always\nbeen closely intertwined with the mobilization of the campaign itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local Myths in the Making<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter the story of Dong Heqin (\u8463\u8d3a\u52e4), a once impoverished farmer\nfrom Anhui province who in recent years, aided by the grace and wisdom of\nanti-poverty officials, managed to dramatically turn his fortunes around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the basic thread of\nDong\u2019s story, he was officially designated as living in poverty in 2014, after\nspending all of his life savings for the treatment of his sick son. In 2015,\ndirected by local officials charged with anti-poverty work, Dong began planting\nchili peppers on his land. He now earns more than 600,000 yuan, or around 93,000\ndollars, from his crop annually. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conduct an image search<\/a> for Dong\u2019s\nname and you are treated to a mosaic of anti-poverty propaganda. Dong working among<\/a> his rows of peppers. Dong among the honorees<\/a> in a\n2018 ceremony for \u201cpositive role models,\u201d bathed in blazing light onstage. Dong\npictured during a television interview<\/a> with\nthe official Xinhua News Agency. Dong the \u201cMoral Exemplar\u201d (\u9053\u5fb7\u6a21\u8303). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
Results from a Google Image search for Dong’s name. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

According to CMP\u2019s database search,\nDong Heqin did not emerge on the national media stage until July 2018<\/a>, at which point he\nwas hustled to center stage by Anhui propaganda officials eager to supply their\nown candidates for a national propaganda campaign on the \u201ctough battle for poverty\nalleviation\u201d (\u8131\u8d2b\u653b\u575a\u6218), announced as\na national priority at the Fifth Plenum of the 18th<\/sup> CCP Central\nCommittee in October 2015. Responding to the campaign, the \u201cNational Poverty\nAlleviation Award\u201d (\u5168\u56fd\u8131\u8d2b\u653b\u575a\u5956<\/a>) had been launched in September 2016 by the State Council\u2019s\nPoverty Alleviation and Development Small Group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the years and months that\nfollowed the award\u2019s creation, poverty relief officials across the country were\non the hunt for inspirational examples, for seemingly ordinary country folk who\ncould be plucked out from the masses and paraded through the news headlines. From\n2017 onward, China\u2019s government made an active push<\/a> to foster the creation\nof \u201cpoverty alleviation and prosperity leaders\u201d (\u8131\u8d2b\u81f4\u5bcc\u5e26\u5934\u4eba) in poor areas across the country, seen as critical\nto the overall poverty alleviation strategy<\/a>,\nwhich itself included a section on \u201cadhering to propaganda models.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later reports would make clear<\/a>\nthat Dong Heqin had been chosen in April 2017 as the designated \u201cpoverty\nalleviation and prosperity leader\u201d for Anhui\u2019s Funan County. And as award\nseason approached for the \u201cNational Poverty Alleviation Award\u201d in 2018, the Anhui\nProvincial Center for Poverty Alleviation Propaganda and Education released its\nlist of candidates for the national stage on July 27. Dong Heqin was included\non the roster of candidates for the \u201cEndeavor Award\u201d (\u594b\u8fdb\u5956). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
As Anhui releases its list of candidates for the \u201cNational Poverty Alleviation Award\u201d in July 2018, Dong Heqin is on the roster of candidates for the \u201cEndeavor Award.\u201d <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after, in August 2018, Fuyang\nDaily<\/em>, the local Communist Party newspaper in Dong\u2019s hometown, ran a profile of Dong Heqin<\/a> as a \u201cleader in\nthrowing off poverty and becoming prosperous.\u201d It told the story of how Dong\nhad once made decent money off in Beijing, a migrant worker running his own recycling\nstation. But the illness of his son in 2007 had placed Dong and his entire family\nin jeopardy. Finally, in 2015, after several trying years, Dong, who was now\nback in his native Yanmiao Village with medical debts for the treatment of his\nson piling up, had been designated a candidate for \u201ctargeted poverty alleviation.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next year, with government\nhelp, Dong worked toward expanding his chili farming operation, as the Fuyang\nDaily<\/em> explained: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016, 6,000 yuan in industrial poverty alleviation\nfunds issued by the government came like welcome rain to Dong Heqin. “My\nplanting technology had passed muster, and my peppers had been well received in\nthe market. I want to expand scale, but I had no capital.” After receiving\nthe government’s industrial poverty alleviation funds, Dong said, he built a\nnew steel greenhouse and expanded his scale. In 2017, his income from growing\npeppers reached 230,000 yuan. Not only did he throw off poverty, but he also paid\nhis lingering debts, and his life was full of sunshine.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perfectly on cue for a set piece\non the grace of the Chinese Communist Party, the Fuyang Daily<\/em> profile\nended with Dong\u2019s conversion. He had joined the Party in the hope that he might\n\u201cbetter play the role of a model leader in poverty alleviation.\u201d \u201cI sincerely\nthank the Party\u2019s poverty alleviation policy for making a big change in my life,\u201d\nthe paper quoted him as saying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January 2019, the city of Fuyang looked back on 2018<\/a> to showcase\nexemplary instances of \u201cpositive energy\u201d \u2013 a reference to Xi Jinping\u2019s\ninjunction for the media and society to avoid negative reporting and seek examples\nof inspiration and unity. The retrospective included Dong Heqin as a \u201cmodel\nperson escaping poverty\u201d (\u8131\u8d2b\u4eba\u7269\u5178\u578b). \u201cIn the past, debts forced him to leave home and\nseek a living,\u201d the short post read. \u201cBut now, relying on the Party’s poverty alleviation\npolicies, he has thrown off poverty through struggle and become\nprosperous.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
Image of Dong used for a January 2019 report<\/a> from the Fuyang government, superimposed with the characters \u201cPositive Energy\u201d used for the same report. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The same month, a special feature on Dong<\/a>\ncarried on the province\u2019s official government news website, Anhui News (\u4e2d\u5b89\u5728\u7ebf), continued the account of his\ntrials and tribulations, and the dramatic turnaround made possible by poverty\nalleviation funds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of 2019, as China was\ngearing up for the 2020 campaign toward the \u201cvictory\u201d over poverty, local stories\nof success were regular fodder on national news platforms. On December 31, several\nweeks after Xi declared a decisive victory over poverty, The Paper<\/em>, a Shanghai-based\nnews website under the state-run Shanghai United Media Group (SUMG), ran a special story<\/a> on the\ntheme, \u201cTargeted Poverty Alleviation In Step with a Moderately Prosperous\nSociety\u201d (\u7cbe\u51c6\u6276\u8d2b\u540c\u6b65\u5c0f\u5eb7). The subject\nwas again Dong Heqin, the chili pepper farmer from Anhui. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
A special on Dong Heqin appears at The Paper<\/em> on December 31, 2019. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This version of Dong\u2019s story, which\nran in scores of outlets<\/a> in December\n2019 and January 2020, was sourced to China Poverty Relief<\/em> magazine (\u4e2d\u56fd\u6276\u8d2b), a news outlet operated by<\/a> the State Council\u2019s\nPoverty Alleviation and Development Small Group, the same office that had established\nthe \u201cNational Poverty Alleviation Award\u201d in September 2016. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By this point, Dong\u2019s story had come full circle. A national movement coordinated from the top had generated demand across the country for exemplary cases. These had trickled back up to the top as local leaders signaled their compliance, offering up lists of local award candidates, like ritual offerings of \u201cpositive energy.\u201d Repackaged at the national level, stories like that of Dong Heqin were delivered through outlets like The Paper<\/em>, Xinhua and the People\u2019s Daily<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Satellites of Propaganda<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When they conform so perfectly to the CCP\u2019s master narrative on poverty eradication, how far can we trust stories like that of Dong Heqin? They show at times such an eagerness for perfection \u2013 the tears trickling before the hallelujah moment when the protagonist thanks the Party and then the government, always in that order \u2013 that they resemble, in their DNA, the conscientiously crafted falsehoods of China\u2019s past. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the ghost of basic skepticism\nthat haunts all of the grand claims in China\u2019s tightly controlled press. When\nsuccess is the only outcome possible, when happy endings are the order of the\nday, can success and positivity be trusted at all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a slang term in Chinese\ntoday that speaks to this basic skepticism, directing suspicion at those boasts\nthat are so enlarged that their seams begin to tear, revealing the stuffing inside.\nThat term is \u201claunching a satellite,\u201d or fangweixing<\/em> (\u653e\u536b\u661f), and its history stretches back\nto the calamitous political actions of the 1950s, when tens of millions starved\nin the wake of such lies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Soviet Union launched\nSputnik I, the world\u2019s first artificial Earth satellite, on October 4, 1957,\nthe event spawned a frantic response from the United States, demonstrating\nSoviet advancements in technology in the midst of the Cold War. In November\n1957, shortly after the successful launch of a second Soviet satellite, communist\nleaders from around the world gathered in Moscow for the 40th<\/sup>\nanniversary of the October Revolution, where Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev\npledged to surpass the US in industrial output within 15 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enchanted by Khrushchev\u2019s ambition, Mao Zedong followed with his own declaration<\/a> that China would achieve industrial glories all its own, surpassing Great Britain in steel production within 15 years. The next year, grain and steel production were the pillars of Mao\u2019s economic plan, and communities across China labored blindly under impossible quotas. As the political incentives for falsehood climbed, so the claims became ever more unbelievable. Propaganda across the country likened the ambition for high production to the success of Sputnik, talking metaphorically of \u201csatellites\u201d of productivity.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
A 1950s propaganda poster shows a steel worker in an industrial landscape gazing in wonder at a launched rocket. The caption reads: \u201cLet the \u2018satellite\u2019 of high production always revolve in the sky.\u201d <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On October 26, 1958, an entire page in the People\u2019s Daily<\/em> spoke of economic miracles in China\u2019s northwestern Qinghai province. Everything was \u201castonishing\u201d (\u60ca). The treasures in the province\u2019s underground mines were \u201cso rich as to astonish people.\u201d Grain production was so abundant that it \u201ccrossed the Yellow River.\u201d The page even included a poem called \u201cSatellites of Wheat Astonish the World\u201d (\u5c0f\u9ea6\u536b\u661f\u60ca\u4e16\u754c), the first of four stanzas reading:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
An artist\u2019s quite literal depiction in the 1950s<\/a> of the notion of \u201csatellites of wheat\u201d (\u5c0f\u9ea6\u536b\u661f) shows harvested bushels soaring into the sky. Also in Lu Huitian, \u201cHow the \u2018Satellites\u2019 Went Into the Sky<\/a>,\u201d an essay on the Great Leap Forward. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Satellites of wheat have launched in Qinghai,
Eight thousand per mu, the yields astonish the world.
Over the miles, clashes of thunder and flashes of lightning,
Mean that fortunate news is nigh!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u5c0f\u9ea6\u536b\u661f\u51fa\u9752\u6d77\uff0c
\n\u4ea9\u4ea7\u516b\u5343\u60ca\u4e16\u754c\uff0c
\n\u5343\u91cc\u7684\u96f7\u58f0\u4e07\u91cc\u7684\u95ea\uff0c
\n\u5e26\u7740\u559c\u8baf\u4f20\u5f00\u6765.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days, the CCP no longer talks in its official discourse about \u201csending up satellites\u201d of economic or other policy glory. But the phrase remains as a popular reference to absurd and boastful acts of propaganda. And last week, a post on China\u2019s WeChat platform applied the phrase to Dong Heqin\u2019s story. The headline: \u201cOfficialdom Launches a Satellite: It is Captured Alive by Netizens!\u201d (\u5b98\u65b9\u653e\u536b\u661f\uff0c\u88ab\u7f51\u53cb\u6d3b\u6349<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WeChat article was based on a video of that appeared online in May 2020<\/a>, after the immediate crisis of the Covid-19 epidemic had been contained in China. It begins as a reporter enters one of Dong\u2019s greenhouses and walks toward the farmer, who rises from a chair next to a full-sized propaganda billboard. In what any novice would recognize as a scripted action, Dong never lifts his eyes from the official Party journal he is obligingly pretending to read. On the magazine rack behind him hang copies of official newspapers, including the flagship People\u2019s Daily<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Cut to Dong laboring away among his rows of peppers as he again tells his rural-rags-to-rural-riches story. \u201cWhy do I do this work when I\u2019m so old?\u201d the 68 year-old Dong asks the reporter. Pointing to the propaganda billboard, an official account of his success, he answers with a phrase nearly ubiquitous in official media coverage<\/a> of poverty alleviation efforts. \u201cIt\u2019s because I wanted to take off the hat of poverty.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The obvious creative liberties of\nthe video aside, the WeChat article points out a number of serious questions\nlooming behind Dong\u2019s simple turn-around story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dong has claimed that he now earns 640,000 yuan, or about 100,000 dollars, farming chili peppers on 50 mu<\/em> of land, this being just over 33,000 square meters. Farmers on average in China have access to just 1.3 mu<\/em> of land<\/a>, and for many farmers in Anhui that number is even lower, just one mu<\/em>, or around 666 square meters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the first question is how Dong managed to get roughly 50 times the land available to other farmers in the area? Was this land transferred to him? Who came up with this money? If the land was sold, where are the farmers who sold it? Have they too \u201ctaken off the hat of poverty\u201d? This is quite a serious and sensitive question in a country where farmland is scarce and often fiercely contested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRemember, Uncle Dong had an established file and card as an impoverished family, and land transfers do not come cheap,” the WeChat article cautions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But let\u2019s assume the transfer did happen. The WeChat article estimates that the cost of building greenhouse structures on Dong\u2019s 50 mu<\/em> of land would be no less than 50,000 yuan per mu<\/em>, which means the total cost would run to 2.5 million yuan, or nearly 390,000 dollars. \u201cGood Lord,\u201d the article gasps. \u201cWho came up with that money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are problems, too, with Dong Heqin\u2019s claimed annual income of 640,000 yuan. Considering that 1,500 kilograms of peppers for each mu<\/em> of land would be considered a high yield, and would earn around 5,000 yuan, Dong could expect, at the high end, an annual turnover of about 250,000 yuan. This is less than 40 percent of what Dong has claimed in report after report. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Has Dong used some of his\nnewfound wealth to subscribe to every Party journal and paper he can get his\nhands on? And has he erected his own propaganda billboard? Well, we do know that\nDong has been quoted in several stories as saying he joined the Communist Party\nbecause he hoped to become a better \u201cmodel leader in poverty alleviation.\u201d Perhaps,\nthen, this is his personal library? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WeChat article is less charitable, concluding that the propaganda billboard and magazine rack would most definitely have been lugged over from the local government office. It is all just too much, after all. Too perfect. The seams are coming apart, the stuffing exposed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article closes by bemoaning the fact that media in China continue to produce such \u201cstandard rubbish\u201d (\u6b63\u7ecf\u7684\u80e1\u8bf4\u516b\u9053) in the face of what is a major policy of the central government, something to be taken seriously. \u201cWhat is most lamentable,\u201d it concludes, \u201cis that such rubbish is a absolutely everywhere!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

China claims to have achieved its goal, set in 2015, to eradicate poverty by the end of 2020. But was failure really ever an option? We look at the propaganda campaign that was core to the anti-poverty campaign from the beginning. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":47274,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines-and-hashtags"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPropaganda Soars Into Orbit - China Media Project<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chinamediaproject.org\/2021\/01\/29\/propaganda-soars-into-orbit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Propaganda Soars Into Orbit - China Media Project\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"China claims to have achieved its goal, set in 2015, to eradicate poverty by the end of 2020. But was failure really ever an option? 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