{"id":49510,"date":"2021-11-23T06:19:37","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T05:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinamediaproject.org\/?p=49510"},"modified":"2021-11-29T03:07:30","modified_gmt":"2021-11-29T02:07:30","slug":"searching-for-peng-shuai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinamediaproject.org\/2021\/11\/23\/searching-for-peng-shuai\/","title":{"rendered":"Searching for Peng Shuai"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The case of Chinese tennis champion Peng Shuai (\u5f6d\u5e05) entered a bizarre new phase last week as the overseas accounts of Chinese state-media and associated media personalities made an apparently concerted effort to allay growing concerns internationally about the athlete\u2019s wellbeing. But the extreme nature of the restraints on speech about Peng, and the appropriation of her voice by the organs of external propaganda, should be sufficient proof that she is now subject to serious restraints on her personal freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Thing People Talked About”<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

On November 18, more than two weeks after Peng\u2019s November 2 post<\/a> accusing former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli (\u5f20\u9ad8\u4e3d) of sexual assault, CGTN, the international arm of the state-run China Media Group, posted a letter to Twitter that Peng Shuai had reportedly sent to Steve Simon, the chairman of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). In the letter, Peng seemed to claim that she was \u201cnot missing, nor am I unsafe.\u201d \u201cI’ve just been resting at home and everything is fine,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far from easing growing concerns over the tennis star\u2019s wellbeing, the letter ratcheted up suspicions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
The original post made to Peng Shuai\u2019s social media account in China on November 2 alleges sexual assault by former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The next day, as the CGTN letter became the focus of international speculation, the WTA having rejected it as credible proof that Peng was safe, Global Times<\/em> editor-in-chief Hu Xijin apparently sought to quell concerns by writing on Twitter that foreign media were engaging in senseless speculation. Hu seemed unable even to speak frankly about the case, however: \u201cAs a person who is familiar with Chinese system,\u201d he wrote, \u201cI don\u2019t believe Peng Shuai has received retaliation and repression speculated by foreign media for the thing people talked about<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same day, Shen Shiwei (\u6c88\u8bd7\u4f1f), a Paris-based reporter for Hu Xijin\u2019s newspaper, shared photos on Twitter that she claimed were from Peng Shuai\u2019s WeChat account. They showed Peng apparently playing happily with her pet cat, surrounded by a collection of plush toys. Replying to Shen\u2019s Twitter post, Hu Xijin said he was \u201cwilling to believe the authenticity of these photos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
Global Times<\/em> editor-in-chief Hu Xijin comments on a tweet by CGTN editor Shen Shiwei suggesting that tennis star Peng Shuai is safe. Nevertheless, the star remains unreachable.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hu Xijin\u2019s next attempt to leverage his overseas following on Twitter came late in the day on November 20, as he posted a pair of videos<\/a> he had obtained from unidentified sources. \u201cI acquired two video clips, which show Peng Shuai was having dinner with her coach and friends in a restaurant. The video content clearly shows they are shot on Saturday Beijing time,\u201d Hu wrote.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday, November 21, Hu posted a video<\/a> of Peng attending the finals of a youth tennis competition and waving to unseen spectators. \u201cGlobal Times<\/em> photo reporter Cui Meng captured her at scene,\u201d Hu wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
Global Times<\/em> editor-in-chief Hu Xijin posts a video attributed to a \u201cphoto reporter\u201d at his newspaper on November 21, purporting to show that Peng Shuai is safely attending public events.  <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hu attempted to turn the tables on the Western media who refused to accept at face value attempts to offer evidence of Peng Shuai\u2019s wellbeing that seemed clearly staged. \u201cCan any girl fake such [a] sunny smile under pressure?\u201d he asked. \u201cThose who suspect Peng Shuai is under duress, how dark they must be inside. There must be many forced political performances in their countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
In a November 21 post to Twitter, Hu Xijin suggests that Peng Shuai must be fine because she is smiling while attending a youth tournament. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Leaving aside the ugly fact that here is a privileged male within a closed media system dominated by the ruling political party speaking diminishingly of a professional woman, age 35, as a \u201cgirl,\u201d how could Hu\u2019s denials and counterattacks possibly convince journalists, politicians and audiences globally? After all, Peng Shuai had not yet spoken. She had nodded at a dinner table, in a carefully edited video in which another male had spoken, ludicrously, about what day it was. She had turned, masked, in another video from which the audio had been entirely removed (the camera lingering on a date posted on the door). The overriding fact here was that Peng\u2019s voice could not be heard. She was unreachable, even though the letter to the WTA shared through the overseas social accounts of state media had quoted her as asking the organization to verify any future news with her first, and \u201crelease it with my consent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the latest gambit to prove that everything is fine, and that the world can simply move on when it comes to Peng Shuai and her allegations on November 2, the International Olympic Committee revealed Monday that its president had spoken to Peng Shuai by video<\/a> on Sunday and confirmed that the tennis star is \u201csafe.\u201d The IOC announcement prompted further skepticism outside China, the organization accused by some as having involved itself in a \u201cpublicity stunt<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

External Propaganda, Internal Darkness<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The most damning fact in the Peng Shuai case is that all information about the tennis star, her allegations and her personal wellbeing has been completely expunged from media and the internet. The comments made by Hu Xijin and others associated with Chinese state media may seem like the advance front of a global narrative to counter the concerns of the world \u2013 Peng is fine, there is nothing to see (\u6211\u5f88\u5b89\u5168) \u2013 but there is in fact no core narrative at all, no real and convincing alternative explanation for what has unfolded this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the letter, the images and videos that Hu and CGTN have deployed in an attempt to convince the world do not exist in the alternate universe of Chinese information. They have been scrubbed from the internet. They have not been shared or referenced at all in mainstream media coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Weibo user said it well yesterday when they posted a message referring to Peng Shuai only as \u201cPS,\u201d because her name has become a blocked keyword: \u201cOpening up Twitter today, I see that the first name in the headlines is [Peng Shuai]. The world is speaking for her, but we can\u2019t even hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
A Weibo user posts on November 22 that Twitter is full of headlines showing that the world is concerned about Peng Shuai, but that “we [in China] can’t hear them.” <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Surely, Hu Xijin must have posted something to Weibo, where he has more than 24 million fans? Since November 18, Hu has posted about US-China relations and the recent Biden-Xi video meet. He has posted about alleged bias in the Western media, focusing on a report by Reuters<\/a> about a Chinese professor at a European university working with a Chinese military laboratory, which on Twitter was accompanied by an image of Chinese soldiers (prompting an apology from the news agency). He has written about Lithuania “undermining China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and violently interfering in China’s internal affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is nothing, not a word about Peng Shuai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A search in the Baidu search engine for \u201cHu Xijin\u201d and \u201cPeng Shuai,\u201d selecting for web pages from the past week only, turns up just two pages. But these are not from the past week, nor do they have anything to do with Peng Shuai\u2019s wellbeing. The first is a link to People.com.cn, the official website of the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s flagship People\u2019s Daily<\/em> newspaper \u2013 not to any particular page, but rather to an archived homepage<\/a> from January 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
A search in Baidu for “Peng Shuai” and “Hu Xijin” returns just two results, neither current and neither of course relevant to the Peng Shuai case. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The top headline on this archived homepage is for a featured profile<\/a>, appearing at the time in the provincial-level Henan Daily<\/em>, of Xi Jinping as a county-level leader in the 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second search result generated through Baidu is an instance in which both \u201cHu Xijin\u201d and \u201cPeng Shuai\u201d appear. But it is not recent news, and has nothing whatsoever to do with Peng\u2019s recent whereabouts, or Hu Xijin\u2019s remarks on the issue. Instead, it is a single inside page of the October 1, 2012, edition of the China Business Journal<\/em>, a newspaper published under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bottom half of the page is occupied by an article called, \u201cIdle Talk of Traitors<\/a>\u201d (\u4f11\u8bdd\u6c49\u5978), that discusses, with a slightly admonishing tone, the flippant use by online nationalists of the label \u201ctraitor\u201d against Chinese participating in various international events. They included Li Na (\u674e\u5a1c), who in 2011 won the French Open<\/a>, becoming the first Asian-born tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles title. Li Na was being branded a traitor online for taking part in a tournament in Japan in the midst of disputes over the Senkaku Islands. But Peng Shuai was spared similar treatment at the time. \u201cMaking the same remarks, how is it that Li Na is a traitor and Peng Shuai is not?” the article asked. “What logic is this?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
A lone search result on Baidu for “Peng Shuai” and “Hu Xijin” is not about Hu’s recent remarks on Peng’s case, but an incidental appearance of both on a newspaper page from 2011. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The superficial link with Hu Xijin comes as a \u201cSina Weibo\u201d column on the right-hand side of the page highlights a number of recent Weibo posts that have drawn attention online. One of these is a post from the Global Times<\/em> editor-in-chief urging Brazil to demolish its favellas ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio \u2013 or at the very least to give them a new paint job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Has the Global Times<\/em> in fact reported anything about Peng Shuai as Hu Xijin has taken to Twitter to argue that everything is fine? No. Nothing. This is clear from a search of the paper\u2019s website over the past week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
Hu Xijin has been outspoken about Peng Shuai on Twitter. But his newspaper has reported nothing in the past week. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A search for \u201cPeng Shuai\u201d and \u201cGlobal Times\u201d in Baidu turns up plenty, but the coverage all dates from 2014 and 2015, as though six years have gone missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
A search “Peng Shuai” and the “Global Times” turns up results from 2014 and 2015. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A search for just \u201cPeng Shuai\u201d in Baidu again turns up old coverage of Peng\u2019s tournament play, headlines from 2010, 2012, 2013, and one from 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
A search for “Peng Shuai” in the Baidu search engine turns up results that at years old. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Select for the past week and there is nothing at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
A search in Baidu for “Peng Shuai” and “Hu Xijin” over the past week turns up 0 results. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What about China\u2019s official Xinhua News Agency? It is generally meant to lead official coverage, along with the People\u2019s Daily<\/em>, setting the standard for \u201cpublic opinion guidance\u201d and offering news releases that other media can safely run. Any reporting about Peng Shuai over the past week? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. Again, nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
A search of the website of the official Xinhua News Agency, generally the source of authorized statements, turns up nothing on “Peng Shuai.” <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And then we have CCTV.com, the official website of the state-run broadcaster, whose CGTN has posted actively on Twitter about Peng Shuai, suggesting there is no need at all to search for her. Surely, CCTV has made its position known to the domestic audience and to the world through its powerful platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again, a search of CCTV.com reveals no coverage whatsoever of Peng Shuai over the past week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
There has been no mention of “Peng Shuai” on the official CCTV website in the past week as the international discussion of her predicament has crested. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But perhaps this is the result of online content blocks? Perhaps there has been coverage offline, in Chinese newspapers? A search over the past week in the Wisers database for Chinese language media outside the PRC, in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, turns up more than 70 reports related to Peng Shuai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
A total of 70 articles are returned for “Peng Shuai” in Chinese-language media outside the PRC. Source: Wisers. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

So let\u2019s select for mainland newspapers. What do we find? Once again, total silence. Not a single result is returned for the past week using the name \u201cPeng Shuai\u201d in the more than 300 papers available in the database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
A search for the past week of more than 300 PRC newspapers turns up no mention of “Peng Shuai.” Source: Wisers.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The crucial point we can glean from this fruitless search for \u201cPeng Shuai\u201d in the Chinese information space is that the tennis star is really and truly missing, despite the assurances provided by state media and associated individuals through international social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Which is to say that there is no real way for Peng to speak openly about the accusations she made earlier this month against a powerful political figure, and there is no space for a broader conversation, or any conversation, within the Chinese media and information environment about the implications of her case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Through posts on Twitter and Facebook, Chinese state media outlets and associated personalities have tried to ease concerns about the wellbeing of tennis star Peng Shuai. 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