{"id":49618,"date":"2021-12-08T10:38:36","date_gmt":"2021-12-08T09:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinamediaproject.org\/?p=49618"},"modified":"2021-12-08T11:57:31","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T10:57:31","slug":"at-home-with-external-propaganda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinamediaproject.org\/2021\/12\/08\/at-home-with-external-propaganda\/","title":{"rendered":"At Home with External Propaganda"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Battle at Lake Changjin<\/em> (\u957f\u6d25\u6e56), the Chinese war epic that recently became the country\u2019s top-grossing film of all time, tells the story of self-sacrificing volunteer soldiers who bravely take on American troops at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War. Commissioned by the Central Propaganda Department with a budget of over 200 million dollars, the film has been praised inside China as a milestone both for China\u2019s film industry and for the telling of the \u201cChina story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while The Battle at Lake Changjin<\/em> may have been a domestic success, earning more than 895 million<\/a> dollars by the end of November, it has seriously misfired internationally, and the self-congratulatory tone of much coverage inside China points to the continued myopia of the country\u2019s media system when it comes to crafting stories the rest of the world can relate to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this week, the Economic Daily<\/em>, a central newspaper run by the State Council, hailed the fact<\/a> that in a period of 10 days following its first screening in Hong Kong on November 11, The Battle at Lake Changjin<\/em> had brought in more than 10 million Hong Kong dollars in ticket sales. Not only this, said the paper, but the film, which in mainland China had prompted emotional tributes, including a wave of frozen potato eating, had \u201ccontinued to heat up overseas,\u201d showing in Singapore, the United States and Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, the film\u2019s reception could scarcely be called lukewarm. It made just over<\/a> 577,000 US dollars on its opening in Hong Kong. Compare this to the saga<\/a> of the Eternals<\/em>, which raked in nearly 3.4 million US dollars on its Hong Kong opening in November. Even Anita<\/em>, the story of the disappeared Hong Kong Cantopop star Anita Mui, topped 1.5 million US dollars on opening, dwarfing the CCP\u2019s nationalistic blockbuster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Singapore, meanwhile, the film was not even listed for returns at Box Office Mojo, and taken altogether overseas numbers for the film, including in the US and the UK, were \u201cpuny,\u201d as Variety<\/em> has reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing at the Economic Daily<\/em>, critic Zhang Tianqiao (\u59dc\u5929\u9a84) was undeterred by such facts. That that The Battle at Lake Changjin<\/em> had become a \u201cphenomenal blockbuster,\u201d he wrote, was \u201ca sign that the Chinese story is deeply rooted in people’s hearts.\u201d What is this story exactly? According to Zhang, the story is that the \u201cwar of aid to Korea\u201d (\u63f4\u671d\u6218\u4e89) \u2013 China\u2019s official characterization of the Korean War \u2013 was great, and that \u201cits greatness lies in the fact that the Chinese people fought for peace and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building on the ostensible success of The Battle at Lake Changjin<\/em>, said Zhang, the goal should be to continue exploring ways for Chinese films to \u201cboth represent [China’s] national characteristics and core culture and also be widely accepted by the world film market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaking the Chinese story tug at the heartstrings of the world means finding a common narrative language with humanity,\u201d Zhang Tianqiao wrote. Story lines, in other words, should be compelling, and at the same time reflect the \u201cChina\u2019s story,\u201d a phrase that has become synonymous under Xi Jinping with the global rollout of the CCP\u2019s official line through modernized forms of \u201cexternal propaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
An excerpt of Xi Jinping\u2019s August 2013 address<\/a> on propaganda and ideology work, superimposed here on a promotional poster for The Battle at Lake Changjin<\/em>, relates the telling of \u201cChina\u2019s story\u201d to the conduct of \u201cexternal propaganda.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Modernizing domestic and external propaganda has been a project of many years for the CCP. And The Battle at Lake Changjin <\/em>has made a number of innovations in this respect, building on previous experiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Wolf Warrior 2<\/a><\/em> (\u6218\u72fc2), the previous box office record holder with nationalistic credentials, the film offers fast-moving action sequences and a few impressive<\/a> swooping camera scenes. But unlike Wolf Warrior 2<\/em>, this latest \u201cslice of nationalistic entertainment<\/a>\u201d also makes a clever appeal to younger audiences with its casting choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from the leading role played by Wu Jing (\u5434\u4eac) \u2013 who directed and produced Wolf Warrior 2<\/em> \u2013 \u00a0the film also stars Jackson Yee<\/a> (\u6613\u70ca\u5343\u74bd), an actor, singer and performer who is among the most popular today with young audiences. Yee is a member of the Chinese teen idol group TFBoys, or \u201cThe Fighting Boys.\u201d The casting of younger stars like Yee signals another important change in the nature of official CCP film production. Film producers, working closely with the CCP\u2019s Central Propaganda Department, are exploring novel approaches to casting and marketing. In Yee\u2019s case, his immense following as an idol can offer a convenient avenue for promoting the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On September 30, the day before the film\u2019s National Day release, Yee promoted The Battle at Lake Changjin<\/em> through his Weibo account. The post quickly received more than 1 million likes and reposts, and nearly 400,000 comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
Jackson Yee plugs The Battle at Lake Changjin in a Weibo post on September 30, the day before its release. The post received more than 100 million reposts.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Like the Wolf Warrior<\/em> films and Operation Red Sea<\/em> (\u7ea2\u6d77\u884c\u52a8), a 2018 action war film, The Battle at Lake Changjin<\/em> has helped to change the audience\u2019s perception of \u201cmainstream\u201d films, meaning state productions aligning with the CCP line, as dull and doctrinaire. But it is only the latest culmination of a decades-long struggle to find novel ways to tell the CCP\u2019s story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Main Melodies<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It was at least as early as the National Film Work Conference in 1987 that the leadership introduced the idea of diversifying propaganda products. The phrase at the time was, \u201cpromoting the main melody, insisting on variety\u201d (\u7a81\u51fa\u4e3b\u65cb\u5f8b, \u575a\u6301\u591a\u6837\u5316 ).\u201d The term \u201cmain melody,\u201d or zhuxuanlu<\/em> (\u4e3b\u65cb\u5f8b), is still used today by propaganda officials to assert the need to stick to the main political line, ensuring that the CCP leads the chorus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early in the Jiang Zemin era, the Central Propaganda Department initiated the so-called \u201cFive Ones Project<\/a>\u201d (\u4e94\u4e2a\u4e00\u5de5\u7a0b), an awards program designed to encourage \u201cinnovation\u201d in mainstream cultural production, including films, television programming, literature and music. The goal was essentially to convey the Party\u2019s objectives, values and doctrines in cultural products that befitted an era of rising choice in the media, as foreign cultural products also became more readily available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the Hu Jintao era this atmosphere of experimentation continued, one of the biggest changes being the increasing involvement of private sector investment in the production and distribution of \u201cmainstream\u201d films and TV shows. Films such as The Knot<\/em> (\u4e91\u6c34\u8c23), a \u201cmain melody\u201d production<\/a> set during the Chinese Civil War, and TV programs like Drawing Sword<\/em> (\u4eae\u5251), which tells the story of Li Yunlong, a commander of a regiment of the Eighth Route Army during the war of resistance against Japan, clearly showed the growing impact of private investors in productions. These films and television series were no longer the ponderous propaganda offerings of the past, but rather sought to blend more secular stories with broad appeal with so-called \u201csocialist core values.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the late 2000s there has been a greater emphasis on \u201ccultural soft power\u201d (\u6587\u5316\u8f6f\u5b9e\u529b), the CCP leadership investing its hopes for greater credibility and influence overseas in the strength of Chinese cultural products. And since 2013, Xi Jinping has doubled down on this basic conviction, that China\u2019s voice<\/a> in the world must grow louder and stronger as a reflection of the country\u2019s growing strength as a global power, and that this should be manifested in rising \u201ccultural confidence\u201d (\u6587\u5316\u81ea\u4fe1). \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Battle for Global Audiences<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

State media and other official sources have relished The Battle at Lake Changjin<\/em> as a prime example of China\u2019s growing capacity for strong cultural products. Jun Zheng Ping (\u94a7\u6b63\u5e73), an official Weibo account launched in July 2016 by the People\u2019s Liberation Army, posted an article<\/a> three days after the film’s release that said “the world’s recognition of the people’s army was far from sufficient,” and that this problem could be remedied through the medium of film. The article, \u201cThis Age Needs High-Quality National Military Films to Enter People\u2019s Hearts and Head Out Into the World\u201d (\u65f6\u4ee3\u9700\u8981\u9ad8\u8d28\u91cf\u56fd\u4ea7\u519b\u4e8b\u7535\u5f71\u8d70\u8fdb\u4eba\u5fc3\u8d70\u5411\u4e16\u754c<\/a>), called the war scenes in The Battle at Lake Changjin<\/em> \u201cexcellent,\u201d and said that \u201cthe actors performed wonderfully.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Shanghai Observer<\/u><\/em> (\u4e0a\u89c2), an outlet run by Jiefang Daily<\/em>, the official mouthpiece of the CCP leadership in Shanghai, said that the success of The Battle at Lake Changjin<\/em> had demonstrated the vibrancy and vitality of the Chinese film industry, and had \u201cshown the world the unique beauty of the China story.\u201d The outlet was not wrong in claiming that a \u201cChangjin Lake effect\u201d (\u957f\u6d25\u6e56\u6548\u5e94) had swept across mainland China. Some Chinese, after seeing the film, had visited the graves of these martyrs, laying down flowers. Some stands selling vegetables had reportedly posted signs that read, \u201cToday we have plenty of potatoes,\u201d a tribute to the hardships depicted in the film, including one scene in which the volunteer soldiers must eat frozen potatoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
A column of the US First Marine Division move through Chinese lines during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. Public domain photo by Corporal Peter McDonald<\/a>, USMC.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But many of the very elements that have made the film so appealing to audiences in mainland China, what Zhang Tianqiao hailed in the Economic Daily<\/em> this week as an insistence on \u201cnational characteristics\u201d and \u201ccore culture,\u201d are the more or less direct causes of its failure overseas \u2013 a failure that commentators inside China seem ill equipped to recognize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the theory section of the latest edition of International Communications<\/em>, a monthly journal on mass media published in China, two scholars from Ningbo University, Xin Hongjuan (\u8f9b\u7ea2\u5a1f) and Meng Jialong (\u5b5f\u4f73\u84c9), write that promoting the \u201cgoing out\u201d (\u8d70\u51fa\u53bb) of \u201cred culture\u201d (\u7ea2\u8272\u6587\u5316), a phrase referring to CCP-approved official PRC history and culture, is crucial to \u201ctelling China\u2019s story well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the outset of their summary, the two authors tacitly accept Xi Jinping\u2019s external propaganda strategy as the frame with which to discuss international communications and its success or failure, and suitably they begin their paper with a reference to Xi Jinping\u2019s remarks on \u201cred resources\u201d (\u7ea2\u8272\u8d44\u6e90) at the 31st<\/sup> collective study session of the Politburo on June 25, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Battle at Lake Changjin<\/em>, they say, \u201cprovides a good example of how to use film and television works as a vehicle to optimize the foreign communication of China’s red culture.\u201d They conclude, on the basis apparently of a simple viewing of the film, that it \u201ccleverly uses empathic communication, employing macro narratives to promote two-way empathy.\u201d The result is to promote a clear image of the Chinese military as peace-loving and opposing war. Moreover, the film \u201ccontributes new ideas to promote the integration of Chinese civilization into the world civilization in a confident and positive manner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
Xin Hongjuan (\u8f9b\u7ea2\u5a1f) and Meng Jialong (\u5b5f\u4f73\u84c9) write in International Communication<\/em> that The Battle at Changjin Lake<\/em> is successful at inspiring “two-way empathy” and is a new example in the international communication of “red culture.” <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This faith in the film\u2019s power of \u201cempathic communication\u201d is based in particular on two scenes in the film, which the author\u2019s imagine must elicit sympathy from audiences everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first scene, soldier Wu Wanli, the brother of seventh company commander Wu Qianli (played by Wolf Warrior 2<\/em> director Wu Jing) is about to shoot an American officer and achieve his goal of killing 20 enemies, transforming himself into a \u201chero,\u201d when Qianli stays his hand, saying: “There are some shots that must be fired, and others that can be left unfired.” In the second scene, an American commander named Smith comes across a group of Chinese volunteers frozen like ice sculptures, but maintaining their combat postures. He removes his hat and salutes the Chinese soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xin and Meng accept out of hand that these scenes \u201cpromote two-way empathy,\u201d that global audiences will take them as evidence of peace-loving goodwill. Here is their elementary thesis about how international communication can be achieved:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a country with 5,000 years of civilization, China has its own national system, and its own discourse to express its values — for example, the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, the spirit of collectivism and communism, and so on. Western countries also have their own unique systems and values, including democratic republicanism, the supremacy of individualism and heroism, and so on. In order to foster empathy between these two sides having different cultures and ideologies, we must find the common emotions (\u5171\u901a\u60c5\u611f) in both cultures. Respect for life, for example, is the basis for a natural dialogue between people in the East and the West.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Finding these points of \u201cempathic communication,\u201d the scholars conclude, can help to \u201cbreak more barriers to the foreign dissemination of Chinese red culture.\u201d But are Chinese scholars and strategists, including pundits at state media, looking critically at the real failure of how The Battle at Lake Changjin<\/em> has been received in foreign countries?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film has drawn overseas criticism for stretching the historical facts of the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. Malaysia<\/a> turned the film away after online discontent over its role as CCP propaganda. Not only, South Korean critics<\/a> said, did the film serve as a blatant propaganda, playing fast and loose with the facts, but its release was timed to accompany the 100th anniversary of Chinese Communist Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Rotten Tomatoes film review website, The Battle at Lake Changjin<\/em> earned a green \u201csplat,\u201d<\/a> receiving at 33 percent barely more than half the proportion of positive reviews it needed to earn a squishy tomato. The Guardian<\/em>, which called it \u201cstraight-up propaganda,\u201d bemoaned the lack of any coherent story at all. \u201cIt\u2019s a shame there is virtually no story to sew this ungainly patchwork of styles together,\u201d the critic Phil Hoad wrote, \u201capart from some threadbare twaddle about 7th Company commander Quanli (Wolf Warrior\u2019s Wu Jing) and his wannabe soldier brother Wanli (Jackson Yee), as a stowaway who mostly exists for his comrades to impart self-sacrificing wisdom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond its lack of coherence, said Hoad, the film had \u201cworryingly belligerent overtones,\u201d and seemed to revel in graphic violence. The critic likened a hand-to-hand combat scene in the American encampment to \u201ca homicidal game of Twister.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
Critical views gathered at Rotten Tomatoes for The Battle at Changjin Lake<\/em> are largely negative.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

At The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>, critic Elizabeth Kerr called the film<\/a> \u201cpropagandist myth-making\u201d that threw historical fact out the window. While Kerr said that the film \u201cticks all the boxes expected of a rousing slice of nationalist entertainment,\u201d she concluded that \u201cit\u2019s not even trying for soft power\u201d \u2013 a comment state media pundits should find painful given their insistence that the film is built to be an international sensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are no onscreen English credits, as if no one expected anyone outside the People\u2019s Republic to watch,\u201d Kerr wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kerr noted another very fundamental problem that those in China hoping to export \u201cred culture\u201d might take into consideration \u2013 the fact that The Battle at Lake Changjin <\/em>is simply too long at a \u201cbutt-numbing three hours.\u201d That might be fine for military die-hards, and for melodramatic audiences ready to mimic the sacrifices of the people\u2019s volunteers, breaking their teeth on frozen potatoes. But when it comes to appealing to global audiences, it is one of many failings the CCP\u2019s \u201cred culture\u201d promoters might do well to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Battle at Lake Changjin, hailed inside China as a film transforming the production value and appeal of films that tow the CCP line, may have broken domestic box office records this year. But the struggle for global audiences will be far more difficult to win. 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