Lingua Sinica Newsletter, 22 August

Welcome back to Lingua Sinica.

Since our last newsletter, Taiwan has entered Ghost Month. The streets around our office have been lined with tables featuring sumptuous spreads of roast meat and barrel-aged whisky for the spirits who have wandered back into the realm of the living. I spent the night of the Ghost Festival (中元節) itself in the port city of Keelung, which is home to some of the country’s most colorful and distinctive traditions.

There, prominent local families take turns organizing the annual festival — a compromise and form of healthy competition arrived at after years of clan conflict. The city streets are lined with elaborate floats bearing the surname of the clan responsible, and late at night towering paper houses are set alight and pushed onto the pitch-black ocean water. The only drawback: this once somber ritual has become a major tourist attraction. Get there very early or resign yourself to observing from kilometers away, behind the tripods of hundreds of amateur photographers.

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Before we get stuck into this week’s newsletter, I’d like to introduce our readers to the newest member of the CMP and Lingua Sinica team: our Chinese-language editor Heng Yu Chien (簡恒宇). Heng Yu comes to us from Taiwan’s Storm Media (風傳媒), where he served as Deputy Director for the outlet’s international coverage. He’ll be launching a new suite of content for and by Chinese-language journalists around the world — with plans to be revealed soon. We can’t wait to see what he does, and to go from just observing the Chinese-language media space to actively giving back to it as well.

We’re also looking forward to getting out our latest China Chatbot news bulletin and monthly CMP Discourse Tracker next week. Consider signing up for a paid subscription to get access to these great new products!

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Ryan Ho Kilpatrick
CMP Managing Editor

TRACKING CONTROL

Decline and Fall

This week, the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) published the findings from their latest Press Freedom Index, and the results don’t look good.

Local journalists surveyed by the group gave the city a score of 25 for press freedom, a decline of 0.7 points from the year before and a record low for the index since it was established in 2013. While the public score continued to hover around 42, more than half — 53 percent — of the public said press freedom had declined in the past year.

Journalist respondents were especially concerned about the potential impact new national security legislation known as Article 23 — introduced in March 2024 — would have on the media, with more than 90 percent saying this would significantly impact press freedom.

For more on what the HKJA Press Freedom Index and other recent developments in Hong Kong can tell us about the state of the city’s media environment, read my latest piece “Decline and Fall.”

ANTI-SOCIAL

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (in China)

When student-led protests turned deadly in Bangladesh last month, forcing the country’s prime minister to step down after 15 years in power, the story was all over international headlines — except in China.

There, official state media were largely quiet about the growing protest movement and Prime Minister Sheikh Masina’s subsequent resignation. Newspaper reports were generally terse and a PRC foreign ministry spokesperson simply said that “China is closely following the developments in Bangladesh” and “hopes that social stability will be restored soon.” Perhaps they were reluctant to bid farewell to Hasina. When she visited Beijing just a month before her abrupt departure, the People’s Daily (人民日報) had written about the “ profound friendship” (深厚友谊) between China and Bangladesh.

Online, discussions about the turmoil in Bangladesh were more lively — at least before censors got to it. According to VOA, one Weibo user wrote: “We salute to the brave people of Bangladesh and the military that stands with the people. Rights are earned. Bless the people of Bangladesh.” Another commented that, “Amidst the fall of democracy and justice, the courageous Bangladeshi people fought back with their lives and blood.” Comments like these about rights and democracy could reflect back on China itself — almost certainly the reason they can no longer be found on the website.

MEDIA GAMES

Unpleasant Confrontations

Taiwanese netizens have made no secret in the past of their annoyance at being forced to compete as “Chinese Taipei” (中華台北) at the Olympic Games under a generic white banner — thanks to arrangements made with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1981 to appease the PRC. During the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Taiwanese netizens even fought back by altering the Chinese Taipei flag in photos from the Games:

But some observers suggest Taiwanese fans showed an unusual degree of fighting spirit during the Paris Olympics this month over the question of the country’s marginalization. Many took to Threads, a social media platform now hugely popular in Taiwan, to vent their frustration. One user, Ricky Lee, shared images and videos from Paris of the different signs and images he attempted to display at events — only to be harassed by security personnel. One was a sign showing only an image of bubble milk tea, an iconic Taiwanese beverage. “What choice do we have?” he asked, “other than this flag for Chinese Taipei?” Many of these incidents kicked up storms of conversation among Taiwanese on X, with some calling on users to track down the identities of Olympic volunteers from China that they blamed for the harsh enforcement.

One of the innocuous, apolitical signs snatched from Taiwanese spectators at the Paris Olympics.

When a video was shared on Threads of a Chinese citizen in Paris fulminating against a Taiwanese-owned hotel that had not displayed the PRC flag in its lobby, Taiwanese on the platform were bemused by the pettiness of the video — and angered by its glaring hypocrisy. “This gentleman is so fond of justice and is so talkative,” said one heavily-liked comment. “Why don’t you use the same tone to ask about how China treats Taiwan during the Olympics?”

US-based academic Wu Guo, educated in both Taiwan and China, wrote that he did not recall “unpleasant confrontations” about Taiwan’s position at the Olympics being displayed so prominently in the past, and attributed this to a “rising self-assertion” among Taiwanese young people.

NEWSPEAK

No Revolution but Self-Revolution

“Self-revolution” refers to a process by which the Chinese Communist Party under Xi Jinping proposes to remain “pure” by rooting out corrupt and ineffectual cadres from their own ranks. Posited as Xi Jinping’s answer to the historical problem of dynastic rise and fall, it promises to confer the Party with an indefinite mandate to rule, or continued political legitimacy — all without having to stand up to external supervision or seek popular support through competitive elections.

Xi first used the phrase in 2015 in a speech to the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms (中央全面深化改革领导小组), calling on the group to “dare to self-revolutionize” (勇于自我革命). From its onset, “self-revolution” was likened to “turning the blade inward to scrape away the poison” (勇于刀刃向内、刮骨疗毒) and “taking up the scalpel to remove our own tumors” (拿起手术刀来革除自身的毒瘤). Like any revolution, it is no dinner party, but a long, slow, and painful process to achieve “purity” and “eternal youth.”

In 2021, “self-revolution” was enshrined in the CCP Central Committee’s Resolution on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century (中共中央关于党的百年奋斗重大成就和历史经验的决议). Commonly known as the “third historical resolution,” the document was only the third of its kind after “historical resolutions” adopted by Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Xi and “self-revolution” were in illustrious company, but in remarks made at the time of the resolution, Xi elevated it — and himself — higher still, calling self-revolution “the second answer” (第二个答案) to the question of escaping historical cycles. This put him and his idea on the level of one man alone: Mao Zedong, who offered “the first answer” in his 1945 “Cave Dwelling Dialogue.”

A monument commemorating Mao’s “Cave Dwelling Dialogue” is unveiled in Beijing in 2016.

For more on “self-revolution” and how Xi believes it will allow the CCP under his leadership to “beat history” and rule indefinitely, see my new definition for this important term in the CMP Dictionary.

SPOTLIGHT

Fear in the Philippines

The latest cover story at Caixin Weekly (财新周刊), an outlet under the PRC-based Caixin Media, which is known for its strong business and (sometimes) investigative journalism in a tough environment, is a nail-biting exploration by journalist Tang Ailin (唐爱琳) into the kidnapping of ethnic Chinese in the Philippines. Such cases have been on the rise in the country since 2019, with some victims even lured to the Philippines from countries including the US, Germany, and Austria on the pretext of business cooperation before being detained by criminal gangs upon arrival.

The full Caixin Weekly story is paywalled (a subscription worth considering), but there is also a brief preview in English.

The Low Tar Lie

Over the past two decades, tobacco use globally has fallen by 11 percent. But in China, which accounts for one-fifth of the world’s population and consumes half of its cigarettes, the story has played out very differently. Tobacco use in China has eased by just one percent over the same period, with the country consuming more than 2.4 trillion cigarettes per year. This smoking epidemic has serious public health consequences. Not only are deaths related to smoking expected to surge, but widespread tobacco use is directly impacting an estimated 700 million non-smokers in China.

A Chinese smoker. Source: Gauthier Delecroix, available at Flickr.com under CC license.

In a recent feature story, Initium Media, in cooperation with The Lancet medical journal, looks at how scientists in China have misled consumers over the past about the dangers of tobacco by plugging “low tar” cigarettes — which tobacco control organizations internationally have called “one of the deadliest consumer frauds of this era.” One of the Chinese tobacco industry’s greatest champions has been Xie Jianping (謝劍平), a scientist honored as an academician by the Chinese Academy of Engineering for his research on “tar reduction and harm minimization” for cigarettes. This must-read feature is part of an ongoing series by Initium.

Teasing Out the Complex Story of Taiwan

In a profile late last week, independent news outlet The Reporter took an in-depth look at “Three Tears in Borneo” (聽海湧), which is being billed as Taiwan’s first World War II suspense drama – released for this month’s 79th anniversary of the war’s end. Broadcast on Public Television Service (PTS), the country’s first independent public broadcaster, the mini-drama series (迷你劇集) is a moving fictionalization of real historical events, recounting how Taiwanese youth were recruited by the Japanese colonial government in Taiwan during World War II to serve as guards for Allied prisoners of war in the jungle of Borneo. Some young Taiwanese were complicit in brutal atrocities, and after the war faced an International Military Tribunal.

From left: “Three Tears in Borneo” producer Inch Lin (林佳儒), director Sun Chieh-heng (孫介珩) and screenwriter Tsai Yi-fen (蔡雨氛). Source: The Reporter.

“Three Tears in Borneo” was an international endeavor, with a Taiwanese production team and Japanese actors. The film’s director Sun Chieh-heng (孫介珩), grew up in Taipei, the third generation of immigrants from China. His grandfather fought the Japanese as a member of the Republic of China Air Force in the 1940s. Screenwriter Tsai Yi-fen (蔡雨氛) and producer Inch Lin (林佳儒) both grew up in the Jianan area of southwest Taiwan. Their grandparents lived under Japanese rule, and even to this day speak Japanese. “We are sitting here together now for an interview,” Sun told The Reporter. “But our ancestors possibly fought against each other, and were enemies.” According to Sun, the complex story of Taiwan is a subject to be “patiently digested,” subject to questioning and reconciliation.

The first two episodes of the series were screened at the Taipei Film Festival in June this year, and received positive reviews, according to The Reporter. To learn more about the series, check out the review at The Reporter and look out for our upcoming interview with the production team. The series’ page at PTS is here.

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How China’s Sex Industry Survives in Cyberspace

The PRC’s crackdown on the sex industry in China is about as old as the state itself. Just a month after the Communist takeover of Beijing, authorities began to shut down brothels and “liberate” the capital’s sex workers through reeducation. In 1958, the government declared victory in their war against prostitution, but the “world’s oldest profession” never truly disappeared. Just last year, the Ministry of Public Security announced it was “continuing to crack down on prostitution,” prosecuting over 400,000 offenses the previous year.

A prostitution “reeducation center” at a former brothel in Beijing, 1949.

Cyberspace has offered something of a safe haven for the industry, but police are now harnessing the latest tech tools to take their crackdowns online. Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao (联合早报) has this story on how sex workers continue to find work on the Chinese internet and receive payments digitally, but fear police searches using big data will become increasingly effective at tracking them down.

Reporter Daryl Lim tells how sex workers use Telegram to attract “students” for hour-long “lessons,” using the after-hours tutorial education so common in the region as a form of cover. Apps beyond the Great Firewall, such as Facebook and Instagram, have also become an almost lawless realm outside the jurisdiction of PRC authorities. But this also poses a challenge to sex workers, dramatically limiting their clientele to those with a VPN. Lim relates how industry insiders have found ways around that, accepting payments through a special app, which he does not name, as well as multiple WeChat accounts. Time will tell if the proposed new cyberspace IDs from the Cyberspace Administration of China will change this.

Lim’s story for Lianhe Zaobao has also been translated into English here.

CMP HIGHLIGHTS

A Midwesterner in Foshan

VP candidate Tim Walz is the first person in decades on a US presidential ticket to have lived in China. In 1989, the future governor of Minnesota began a yearlong teaching gig at a middle school in Guangdong province. Singapore-based Initium Media got in touch with Walz’s old colleagues and students at Foshan No. 1 Middle School to find out what he was like, and heard engaging stories about Walz’s attempts to learn Cantonese, his “infectious smile,” and his love of ice cream in the sweltering heat of the Pearl River Delta.

These stories go some way to explaining the potential vice president’s more human-centered stance on China. While Republicans are already painting Walz’s affection for China as a liability making him vulnerable to CCP influence, Walz is no “dove” — he has demonstrated a decades-long interest in human rights in China, siding with Hong Kong democracy activists and exiled Tibetan leaders.

We worked with our partners at Initium to translate this timely story. You can read the full piece, by special contributor Wing Kuang and Initium journalist Abel Yu, in English on the CMP website.

FLASHPOINTS

A Must-See Meltdown

Taiwanese media and politicians generally remain on guard against Chinese disinformation, and urge the public to steer clear. But earlier this month, after a prominent PRC think-tanker was roasted by factual questioning over China’s rights record in front of a live television audience, they were encouraging everyone to gawk at the wreckage.

CHAIN REACTIONS

Dossier of Disgrace

A Czech outlet for Chinese propaganda

First published in 1927, the Czech literary magazine Literární noviny was once, some might say, a compelling voice for liberalization amid the stagnation of Soviet-controlled Czechoslovakia. In the 1960s, it featured writing by the likes of respected literary critic Milan Jungmann, and journalist and samizdat writer Ludvík Vaculík. These days, however, as it edges ever closer to its centennial, the magazine seems eager to crawl back into the embrace of another regime with a grand narrative to sell.

Since at least 2017, Literární noviny has collaborated with China’s official Guangming Daily (光明日报) newspaper, published under the CCP’s Central Propaganda Department, to run a special column on its homepage called “reading CHINA+” — right alongside offerings on culture and literature — as well as a printed supplement called Dossier. During one of its regular visits to the Czech Republic after 2016, the Guangming Daily was crystal clear that the arrangement was intended to serve as a means to disseminate Chinese state propaganda. As newspaper brass boasted to their hosts at the Prague bureau of the official China News Service, an outlet under the United Front Work Department of the CCP:

As part of our country’s large-scale foreign propaganda work, Guangming Daily cooperates with the Czech magazine Literární noviny to create a richly illustrated Czech-language special edition called Dossier, three issues of which already been published on the topics of Chinese traditional medicine, Shanghai and Zhejiang, with many articles by Czech journalists and writers.

Though the magazine stopped publishing in print around 2021, it remains online, and from time to time slips the printed Dossier (with PRC content) into other outlets in the country. The most recent contribution to the online “reading CHINA+” section this month is a commentary from Djoomart Otorbaev, a former prime minister of the Kyrgyz Republic, who praises Xi Jinping’s Global Civilization Initiative (GCI). The commentary appears to have been patched together from remarks Otorbaev made last year during a televised event on the GCI hosted by the state-run CGTN. This piece is followed by another shameless GCI promotion penned by Wang Jun, a doctoral student at Peking University’s School of Marxism. Wang’s piece appeared first in Guangming Daily.

According to a report several years back by the Czech media outlet Aktuálně.cz, the current owner of Literární noviny, Miroslav Pavel, is being paid by the Chinese partner — which in this case, of course, is the Chinese party-state — to publish the content. For more on the cooperation, check out in-depth related research over at Sinopsis (and try DeepL if your Czech is rusty).

DID YOU KNOW?

Colorless Epitaphs

China’s regimented discourse of death

On Monday this week, the People’s Daily ran a rare official obituary on the front page for theoretical physicist Zhou Guangzhao (周光召), a key figure in China’s nuclear weapons program from 1960 onwards. Born in Changsha in 1929, Zhou studied physics at Tsinghua and Peking Universities until 1957, when he was sent to work at the Soviet Union’s Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, north of Moscow. He returned to China in 1960, four years before the country’s first successful nuclear test on October 16, 1964.

None of this interesting professional history was detailed in Zhou’s obituary, which offered instead a litany of stiff honorifics — after the fashion of the official CCP eulogy. Zhou was “an excellent member of the Chinese Communist Party,” an “outstanding scientist,” and “a senior academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.”

For an in-depth look at how death in CCP mouthpiece (喉舌) media is never a personal matter, and always a political one, see David Bandurski’s “The Politics of Passing On,” and, on former Premier Li Keqiang, “Sidelined in Death, as in Politics.” And for a contrasting treatment, see the rather more colorful tribute to Zhou Guangzhao published in The Beijing News (新京报), a commercial newspaper under the Beijing CCP Committee.

PROFILES

Andrew Yao

Meet the poster professor for China’s AI ambitions

Not many people can claim they wield as much power over China’s AI ambitions as Andrew Yao (姚期智). He’s the first dean of Tsinghua University’s new School for Artificial Intelligence, and the only Chinese to win the Turing Award (the “Nobel Prize of Computing”). He grew up in Taiwan, then lived in the US for around 30 years working as a professor at Princeton, Stanford, MIT and Berkeley before moving to China to teach in 2004, renouncing his US citizenship in 2015. Xi Jinping wrote him a letter in June praising his patriotism, and his desire to serve China, which got a lot of state media coverage. The way Yao’s doing this is through training China’s next generation of AI talent. Upon arriving in China he set up an innovative course in computer science at Tsinghua that developed a reputation for taking only the best, and turning out people who would go on to become some of the best engineers and tech entrepreneurs in the business. Saying that you were in the “Yao Class” is definitely worth putting on your resume.

Cultivating home-grown talent that stays in China (many don’t) is integral to Xi Jinping’s bold plans to make China make innovations of their own, rather than play catch-up to US ones like ChatGPT. China currently faces a huge dearth of computer scientists able to model Large Language Models (LLMs): The Paper has it that only 200 people in China today know how to adjust and tune LLMs at a professional level, and 90 percent of the people able to build their foundations trained at Tsinghua alone. Liu Qingfeng, CEO of the partly state-owned Chinese IT company iFLYTEK, has said that in the new geopolitical race to build the best AI, “the biggest decisive factor must be talent.” If Yao’s advice to build a nationwide talent training system at a symposium in 2020 presided over by Xi is anything to go by, he wants China to work smarter, not harder.

Read this and more about China’s movements in media and AI in Alex Colville’s China Chatbot bulletin, a premium offering for paid Lingua Sinica subscribers. For unpaid subscribers, we offer complimentary access this week to last week’s edition.

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