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The uncertain death of “constitutionalism”
The dispute in China over the issue of constitutionalism has raged on for several months now. The word “constitutionalism” and the ideas with which it is associated have been subjected to an attack the...
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In China, an odd mix of bawdy and serious
Read the news about the news in China today and you might note the sober and severe tone. The official Xinhua News Agency reports that nine government departments have jointly launched a concerted...
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Xi’s missing terms emerge again
Just last week, in a post called “The Missing Speech,” I discussed the significant omission from a new compilation of speeches by Xi Jinping — A Primer of Important Speeches by General Secretary Xi...
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China’s bawdy state media
In the wake of revelations of alleged news extortion at 21cbh.com, a financial news website under the auspices of the 21st Century Business Herald newspaper, CMP fellow Zhu Xuedong wrote about what he...
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Ali Baba’s cave and Pandora’s box
The New York Times noted last week that China’s internet czar, Lu Wei (鲁炜), was “taking a blunt tone” on the issue of foreign entry into China’s internet market. When Lu Wei — the man who reportedly...
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China’s constitution roller-coaster
The recent 4th Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party introduced a policy document with the long-winded title, Decision on Major Issues Concerning the Comprehensive...
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A backstage glimpse at the Plenum “Decision”
As I wrote last week, the terms “ruling the nation in accord with the constitution” (依宪治国) and “governing in accord with the constitution” (依宪执政) — which had for a time disappeared from China’s...
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Envisioning the splinternet
At China’s first World Internet Conference in the Zhejiang canal town of Wuzhen — nicknamed “the Wuzhen Summit” — Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his welcoming remarks that China encouraged the...
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Reading Chinese politics in 2014
As we come to the end of 2014, we can say that this year has brought a “hardening” (板结) of China’s political discourse. It’s been a year of cleansing in the ideological sphere, and we find now that...
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News and propaganda resolutions for 2015
You’ve packed away your Christmas tree. You’ve broken your New Year’s resolution. Now it’s time to get down to business. You have an entire year of censorship and propaganda to work out. Such, in any...
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Control and innovate
According to a well-traveled Chinese proverb, “If the people labor with one mind, even Mount Tai can be moved.” That may be an uplifting notion where mass mobilisation is concerned. But can it be...
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Propaganda converges
In a ceremony today attended by senior officials dealing with media and propaganda, China’s official Xinhua News Service launched the second edition of its news app for iPhone and Android. Cai Mingzhao...
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