Long post 3: Only the positive side is being published, internet censorship in China
Only the positive side is being published to the cities. Do we have no right to see the truth? Which became worth in this pandemic, the people would never know the true number of cases in their own country.
As I was going to write this article, I did some browsing on Chinese newspaper. I was trying to find some information on the existing issues within the society. Surprisingly I barely read any article saying people suffer from this pandemic. All we have is how good the government get control over the virus and how mayors went to every company to encourage everyone. However, as a person who lives in China during the pandemic, I did felt scared, lonely. A lot of people had lost their job, they had to go back to their hometown to maybe find a way to survive. None of that is shown on the TV or the News.
The Japanese Times did point out that Chinese News is considered No ‘negative’ news. They provide a story about the early stage of COVID-19 which people like me have never heard about. On Feb. 7, 2020, a doctor named Li Wenliang who had warned about a strange new viral outbreak only to be threatened by the police and accused of peddling rumours, had died of COVID-19. Yet China’s censors decided to order news websites not to issue notifications about his death. They told social platforms to gradually remove his name from trending topics pages. And they activated legions of fake online commenters to flood social sites with distracting chatter, stressing the need for discretion: “As commenters fight to guide public opinion, they must conceal their identity, avoid crude patriotism and sarcastic praise, and be sleek and silent in achieving results.”
“China has all the appearances of an increasingly open society: flashy new cities with Hollywood movies advertised on bus stops; digital currency taken up like nowhere else; cool kids getting around on hire bikes zooming through a gleaming modern existence.
And yet, since Mr. Xi came to power five years ago, public discourse has been increasingly censored to try and control everything from political thought to sexual activity.”(Stephen McDonell, BBC News, Beijing)
The censors are very busy, restricting speech on the one hand, and focusing on spreading specific messages on the other. They monitor the keywords and emojis on social networks, and once they find any content that is defiant or mocking national leaders, they will be blocked immediately. People who publish this content are likely to be reported to the government.
According to BBC news article on “China Covid-19: How state media and censorship took on coronavirus”. In the article, they have mentioned in the early stage that a question that is frequently asked which have never been answered is that “Why didn’t the government let the public know sooner?” “it was clear something unprecedented was happening. Thousands of messages of public outrage appeared on Chinese social media, asking whether local governments were covering up another Sars-like virus.”(BBC News)
This is because, in the face of major disasters, the inspectors are slow to act. In January and February, many media outlets took advantage of this opportunity to publish arduous surveys, which were widely shared on social media.
Later, as Beijing proposed a propaganda strategy, these reports were stifled.
It is no secret that Chinese newspapers and television stations are fully controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. Last year, Xi Jinping inspected the headquarters of the three major official media, the People’s Daily, Xinhua News Agency, and China Central Television, and asked reporters to be absolutely loyal to the party and to closely follow the party’s leadership “ideologically, politically, and inaction.” which is another word “listen to the party’s order”
This is not the first time information is being blocked. It starts a long time ago. This tradition starts with Mao the founder of the People’s Republic of China(PRC).
A lot of you should hear about the protest in 1989, called Tiananmen Square Protests or Tiananmen Square Massacre. Where in our textbook we had never mentioned the massacre part.
In spring 1989, the protests grew, with demands for greater political freedom.
Protesters were spurred on by the death of a leading politician, Hu Yaobang, who had overseen some of the economic and political changes. (BBC News, Tiananmen Square: What happened in the protests of 1989?)
He had been pushed out of a top position in the party by political opponents two years earlier. Tens of thousands gathered on the day of Hu’s funeral, in April, calling for greater freedom of speech and less censorship.
In the following weeks, protesters gathered in Tiananmen Square, with numbers estimated to be up to one million at their largest. The square is one of Beijing’s most famous landmarks. (BBC News, Tiananmen Square: What happened in the protests of 1989?)
At first, the government took no direct action against the protesters. Party officials disagreed on how to respond, some backing concessions, others wanting to take a harder line. The hardliners won the debate, and in the last two weeks of May, martial law was declared in Beijing. On 3 to 4 June, troops began to move towards Tiananmen Square, opening fire, crushing and arresting protesters to regain control of the area.
The students and government have a lot of conversations in between and trying to make an agreement. In our textbook, we learn that the students started to ruin the city in the first place. They try to destroy our peace. Most importantly we have never told that a tank, the army with guns were involved. They opened fire towards the student protester, which was over millions of students being killed.
This is how ridiculous it is. If you can control the spread of information, you can control people’s thoughts and behaviours. This is the way of governance that China relies on. When people don’t understand the status quo at all, it is easy to be controlled by others’ thoughts by just listening to one side.
“Before Xi Jinping, the internet was becoming a more vibrant political space for Chinese citizens. But today the country has the largest and most sophisticated online censorship operation in the world. ”By Elizabeth C Economy
The previous leaders closed the news for the unity of thought in China. The previous government hoped that the Chinese would be unbiased and only praised the Communist Party of China. So they closed the news to cover up the scandal and reached a perfect image. The current government is based on the same reason, announces wrong information to the world. Because this delays the timing to stop the epidemic. Block information or misinform your own citizens. Let citizens live in the good time established by the government. This is the deprivation of the rights of citizens. Citizens should have the right to know the truth, not to live in falsehood. the only thing we can do is when you receive a piece of information, you can verify and understand it in many ways. Strive for more comprehensive news. Then it’s not easy to be confused by one side of the whole situation.
work cited:
(news)
No ‘negative’ news: How China censored the coronavirus
(news as source)
China congress: How authorities censor your thoughts
(news)
China Covid-19: How state media and censorship took on coronavirus
(news as source)
Tiananmen Square: What happened in the protests of 1989?
(news as source)
The great firewall of China: Xi Jinping’s internet shutdown
