A Quick Scan at the NPC

A Quick Scan at the NPC

China’s annual National People’s Congress (NPC) is one of the country’s biggest news events of the year. But restrictions on substantive reporting about policies can mean, paradoxically, a slow news week for Chinese media. Here’s one of this week’s first distraction stories.
Stuck in the Middle

Stuck in the Middle

This should be a golden era of reporting — but according to media analyst Qiao Mu there is very little Chinese media can talk about outside of finance, entertainment and titillating international stories (like that of spiritual guru Wang Lin, pictured at left with Alibaba's Jack Ma).
Clearing the Air

Clearing the Air

Facing a mixed picture for China’s economy and other nagging issues, the government is going on the offensive, pushing out negative voices in favor of “authoritative” official information.
The Making of a Good Party Reporter

The Making of a Good Party Reporter

In its inaugural 2017 edition, the CCP journal Seeking Truth talks about what it takes to be a journalist in Xi Jinping’s China.
Tough Times

Tough Times

This post by veteran economic journalist Yu Shenghai predicting tough times ahead for China's economy in 2017 was deleted from Weibo.
Christmas in the People’s Daily

Christmas in the People’s Daily

A bumpy sleigh ride through the history of Christmas in China’s pre-reform period as reflected in the pages of the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship newspaper.
Celebrating the Life and Work of Yu Jing

Celebrating the Life and Work of Yu Jing

YU JING, an award-winning writer of Chinese literary reportage, died of illness early afternoon Saturday surrounded by her husband, Qian Gang, director of the China Media Project, family members and friends. She was 63.
Time to “De-deify” the West?

Time to “De-deify” the West?

The populist Global Times newspaper argued in an op-ed yesterday that the presidential election in the United States exposes the lie of Western press neutrality. For the Chinese Communist Party, it’s a story as old as the hills.
Speak Not of Lawyers Speaking Out

Speak Not of Lawyers Speaking Out

The CAC, an agency created in 2014 to consolidate control over the country’s internet, ordered websites not to repost material from Caixin Online.
The End of Consensus

The End of Consensus

The shutdown over the weekend of Consensus, a popular site frequented by experts and intellectuals, spells more trouble for substantive discussion in China following troubles at the journal Yanhuang Chunqiu.

CMP Editorial

The Baffling Makeover of CCTV Global

Posted on 2017-01-05 Xi Jinping recently congratulated the state-run broadcaster CCTV for its “makeover” of its international content platform. But changes at the network look like more of the same.

Quotes in the media

Culture is the foundation of a people’s existence and development. Even if the land of a people is occupied by enemies, if its culture can survive then it can cohere hearts again and there is hope for revival . . . One important contribution of [Chinese] culture is that it provides humanity with a cultural development mode and civilisational pattern that differs from that of the West.

Media buzzword

网络主权
Wǎngluò zhǔquán
Internet Sovereignty
Formally introduced into the Chinese political lexicon in a June 2010 State Council Information Office white paper called “The Internet in China,” the term "Internet sovereignty" encapsulates the Chinese Communist Party's assertion that the traditional notion of national sovereignty is applicable to cyberspace.

Comic China

In what he says will be his "last satirical cartoon" before he switches entirely to puff commercial work, artist Cheng Tao depicts China's internet as a virtual prison.

The Anti-Social List

This post by veteran economic journalist Yu Shenghai predicting tough times ahead for China's economy in 2017 was deleted from Weibo.

CMP Fellows column

Zhang Ming 张鸣

What is This “Positive Energy”?

Posted on 2015-12-15
Chinese leaders have spoken a great deal lately about the need to "spread positive energy to society."

China’s unspeakable consensus

Posted on 2015-07-29
A Chinese online publication published an investigative series on the ills caused by China's controversial Three Gorges Dam. The series was killed in under 7 hours.