Censorship in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is implemented or mandated by the PRC's ruling party, the Communist Party of China (CPC). Notable censored subjects include but are not limited to, democracy, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 , Maoism , Falun Gong , ethnic independence movements, corruption, police brutality , anarchism , gossip , disparity of wealth, food safety , pornography, news sources that report on these issues, unregistered religious content, and many other websites.
Censored media include essentially all capable of reaching a wide
audience including television, print media, radio, film, theater, text messaging , instant messaging , video games, literature and the Internet . Chinese officials have access to uncensored information via an internal document system .
Reporters Without Borders ranks China's press situation as "very serious", the worst ranking on their five-point scale. In August 2012 the OpenNet Initiative
classified Internet censorship in China as "pervasive" in the political
and conflict/security areas and "substantial" in the social and
Internet tools areas, the two most extensive classifications of the five
they use. Freedom House
ranks the press there as "not free", the worst ranking, saying that "state control over the news media in China is achieved through a
complex combination of party monitoring of news content, legal
restrictions on journalists, and financial incentives for
self-censorship," and an increasing practice of "cyber-disappearance" of material written by or about activist bloggers.
Other views suggest that local Chinese businesses such as Baidu , Tencent and Alibaba , some of the world's largest internet enterprises, benefited from the way China has blocked international rivals from the market, encouraging domestic competition.
Contents
1 Subject matter and agenda
1.1 Political 1.2 Moral 1.3 Cultural 1.4 Religious 1.5 Economic 1.6 Military
2 Media, communication and education controls
2.1 Newspapers 2.2 Television 2.3 Film 2.4 Literature 2.5 Music 2.6 Internet 2.7 Short Message Service 2.8 Video games 2.9 Education
3 Censorship during China's Great Cultural Revolution 4 Responses from society
4.1 Self-censorship 4.2 Marketing
5 See also 6 References
Subject matter and agenda
Censorship in the PRC encompasses a wide range of subject matter. The
agendas behind such censorship are varied; some are stated outright by
the Chinese government itself and some are surmised by observers inside and out of the country.
According to the South China Morning Post , the Chinese
government issues orders on a regular basis to 'guide' coverage of
individual sensitive issues. Media organisations thus submit to
self-censorship, or run the risk of being closed down.
Political
Censorship in China is largely seen as a measure to maintain the rule of the Communist Party of China . Censorship helps prevent unapproved reformist , separatist , " counter-revolutionary ",
or religious ideas, peaceful or otherwise, from organizing themselves
and spreading. Additionally, censorship prevents Chinese citizens from
discovering or learning more about past and current failures of the
Communist Party that could create or inflame anti-government sentiment.
Measures such as the blocking of foreign governments' websites may also be intended to prevent citizens from learning about alternative systems of governance and demanding similar systems. citation needed ]
The PRC also bans materials showing history that conflicts with the
official Chinese version, with particular sensitivity to depictions of
Japan and Tibet in history.
In the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics ,
the government allegedly issued guidelines to the local media for
reporting during the Games: political issues not directly related to the
games were to be downplayed: topics such as Pro-Tibetan independence
and East Turkestan movements and food safety issues such as "cancer-causing mineral water" were not to be reported on. As the 2008 Chinese milk scandal
broke in September 2008, some western media evoked suspicions that
China's desire for a perfect games may have been a factor contributing
towards the delayed recall of contaminated infant formula , which has given more than 50,000 babies kidney stones and killed at least four infants although the Central government denied this.
On 13 February 2009, Li Dongdong, a deputy chief of the General
Administration of Press and Publication, announced the introduction of a
series of rules and regulations to strengthen oversight and
administration of news professionals and reporting activities. The
regulations would include a "full database of people who engage in
unhealthy professional conduct" who would be excluded from engaging in
news reporting and editing work. Although the controls were ostensibly
to "resolutely halt fake news", it was criticized by Li Datong, editor
at the China Youth Daily
who was dismissed for criticizing state censorship. Li Datong said "There really is a problem with fake reporting and reporters, but there
are already plenty of ways to deal with that." Reuters said that although Communist Party's Propaganda Department
micro-manages what newspapers and other media do and do not report, the
government remains concerned about unrest amid the economic slowdown
and the 20th anniversary of the pro-democracy protests in 1989 .
In January 2011, Boxun revealed that Politburo member responsible for
the Propaganda Department, Li Changchun, issued instructions for the
Chinese media to downplay social tensions on issues such as land prices,
political reform and major disasters or incidents, and to ensure
reporting does not show the Communist party negatively. The Party warned
that media must "ensure that the party and government do not become the
targets or focus of criticism", and any mention of political reforms
must reflect the government in a favourable light.
Moral
Usually, this type of censorship is mainly used to prevent political
conflicts from happening within the social environment. Usually, people
are allowed to talk about politics on the internet, but certain websites
containing anti-government material would be blocked. Some censorship
in China has been justified as upholding proper morals. This includes
limitations on pornography , particularly extreme pornography, and violence in films.
Cultural
The PRC (People's Republic of China) has historically sought to use censorship to 'protect the country's culture'. During the Cultural Revolution ,
foreign literature and art forms, religious works and symbols, and even
artifacts of ancient Chinese culture were deemed "reactionary" and
became targets for destruction by Red Guards teams. citation needed ]
Although much greater cultural freedom exists in China today,
continuing crackdowns on banning foreign cartoons from Chinese prime
time TV, and limits on screening for foreign films could be seen as a
continuation of cultural-minded censorship.
Religious
A number of religious texts, publications, and materials are banned
or have their distributions artificially limited in the PRC. Foreign
citizens are also prohibited from proselytizing in China, and information concerning the treatment of some religious groups is also tightly controlled.
The Falun Gong
spiritual movement is subject to suppression in China, and virtually
all religious texts, publications, and websites relating to the group
have been banned, along with information on the imprisonment or torture
of followers.
Christian Bibles are allowed to be printed in China but only in limited numbers and through a single press.
China banned a book titled "Xing Fengsu" ("Sexual Customs") which
insulted Islam and placed its authors under arrest in 1989 after
protests in Lanzhou and Beijing by Chinese Hui
Muslims, during which the Chinese police provided protection to the Hui
Muslim protestors, and the Chinese government organized public burnings
of the book. The Chinese government assisted them and gave into their demands because Hui do not have a separatist movement, unlike the Uyghurs ,
Hui Muslim protestors who violently rioted by vandalizing property
during the protests against the book were let off by the Chinese
government and went unpunished while Uyghur protestors were imprisoned.
In 2007, anticipating the coming "Year of the Pig" in the Chinese calendar , depictions of pigs were banned from CCTV "to avoid conflicts with ethnic minorities". This is believed to refer to China's population of 20 million Muslims (to whom pigs are considered " unclean ").
In response to the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting Chinese state-run media attacked Charlie Hebdo for publishing the cartoons insulting Muhammad, with the state-run Xinhua advocated limiting freedom of speech, while another state-run newspaper Global Times
said the attack was "payback" for what it characterised as Western
colonialism and accusing Charlie Hebdo of trying to incite a clash of
civilizations.
Economic
In recent years, censorship in China has been accused of being used not only for political protectionism but also for economic protectionism .
In February 2007, the website of the French organization Observatoire
International des Crises was banned in the PRC after it posted an
article on the risks of trading with China.
"How do you assess an investment opportunity if no reliable
information about social tension, corruption or local trade unions is
available? This case of censorship, affecting a very specialised site
with solely French-language content, shows the government
attaches as much importance to the censorship of economic data as
political content," the organization was quoted as saying.
Furthermore, the official ban on most foreign films hardly affect Chinese citizens; such films can easily be acquired in copyright-infringing formats , allowing Chinese to view such films to be financially accessible while keeping their money within the domestic economy.
Tsinghua University professor Patrick Chovanec has speculated that the Chinese ban on Facebook , Twitter , and YouTube may have been done in part to grant a business advantage to the websites' Chinese competitors.
Similarly, China has been accused of using a double standard in
attacking Google for "obscene" content that is also present on Chinese
competitor Baidu .
The 2D version of the blockbuster film Avatar
was also pulled from screens in the country; reportedly for taking in
too much money and seizing market share from domestic films.
Military
Another justification for censorship is that the material could cause
military harm. This type of censorship is intended to keep military
intelligence secret from enemies or perceived enemies.
Media, communication and education controls
Newspapers
On the twentieth anniversary of the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square , the mainland media came under tremendous pressure from authorities. Ming Pao reported on the Publicity Department's "hitherto unimaginable extent" of pressure to screen out any related
content. The journal reported two incidents in 2008 which caused
official concern, but which could not be proven to be deliberate
challenges: Beijing News published an image of an injured person being taken to the hospital on 4 June and Southern Metropolis Daily
reported on unusual weather in Guangdong province with the headline of "4 storms in June," which both journals insisted were due to
carelessness. Some newspapers have therefore instructed their editors to
refrain from using the numbers '6' and '4' in their reports during this
sensitive period. Furthermore, the numbers cannot be used in the
headlines lest the Publicity Department disapprove.
30 journalists and 74 Netizens were reportedly imprisoned in China as of September 2014.
Television
This section requires expansion. (March 2008)
Main article: Television programme censorship in the People's Republic of China
Foreign and Hong Kong news broadcasts in mainland China from TVB , CNN International , BBC World Service , and Bloomberg Television
are occasionally censored by being "blacked out" during controversial
segments. It is reported that CNN has made an arrangement that allowed
their signal to pass through a Chinese-controlled satellite. Chinese
authorities have been able to censor CNN segments at any time in this
way.
CNN's broadcasts are not widely available throughout China, but rather
only in certain diplomatic compounds, hotels, and apartment blocks.
Numerous content which have been blacked out has included references to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 , the Dalai Lama , the death of Zhao Ziyang , the 2008 Tibetan unrest , the 2008 Chinese milk scandal and negative developments about the Beijing Olympics .
During the Summer Olympics in Beijing
all Chinese TV stations were ordered to delay live broadcasts by 10
seconds, a policy that was designed to give censors time to react in
case free- Tibet demonstrators or others staged political protests. In January 2009, during a television report of the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama , the state-run China Central Television
abruptly cut away from its coverage of Obama's address when he spoke of
how "earlier generations faced down fascism and communism.". Foreign animation is also banned from prime-time viewing hours (5 to 8 pm) to help with domestic animation production.
Like Internet censorship, enforcement in television censorship is
increasingly ineffective and difficult because of satellite signal
hacking systems which give direct access to channels and programs on any
satellite that services the Asian Pacific region. citation needed ]
Film
See also: List of banned films
China has a large diversity of different foreign films broadcast through the media and sold in markets. China has no motion picture rating system , and films must therefore be deemed suitable by Chinese censors for all audiences to be allowed to screen.
For foreign-made films, this sometimes means controversial footage
must be cut before such films can play in Chinese cinemas. Examples
include the removal of a reference to the Cold War in Casino Royale , and the omission of footage containing Chow Yun-fat that "vilifies and humiliates the Chinese" in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End . Prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics ,
the PRC administration announced that "wronged spirits and violent
ghosts, monsters, demons, and other inhuman portrayals" were banned from
audio visual content.
Access to the 12,000 movie screens in China is a powerful incentive
for film makers, especially those producing material such as Kung Fu Panda 3 to consult and cooperate with Chinese censors. Taking a Chinese partner, as was done in the case of Kung Fu Panda 3 , can bypass the quota.
Despite this, almost all internationally released foreign films are
freely available in Chinese- and English-language versions through the
counterfeit trade in DVDs.
All audio visual works dealing with "serious topics" such as the Cultural Revolution must be registered before distribution on the mainland. For example, The Departed was not given permission to screen because it suggested that the government intends to use nuclear weapons on Taiwan. Films with sexually explicit themes have also been banned, including Farewell My Concubine , Brokeback Mountain and Memoirs of a Geisha . Warner Brothers never submitted The Dark Knight
for censors, citing "Cultural sensitivities in some elements of the
film" due to the appearance by a Hong Kong singer whose sexually
explicit photographs leaked onto the internet. Films by PRC nationals cannot be submitted to foreign film festivals without government approval.
On 16 December 2012, the film V for Vendetta was aired unedited on CCTV-6 , which raised hopes that China is loosening censorship. However, in August 2014 government officials caused the shutdown of the Beijing Independent Film Festival ,
an annual event for independent Chinese filmmakers to showcases their
latest works. It was understood by the organizers the government was
concerned the festival would be used as a forum to criticize the
government.
Literature
Main article: Book censorship in China
China's state-run General Administration of Press and Publication (
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