Confessions Of A Propagandist

" ... China's propaganda department has a long history of antagonizing the international community with its words. Regular rants about the "splittist" Dalai Lama--usually after he has a conversation with a head of state--do more to foster support for the Tibetan leader than to turn the tide against him. The veiled threats of military action against Taiwan also never fail to rankle. The trouble is, everyone now expects these fiery remonstrations; to suddenly tone down the tirades would be like saying the Dalai Lama is not so bad or Taiwan can have independence after all.

While the highly formulaic nature of Chinese government rhetoric makes for stodgy news stories, academics rejoice in its rigidity, analyzing the language to predict subtle shifts in party ideology. Hong Kong University's China Media Project constructed a league table charting the frequency with which President Hu used certain buzzwords in his report to the 17th Communist Party Congress last October. "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" thrashed the opposition with 52 references, comfortably defeating "scientific development," "opening up and reform" and "harmony."

A few plotted graphs and some articulate reasoning later, the China Media Project experts concluded that the party's basic direction for the next five years was "first and foremost a reaffirmation of the path of reform and opening in response to the left's opposition and call for a turn back." Simple as that.

For the rest of the world, however, it was anyone's guess what Hu was trying to say, and the uncertainty was reflected in contrasting headlines. Following the speech, Agence France Presse went with "Hu flags political reform for China." The New York Times plumped for "China's leader closes door to reform." ... "

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