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China’s President Pushes Back Against Western Culture

Edward Wong | Beijing | January 3

NYT - President Hu Jintao of China has said that the West is trying to dominate China by spreading its culture and ideology and that China must strengthen its cultural production to defend against the assault, according to an essay in a Communist Party policy magazine published this week.

Mr. Hu’s words signaled that a major policy initiative announced last October would continue well into 2012.

The essay, which was signed by Mr. Hu and based on a speech he gave in October, drew a sharp line between the cultures of the West and China and effectively said the two sides were engaged in an escalating culture war. It was published in Seeking Truth, a magazine founded by Mao Zedong as a platform for establishing Communist Party principles.

“We must clearly see that international hostile forces are intensifying the strategic plot of westernizing and dividing China, and ideological and cultural fields are the focal areas of their long-term infiltration,” Mr. Hu said, according to a translation by Reuters.

“We should deeply understand the seriousness and complexity of the ideological struggle, always sound the alarms and remain vigilant and take forceful measures to be on guard and respond,” he added.

Those measures, Mr. Hu said, should be centered on developing cultural products that can draw the interest of the Chinese and meet the “growing spiritual and cultural demands of the people.”


Raja January 3, 2012 - 8:37am
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( categories: AgonistWire | China )

He's right and he's wrong

A fully Westernized culture would seriously affect the ability of the Chinese government, but I don't think the West is aiming at culture per se - they're just after $$$ and instilling Western consumer values is part of the marketing.

It is worth remembering that the Founding Fathers were all traitors.

steeleweed January 3, 2012 - 10:51am
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yeah, our western culture doesn't

seriously affect the ability of our government. right. funny, I thought that the corruption of our institutions by the highest bidder was one of the main topics of discussion here. I'm sure I read about the sociopathic test scores of CEO's on this site, and that, my friend, is our predominating culture.

From an earlier article:

People’s Daily, the party’s mouthpiece, ran a commentary in October that lamented the negative influence of two shows. One was “Super Girl,” an influential talent show that had been repeatedly punished for being “vulgar” since its 2004 debut on Hunan Satellite Television. It was suspended in September. The second was “If You Are the One.”

“Some programs seek novelty as their objective,” the article said. “They rely on peering into the privacy of others to achieve that, and they hype money worship and pleasure-seeking, which have aroused the antipathy of the audience.”

NYT

It reminds me of the parent labelling of record albums in the 80's. Personally, if some one could get Jerry Springer and the Bachelorette off the TV, I'd be appreciative.

dk January 3, 2012 - 12:22pm
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Re Springer et al

He'll be online as long as viewers buy the goods/services of his advertisers. I have bumped into the program while channel surfing but have never watched long enough for a commercial, so I don't know who the sponsors are. And given the nature of the audience, I'm not sure I want to know what they're buying.

It is worth remembering that the Founding Fathers were all traitors.

steeleweed January 3, 2012 - 12:46pm
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re: what they're buying

I'm guessing it will be either Romney or Obama. There's probably a significant portion that knows that's pointless, and they'll get a lot more use buying into a career in medical billing, security enforcement, culinary arts or fashion design. Of course, they'll be wrong about that as well, and end up w/ a ridiculous amount of student loan debt for a minimum wage job.

ALL the ads are for job training, what does that tell ya?

dk January 3, 2012 - 1:19pm
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Politicaly

I do think that both cultures are as corrupt, We might even have something to teach them and the reverse holds true too.

Jelco Cathlon January 4, 2012 - 11:47am
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