A History of Journalism in China [1 ed.] 9789814339193, 9789814332323

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A History of Journalism in China Vol 8_cover_OP.pdf 1 13年9月18日 下午1:56

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A History of Journalism in China

A HISTORY OF JOURNALISM IN CHINA 8 Volume

Edited by Fang Hanqi

Published by Enrich Professional Publishing (S) Private Limited 16L, Enterprise Road, Singapore 627660 Website: www.enrichprofessional.com A Member of Enrich Culture Group Limited Hong Kong Head Office: 2/F, Rays Industrial Building, 71 Hung To Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China China Office: Rm 1800, Building C, Central Valley, 16 Hai Dian Zhong Jie, Haidian District, Beijing, China United States Office: PO Box 30812, Honolulu, HI 96820, USA Trademarks: SILKROAD PRESS and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of Enrich Professional Publishing (S) Private Limited and/or its affiliates in Singapore and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. English edition © 2014 by Enrich Professional Publishing (S) Private Limited Chinese original edition © 2004 China Renmin University Press Translated by Caren H.Y. Ng Edited by Glenn Griffith and Caren H. Y. Ng All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without prior written permission from the Publisher. ISBN (Hardback)

978-981-4332-32-3

ISBN (ebook)

978-981-4339-19-3 (pdf)



978-981-4339-20-9 (epub)

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Printed in Hong Kong with woodfree paper from Japan

Editorial Board (Chinese Edition) Editor-in-Chief Fang Hanqi Vice Editors-in-Chief Ning Shufan Chen Yeshao Editors Fang Hanqi

Ding Ganlin

Sun Wenshuo

Ning Shufan

Wei Yuanli

Yu Huanchun

Chen Yeshao

Yang Zhaolin

He Bingran

Zhao Yuming

Contributors (in alphabetical order) Bai Runsheng

Huang Hu

Wang Fengchao

Zhang Tao

Chen Yeshao

Jiang Hanzhen

Wang Hongxiang

Zhang Zhihua

Cui Qi

Jin Yaoyun

Wang Meizhi

Zhao Yuming

Ding Ganlin

Lei Yuping

Wei Yuanli

Zhong Zi

Fang Hanqi

Li Ruigang

Xia Xiaolin

Zhu Junzhou

Gao Guangang

Li Siyi

Xie Guoming

Gao Ning

Liang Honghao

Xie Jun

Gao Weijin

Ma Guangren

Yan Huanshu

Ge Sien

Ma Yunzeng

Yang Runshi

Gu Bingxiang

Mu Jiaheng

Yang Zhaolin

Gu Changling

Ning Shufan

Yao Fushen

Guo Zhenzhi

Qin Shaode

Yin Yungong

He Bingran

Sun Wenshuo

Yu Huanchun

Hu Taichun

Sun Xiaoyang

Yu Jiaqing

Hu Zhihuan

Sun Xupei

Zhang Shaozong

Contents Chapter 21

Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism



(January 1957–May 1966).................................................................... 1

Chapter 22

Journalism in the Cultural Revolution



(May 1966–October 1976).................................................................113

Notes................................................................................................................................ 199 Index................................................................................................................................ 203

21

Chapter

Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism (January 1957–May 1966)

A HISTORY OF Journalism IN CHINA VOLUME 8

The period between January 1957 and May 1966 is the time when Socialism

began to be constructed in China. In these 10 years, journalism in China was still developing rapidly and great achievements were being made which covered

radio, television, the Xinhua News Agency (Xinhua), newspapers and magazines, photojournalism, journalism education, and journalism research. Yet, the expansion

of the Anti-Rightist Movement (1957) and the Great Leap Forward (1958–1960) disrupted the economic pattern, causing adverse effects to the development of

journalism. Journalism in these two movements encountered pro-revolutionary

inaccuracies. After the winter of 1960, some of the inaccuracies had been corrected

under the rule of the Communist Party of China (CPC). At the same time, different

impressive improvements were made in the field of journalism through further exploration. However, the inaccuracies caused by the pro-revolutionary ideas

could not be entirely rectified and were also extended to political, ideological, and

cultural aspects. This 10-year period of development has become a valuable lesson in the experience of Socialist journalism.

Journalism in the Rectification Movement and the AntiRightist Movement There had been the Anti-Rightist Movement, along with the Rectification

Movement, from 1957 to the summer of 1958. On April 27, 1957, the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee announced the “Instruction on the

Rectification Movement,” initiating a rectification movement against bureaucracy, religionism, and objectivism in the Party’s territory. Resolution of the internal

conflicts of the people was the goal of the Rectification Movement. The execution and monitoring of the principles of “let a hundred flowers blossom, let a hundred

schools of thought contend” and “long-term coexistence, mutual supervision” were also included in the Instruction. This Rectification Movement was also

open to any voluntary non-Party members to help rectify different aspects of the Party. From May to June 1957, the CPC Central Committee held various meetings to receive different criticisms and opinions on the performance of the Party.

The general public and patriotic democrats responded actively towards the call from the CPC and brought up many constructive opinions and ideas, although some of the comments were one-sided, radical, or even incorrect. Additionally,

a minority of bourgeois rightists at the same time employed and encouraged the idea of “free expression of opinion” (daming dafang 大鳴大放) to attack the leadership and the Socialist system of the CPC. Within a year after the Hungarian

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Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

Revolution of 1956,1 minor incidents also happened in China. Therefore, the CPC Central Committee and the Chairman Mao Zedong decided to launch the AntiRightist Movement from June 8, 1957. It was necessary and justifiable for some bourgeois rightists to fight back. Yet, they overestimated the severity of the antirightist struggle and adopted an inappropriate approach, which had seriously expanded the Anti-Rightist Movement. Many intellectuals, patriots, and the Party cadres were misunderstood as the “rightists,” and finally encountered unfortunate events. The anti-rightist activities in the journalism field are an important part of the whole Anti-Rightist Movement. They were also started under the same circumstance. The Party newspaper, one of the significant battlefields in the AntiRightist Movement, effectively conducted and motivated this struggle, in which the People’s Daily (Renmin ribao 人民日報), the official newspaper of the CPC, was a great contributor.

Journalism in the period of rectification and free expression of opinion Before the Rectification Movement that gave rise to free expression of opinion, since the CPC Central Committee had proposed the principle of “Let a hundred flowers blossom since the first half of 1956, let a hundred schools of thought contend,” many newspapers started to pay attention to the publicity for the free expression of opinion. The People’s Daily was revised in July 1956 to be more focused on the improvement works in three aspects. One of these ways was to initiate free discussion to realize the spirit of the principles.2 In February 1957, Mao Zedong delivered his speech “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People,” which further elaborated the issues of the Double-Hundred Policy. Many articles regarding the freedom of expression of opinion were posted in the People’s Daily . For example, on January 7, 1957, Chen Qitong and three other people wrote an article “Our Comment on the Current Cultural Work” to reveal their perspective. They claimed that the existing cultural works had exaggerated the negative phenomena and suggested a disturbing forecast of the trend. Other newspapers also published some other opinions in response to the article and this generated a fierce debate. Later, the People’s Daily criticized the opinions of Chen Qitong and others in articles and editorials. As stated in the editorial on April 10, 1957, “There are still many people in the Party not agreeing with the Double-Hundred Policy, which is regarded as a manifestation of dogmatism and sectarianism.” It also emphasized that the mission of the Party was to stay insistent to realize the idea of “let a hundred flowers blossom, let a hundred schools of thought contend.” This kind of promotion further strengthened the Double-Hundred Policy, effectively avoiding interference

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A HISTORY OF Journalism IN CHINA VOLUME 8

of the pro-revolutionary idea. On March 24, 1957, the People’s Daily even published an important essay titled “Early Spring of Intellectuals,” which showed some viewpoints on the Double-Hundred Policy of intellectuals. There was a special column named as “Writing about ‘Let a hundred flowers blossom, let a hundred schools of thought contend,’” leading to dynamic discussion and promotion. On April 29, 1957, Guangming Daily (Guangming ribao 光明日報) published the article “Discussion on ‘Let a Hundred Schools of Thought Contend’ from the Perspective of Genetics,” written by Li Ruqi, Peking University Professor. After reading this article, Mao Zedong changed the title into “An Important Path to Scientific Development” and had it published in the People’s Daily on May 1, 1957. He also added a note — “We have changed the original title into a sub-title, and renamed the article with a more affirmative one to show that we agree with the article.”3 Mao’s reaction had emphasized the significance of the thought “Let a Hundred Schools of Thought Contend.” Wenhui Bao (Wenhui bao 文匯報) had launched a discussion on film issues in which different opinions on the development of the film industry were proposed, indicating that people were actively expressing their opinions at that time. Free expression of opinion had already been developed before the Rectification Movement. Since its beginning in May 1957, the Rectification Movement had been extensively promoted by the newspapers, elaborating on the importance, content, and approach of the rectification. They also reported that people from democratic parties and other sectors sitting for discussion meetings should suggest many critiques and comments to the Party’s leaders. The expression of criticism and comment was called “mingfang 鳴放” (expression of opinion) at that time, which had then become “daming dafang 大鳴大放” (thorough expression of opinion). The newspapers further developed “mingfang ” to “daming dafang ” as well. According to the orders from the CPC Central Committee and Chairman Mao, in the period between May 8 and June 7, 1957, the People’s Daily and other local Party newspapers seldom published or even did not publish any direct responses. They did not react to any serious attacks from bourgeois and bourgeois antirevolutionaries to allow the opposite parties to freely express themselves and to give rise to any opposite ideas. Meanwhile, they were waiting for the right time for revenge.4 They just made use of the “freedom of expression” to lure the opposite parties. The People’s Daily and other local Party newspapers extensively published different views and revealed the rectification discussion meetings in every sector. They published many opinions which were then regarded as the “rightist” ones later without fighting back. For example, the People’s Daily reported that the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee invited democrats and

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Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

other non-Party people to continue to have a discussion meeting, with the headline

as “Criticizing Thoroughly and Discussing Actively.” One of the subheadlines was “Zhang Bojun (Vice-Chairman of the China Democratic League) said, “there is

now a design school for industry, but none for politics.” The headline of another

article about this discussion meeting in the same newspaper was “In the Democrats

and Non-Party-People Meeting Held by the United Front Work Department: The Discussion Has Been Deepened.” One of the subheadlines was “Luo Longji5

thinks that the existing Party’s organizations can prevent and handle the incidents of revenge, [so] he suggested to establish another independent committee.” The

opinions of Zhang Bojun and Luo Longji were not attacked. On May 19, 1957, the

People’s Daily had an editorial published with the headline “Continue to Express Opinions for Rectification.” There was a key line in the article: “Should we continue to allow the expression of opinions or restrict the freedom of speech? It is not only restricting the people but also us. So we choose the former one.” The People’s Daily initiated and encouraged the expression of opinion in this way, leading to the misinterpretation that the expression of opinion was proposed by the Central Committee in order to rectify the Party. The newspapers standing out above in the expression of opinion were Wenhui Bao and Guangming Daily . They were more influential in that aspect. Wenhui Bao was led by the Communist Party of China Shanghai Municipal Committee, with the intellectuals as its target readers. It was a Socialist newspaper instead of an official Party newspaper, aimed at promoting the Party’s cultural policy. Its chief editor was Xu Zhucheng. Wenhui Bao was dedicative in being in line with the Double-Hundred Policy, so it had paid much effort to achieve the goal. During the period of rectification, it further realized the free expression of opinion. The more influential promotions were as follows. •• Coverage on the democracy wall of Peking University

In mid-May 1957, the big-character posters6 (dazi bao 大字報) for the Party’s

rectification which appeared in Peking University were so controversial that they resulted in different opinions and debates. On May 27, 1957, Wenhui Bao

published the news dispatch “Peking University’s Democracy Wall” written by its correspondent at the Beijing office. The use of big-character posters for the Party’s rectification was covered in the news, revealing different opinions of

the students in a rather objective manner. The debate held in Peking University was also praised as the Chinese version of the Speakers’ Corner of Hyde Park, London. This news story led to great feedback in a lot of schools, and they followed suit to participate in the rectification activities.

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A HISTORY OF Journalism IN CHINA VOLUME 8

•• The editorial decision of some important news Before the Anti-Rightist Movement, Chairman Mao met the representatives of the China New Democracy Youth League. Wenhui Bao only used a column to report the event. Yet the People’s Daily adopted a three-headline style, and it even quoted what Chairman Mao said — “All the activities deviating from Socialism are totally wrong.” Additionally, Wenhui Bao published the article “Various Suggestions to Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou,” written by Chu Anping, Chief Editor of Guangming Daily , on June 2, 1957. It even framed the article with a decorative border to highlight its significance. •• Coverage on the “Zuo Ye Incident” The “Zuo Ye Incident” had a great influence on the journalism business. Many newspapers had reported the issues and the details of the incident. Wenhui Bao was the most outstanding one. On April 17, 1957, Liu Shaoqi accompanied Kliment Voroshilov, the President of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, to visit the National Agricultural Exhibition in Beijing. Zuo Ye, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture was responsible for keeping order on the spot, and he had been in conflict with the reporters. In the time of rectification and free expression of opinion, many newspapers reported this incident and made comments on it. They criticized that Zuo Ye’s reaction was an insult to the reporters, which had become a controversy in the journalism business of the country. Given the free expression of opinion, some journalists revealed their encounters with different kinds of unfairness, and urged respect to journalism. China Youth Daily (Zhongguo qingnian bao 中國 青 年報) released an article titled “Assistant Minister and Photographer” on May 7, 1957, covering the whole incident and criticizing Zuo Ye without naming him. The next day, Wenhui Bao published the news dispatch from Beijing of its reporter — “Grievance of Journalists,” which covered the incident again, and even with Zuo Ye singled out. On the same day, the editorial “Respect to the Journalists” was also published to satirize Zuo Ye because it was thought that he did not show a sense of sincerity. At that time, the People’s Daily released the article “Learn to Respect Others” and the poem “Stay Away from Bureaucratic Airs” along with an ironic comic. Other publications, such as Workers’ Daily (Gongren ribao 工人日報), Liberation Daily (Jiefang ribao 解放日報), Ta Kung Pao (Dagong bao 大公報), and the evening post New People’s Daily (Xinmin bao 新民報), also published articles criticizing Zuo Ye intensively and made

comments on the issue. On the other hand, there were a few articles, including China Youth Daily ’s “My View on ‘Assistant Minister and Photographer’”

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Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

and Journalism Business (Xinwen yewu 新聞業務)’s “Not Sheltering” which criticized the reporters for misbehaving when interviewing Zuo Ye. In the beginning of the period of rectification, Guangming Daily publicized the

free expression of opinion. It was similar to Wenhui Bao yet with various differences.

Guangming Daily was co-published by different democratic parties and non-party democrats and targeted at unifying the battlelines and promoting cultural works. Its Director was Zhang Bojun, who was also the Vice President of the China Democratic League and the President of the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party. The Chief Editor was Chu Anping, Vice Head of the Publicity of the Jiu San (September 3rd) Society. In April 1957, Chu Anping took over the office as the Chief Editor. It was also the time when the period of rectification and free expression of opinion began. He stressed the promotion of the free flow of opinions of Guangming Daily . Its importance and important coverage are discussed as follows: •• Coverage on the beginning of “free expression of opinion”

After assuming office, Chu Anping focused on reporting the news of the free expression of opinion. He assigned reporters to nine different cities to invite

democrats and senior intellectuals to sit for discussions on alleviating people’s

internal conflicts, the Double-Hundred Policy, and the principle of “long-term coexistence, mutual supervision” on behalf of Guangming Daily . In May 1957,

records of the discussions had been published 11 times in 12 pages, equaling approximately 130,000 words. It also released about 20 news dispatches, and more than 10 newsletters. In short, the comments were constructive. Many of the opinions were correct or partly correct, but there were also radical and

incorrect ones. Guangming Daily published them all without any analysis and point of view, so radical headlines and inaccurate comments appeared.

•• Publicity of the issues of the scientific system

On June 9, 1957, when the anti-rightist activities had just begun, Guangming

Daily released the article “Comments on China’s Scientific System” written by the central committee of the China Democratic League. The comments were collected by the China Democratic League from different organizations and were adopted after collective research. They were proposed as a reference for the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Scientific Commission. On the same day, a short critique titled “Opening a New Path for Mutual Supervision” was published in Guangming Daily . It was suggested that democratic parties’ assistance to the Communist Party in the Rectification Movement not only revealed the people’s internal conflicts, but also further

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A HISTORY OF Journalism IN CHINA VOLUME 8

proposed constructive ideas after investigation to resolve the internal conflicts and other issues. It was more effective for the democratic parties to contribute

for the Socialist construction. The promotion of these ideas was considered as

one of the significant achievements of Guangming Daily which demonstrated the democratic function.

•• Coverage on the issues of the accountability of Fudan University Party Committee

On June 2, 1957, Guangming Daily released the news article “Fudan University Cancelled the Party Committee’s Accountability System to Give

Rise to the Council” written by its reporter. This news was not verified yet published, leading to information disorder. On June 4, 1957, the People’s

Daily published the news “Fudan University Did Not Cancel the Party Committee’s Accountability System” which was a clarification of fact. Under this circumstance, on June 5, Guangming Daily released an interview with Chen Wangdao, Chancellor of Fudan University. The headline was “Chen Wangdao’s View on Strengthening the Council.” The information which needed to be corrected was not included in both the headline and the body. Later, a subheadline “Fudan University Party Committee’s Accountability System Has Not Yet Been Cancelled” was added by an editor of the Chief Editor’s Office to clarify the news. The 1st China’s Journalist Representative Meeting was held in March 1957 in

Beijing which officially announced the establishment of the All-China Journalists

Association (ACJA). The former was the All-China Journalists Society. ACJA’s missions were as follows:

(1) It is to motivate the journalists in China to learn, research, and exchange journalistic experiences under the guidance of Marxism-Leninism and Mao

Zedong Thought, so as to enhance the theoretical level of Marxism-Leninism

of the journalists and the development level of proletarian journalism. Then journalism in China can perform the functions of organization, encouragement,

inspiration, and motivation in the Socialist revolution and the Socialist construction.

(2) It is aimed at cooperating with the journalists in other Socialist countries and

the ones who always preach peace and democracy so as to maintain world peace and strive for the betterment of mankind.

There were around 60,000 members of ACJA. ACJA had set up local offices

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Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

in every province, municipality, and autonomous region. Since the beginning of rectification, free expression of opinion, and the Anti-Rightist Movement, ACJA also joined the movement. In the period of rectification when the free flow of opinions was common, the 1st Capital Penal Discussion on Journalism was held in Beijing between May 16 and May 18, 1957, which was co-organized by the Research Department of ACAJ, the School of Journalism and Communication of Renmin University of China, and the Journalism Specialization of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Peking University. There were more than 200 participants in the field of journalism coming from Beijing, Shanghai, Shandong, Liaoning, Shanxi, Jiangsu, etc. They had expressed different views on different issues, including the following: •• •• •• •• ••

Evaluation of the journalism work, especially the Party newspaper The nature, mission, and function of journalism Freedom of press and the system of journalism The status of journalists and remuneration Inheritance of the tradition of Chinese newspapers

The opinions in the 1st Capital Penal Discussion on Journalism were correct or partly correct. Some of them could be further researched or discussed. Yet, some of them were rather one-sided, radical, or even incorrect. Despite the insufficiency, these opinions were still significant. Conducting research on them, regardless if the opinions were correct or not, helped to strengthen and improve the leadership role of journalism.

Journalism in the anti-rightist period When “free expression of opinion” had begun for a period of time, Chairman Mao announced the Party’s internal notice on June 8, 1957, agitating for incorporating powers to fight back for the attack from the rightists. On the same day, the People’s Daily published an editorial titled “This Is Why,” indicating the beginning of the fight-back to the rightists. This was also when the Anti-Rightist Movement started extensively. An example was raised in the editorial “This is Why.” Lu Yuwen, Chinese Revolutionary Committee Member of the Chinese Kuomintang and SecretaryGeneral of the State Council, voiced in a meeting for the Party’s rectification that bourgeois democracy was different from Socialist democracy. He also advocated that the leadership of the Communist Party should not be weakened and eliminated. Then he received an anonymous blackmailing letter in which he was

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A HISTORY OF Journalism IN CHINA VOLUME 8

described as “shameless” and criticized that he was holding a candle to the devil.

In the letter, he even warned that he should repent immediately or he would not be forgiven by the people. By pointing out this incident, the editorial implied

that “a minority of the rightists” were “intentionally deciding to overthrow the

Communist Party and the worker class, and even the construction of Socialism.” “Those threats and insults only remind us that there is still class struggle in the

country. We still have to observe the existing phenomena from the perspective of class struggle in order to have the right conclusion.” It was proposed in the

editorial that people should fight back against the rightists from the perspective of class struggle, which was necessary and correct. However, the degree of class

struggle was overestimated at that time, and an inappropriate approach for struggle was adopted, intensifying the class struggle. On the next day, the People’s

Daily released another editorial titled “Positive Criticism Along With Appropriate Counter-Criticism” in which it was discussed that counter-criticism should be made against those incorrect and destructive critiques. It further explained that the fight-back against the rightists was necessary. More importantly, it should also provide an idea on the way to appropriately identify the conflicts in two different natures: the internal counter-criticism of people and the criticism from the enemy. The People’s Daily published an article titled “The Workers Spoke Up” on June 10, 1957, which supported the workers criticizing the rightists. It encouraged the awakening workers to stand up and fight back. This was also a way to advocate for the use of the public political movement to start the anti-rightist struggle. The People’s Daily had been playing the guiding and motivating role in the anti-rightist struggle in the journalism field. On June 14, 1957, it released the editorial article “Wenhui Bao ’s Bourgeois direction in a Period of Time,” attacking Wenhui Bao and Guangming Daily abused the slogan “let a hundred schools of thought contend” and the Communist Party’s Rectification Movement to publish a large number of articles which showed that the bourgeois viewpoint was not inclined to criticize and instigate coverage. Thus, the “basic political direction” of the newspapers had become the bourgeois one. At the same time, the People’s Daily reprinted an article of Wenhui Bao written by Yao Wenyuan — “For Future Reference: Newspaper-Reading Afterthought,” in which the writer implicitly criticized the political standpoint of the arrangement of Wenhui Bao . As pointed out in the editorial article, Yao Wenyuan only implicitly revealed the bourgeois direction of Wenhui Bao in the article. Then the bourgeois direction of Wenhui Bao had become a serious problem. On June 16, 1957, Wenhui Bao released a selfassessing editorial titled “Continue to Develop in a Clear Direction.” On July

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Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

1, 1957, the People’s Daily even released an editorial titled as “The Bourgeois

direction of Wenhui Bao Should Be Criticized.” This is an extremely important

article guiding the anti-rightist struggle, especially in the journalism field.

As stated in the editorial, Wenhui Bao basically did not self-assess; instead, it defended its own mistakes. It was believed that there was a “rightist system of the China Democratic League” in Wenhui Bao which changed the direction of the

newspaper into a bourgeois one. As was pointed out in this editorial, “bourgeois

direction” referred to the direction opposite to the Communist Party, the people, and Socialism. Since then, criticizing the bourgeois direction of Wenhui Bao had become one of the foci in the journalism field’s anti-rightist struggle.

After the People’s Daily published the editorial on July 1, 1957, Wenhui Bao

published an article titled “Our Preliminary Evaluation” written by the editorial

office on July 2 and 3, 1957. The evaluation was carried out based on its “bourgeois

direction” in the political circumstances at that time. Some of the major issues of the free expression of opinion in the newspaper were criticized.

From late 1956 to early 1957, Wenhui Bao held a discussion on the film issues to

fulfill the Double-Hundred Policy. The discussion provided many constructive and

valuable opinions to the film industry of New China. The more influential one would

be “The Drum of Film” copied from the Literary Daily (Wenyi bao 文藝報). Later, it

also published “For Development” with the signature “Zhu Zhuzhu 朱煮竹,” which was about the film industry of New China and Wenhui Bao ’s discussion on film issues. These two articles were written by Zhong Dianfei. They were the important

proofs of why he had then been misunderstood as being a “rightist.” The articles were written before the rectification period. When the anti-rightist struggle started,

this issue was also evaluated and criticized. In the time of fighting back against the rightists, this discussion was aimed at pulling back the people’s film business to

revive capitalism. Moreover, it was also suggested that Wenhui Bao , just resumed

publication, adopted the slogan of “Let a hundred flowers blossom, let a hundred

schools of thought contend” to convey the bourgeois ideas. In March 1957, Mao Zedong pointed out that “the criticism towards the film business is very beneficial” and “the problems raised in the critiques were constructive in reforming the films”

in the article “A Talk with the Representatives of Journalism and Publishing.” At the same time, Mao also said that some of the films were good at that time, so it was

not appropriate to deny everything.7 Mao’s comment was quite realistic and all-

round. He not only reinforced the benefit of the discussion, but also mentioned the importance of “not denying everything.” Obviously, some of the comments in antirightist struggle were groundlessly and unreasonably criticized.

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The publicity of “free expression of opinion” was regarded as a guidance of

disturbance of peace in the anti-rightist struggle. Wenhui Bao encouraged the

free flow of speech, which was considered to be inappropriate. Yet, in the period

of rectification, this kind of criticism just went too far, especially with the free expression of opinion led by the People’s Daily .

The coverage on the democracy wall of Peking University was considered

to be an experience of promoting a big-character poster. The news was regarded

as an incitement to the colleges and universities to raise different opinions

and to verbally attack the people. This coverage was the most extreme case in denying the leadership of the Communist Party. The reporter of the coverage was also misrecognized as a “rightist.” This kind of criticism and approach was undoubtedly exaggerated. In any case, the many news reports, which covered

big-character posters and the bourgeois democracy symbol “Hyde Park,” were the controversy.

Regarding the publicity of the “Zuo Ye Incident,” while fighting back against

the rightists, the People’s Daily published the article “Misleading Report on the

Zuo Ye Incident” on August 14, 1957. It was stated that ACJA did investigate

and interview the parties involved. Zuo Ye said neither “Get out if you guys continue to push” nor “You’re more important or me,” but anxiously said “Either your work is more important or mine is.” On the same day, the People’s Daily

published the editorial “A Lesson on News Reporting” in which the author wrote

that the rightists in the journalism field viciously made use of this incident and exaggerated it, and even falsified some of the details to agitate the reactionary forces. On August 15, 1957, Wenhui Bao also released the editorial “A Painful

Lesson on the Zuo Ye Incident” in which the author believed that the fact was very clear. The Zuo Ye Incident deliberately attacked the Communist Party,

the people, and Socialism. Wenhui Bao ’s rightists were the ringleaders. The

newspapers and individuals who had criticized Zuo Ye had shared their selfevaluations publicly in the newspapers. The cause of the Zuo Ye Incident was

not that serious. It was only a little conflict between cadres and reporters. The critiques towards Zuo Ye in some of the newspapers were just a storm in a teacup.

Some of the publicity was too radical. On the other hand, the reporters themselves should also evaluate their own disciplinary misbehavior. It is suggested that

in the anti-rightist struggle, some people regarded the Zuo Ye Incident as an

irreconcilable conflict. They confused the two kinds of conflict. Therefore, the whole incident was exaggerated.

Some of the editorial decisions of Wenhui Bao were politically incorrect. Later

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Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

in the anti-rightist struggle, the newspaper claimed that those arrangements fully revealed its reactionary nature. It labeled itself so groundlessly, which was also a common revolutionary manifestation in the political weather at that time.

In a word, in the period of the Rectification Movement, Wenhui Bao published

some constructive ideas, which were beneficial to the Party’s rectification. In the time of encouraging and developing free expression of opinion, it released

some inappropriate comments but did not criticize them. It was not positively promoting them, which was considered to be inappropriate. Yet, in the antirightist struggle, Wenhui Bao was said to follow the bourgeois direction, which

was not realistic in terms of publicity. In addition, it was also inappropriate to say that Wenhui Bao had the “rightist system of the China Democratic League” in

terms of organization.

After being criticized by the People’s Daily , the General Affairs Committee

held a meeting to investigate Guangming Daily immediately. As was pointed out in the “July 1 editorial” of the People’s Daily , Guangming Daily ’s team seriously

criticized the Director Zhang Bojun and the Chief Editor Chu Anping for following the wrong direction. Their standpoint had changed. On July 15, 1957, Guangming

Daily published the article “Investigation into the Mistakes of Guangming Daily When Zhang Bojun and Chu Anping Revised the Political Direction,” evaluating the issue of the “bourgeois direction” of the newspaper. Chu Anping’s idea of starting a newspaper was also revealed in the investigation. In the “July 1 editorial” of the People’s Daily , it was written that “the mistakes made by the New People’s Daily were minor to Wenhui Bao ’s ones. Once it discovered its own mistakes, it corrected them immediately which illustrated the responsibility of the management and the reporters towards the people’s business.” Zhao Chaogou, Director and Chief Editor of the New People’s Daily , had been in charge of the newspaper since the summer of 1956. He followed the publishing principle of “continuing to make it shorter, boarder, and softer,” tremendously improving the newspaper and increasing the circulation. Zhao Chaogou also wrote many essays under the pen-name “Lin Fang,” which were also well-recognized. Since the fight-back against the rightists had started, the New People’s Daily , in the political environment at that time, also published articles for publicly evaluating its “bourgeois publishing principle” and “bourgeois direction.” This kind of self-evaluation was regarded as groundless and not realistic at all. There were also many publications which released articles claiming that they were investigating their mistakes in the Rectification Movement as follows:

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•• “Investigation into Our Mistakes in Reporting,” Ta Kung Pao , July 5, 1957 •• “To Overcome the Bourgeois Publishing Objective,” News Daily (Xinwen ribao 新聞日報), July 6, 1957 •• “Preliminary Investigation into Our Inappropriate Publicity Since the Rectification,” China Youth Daily , July 9, 1957 •• “Investigation into Some of Our Major Mistakes Since the Rectification,” Beijing Daily (Beijing ribao 北京日報), July 21, 1957 •• “Determined to Change the Anti-Party and Anti-Socialism Inclination of Current Affairs Handbook,” Current Affairs Handbook ( Shishi Shouce 時事手冊) No. 163, July 21, 1957 Some of the issues investigated by these newspapers were not actually mistakes, but there was something wrong to a certain extent. Yet in that period, the investigations were not really for the sake of reporting the truth and were just exaggerations sometimes. Some of the newspapers even groundlessly called themselves as being “anti-Communist Party” and “anti-Socialism.” From June 24, 1957 to mid-August 1957, the 2nd China’s Journalist Representative Meeting was held in Beijing. There were more than 400 journalists, who came from Beijing, Shanghai, Shandong, Liaoning, Shanxi, and Jiangsu to participate in the meeting. This meeting unfolded the Anti-Rightist Movement in the journalism field, and it became one of the important battlefields of the antirightist activities of the journalism field. During the meeting, some significant “rightist journalists” were criticized, and some of the participants of the first meeting and their opinions were inevitably involved as well. The second meeting lasted for more than a month off-and-on, with both large-scale discussions and small-group discussions. The intense criticism and struggle filled the air. The Anti-Rightist Movement of journalism was extensively begun in China. From June 11, 1957 to late September 1957, the People’s Daily had published 104 rightists, among whom five were chief editors, 11 were vice chief editors. Until February 1958, the journalism sector of Shanghai had discovered 72 rightists. There were 27 rightists discovered in the editorial office of Henan Daily (Henan ribao 河南日報). On August 16, 1957, the People’s Daily released the editorial “To Continue to Deepen the Struggle,” which encouraged the deepening of the struggle while the struggle had been expanding already. As stated in the editorial, “in the areas when the struggle had been deepened, the number of newly discovered rightists was increasing dramatically instead of decreasing. The calling further deepened and expanded the struggle. Most of the journalists, who were defined as “rightists,” were actually misrecognized, proving that the anti-rightist struggle had been magnified.

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Lesson learned from the Anti-Rightist Movement Regarding the Anti-Rightist Movement in the journalism field, the fight-back against some of the bourgeois rightists was necessary. Yet, the struggle was tremendously expanded, leading to adverse consequences. There is much we can learn from the Anti-Rightist Movement as follows: First, journalism is about seeking truth from facts, which is also a basic principle of the Communist Party of China and the people’s journalism. In the whole process of the Anti-Rightist Movement, most of the publicity for anti-rightist activities was groundless and unreasonable, seriously mixing up the concepts of people’s internal conflict and irreconcilable conflict. The publicity also confused ideological problems and political problems, and blurred the boundary between academic and political issues. These mistakes originated from the pro-revolutionary ideas, which went against the principle of seeking truth from facts. Surely, many of the “prorevolutionary” mistakes in news reporting at that time were mainly caused by the leadership. It was hard for many journalists to understand the “pro-revolutionary” mistakes. Yet, some of them were conscious about the mistakes but dared not to stand firm on the principles. At that time, the content that was not in line with the pro-revolutionary principles could hardly be published. Yet, reporters could reflect their own ideas to the management based on their organizing principle, which should be considered to be the true manifestation of protecting the nature of the Party. Besides, the leadership of the Party also had to fully promote the Party’s democracy so as to put democratic centralism into effect. In addition, it was important to evaluate the comments to avoid any bias. During the Rectification Movement, the journalism field did provide some constructive suggestions from the bourgeois perspective. For example, it was suggested that we should “reveal” the mistakes and problems of the Party’s works, denying the Party newspapers representing the people’s benefit and the classification of journalism. Although these problems belonged to the people’s internal conflict in the eyes of some people, which should be solved according to the principle of the people’s internal conflict instead of to be criticized through extreme struggles, they should be handled in an unbiased manner to be in line with the principle of seeking truth from facts. Second, journalists had to learn to write critiques and self-evaluations in the newspapers. Initiating criticism and self-evaluation were one of the three kinds of working styles of the CPC. Finding an appropriate way to implement these two tasks had been an issue to be improved. In the period of the free expression of opinion, newspapers mainly initiated discussions, extensively publishing many critiques and comments on the Party’s rectification from different people. Some

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of the opinions were useful and constructive, but there were some newspapers publishing opinions without any standpoint or perspective. Those opinions were merely exaggerating the shortcomings and problems of the Party and the people’s business without raising any criticism towards the wrong comments. This kind of attitude is incorrect and unfavorable to stability and unity. When fighting back again the rightists, the newspapers mainly initiated counter-criticism, which was actually starting a struggle. Proposing counter-criticism towards a minority of the rightists was necessary and correct. Regarding the people’s internal conflicts, the approach of “union–criticism–union” should be adopted, in which expression of opinions, persuasion, and guidance were considered to be more effective in problem solving. Yet, at that time, the form of struggle was abused for countercriticism. Many of the comments were arbitrarily considered as “anti-Party” and “anti-Socialism.” Especially when they lured the critics, they were at the same time generating chaos and ruining the fine practice of initiating criticism. It led to an adverse effect politically. This kind of practice made people dare not to propose comments to the Party. Some of the newspapers even groundlessly labeled themselves in the investigation of the issues of rectification and expression of opinion. This kind of practice was understandable during the pro-revolutionary atmosphere, yet it was not realistic at all.

Journalism in the Great Leap Forward Pro-revolutionary mistakes of journalism in the Great Leap Forward In 1957, the First Five-Year Plan in China was successfully achieved in which the people performed in line with Socialism and fully showed their creativity in productive construction. It also reflected the positive prospects of the economy. In late 1957, the rectification and anti-rightist struggle had come to critical success in terms of politics and ideology. Under this circumstance, the pro-revolutionary thought of the Party was further developed. The pace of economic development was overestimated. The record of the economic development of the First FiveYear Plan should be broken to realize a “great leap forward.” In the estimation of the ideology of the Party, “inclination to the rightists” and conservatism were considered as dangerous, so these two kinds of thought had been continuously criticized. The Anti-Reckless Advance, which started in 1956, was also criticized as rightist and conservative. Moreover, the stable economic development of 1957 was adversely described as a saddle-shaped one. Due to the judgment of the situation, a lack of understanding of the pattern of Socialist economic construction,

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impatience of Chairman Mao, the CPC Central Committee, and leaders of local governments, the subjective willingness and effort were exaggerated. Without an

adequate and all-round plan, the “General Line” was proposed and the “Great Leap Forward” was started. The Great Leap Forward was to be corrected mainly

in late 1958. Yet, in the summer of 1959, after the Lushan Conference,8 the anti-

rightist struggle was started. Thus the Great Leap Forward only ended in the winter of 1960.

The news publicity, which accelerated the Great Leap Forward, was also biased

towards pro-revolutionary thought, resulting in a certain kind of misleading coverage.

The idea of a “great leap forward” had already been proposed in late 1957.

On October 11, 1957, as mentioned in an editorial of the People’s Daily , China’s

agricultural output had to reach and surpass the output of affluent middle-class peasants in five years. This was considered a “great leap forward.” On December 4,

1957, in the editorial of the People’s Daily , it was suggested that “immediate action should be taken to achieve a great leap forward of production construction.” On

New Year’s Eve 1957, the People’s Daily published an editorial titled “Ride the Wind,

Break the Wave,” in which it was pointed out that China had to meet and surpass the standard of the U.K. in terms of the quality of steel and other industrial products

in 15 years. Moreover, it was also necessary for China to exceed the U.S. in terms of

its economy in 20 to 30 years. These two missions of the Great Leap Forward also birthed the ambitious economic index of “overtaking the U.K. and catching up with

the U.S.” On February 2, 1958, in the editorial of the People’s Daily , it was announced that China was facing a new era of great advancement. Both the industrial

construction and output had to be tremendously improved. The agricultural output had to be enhanced as well, and the health and hygiene business were no exceptions.

On February 12, 1958, the People’s Daily published an article for the closing of the

5th meeting of National People’s Congress — “A Conference Fighting for the Great

Leap Forward.” It was suggested in the article that the people had to battle for three years so as to basically change the outlook of most of the areas in China. On March

4, 1958, the People’s Daily released “Order from the CPC Central Committee for Further Developing the Double-Anti Campaign.”9 It was suggested that the same

quantity of manpower, financial and material resources could produce an output

doubled or a few times more than estimated. The People’s Daily contributed a lot to

the publicity for “overtaking the U.K. in 15 years,” “battling for three years to change

the outlook,” and “doubling up the effectiveness of development.” On February 1, 1958, it included the data for surpassing the U.K., such as detailed comparisons of

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the outputs of steel, pig iron, coal, electricity, cement, sulphuric acid, nitrogenous fertilizer, and other heavy industrial raw materials. The growth rates of both the pre- and post-liberation periods were also published. Besides, the People’s Daily

also released other related articles like “The Steel Industry Surely Overtaking the U.K.’s in 15 Years” and “The Cement Industry Overtaking the U.K.’s in 15 Years.” During the 5th Session of the 1st National People’s Congress, which was officially

inaugurated in February 1958, the People’s Daily used the banner headline “Lead All People to Fight for a Great Leap Forward” to prelude the remarks from different people, the “great leap forward” plans the trends of different sectors. The publicity lasted for half a month.

In May 1958, the 2nd Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee

officially proposed the General Line — “Gather up all forces, strive for betterment,

establish Socialism efficiently and effectively.”10 The activities of the Great Leap

Forward across the country were then further developed rapidly. Journalism also

started to make more efforts at promoting the Great Leap Forward, leading to a more outstanding publicity of pro-revolutionary thought in three aspects.

Exaggeration of the publicity for the achievements of production construction The style of exaggeration was mainly manifested in the publicity for the so-called “setting satellite” of high agricultural output.11 In the early summer of 1958, many newspapers and radios, from the central to the local ones, reported the “satellite”

of wheat output. They continued to exaggerate the truth with higher and higher inaccurate amounts of output, ranging from a few hundred jin to more than 5,000

jin (1 jin = 0.5 g) per mu (1 mu = 666.5 square meters). On July 12, 1958, it was even

reported that the Heping Agricultural Cooperative in Henan had produced an

output of 7,320 jin per mu. Shanghai’s Liberation Daily (Jiefang ribao 解放日報) did extremely outstanding coverage on the issue with the front-page banner headline “The Great Chinese Created Miracle,” the kicker “No Limit for Further Output:

Henan New Satellite,” and with the subheadline “4 Times More Than the World

Record.” The coverage on the high output of early rice was more astonishing. On

July 25, 1958, it was reported that the Hefeng Agricultural Cooperative in Jiangxi produced 7,745 jin of early rice per mu. On July 26, there even had been a rumor that 9,195 jin of early rice was produced in jiangxi. On July 31, there was coverage

reporting that a high output of 10,597 per mu was produced in Yincheng. Hubei.

On August 1, 1958, Zhangfeng Agricultural Cooperative in Hubei produced 15,361 jin of early rice. The number continued rocketing to reach the amount of 36,956

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jin per mu. The output of middle-season rice even reached 60,437 jin per mu. On October 3, 1958, there was news about the Xinlicun People’s Commune in Tianjing, covering the fact that the approach of crop rotation created 100,000 jin of paddy rice per mu. Some of the publications fully adopted as many as journalism techniques as they could to embellish the news pieces so as to make them more “realistic.” For example, the front-page news “Anhui Gaofeng Agricultural Cooperative Output 16,000 jin of China Rose” in the People’s Daily on August 10, 1958 was a typical one. The news covered all news elements including each procedure of cultivation of this experimental field. Many senior government officials also participated in monitoring the harvest with their names mentioned in the newspapers. They were provincial officials for agricultural work, and some of them were even cadres. There were also delegates from other provinces joining the event, including scientists, professors, and agricultural experts. Four focus groups were responsible for this experimental field where they estimated, harvested, transported, and weighed the output. Eventually, a total of 16,909.6 jin of output was produced. On the next day, a news dispatch titled as “A Witness Report on the High Output of Early Rice” written by three reporters was released. After the on-site investigation, the three reporters reported that the paddle field was able to bear the load of a whole field of watermelons. The final number was 16,227.13 jin. The coverage and the dispatch tried to portray the scene of high output along with the mentioning of the appearance of experts and authority. Yet, it was not sufficient. On the day after the release of the news and the dispatch, there had already been a difference of more than 600 jin. This kind of coverage proved how serious the exaggeration was. The exaggerated and misleading pieces were not difficult to be found during this period.

Misleading direction of the publicity of advancement experience The year 1958 was the time when steel production became one of the major businesses in China. Steel furnaces could be found everywhere. Many media platforms, such as the People’s Daily , were very keen to publicize the large-scale production of steel. The misleading direction of the coverage was very obvious. On August 8, 1958, the People’s Daily published an editorial titled as “Both Local and Foreign Methods Accelerate the Development of the Steel Industry.” This piece of editorial mentioned that the large number of coal and iron mines in China was favorable for the whole Party and all the people to run small-scale steel production business. Steel production was not only limited to factories, but also government offices, the armed forces, schools, handcraft cooperatives, subdistricts, handicraft cooperatives, and agricultural cooperatives could also participate. With the

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promotion of the People’s Daily , the central and local newspapers and radios also paid much effort in proclaiming the steel production campaign which motivated all people to participate in the steel-making activities. The People’s Daily proposed the “adoption of both local and foreign methods” to accelerate the development of the steel industry. In China, more than 1,500 counties out of 2,000 were with coal. It was proven that there was a total of 5.6 billion tons of iron ore across the country. Yet, other factors like budget, production technique, facility, logistics, and raw materials were ignored to radically start the steel-making business in a primitive manner. As mentioned in the editorial, “people” was the determining factor, so all the prospects relied on “all the people.” This kind of inappropriate coverage, which motivated the people, had ruined the business of the Party. The reason for misleading direction was subjectivism. Subjective thoughts dominated other factors without any analysis. “The theory of conditioning” was constantly being criticized in the publicity, while one’s will was emphasized as having the power to determine everything. In the People’s Daily , it was suggested that “liberation of thought” was unlimited. Anything could happen if one dared to imagine it. Condition was not important, but people. People were the owners of conditions. The supporters of the “theory of conditioning” could not justify themselves. Other provincial newspapers also promoted similar ideas, such as “Don’t be afraid, Open your mind,” “If you can think it, you can do it,” “Wisdom can realize miracles,” “Anything can happen,” etc. The phenomenon of “misleading direction” was extended to be the operation of actual production, like the publicity of “plowing three-foot depths of the soil,” “200 jin of wheat planted per mu,” etc. If cadres and any people showed disappointment, they would then be punished.

One-sidedness of the publicity of policy and theory The faults in the publicity of political theory during the Great Leap Forward had posed a serious threat to production. The newspapers unilaterally publicized surpassing the stage of Socialism to give rise to Communism. When the publicity of specific policies went against principles of “exchange of equal value” and “distribution according to one’s performance,” it was the prevalence of Communism. This kind of one-sidedness was more outstanding in terms of the movement of the people’s commune. On August 18, 1958, the People’s Daily released a news piece titled as “People’s Commune Is Good.” This was the first coverage on the people’s commune, in which it was reported that with the encouragement of the Great Leap Forward, the campaign for establishing the people’s commune, a great social reform from Socialism towards Communism,

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had been flourishing in Xinyang City, Henan. The people’s commune was also

recognized for enjoying superiority in 10 aspects. On October 4, the newspaper published a piece of news dispatch titled as “Chairman Mao in Anhui,” reporting

that Chairman Mao visited Shurong People’s Commune in Shucheng County. He knew that this people’s commune set up a public cafeteria that offered free meals. He said, “If a people’s commune can do that, other more advantaged people’s

communes can also do the same. If food is free of charge, clothes will also be free in the future.” Then, the system of “unlimited free meal” was promoted in

many regions in China. While the Liberation Daily promoted the industries of

the people’s communes, it proposed the Three-Contribution Policy, which meant

the contributions of ideas, resources, and efforts to the people’s communes. It

supported the idea that teamwork could make anything happen. The state-owned properties should be transferred to the collectively-owned people’s communes.

Regarding the internal operation of the people’s communes and the relations between different teams, cooperation was emphasized instead of the exchange of

equal value. Coverage on advancement mentioned: When you leave your home or your original production team, you still have to help others even though your income decreases a little bit. One should not only take care of his own team,

but also others. The construction of Socialism requires the team spirit of all the people. Moreover, in the publicity for social construction, it was suggested that

family should be eliminated. It was believed that the lifestyle where the family

was considered as a unit did not suit the rapid development at that time. The neighborhood should be living as a Socialist family. The publicity for culture and hygiene only emphasized cooperation and public activities. The Liberation Daily

released a news piece titled as “Individual Institutes also Join the Family,” and it

was about some of the researchers of a research institute for history and economics who always performed personal research projects, and they now also gave their

research premise out. In 1958, the sixth issue of Shanghai’s Liberation (Jiefang 解放),

a semimonthly, included an article written by Zhang Chunqiao — “Eradicating the

Thought of the Rights of the Capitalist Class.” In fact, the article was all about the Communist theories, preaching the adoption of the supply system and denying

distribution according to one’s performance. The appearance of the article resulted in a debate on the rights of the capitalist class. On October 13, the People’s Daily

published the article again with editorial comments: “Zhang Wenji is basically right, but some of his comments are one-sided. It is to say his interpretation of history is not comprehensive enough.” Later, the People’s Daily consecutively released 54 essays on the issue.

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In the Great Leap Forward, there were two major problems of the biased

publicity towards pro-revolutionary thought in terms of the ideology of promotion. One was “striving for high-speed thought” and the other was “surpassing thought blindly.” The People’s Daily , on June 21, 1958, published an editorial titled as

“Striving for High Speed,” in which it was reckoned that “speed is the spirit of the General Line,” and “rapidity is the focus of achieving greater, faster, better and more economical results.” Some newspapers said that “the rapid development of China ranks at the top of the world,” and made some metaphors like “[the] train has

to compete with [the] airplane.” On the issue of China’s rapid development of the steel industry, the People’s Daily questioned: “Can the development rate of China’s

steel industry increase by 100% or more, instead of just a few percent? It is possible.

The question is our preference. There will be high speed as long as we decide to have one, and vice versa. The use of the thought of voluntarism in publicity would result in different kinds of deviation. This kind of publicity was about deceiving

oneself and others, falsifying information, disturbing the production process. The

idea of “surpassing thought blindly” was also adversely emphasized, demanding something which could not be achieved at that time. In other words, China was

expected to catch up with the development of the developed countries, and even to overtake them. Promoting the people’s communes was considered the “best”

way to realize Communism. The publicity was mainly about the early encounter with Communism. These kinds of thought mainly originated from idealism and voluntarism, denying the pattern of objectivity.

In the winter of 1960, the CPC Central Committee started to correct the errors

of the rural areas that were deemed “too pro-revolutionary.” The Great Leap Forward and other related activities were then forced to come to an end.

The “Great Leap Forward” of the journalism business As the trend of the “Great Leap Forward” prevailed across the country, the

journalism sector was no exception. The “Great Leap Forward” of the journalism sector was more well-planned and well-organized comparatively. The “plan for

their great leap forward” was drafted, and they continued to face the challenges

and respond to them, and then started the assessment. With the motivation of the route to the Great Leap Forward, the journalism sector targeted at increasing the efficiency, holding public movements and coordinations, so as to adapt

to the trend of the Great Leap Forward. However, we have to distinguish the Socialist enthusiasm of journalists and the errors created by the pro-revolutionary

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inclination of journalism guidance. On February 27, 1958, the People’s Daily held a launch-out rally of the Great Leap Forward, at which the “Outline for the Work of Three-Year Battle (Draft) ” (referred as “Outline” hereafter) was announced. The slogan of the Outline was “Three-month battle makes a brand-new page for newspapers; Threeyear battle opens a new era for newspaper offices.” The Outline requested the newspapers to report the routes, principles, and important policies of the Central Committee accurately, timely, and systematically. Moreover, the Outline also posed high demands in different aspects, such as newspaper opinion, coverage, the publishing principle of the Party, public education, writing style, layout, etc. For example, the editorial had to be written with vivid descriptions, metaphors; lively colloquial word choice, story, proverb, comparison, irony, and it had to be sensational as well. The news coverage had to comprehensively reflect the updated development of the Socialist construction across the country in order to make the People’s Daily an authoritative history book of China. The writing style of newspapers had to be in line with the Great Leap Forward. Each article needed to achieve the standards of accuracy, clarity, and brightness. In order to realize the newspaper publishing principles of the Party, the Party committee members, who ranked above the provincial level, had to be personally in charge of the publicity of the newspaper offices. Regarding the public education, the letters from the readers were to be adopted as a tool to enrich the content of newspapers. It was proposed that 600 to 1,000 letters should be used for the purpose. The layout should be framed with vibrant floral design and classy leaf-shape trimming to highlight the central ideas as well as to enhance the attractiveness. Furthermore, every day and on every page, there were to be pictures, illustrations, diagrams, portraits, and artwork. Headlines had to be meticulously created. They were required to be more ideological which could depict the leadership intention of the Party Central Committee. The headlines were very clear in stating the standpoint of the newspaper, and the word choice was concise, understandable, and catchy as the terms could be used as slogans of the battle by the masses. Since the launchout rally, there had been a rise of mass movements inside the newspaper offices. Both departments and individuals respectively formulated their “plan for the Great Leap Forward,” and started the activities of facing challenges, responding to challenges, competing, and assessing. The editorial departments initiated the Movement of Fighting Against the Seven Shortcomings; the seven shortcomings referred to solecism, redundancy, political incorrectness, factual and numerical error, technical error, disclosure of secrets, and irregular publishing schedules.

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Some of these plans and requirements were constructive ideas for newspaper publishing, yet it was unrealistic to have them achieved through mass movements

in a short period of time. It was even impossible to totally eliminate all the mistakes in the news business. This had reflected the attitude and expectation

of journalists during the Great Leap Forward. Through discussions and trial implementations, the Outline was announced to be carried out in August 1958. There was additional information and amendments, for instance, the Movement of Fighting Against the Seven Shortcomings was changed to the Movement of Fighting Against the Three Shortcomings.

In March 1958, Xinhua also formulated its internal “Outline for the Work of Three-Year Battle (Draft) .” The proposed target was: The three-year tough battle will turn Xinhua News Agency into a comprehensive data pool of information and news photos for newspapers and radios across the country. It was expected to serve as a service provider for Socialism. In July 1958, it was mentioned in the guideline summary of the head office and the outline of the plan for the Great Leap Forward for the whole agency that the two-year or three-year battle would construct Xinhua as a proletarian world-class news agency providing news of the East. In September 1958, the head office of Xinhua even held the Great Leap Forward Progress Meeting, at which it was mentioned that the news about China, Afro-Asia, and South America were the three main foci of Xinhua. The coverage on these three regions was regarded as the most effective way to turn Xinhua into a world-class news service provider. It was also a prominent guarantee to enhance the Agency to become an authority of the news of the East. Xinhua News Agency aimed to achieve progress via the Great Leap Forward in these three aspects. Central People’s Broadcasting Station (Zhongyang renmin guangbo diantai 中央人民廣播電台) proposed its Outline for the Work of Three-Year Battle (First Draft) in 1958. It was emphasized that comments and interpretations on the Party Central Committee’s principles, policies and national orders and decisions should be made and broadcast within three days after receiving the order from the Central Committee. Some of them even had to be broadcast on the day the document was released. As the Great Leap Forward prevailed at that time, the number of news programs of the Central People’s Broadcasting Station increased. It rocketed from 11 in May 1954 to 15 in May 1958. To cater to the needs of motivating the public during the Great Leap Forward, the Central People’s Broadcasting Station adopted the form of live broadcast meeting, which was very effective at arousing the emotions of the masses, enhancing the noise of the Great Leap Forward.

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With the promotion by the People’s Daily , the newspapers in Beijing and those in different provinces and municipalities also responded to the trend and started similar activities. The slogan proposed by the China Youth Daily was: Two-month battle will enhance the quality; Three-year battle will lead the newspaper into the Great Leap Forward. The general editorial department, the assignment desk, and the night-shift editorial desk respectively submitted their plans to achieve the great leap forward. A “plan for the Great Leap Forward” of the department of youth was summarized as “Two aspects of quantity; Seven aspects of effectiveness; Five aspects of betterment; Two aspects of economy.” The “two aspects of quantity” referred to a large number of all-round topics and different varieties. The “seven aspects of effectiveness” were regarded as the speed in interpreting the intention of the Central Committee, organizing the manuscripts, proofreading, editing, writing, news dispatches (news had to be released on time), and replying to letters, for editorials could immediately catch up with the news. The “five aspects of betterment” referred to profound ideas, appropriate viewpoints, and clear concepts; polished coverage and dispatches; convincing and snappy headlines; fine-tuned articles without any mistakes; and effective public education. The “two aspects of economy” were regarded as the shorter articles for saving paper and cutting costs. To achieve the Great Leap Forward, the Liberation Daily increased the page count from 4 to 6. Its slogan was: Strive to publish a genuine newspaper which fully represents the nature of the Party. Shanxi Daily (Shanxi ribao 山西日報) was the most impressive provincial newspaper in the years of the Great Leap Forward. On March 13, 1958, Shanxi Daily sent a letter of challenge to all the provincial newspapers across the country. A one-year battle was proposed in the letter to compete to advance, learn to advance, and pursue advancement in 10 aspects: (1) Editorial (2) Headline drafting and common characteristics (3) Coverage on both international and local news (4) Supplement (5) Design of layout (6) Improvement of writing style and elimination of error (7) Printing quality (8) Circulation (9) Management (10) Political work and leadership

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Many provincial newspapers started to respond actively which had then

become a trend in the news business. On August 14, the People’s Daily designed

4.5-page coverage on the “great leap forward” experience of the Shanxi Daily . It was quite rare for a Party newspaper to use such a large layout to introduce the

experience of other provincial newspapers. The Shanxi Daily pushed forward the “great leap forward” in its own office so as to be in line with the general trend of the Great Leap Forward. The approaches are summarized as follows:

•• The coordination of both the internal and external “Great Leap Forward”

The Shanxi Daily proposed that all the staff members had to open their minds, and strived to fight against the conservative ideas, in order to connect the coverage on the “Great Leap Forward” and the internal advancement. It was

good at learning from the labor class, as well as the Communist style of courage. It advocated to learn what was reported so as to make a “great leap forward” in terms of both the internal work and the reporting quality. Big-character posters

and wall newspapers were used as tools to perform internal evaluation in and complement the work of the newspaper offices which led to mass movements. •• The development of multitasking talent

Regarding the operation of the newspaper, it was suggested that people should develop their multitasking skill, which could contribute to the progress of the Great Leap Forward. Multitasking talents should be capable of handling the

duties of editing, reporting, and public relations. They had to be familiar with the three sectors: industry, agriculture, and finance. Photography and editorial writing were the must-have skills of being a multitasking talent. •• “Great leap forward” of layout

The requirement of the “great leap forward” of layout was the combination

of realism and romanticism. For example, on August 16, 1958, news about the plentiful harvest of wheat in Hejin, Shanxi was printed. The whole news

story consisted of only 1,000 words, but it was printed on a half-page layout

that could accommodate 5,000 words, with a big red flag as the background. The headline was “Please Take A Look at the Five Kings of Wheat in Hejin,” and the subheadline was the order of the five highly-productive agricultural

communes and their outputs of wheat. The bottom half of the same page was

the editorial titled as “The Amount of Output Produced On One Mu of Land.” Besides, four pieces of news reports on the harvest of other provinces were

under a large headline “There Is Always Something Better,” making the layout full of the happiness of a prosperous harvest.

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On the second day of the People’s Daily introducing the “great leap forward” experience of Shanxi Daily , the paper even published an article “High Speed of Newspaper Business,” concluding the experience of Shanxi so as to enhance the publicity. The article totally agreed with the approach of initiating mass movements in the newspaper offices. It was reckoned that the mass movements in the newspaper offices could result in more critiques, news, and special columns. The magazine “The Press ” (Xinwen zhanxian 新聞戰線) included a feature on the “great leap forward” experience of Shanxi Daily in its eighth issue with seven related articles. The article “Organizing Climax Continuously” summarized the experience of Shanxi Daily . It kept advocating the revolutionary ideas, and it relied on the provincial leadership to instigate the public to perform assessment. It even continuously proposed new missions and climaxes, striving to achieve better and the best so as to ensure that the newspaper could enter the era of “20-year achievement in a day.” The newspaper had to play the role as a catalyst to become the tool of the Party Committee. These ideas were quite representative in the “Great Leap Forward” of the journalism field. Since the release of the letter of challenge in February 1958, till August, the Shanxi Daily had organized the “great leap forward” movement three times. The first one was to formulate the “great leap forward” index and officially announce the challenge to other provincial newspapers. The second one was to further resolve the obstacles of the “great leap forward” and to welcome more constructive ideas and plans. The third time was to hold the “First Class Movement” to improve the quality. The coverage on the experience of Shanxi Daily turned a new page of the “Great Leap Forward” of the news business. In the period between August 1958 and April 1960, 110 newspaper offices with over a number of more than 300 people visited the Shanxi Daily . The gain and loss of the Great Leap Forward brought to the news business should be analyzed in detail. We have to learn a lesson from those too radical approaches, yet appreciate the contributions made in the movement, which can be concluded as follows. •• The drive and passion enhanced the efficiency. In the years of the Great Leap Forward, due to the eradication of superstition and the liberation of thought, the revolutionary spirit motivated the journalists’ drive and passion, resulting in a more efficient working manner. The better time management was supported by the immediate coverage on the next day of the events. In the daily operation and when performing the duties, the journalists showed their toughness, persistence, and selflessness.

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•• The design of the layout was more eye-catching and polished. The layout was finely designed to use both excellent pictures and literary compositions, which made the themes and ideas more outstanding. Articles were mostly printed with poems and pictures under catchy headlines, they were usually written in more columns. Some provincial newspapers, such as Jilin Daily (Jilin ribao 吉林日報), even created many attractive columns: “The Hero Chart,” “Busy Agricultural Schedule,” “Jilin Top News,” “Public Views,” “Health Consultant,” “Enrich Your Knowledge,” “Write the Mind,” “Science and Health,” “You May Want To Know,” “General Talk,” etc. •• Multitasking talents were provided. The campaign urging the development of multitasking talent enhanced the ability of the journalists in certain extents. The journalists were no longer reporters for the issues of agriculture, commerce, education, and the military, they were also required to be experts of different forms of writing such as news reports, news dispatches, features, critiques, essays, etc. Since the journalists had become “multitasking talents,” they were more familiar with the industrial and agricultural issues and improved their skills in journalism, leading to a higher standard of the news business. The advancement of China’s journalism business was also an important chapter of the Great Leap Forward. It was also a top-down process. At the beginning of the campaign, from the central government to local governments, every news unit formulated different plans to realize the goals of the “Great Leap Forward,” which reflected the journalists’ demand for change regarding the backward situation of China. At the same time, the great leap forward also revealed the blind optimism of the development of the journalism business. It was believed that the incorporation of mass movements would tremendously accelerate the advancement of the news business as well as get the quality of the news business rocketed to an extremely high level. This kind of expectation was too objective, lacking any convincing evidence and scientific analysis. During the “Great Leap Forward” of the journalism business, the drive for revolution of the journalists was invaluable. With their passion in realizing their hopes for the betterment of the business, they devoted much time and effort and created a new form of operation. However, the ideas of the Great Leap Forward and the unrealistic practice of mass movements led many of the journalists to a dead-end. They did not consider the practicability, or carry out any analysis, which resulted in the “fake, exaggerated, and meaningless” news that ruined the credibility of journalism.

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Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

The beginning of the Whole-Party Newspaper Publishing Campaign Mao Zedong, on January 12, 1958, sent a letter to Liu Jianxun and Wei Guoqing,

then China entered a new era of the Whole-Party Newspaper Publishing

Campaign. As pointed out in the letter, provincial newspapers were an influential issue to be further researched on. A provincial newspaper was recognized to be

very effective in organizing, encouraging, inspiring, criticizing, and motivating the provincial work and all the people. Writing polished editorials was a very

important mission, all people in the industry, including reporters, secretaries, chief

editors, had to discuss together. Then, it was necessary for the First Secretary to amend some of the most significant editorials.12

The letter implied that the Party newspapers should fully perform the “five

functions” to motivate the Great Leap Forward, and provide new content for the

Whole-Party Newspaper Publishing Campaign. The letter also mentioned the First Secretary of the Party Committee was responsible to supervise the Party newspapers, and he also had to discuss with the related leaders, proposing new

requirements to the Party’s newspaper publishing. On January 15, 1958, Mao had a conversation with Wu Lengxi, the Director of Xinhua News Agency and the Chief Editor of the People’s Daily, when he pointed that the campaign should involve

more people. Different departments and different desks could improve one another like in a competition. The staff members of the newspaper offices should

not only focus on the administrative work, but also be involved in more reporting duties. The People’s Daily shouldered an important mission — publishing high-

quality materials from other local newspapers, which was regarded as a political

task.13 In the years of the Great Leap Forward, filled with the thought that 20-

year advancement should be achieved in a day, Mao demanded such a significant and substantial progress, the committee members of all levels and the Party newspapers also strived to achieve the goal, reaching the climax of the wholeParty newspaper publishing.

First, the provincial committees strengthened the power of leadership to the

Party newspapers. The First Secretary played roles as writer and speaker of the

Party’s principles and policies, and he was also in charge of each important task of the Party newspapers. The Party Committee members at all levels also carried

out all-round management, supervising publicity direction, editorials, journalism cadres training, which pushed forward the activities of the newspaper offices.

Then the newspaper was under the perfect control of the Party Committee. Some

secretaries of the Party Committee would visit the general public when they were out for meetings; they stayed in touch with the editorial offices so as to convey

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new ideas and orders. Some of them had meetings and performed the supervision with the chief editor together to point out the issues immediately. Some secretaries even worked in the newspaper offices to formulate publicity plans; be on nightshift duty; examined editorials, top news, headlines, etc. Second, the Party Committee’s communications teams (writing team and reporting team) were basically established. Since the works of the Party Committee leaders and the editorial offices were interconnected, their organizations had to be in similar structures accordingly, leading to the founding of the communications teams of the Party Committee. In 1955, the Provincial Committee of Hubei had formed a writing team, with Wang Renzhong as the team leader, who was also the First Secretary of the Provincial Committee. Other members of the Provincial Committee were the participants used the pen name “Gongtongwen 龔同文.” Through the writing activities of Gongtongwen, Hubei Province further enhanced the leadership to the Party newspapers, which was beneficial in guiding the news business of the province. Since the beginning of the Great Leap Forward in 1958, many provinces, municipalities, and prefectures started to establish their Party Committee’s communications teams under the leadership of the Provincial Committees. The teams were generally led by the secretaries of the Provincial Committees, and participated in by the people-in-charge of different aspects, and they often wrote editorials and coverage for the Party newspapers. This kind of communications team was more popular in Hubei, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shaanxi, Guangxi, and Fujian. For instance, there were 724 Party Committee’s communications teams in Fujian Province in 1959. The establishment of the Party Committee’s communications teams strengthened the role of the Party newspaper as a promoting tool for the Party, which was manifested in the following aspects: The communication work of the Party newspapers was listed as the daily duty of the members of the Party Committee of all levels. When the Party Committee discussed the central task of a period, it would put the publicity in the rundown and in a standardized manner. Therefore, these communications teams would not miss any details when reporting, which was in line with the principles, efficiency, and timeliness, proposed by the Party Committee. So many articles that met the demand of the Party Committee were produced. Since the works of the Party Committee covered different aspects, the communications teams produced coverage on various issues. They not only reported the central tasks, but also other duties. The Party Committee’s communications teams also established a network

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Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

of correspondents. Substantial work was mainly carried out by the propaganda department of the Party Committee. At the same time, the newspaper offices

offered operational guidelines to the correspondents. This practice was very

effective in expanding the pool of data and accelerating the growth of the journalism sector.

Third, the Whole-Party Newspaper Publishing Campaign and the public

newspaper publishing were interrelated. During the Great Leap Forward,

the editorial offices could not fulfill all the requests from the situation. Apart

from the Party Committee’s communications teams, other measures were also adopted to ensure the smooth implementation of the plan, such as “on-site

editing,” “decentralization of layout production,” and “decentralization of feature production.”

The 5th National Broadcast Meeting was held in April 1958 to confirm the

principles of “achieving greater, faster, better, and more economical results”

and “adopting the open-door approach.” The open-door approach was the

manifestation of the Whole-Party Newspaper Publishing Campaign in terms of the radio broadcasts. It was to open the door for the members of the Party Committee of all levels, for the administrative units, especially for the general public, so as

to connect the powers of the masses and of the Party Committee. The open-door approach was carried out in various forms. For example, reporters were sent to

the production frontline to collect the first-hand information of the industrial and agricultural achievements. They also visited the lower class to set up secondary editorial offices and broadcast stations. “Live broadcast meeting” was usually

adopted in the Great Leap Forward’s broadcast business. This form of meeting

was perfect for gathering the masses during the period of the Great Leap Forward, reflecting how the leaders unified the will of the people. This kind of live broadcast

meeting could instigate the people within a few hours. Therefore, at the beginning

of the Great Leap Forward, the projects of water conservancy, afforestation,

elimination of the four pests, and the release of the news on high productivity all relied on the power of the live broadcast meeting. Later, not only the provincial

broadcast stations, the ones in municipalities and counties also used this form of media to enhance the effectiveness.

Mistakes in the anti-rightist publicity In the fall of 1958, while the “pro-revolutionary” mistakes, symbolized by high

expectation, misleading direction, exaggeration, and Communist ideas, were found

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widespread in China, Mao Zedong and other members of the Central Committee visited the rural areas for investigation. They started to realize the mistakes made in the rural and economic development. Supervised by Mao Zedong, a series

of meetings was held to handle the new issues and problems and to correct the

errors. During the Sixth Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee, held in Wuchang from November 28 to December 10, 1958, Mao Zedong said that Xinhua

News Agency and the People’s Daily had to stay conservative instead of being

exaggerative. The journalists of the People’s Daily should not report the rumors; they should develop their critical thinking skills. They had to prevent misleading

and unproven news reports, and any exaggerated information. Moreover, they should try to be realistic instead of just spreading empty words. The goals could only be achieved by the drive along with strict scientific attitude. However, these

orders were not fully accepted by the propaganda units in the time when the Great

Leap Forward reached its climax. In early 1959, the trend of the Great Leap Forward had not been weakened yet. The newspapers still promoted that a new “Great Leap

Forward” should be made in 1959. In January 1959, the meeting of North China’s newspapers confirmed the principle of reporting — “Build up the drive to motivate this year’s better and more comprehensive Great Leap Forward.” On the other

hand, after receiving the reminder from the Central Committee and self-evaluation, the journalism field had already understood the mistakes and problems of the Great

Leap Forward in 1958, and began to correct the faults in the propaganda. In January 1959, the head office of Xinhua concluded the performance of the national news business of 1958 and summarized five key points of experience and lessons: (1) To be realistic when achieving the goals;

(2) To be aware of the relationship between some coverage and the practical operation;

(3) To stay calm;

(4) To be efficient, timely, and aggressive in news reporting, but to be selective for

some incidents (Some news should be delayed, released less frequently, or not reported.);

(5) To specifically report the central tasks in detail. The 6th National Broadcast Meeting was held between February 23 and March

3, 1959 in Beijing. The accomplishments of the 1958 Great Leap Forward were recognized in the conclusion of the propaganda work of 1958. At the same time,

various common mistakes in the broadcast media were also investigated. It was admitted that the propaganda for the political ideas was not enough in the past

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year, while the broadcast media was more focused on reporting the features of the central tasks, ignoring the regular promotion of these tasks. Some of the publicity lacked evidence and perspective, and they were just one-sided writings and exaggerations. Since the propaganda units paid much attention to the experience of 1958, in a period of time, the publicity was mostly about the theory of permanent revolution and the theory on stages of Socialist development. The publicity for revolution should be developed like waves. The goals could only be realized through determined drive and scientific analysis. The issues of production and social life had to be handled appropriately as well. Yet, these were all implemented with the recognition of the Three Red Banners. Xinhua News Agency passed the “Comments on Current Coverage on the Industry” on April 11, 1959, which emphasized that the industrial coverage at that time still needed drive to realize vitality and feasibility. It was more constructive to find out different approaches and measures, and to discuss the issues positively. It was also better not to go anti-rightist and conservative. At the same time, it was necessary to mention the Great Leap Forward, but not the one that was “much better, more large-scale, and more all-round.” Therefore, in the period between early 1959 and August 1959, the propaganda principle of the journalism sector was still “a bigger drive to report a much bigger Great Leap Forward.” From July 2 to August 16, 1959, the Party’s Central Committee held the Political Bureau Enlarged Session and the Eighth Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee in Lushan. The theme of the meeting at the beginning was “Conclude the Experience, Correct the Mistakes,” which was considered to be going against the prorevolutionary ideas. Peng Dehuai wrote to Mao Zedong to talk about the existing problems. In the letter, he directly described the “pro-revolutionary” mistakes and commented on the experience and lessons learnt from the movement. However, the letter was misinterpreted as defending the bourgeois ideas, which was regarded as opposing the Party. This had twisted the direction of the meeting, resulting in an anti-rightist struggle. The bulletin released at the Eighth Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee, ended on August 16, publicly advocated the need to

become anti-rightist and passed the decision of increasing production and saving resources. From August 3 to August 5, the People’s Daily , Xinhua News Agency, and the Central People’s Broadcasting Station held editorial enlarged sessions and editorial meetings for the issues of the publicity. They stressed encouraging the drive and opposing the rightist emotions and the indecision. The People’s Daily released the editorial “Overcome the Rightist Emotion, Increase Output, and Save Resources” in August while the Issue 17 of the magazine Red Flag (Hongqi 紅旗) included the

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editorial “Great Appeal.” On September 1, Mao Zedong wrote “The Second Letter

to the Editorial Office of the Poetry Periodical,” in which he claimed that the rightistopportunists kept attacking and criticizing the people’s business. Some of the

opportunists just grabbed a few inconvincible points to discredit the General Line, the Great Leap Forward, and the People’s Commune of the Party, which was an act

going beyond one’s depth. It also indicated the beginning of the publicity for the anti-rightist struggle. The propaganda covered three aspects:

•• To refute the rightist ideas proposed by the rightist-opportunists •• To promote the greatness of the Three Red Banners

•• To struggle with and criticize the rightist-opportunists In September 1959, the People’s Daily published the editorial “The Theory

of ‘The game is not worth the candle’ Can End,” in which all the negative

comments on the Three Red Banners proposed by the rightist-opportunists were

refuted. The newspapers and radios published and broadcast a lot of articles and editorials denouncing the ideas of the rightist-opportunists: “Comment

Against the Theory of Failure,” “Comment Against the Theory of the Imbalance

of National Economy,” “Comment Against the Theory of the Damage to Vitality,” “Comment Against the Theory of Poor Harvest of the People’s Communes,” etc.

These articles and editorials made an effective strategy to achieve the goals of the publicity.

To fight back against the denigration from the rightist-opportunists, the media

continued to pay much effort in promoting the advantages of the Three Red Banners. On August 19, in Lushan, Mao Zedong wrote a letter to Wu Lengxi,14

Chen Boda,15 and Hu Qiaomu.16 In the letter, Mao considered that many of his

enemies and the Party’s rightist-opportunists attacked the Party’s leadership. In addition, some suspicious people, who did not understand the whole picture, also attacked and denounced the approach of the people’s communes. Mao asked

people to stand up to fight against these kinds of people, so more information was needed. He asked Wu Lengxi to order Xinhua News Agency and the People’s

Daily to discuss the letter again. They also had to inform all their other offices to investigate the Marxism of the people’s communes, and report back to Mao. Then Mao would edit all the information collected into a book, like the book High Point of the Rural Cooperation and Socialism (Nongcum hezuohua shehui zhuyi gaochao 農村合作化社會主義高潮) published in 1955. Mao Zedong prepared to write a long foreword to criticize the opposition factions around the world. On August 20, based on the order from Mao Zedong, Xinhua News Agency and the People’s

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Daily phoned all the branch offices and released a notification letter to execute an emergency task immediately. The information collected from the investigation was edited by Xinhua News Agency into a book, which was printed by the People’s Publishing House in December 1960. Yet it was not published. Mao expected that the information provided by this book could confirm the achievements of the Three Red Banners. Thus, in the time when the anti-rightist idea dominated, newspapers, news agencies, and radio stations paid much effort to promoting the success of the Three Red Banners. There were also a lot of complimentary articles such as “Excellence of Massive Production of Steel,” “Long Lives of Public Cafeterias,” and “Good Signs of the Market.” Having published a banner headline “Celebrate the National Day with the Achievement of Increasing Outputs and Saving Resources” in mid-September, the People’s Daily published the 10-year achievements of every industry to encourage the anti-rightist activities. During the 1958 Great Leap Forward, some of the people with different points of view were criticized and were labeled as skeptics, conservatives, onlookers, double-faced, rebels, etc. This kind of radical struggle reached a new stage until the Lushan Conference in 1959. Some of the people were regarded as the “rightistopportunists,” and they were the reason for the problems of the Great Leap Forward. At the same time, the cruel struggle began in the news units as well. Although the struggle against the rightist opportunism did not last long, many Party members, who proposed constructive comments, were misunderstood. Most of them could only be reversed until 1962. The “anti-rightist” propaganda was a typical top-down approach that people were ordered to criticize and publicize.

Key lesson The Great Leap Forward was dominated by serious biased “pro-revolutionary” ideas. It would be beneficial to China’s development of journalism if we review the history of the Great Leap Forward.

Persistence of factuality as a principle of journalism Factuality is one of the core values of journalism. As a spokesperson for the Party and the people, a journalist should insist on following this fundamental principle. They have to persist in the truth instead of covering up and deceiving others. The historical and social factors in the Great Leap Forward led to the unfaithful news reports and the journalists’ violation of this principle. In the special political

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environment, journalists had to follow suit and stayed in line with the Party’s direction of the propaganda. In addition, the journalists had to cater to the needs of both the “pro-revolutionary groups” and the “rightists.” All these factors resulted in unreliable coverage. Moreover, the abnormal political environment caused the situation that the journalists were afraid of falling behind. They chose to publish the news that was not fully verified. Some of them even tried to release the news even though they knew it was not reliable at all. Otherwise, they would be labeled as insurgents. In the time when “setting satellites” for agricultural outputs was common, some of the journalists had already realized the inappropriateness of this practice. Yet they just falsified or gathered favorable data to prove the “factuality” of the news, so as to achieve the goals and catch up with the pace. The mass movements also confused the minds of some of the journalists. They could not perform logical thinking as usual. They did not carry out in-depth investigation for the incidents; they just reported “rumors” and “gossips,” which resulted in unfaithful news and misleading coverage. Some people even produced falsified write-ups out of personal interests. They knew the act was a kind of misconduct, but they still continued their behavior to pander to the taste of their supervisors. The drive of the masses in the Great Leap Forward was valuable. The revolutionary business could not be fully achieved without drive. Yet, drive without any scientific spirit would become a kind of fanaticism. The fanaticism of the journalists in the Great Leap Forward was very obvious. For example, the newspapers published slogans of idealism, such as “Don’t be afraid, Open your mind,” or “The bolder the man is, the higher yields his fields will turn out,” or “If you can think it, you can do it,” which violated the principle of truth seeking in science. Based on the historical research, the unfaithfulness of news coverage in the Great Leap Forward was mainly caused by the leadership. In the article “No Lies Should Be Told,” Mao Zedong mentioned that many lies were forced by the leadership. The subordinates were in a hard position while their leaders expected

so much.17 Journalists should seriously learn from the history and the experience, and persist to seek truth in a scientific manner. They have to defend the factuality of journalism.

Strengthening of the public viewpoint Serving the people was one of the characteristics and fundamental goals of

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proletariat journalism. The Party newspapers should be the voice of the people.

The journalists were the “promoters” of the Party as well as the spokesmen of the public. These two missions required the journalists to listen to the opinions

of the public when publicizing the Party. They were expected to reflect the needs

of the public, and they should not be in a superior position to the public. In 1958, the high expectation, misleading direction, exaggeration, and the prevalence of

Communist ideas was departing from the public and the practicality, destroying

the public enthusiasm. Even if the public had some constructive ideas, they could not propose, instead, they could only follow suit. The newspapers just adopted the

approach of top-down compulsory propaganda, which was not welcomed by the

people. As a journalist, one has to listen to different kinds of opinions. He or she has to be democratic and not biased. It is inappropriate to only focus on one-sided

views. A journalist cannot regard the people with opposite ideas as insurgents or those out to initiate struggles.

Development of a connection between persistence of principle and that of discipline Liu Shaoqi did go straight to the point that the newspapers’ full obedience to the Party Committee was the cause of the “pro-revolutionary” mistakes. It was not

about whether or not they listened to the Party Committee. It was about if they only depended on the Party Committee. They did not investigate on their own,

and did not reflect or reveal the problems. The shortcoming here was due to the missing connection between persistence of principle and that of discipline. The

journalists were afraid of being accused of not obeying the leaders of the Party Committee. They just emphasized discipline, but gave up the principle. They should stand up to reflect the actual situation and the public opinions. Liu Shaoqi

also pointed out that it was necessary to connect the principle and the discipline.

Journalists have to follow the policy of the Party Committee, at the same time, they also dare to uncover the problems to the Party Committee and generate constructive comments so as to defend the principle.

Development and Modification of Journalism in China In the time when Socialist construction was started, journalism was still important and influential in China. At the same time, being affected by the biased “prorevolutionary” thought and severe natural disasters, the Socialist construction was developed through ups and downs.

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Television and radio broadcasting On August 17, 1957, the Central Broadcasting Bureau decided to set up the Prelaunch Office of the Beijing Television Experimental Station. It also assigned announcers and photographers from the Central People’s Broadcasting Station, the August First Film Studio, and the Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio to prepare for the launch of the television station. At the same time, the Beijing Broadcast Equipment Factory shouldered the responsibility for testing the television transmission system and the broadcast control panel. In December 1957, the Central Broadcasting Bureau sent cadres overseas as delegates to study more on television broadcasting. In the spring of 1958, with the assistance from Tsinghua University, the Beijing Broadcast Equipment Factory produced a batch of equipment. The signal testing was a success as well. In addition, a batch of equipment was also imported from other countries, becoming another favorable factor for the launching of the television station. May 1, 1958 was the day when the signal of China’s television industry first appeared in Beijing. This was also the first time the name “Beijing Television” (formerly China Central Television) was shown on screen with the broadcast building as the background. This marked the official birth of television broadcasting in China. The programs shown on that day included talks with advanced producers, news documentaries, science and educational programs, poetry readings, dance recitals, etc. Later in the period of program pilots, the Central Committee continued to train the cadres, to adjust and improve facilities and equipment, and to try different program pilots. These actions accumulated to become initial experiences. With the four-month practice, the television station was officially launched on September 2, 1958. It broadcast four times a week, two to three hours a time. Besides, the Shanghai Television and the Haerbin Television stations were established and they started to broadcast in October and December 1958, respectively. In December 1958, the Central Broadcasting Bureau held the Forum on the Development of the National Television Stations for the plan of establishing television stations across the country. From 1959 to 1961, 19 provincial and municipal television stations were founded. Later, the national economy encountered difficulties, and China started to carry out the principle of “consolidate, deepen, enhance, and grow.”18 In 1962, five television stations and pilot program stations were reserved in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenyang. Three more were set up in Haerbin, Changchun, and Xi’an. Yet other stations were closed. Before the trial run of Beijing Television, the Central Broadcasting Bureau

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explored and confirmed the principle and the mission of the programs: Based on

its own characteristics, Beijing Television aimed to reflect the significant events in the country and in the people’s political lives, to report on the achievements of Socialist construction, to introduce new technology and knowledge, to broadcast

outstanding dramas and films, and to produce high-quality programs for teenagers and children. Beijing Television and other television stations broadcast both general programs and ones targeted at specific groups of viewers. There were also

news programs, educational programs, and cultural programs. On May 1, 1959,

Beijing Television for the first time did a relay broadcast in Tiananmen Square

showing people celebrating Labor Day in the capital. Since then, Beijing Television and other local television stations also relayed broadcasts of the celebrations for National Day and Labor Day. In March 1960, the Beijing Television and the Beijing

Municipal Education Bureau co-founded the Beijing Open University. Universities

for television broadcasting were also opened in Shanghai and Haerbin. All these indicated the beginning of China’s television broadcast education.

The year 1958 is famous for being the year when the Great Leap Forward

started and the development of people’s communes began. The principle of “achieving greater, faster, better, and more economical results” for both the

media industry and program production was proposed during the 5th National

Broadcast Meeting in April 1958. The central radio and local radio stations focused on how every sector and industry fully implemented the General Line of Socialism, the updated status of the Great Leap Forward, and the movement

of the people’s communes. The central radio broadcast temporary programs, the programs arranged by the people’s radios of different provinces, municipalities,

and autonomous regions, features on “advanced collectives and individuals,” and specific cultural programs such as “Long Live Three Red Banners ” (Sanmian

hongqi wansui 三面紅旗萬萬歲), “Triumph of the Great Leap Forward ” (Dayuejin kaige 大躍進凱歌), etc. Other local radio stations also produced similar programs. The programs broadcast in this period amply reflected the people’s will to rapidly change the situation that China lacked favorable hardware and fell behind in terms of cultural and technological developments. The programs included the great achievements of productivity, which encouraged the people’s enthusiasm and their drive for betterment. However, affected by the “pro-revolutionary” thought, the coverage on production and construction, and the propaganda for advancement experience were inappropriate featuring high expectations, misleading directions, exaggerations, and Communist ideas. Some of the news was just empty slogans. The 6th National Broadcast Meeting, held in February 1959, generally summarized

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and reviewed the work in 1958. Yet the inclination to the “pro-revolutionary” thought had not been rectified due to historical factors. In the summer of 1959, after the Lushan Conference, the anti-rightist struggle started across the country. The onlookers and other opposite parties were being criticized on air, which

further deepened the incorrectness of the biased “pro-revolutionary” thought.

The central radio and other local radio stations organized broadcast meetings for every sector and industry. Within a year, the Central People’s Broadcasting Station, the State Council’s units, and other public groups co-organized 19 broadcast

meetings. The radios of 18 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities held a total number of 303 broadcast meetings. Some of them held more than 53

meetings. They would gather millions of people from different sectors to listen. The magniloquence in the meetings along with the controversial feedback from the listeners had created spectacular momentum and pressure. This kind of

motivating form was derived from remote broadcasts, which were created by China’s broadcast practitioners. At the beginning of New China, since there were not enough receiving tools, this kind of broadcast meeting became an effective tool in mobilizing the people. On the other hand, the overuse of this form violated the

scientific spirit of factuality. It also accelerated the inappropriate practices of setting high expectations and “setting satellites,” which was a waste of human resources, money, and material resources. The content about China in foreign broadcasts was also biased and exaggerated. The characteristics of foreign broadcasts were

also ignored and denied. China was always portrayed as the center of the whole picture. The emphasis on political content and the ignorance of style and cultural

elements also made the programs monotonous and dull, arousing disappointment from foreign listeners.

Due to the policy of the double emphases on both the central and local

governments, impressive progress was made in the local broadcast industry. A number of medium-sized municipal radio stations were established. The Fujian

Frontline Radio Station of the People’s Liberation Army started broadcasting in Xiamen in August 1958. It broadcast to Taiwan for eight hours every day. The Tibet Radio Station was officially on air in 1959. Until late 1960, the number of local radio

stations across the country had reached 135, which was 1.32 times more than the

1956’s figure. The number of broadcast speakers had reached 5,811,000, which was

10.46 times more than the 1956’s figure. The 7th National Broadcast Meeting, held

in March 1960, discussed the planning for the development of broadcast business from 1960 to 1962.

The 26th World Table Tennis Championships were held in Beijing in 1961. It

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Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

was the first international sports event held in China. It was also the first time for the Central People’s Broadcasting Station to broadcast international events (a total

of nine rounds). The Chinese athletes performed their best in the games. They

had won three world championships: men’s team, men’s singles, and women’s singles. The broadcast not only motivated sports development in China, but also encouraged the people’s patriotism and their enthusiasm towards production. During the competition and thereafter, the Central People’s Broadcasting Station

received more than 5,000 letters and telegrams of compliments to the Chinese athletes from both local and overseas listeners.

Since 1962, due to the Eight-character Policy, the national economy recovered

and continued to develop. The practitioners of television broadcasting further concluded the experience of the recent years. It was also a valuable opportunity

to rediscover the nature, mission, and function of television broadcasting, which was beneficial to overcoming aimlessness and enhancing consciousness. These were the favorable factors for drafting a well-equipped plan. The central radio

emphasized upgrading the programs. It aimed to put much effort in producing

key programs and exploring different kinds of programs. Some of the high-quality programs had gained popularity across the country such as Simulcast (Quanguo

lianbo 全國聯播), News Abstract (Xinwen baozhai 新聞報摘), World News (Guoji shishi 國際時事), Scientific Knowledge (Kexue changshi 科學常識), In Different Places of China (Zai zuguo gedi 在祖國各地), Historical Stories (Lishi gushi 歷史 故事), Weekly Talk (Xingqi yanjianghui 星期演講會), Reading and Appreciation (Yuedu he xinshang 閱讀和欣賞), Little Trumpet (Xiao laba 小喇叭), Selection of Movie Recordings (Dianying luyin jianji 電影錄音剪輯), and Selection of Dramas (Xiqu xuanduan 戲曲選段). In this period, the central radio continuously reported and introduced the advanced individuals and experiences, including Lei Feng, Jiao Yulu, Wang Jinxi, Wang Jie, Ou Yanghai, and the “Good Eighth Company on Nanjing Road.” The programs promoted dignified ideas and moral standards, which inspired the people across the country. The local radio stations placed emphasis on attracting listeners and enriching the spiritual and cultural lives of the people. The meticulous productions were catering to the needs and preferences of the listeners. Most of the news reports were about the development of agriculture and its industrial assistance. In the aspects of introducing the advancement of every industry, advocating self-reliance and mettle to contribute to the country, the coverage received positive social effects, enhancing the reputation of the broadcast media among the people. The 8th National Broadcast Meeting was held in April 1964 in Beijing.

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The meeting was mainly about the “Draft on Restructuring the Publicity Plan

(Proposal) ” proposed by the Central Broadcasting Bureau. The topic was “The Struggle for Further Increasing the Quality of Radio and Television Productions.” The Draft was a summary of the accumulated broadcast experience. The requirements for improving the quality of publicity and strengthening the organization of cadres were also clearly listed in the Draft. As pointed out in the Draft, quality was always the first priority of the entire publicity process. It was also reaffirmed that the focus was to improve news reporting and critiques, so as to fully realize the function of the broadcast media. The Draft required the news units to try their best to be independent. In other words, they had to research more on their own critiques and explore more on their reporting style so as to change their existing passive image. The Draft described the principles and missions of television broadcasts. It was pointed out that Beijing Television was responsible for both domestic and overseas propaganda. It had to cater to the needs from all over the country and all over the world. Furthermore, the Draft also provided a series of suggestions to improve the informative and cultural levels of television programs. The meeting also included the principles and missions of the Seven-Year Plan (Two-Year Adjustment and the Third Five-Year Plan). It aimed at improving the broadcast system for the overseas listeners. There was a need to enhance the transmitting power for the overseas broadcast, and to stabilize and develop the rural broadcast network. A more well-equipped technical system was also being developed to strengthen the scientific research of television broadcasting and the broadcast industry. The meeting had been an accelerator for the national television broadcast industry. The whole business had become more prosperous. In order to strengthen the reporting power, each province, autonomous region, and municipality set up their own direct broadcast reporter station after 1965. In the end of the year, the first batch of 17 stations had been established, symbolizing the beginning of the “self-reliance” principle. Their persistence towards truth-seeking strengthened the timeliness of news reporting. The writing style that conformed to broadcast media was also adopted. The Central People’s Broadcasting Station shouldered the responsibility for reporting and explaining international affairs to the people in China. This mission had then become a three-level structure: world news, world commentary, and world knowledge. It also assigned overseas reporters to cover world events in the form of news reports, news dispatches, and bits of commentary. The service programs were further developed as well: Program Preview (Jiemu yugao 節目預告), Time Teller (Bao shi 報時), Weather Forecast

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Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

(Tianqi yugao 天氣預告), Gymnastics Broadcast (Guanbo ticao 廣播體操), and

other service programs were reserved. Then there were a total of four categories of programs: news programs, educational programs, cultural programs, and

service programs. In 1965, the Central People’s Broadcasting Station had four sets of programs. Two sets were the comprehensive programs broadcast domestically.

One set was cultural programs, and the remaining set was the programs for Taiwan. The number of local radio stations was reduced to 84 in the modification period, yet they started to recover and be redeveloped in 1964. Moreover, they had

also built a batch of medium-wave transmitters to expand the coverage. The local radio stations mostly focused on producing news programs, which were based on

the real-life situation of different places. So the programs were in a variety of styles with local characteristics.

Premier Zhou Enlai valued the importance of rural broadcast work. In

November 1963 and August 1965, he mentioned that the radio stations had to

disseminate scientific knowledge to the peasants and the intellectuals in the rural areas. The broadcast was aimed at reporting rural news and serving the peasants. In February 1964, the Ministry of Agriculture, the China Association for Science

and Technology (CAST), and the Central Broadcasting Bureau set up the Broadcast

Working Group for Agricultural Science and Technology to conduct research on the

selection of topics and to organize the manuscripts. Later, there were 15 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities establishing this kind of working group. Twenty-eight local radio stations started the program “Agricultural Science and

Technology ”(Nongye kexue jishu 農業科學技術) or added scientific content to the rural broadcasts. The Central People’s Broadcasting Station even produced a cultural program specifically for peasants named “Rural Club”(Nongcun jukbu 農村俱樂部). Until late 1966, the number of broadcast languages reached 33. The news dispatch units for providing local and overseas information were also wellestablished to cater to the need for programs in different languages. It also gave much more freedom to the operation of each language unit. The broadcasts around the clock reflected the reality of China to the world in terms of its history, geography, culture, and economy. It also conveyed the Chinese people’s goals for world peace and their disappointment about invasion and aggression. The broadcast also sent support and amity overseas. These practices were aimed at gaining understanding and agreement from other countries. In 1965, a total of 286,000 letters from 133 countries and regions were received, which was 440 times more than the figure of 1951. Both Beijing Television and other local television stations considered the high

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quality of the programs as the first priority. They produced a series of high quality

informative, educational, and cultural programs in terms of ideological and

cultural levels. Beijing Television cooperated with some local television stations to

film news programs and documentaries, and then sent them to overseas television stations. The number of television stations in China in late 1966 dropped to 13.

In September 1965, Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Deng

Xiaoping, Chen Yi, Peng Zhen, and Lu Dingyi wrote inscriptions to celebrate the

achievements of the people’s broadcasting business. Mao Zedong’s inscription was: “Work hard for the broadcast business to serve China and the world.” This had then become the direction and the goal of the television broadcast journalists in China.

The 9th National Broadcast Meeting was held in March and April 1966. Before

the meeting, Premier Zhou listened to the presentations about the television

broadcasting industry. He also visited the Central People’s Broadcasting Station, the Beijing People’s Broadcasting Station, the Beijing Television Station, and the transmitters in the rural areas. During the meeting, he delivered a speech in which

he mentioned that under Mao’s guidance of “Prepare for War and Famine, Serve the People,” all the journalists had to face the whole country and the world to strive for the best in television broadcasting. The industry should shoulder the responsibility for serving the people in China and around the world. They also had

to combine the wired broadcasting and the wireless broadcasting so as to establish a nationwide broadcasting network. The inscription made by Chairman Mao for

the people’s broadcasting business and Zhou’s speech had become the guidance for the industry’s development. The meeting was a discussion of various issues related to broadcasting and the television business. The principles confirmed at

the meeting were significant for improving the radio and television broadcasting

businesses. Yet, the upcoming 10-year nationwide turmoil seriously blocked the progress of the television broadcast industry.

The Xinhua News Agency Although the Xinhua News Agency made serious mistakes in reporting in the

period of all-round Socialist construction, it continued to make progress through the ups and downs.

To continue to make progress with reference to the mistakes made based on the experiences In accordance with the mistakes made in the propaganda in 1958, the head office

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of the Xinhua News Agency issued the notice “Persist in Truth-Seeking, Oppose and Prevent One-sided Views and Exaggeration.” As mentioned in this notice,

the coverage was filled with misleading information and one-sided views, along

with inappropriate exaggerations. This kind of practice was endangering the entire industry. The one-sided and exaggerated views were referred to as the following phenomena:

(1) The vigorous mass movements confused the minds of journalists. They did not perform in-depth investigation and analysis, but only parroted the rumors.

(2) The way of thinking was rather one-sided and biased. (3) The ideological problem was serious. The journalists just focused on the

“competition.” They would like to get the news published as soon as possible. In order to receive more noise from the public, they had to exaggerate the truth to arouse attention from the people.

(4) The decision-makers were subjective and impatient, and their subordinated could only follow this kind of style.

Any of the above conditions were detrimental in real-life practice. The notice

restated the principle “News must be absolutely true.” It was pointed out that opposing and preventing the one-sided and exaggerated views in reporting was not a technical issue but a political one. The most effective way to eliminate the

misleading information and exaggeration was to develop an appropriate spirit that

the journalists would respect the truth and be more realistic. In the same month, the head office even wrote the “Preliminary Evaluation Report on the Exaggeration

in Publicity in China ” and submitted to the central government. However, the notice still recognized the achievements of the Great Leap Forward. The news reports were required to reflect the outlook of the Great Leap Forward and to serve the Great Leap Forward. The idea of “opposing and preventing onesided and exaggerated views” proposed in the notice was not thoroughgoing. The principle of “seeking truths from facts” was impossible to be implemented. Between December 1960 and January 1961, the Central Committee held the Central Work Conference and the Ninth Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee. The conferences advocated the need to carry out investigation and research and confirm the implementation of the “Eight-character Policy,” starting to correct the biased pro-revolutionary mistakes after 1958. Later, Xinhua carried out an all-round comprehensive investigation into the shortcomings and mistakes in the three-year coverage for the Great Leap Forward. The editorial unit of the

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head office assigned a number of experienced cadres to form a writing group to discuss the operation of Xinhua and to summarize the experience so as to improve the quality of reporting. With the long-term discussion and amendment, three documents about the local reporting, the external reporting, and photojournalism were drafted in early 1963: Various Problems of News Reporting of the Xinhua News Agency (10 Points to Note of News), Fundamental Problems of Foreign Reporting of Local News (Draft), and Suggestion on the Improvement of Photojournalism of the Xinhua News Agency (Draft) (14 Points to Note of Photography). Some fundamental problems of the operation of Xinhua were mentioned in these three documents. “Various Problems of News Reporting of the Xinhua News Agency ” were divided into 10 parts as follows: (1) News reporting should be based on an unbiased point of view politically. (2) Policies of the Party should be promoted appropriately. (3) It was important to persistently follow and defend the truth-seeking principle of journalism. (4) The functions of journalism should be understood and performed correctly. (5) The reporters’ work should be improved. (6) The operation of other branch offices should be improved. (7) It was necessary to train the cadres and enhance the quality. (8) Journalists should serve China’s local newspapers. (9) The news writing skill should be improved. (10) The editorial operation and the style of management should be improved. “Fundamental Problems of Foreign Reporting of Local News (Draft) ” was focused on the target readers and the reporting principles of reporting local news to overseas. It also discussed the issues related to the attitude, basic ideas, writing style, and the foreign news broadcasts. “Suggestion on the Improvement of Photojournalism of the Xinhua News Agency (Draft) ” included the characteristics of photojournalism, the full performance of the functions of photojournalism, the principle of truth-seeking of photojournalism, the importance of strengthening the favorable technical factors, the improvements of the quality of filming and production. These documents concluded the strengths and the shortcomings from past experience. With reference to both the theory and practice, they gave an in-depth analysis on the issues and proposed feasible measures. In other words, they were regarded as a preliminary summary of Xinhua’s long-term experience. The spirits and the principles of the documents brought about positive effects in perfecting Xinhua’s reporting process.

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In this period, since the Central Committee encouraged large-scale

investigation and research so as to make everything practical, the journalism sector strengthened the publicity for investigation and research and improved their own work. On September 1, 1961, Xinhua issued a notice to each branch office

— “Suggestions on Reporters Strengthening the Research Process in Reporting .”

As pointed out in the notice, the journalists of newspapers were the experts of investigation and research. Investigating and researching were the basic methods

of a reporter’s work. If the news units had to collect the information from the people and from the lower class, they had to send reporters to the masses to push the research work forward. The notice also regulated the content, the

methodology, and the writing style of investigation and research. In December, Xinhua held the China’s Offices Directors Meeting, in which they discussed how

to strengthen the investigation and promote the economy. They also formulated the measures accordingly. This was one of the significant meetings of Xinhua,

which was considered very effective in eliminating biased pro-revolutionary ideas, summarizing experience, and changing the existing attitude.

Since the change of the guiding attitude and the advancement of reporting

style, Xinhua became more practical and focused on developing a connection with

the people, resulting in a number of outstanding and successful news reports. This batch of sound coverage included the publicity of advanced individuals such as Lei Feng, Wang Jie, Jiao Yulu, and the reports on the outstanding companies

in Daqing, Dazhai, and the Nanjing Road. Some news dispatches induced great impacts on the people such as Hero on the Top of the World (reported by Guo Chaoren), One-Dollar Spirit (reported by Li Feng and Yu Huiyin), and Role Model of County Committee Secretary — Jiao Yulu (reported by Mu Qing, Feng Jian,

and Zhou Yuan). They reflected how the Chinese people struggled to overcome all hardship to start their own businesses as well as their heroic spirit. In the

early 1960s, China was still in an economic recession, yet the people could still be encouraged by this kind of coverage.

To revise the Reference News and to expand the circulation Reference News (Cankao xiaoxi 參考消息) was an internal publication published by the Xinhua News Agency. It included the selections from the news agencies all over the world and the Central News Agency. It also provided valuable references from the publications in different regions including Taiwan and Hong Kong. Its format varied a lot especially in the Second Chinese Revolutionary Civil War: It once was eight-fold with two pages, and then was changed to 16-fold with seven

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to eight pages. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, it became a 16-fold publication with more than 10 pages per issue. It was only restricted to the Party’s senior cadres.

On December 18, 1956, the Communist Party Central Committee released the

notice on expanding the subscription of the Reference News . As mentioned in the

notice, the expansion was for the convenience for the cadres to understand more about the international affairs, especially to have a better understanding of China’s enemies and allies. The Central Committee decided to expand the subscription of the Reference News that published by Xinhua after March 1, 1957. The target was

expanded to the provincial committee members and other cadres at the same level.

The Central Committee reckoned that this act was necessary as it was believed that newspapers should not publish everything in hand. The bourgeois information should not be published without any selection. Furthermore, the Party newspapers could not even release all the information provided by its related news agencies

and publications. The point of view of some materials may not have been exactly

the same as the Central Committee’s, and some of them were even incorrect, so

they could only be published selectively. Under this circumstance, it was important for the cadres to know more about the enemies’ point of view and the thoughts

of the allies that were different from China’s so as to prevent them from being

biased and uncritical when analyzing news affairs. The Central Committee also

claimed that there were more favorable factors to implement the expansion at that

time. As Socialism was basically constructed and the exploiting class was basically

eliminated along with the Thought Reform Movement of intellectuals and the success of the struggle with bourgeois class on idealism, the political consciousness

of intellectuals and cadres were greatly enhanced. Most of them had already developed a comparatively stronger critical thinking ability. With these criteria, along with the strengthening of news education to the cadres, the expansion of readership of the Reference News was beneficial.

The Reference News was a daily publication. It was published in four-fold with

four pages, consisting of 20,000 words. It was sold via the post offices. Apart from Beijing, the manuscripts were also air mailed to Shenyang, Shanghai, Hankou,

Guangzhou, Xi’an, Lanzhou, Urumqi, Chongqing, and Kunming on a daily basis for printing so as to timely cater to the needs of different regions.

Mao Zedong was very concerned about the revision of circulation of the Reference News . On January 27, 1957, Mao pointed out that he would like to expand the circulation of the Reference News from the number of 2,000 to 400,000 so that both the Party members and the non-Party individuals could also have

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a look. Mao agreed that it seemed that the Party was publishing newspapers for imperialism as those anti-revolutionary comments were also included. In fact, it was aimed to give an opportunity to the people and the democrats to face nonMarxism and Anti-Marxism at the same time for training purposes. He considered that it was more dangerous to block the information. The situation was the same as the vaccination against smallpox, which was considered to be a “bacteria war.” The struggle with those anti-revolutionary ideas would result in a kind of immunity. The issue of the Reference News and other anti-revolutionary materials was considered to be like injecting “smallpox vaccine,” which could enhance the political immunity of the cadres and the general public. In December 1958, with the approval from the Central Committee, the readership of the Reference News was extended to different governmental units, organizations, cadres of the enterprises, and the college students. Before the revision, the Reference News was more focused on reporting the events and information of politics, military, diplomacy, and the international Communist movement. To cater to the demands from the ever-changing world, it gradually included a much wider variety of topics such as economy, science, culture, education, sports, and society. As a significant window for reflecting international opinions and observing the world situation, it played an important role in transmitting information, enhancing knowledge, and widening horizons. Therefore, it gained an impressive popularity. The circulation number of the revised Reference News in 1957 was only 130,000 copies, yet the number rocketed to 850,000 in October 1965.

To develop the overseas business of Xinhua In 1958 when the Great Leap Forward was in progress, Xinhua held a series of foreign offices working meetings and the head editorial office extended meetings. The meetings were aimed at accelerating the construction of an international news agency, expanding the network of foreign correspondents, developing overseas news dispatch stations, and upgrading communications facilities. In July, it was proposed that Xinhua had to be developed into a proletarian authoritative international news agency of Eastern news in a two- to three-year struggle. In March 1959, a plan was drafted accordingly to achieve this target. These slogans and plans were obviously affected by the biased prorevolutionary thought at that time, which was not in line with the practical direction of Xinhua. It was a kind of spontaneity that could not be sustained in the long term. Since 1961, based on the summary of experience, Xinhua carried out

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in-depth investigation and research. It adjusted the planning for the development

of overseas business. With all the hard work, in early 1966, Xinhua received enormous achievements from its overseas business as follows:

(1) The number of foreign branch officers reached 51: 19 in Asia, 16 in Africa, 13 in Europe, 3 in America. There were more than 220 staff among which 85 were reporters.

(2) The offices in 18 countries employed foreign reporters: 11 in Latin America,

3 in Europe, 1 in Asia, 1 in Africa, 2 in Australasia. Xinhua set up branch offices and had correspondents stationed in 67 countries, basically forming an international news network focusing on Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

(3) It established 26 overseas news dispatch stations. These stations were responsible for releasing the news dispatches of Xinhua. This kind of press

release (daily, weekly, and monthly) was published in Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Arabian, Burmese, Indonesian, Japanese, and Lao and circulated in a hundred countries and regions.

(4) Only one language had been used for overseas broadcasts in the past (English).

The broadcast system was then operated in five languages: English, French, Russian, Spanish, and Arabian.

(5) The numbers of foreign circulation of features and photos increased. The features were published in Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Indonesian, and Arabian, and circulated in more than 60 counties and regions. The receivers

of the news photos included more than 240 newspapers and stock photo providers in more than 80 countries and regions.

Xinhua experienced ups and downs throughout its overseas development. The

reporters from Xinhua had to face complicated difficulties when they were working

in foreign countries. Their hard work and sacrifice showed their full devotion. For example, Wang Weizhen and Ju Qingdong, Xinhua’s correspondent and translator stationed in Brazil respectively, were arrested groundlessly on April 3, 1964 due

to the coup in Brazil at that time. In addition, seven other people who were sent by other China’s organizations were also arrested in Brazil. Wang Weizhen and other people still stayed strong to struggle in prison and in court, showing their

esteemed revolutionary spirit. Since there was no diplomatic relationship between China and Brazil, ACJA and Xinhua dispatched a large number of telegrams to

different media groups and renowned journalists around the world. They wished to have other countries’ assistance and support to oppose the political repression

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Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

from the Brazil government so as to release the arrested people. Xinhua even

formed a rescue team to come up with a rescue plan. With the condemnation from different countries, Wang Weizhen and others were finally released in April 1965 after a one-year struggle. It was the sensational “Brazil Incident.”

To strengthen the facility of telecommunications Since 1956, targeted at establishing an international news agency, Xinhua

thoughtfully improved and upgraded the facility and the technology. It perfected both the local and overseas telecommunications network, which was constructive for future development.

In 1958 and 1959, Xinhua set up a relay station in the western area of China.

The station basically solved the broadcasting problem for Europe and Africa. At the same time, it also increased the broadcasting quality in Western Asia. It was

fundamental to develop the overseas broadcast business of Xinhua. In July 1959,

Xinhua even set up a station for receiving foreign signals, expanding the data pool of international news. Up to late 1960, the number of local and overseas broadcast circuits of Xinhua reached 24 among which four of them were local news broadcast circuits.

(1) The central newspapers (including Tianjin and Jinan): linear broadcasts; 50,000–60,000 words per day

(2) The newspapers of provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions: short-wave broadcasts; 40,000–50,000 words

(3) The newspapers of special regions:

short-wave broadcasts in Morse code; 10,000 words per day

(4) The local newspapers under the level of special regions:

oral recording broadcasts; six hours per day; broadcast through the Central People’s Broadcasting Station

There was a circuit for business operation that broadcast an hour every day.

There were 19 circuits for overseas news broadcasts, including four for English

broadcasts, 13 for special external broadcasts, two for picture broadcasts. The target viewers of the broadcast were in Asia, Europe, Africa, and some countries in Latin America.

From 1961 to 1966, due to the downside of the national economy and the

influence of the struggle, the construction of Xinhua’s overseas broadcast network was slowed down, yet there was still development. An extra 11 special broadcast

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circuits were launched in this period. In addition, another four circuits for picture transmission were also added to cater to the needs from Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, and Hanoi.

To improve the efficiency and business connection between the head office

and other branch offices, Xinhua started to establish its own international communications network and relay stations.

(1) Beijing–Prague shortwave dual frequency-shift telegraph circuit and Prague relay station

The system was set up in May 1958 and stopped running in August 1963. The Prague station was responsible for transferring the information from the

offices in Moscow and Eastern Europe, as well as Berlin, Paris, Bonn, Geneva,

Belgrade, Tirana to the head office. At the same time, it also transmitted

English news dispatches to the news agencies in Latin America, Vienna, and Copenhagen, and French versions to the office in Geneva.

(2) London–Prague linear telegraph circuit and London relay station

The system was set up in March 1959. The London relay station was

responsible for transmitting the news dispatches from these areas: Colombo, Karachi, Yangon, New Delhi, Beirut, Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, Rabat, Sana’a, Accra, Bogota, Brazzaville, Rio de Janeiro, Havana, Conakry, Santiago, Lima, Cape Town, Nicosia, San Jose.

(3) Beijing–Guangzhou–Hong Kong telegraph circuit and Hong Kong relay station

The system was established in May 1963. Hong Kong relay station transmitted

the news dispatches from these regions: Colombo, Karachi, Yangon, New Delhi, Tokyo, Bangkok, Jakarta, Wellington, Canberra, Singapore, Kuala

Lumpur. At the same time, it also provided the publications in Hong Kong and Macau with English broadcast dispatches and photos.

(4) Beijing–Shanghai–Geneva telegraph circuit and Geneva relay station

Established in August 1963, it succeeded the works of the Beijing–Prague telegraph circuit.

(5) Beijing–Paris wireless telegraph circuit and the Paris relay station

Established in December 1964, the Paris relay station was responsible for

transmitting news dispatches from the offices in Europe, Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia.

(6) London–Paris–Geneva linear telegraph circuit

Set up in July 1965, this telegraph circuit connects the three relay stations

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in London, Paris, and Geneva. They could be interconnected for news

transmission and supplementary information. If one of them was blocked, information and news could still be transmitted via another two circuits.

In 1966, before the Cultural Revolution, former Xinhua’s international

communication network included four telegraph circuits and four overseas

relay stations. Besides, Xinhua also developed communication platforms with overseas agencies for information exchange, opening a new era for it to enter the international news world.

Newspapers and periodicals of current affairs and politics The newspapers and periodicals of current affairs and politics in this period

were more well-developed, but they still encountered difficulties during the downside of the national economy in 1960s. The significant progress included

the participation of more evening newspapers, peasants’ newspapers, enterprise

newspapers, newspapers in ethnic minority languages, other kinds of newspapers. At the same time, the appearance of some publications on the theories of current

affairs and politics indicated another milestone. These kinds of publications were contributions to the industry, yet were inevitably affected by the biased prorevolutionary thought.

In the 10 years, the number of China’s publications underwent the process of

“developing–shrinking–developing.” The total print run of newspapers in China in 1957 was 2.44 billion of copies. The number was increasing every year, and it reached 5.09 billion of copies in 1960, which was the highest record. Later, as the

national economy came to a severe downside, the Central Committee and many

local governments restructured many newspapers, lowering the print run. For instance, since November 1961, the page count of the People’s Daily was deducted

from eight to six. There were only four pages. It was published once a week. The print run of each issue dropped from 1,330,000 copies to 1,000,000 copies. The

number of newspapers of both provincial and municipal levels in Hebei was

trimmed from 18 to 13, and that of magazines was trimmed from 24 to 18. The circulation numbers of other publications were also adjusted accordingly. From

1961 to 1962, the total print run of China’s newspapers decreased continuously. It

slid to 2.58 billion of copies in 1962. Once the national economy recovered, the total print run rose again over the years. It reached 4.74 billion of copies in 1965, yet it

dropped to 3.67 billion in 1966 due to the Cultural Revolution. The total number

of China’s newspapers in 1957 was 1,325, and it rocketed to 1,776 in 1958 because

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of the Great Leap forward. The number decreased to 1,390 and 1,274 in 1959 and

1960, respectively. The number decreased dramatically during the consecutive years after that. The number was the lowest in 1963 which was 289. Then it started

to increase moderately. The number of 1965 was 343. However, since the Cultural Revolution in 1966, it slid to 49. The figures showed that the development of New China’s publications was closely related to the political and economic situation.

Evening newspapers were further expanded in this period. In the beginning of

the founding of New China, there were two major evening newspapers. One was the

New People’s Daily (Xinmin bao 新民報) in Shanghai. It continued to be published after liberation. It was then renamed as the Xinmin Evening News (Xinmin wanbao 新民晚報) in April 1958. Another one was the New Life Evening Post (Xinsheng wanbao 新生晚報). It was renamed as New Evening Post (Xin wanbao 新晚報) and Tianjin Evening Post (Tianjin wanbao 天津晚報) in 1952 and 1960, respectively. In the late 1950s, two more evening newspapers joined the competition. On October 1, 1957, Yangcheng Evening News (Yangcheng wanbao 羊城晚報), led by the Central Guangdong Province Committee, made its debut issue in Guangzhou. It was a comprehensive newspaper. It was founded as a supplement to Nanfang Daily (Nanfang ribao 南方日報), providing more information. Its editorial board was coordinated and led by the Nanfang Daily . On March 15, 1958, Beijing Evening News (Beijing wanbao 北京晚報), founded by the Central Beijing Municipality Committee, made its debut. It was a four-page small-size comprehensive newspaper. It was aimed at supplying more information that was excluded from the daily newspaper, and tit was targeted at the lower class readers. The editorial board and the editorial office were under the control of the management of its daily newspaper. Yangcheng Evening News first launched a critique column “Five Floors Below,” then Beijing Evening News also published a new critique column “Across the Old City.” This kind of column was very popular among the readers. Yangcheng Evening News included a supplement “Social Evening,” which was founded during the antirightist struggle. It was valuable since it still stayed informative and interesting in the situation at that time. Beijing Evening News also had an essay column “Evening Talks at Yanshan,” written by Deng Tuo. The column was very influential. In May 1959, ACJA held the first evening newspapers forum in Beijing since the founding of New China. The participants were the four evening newspapers mentioned above. The forum was focused on the objectives of the evening newspapers. It was considered that evening newspapers were supplements of the Party committee’s official newspaper. They also had to publicize the works of the Party. They just reported from another angle. In April 1960, the second evening

54

Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

newspapers forum was held in Guangzhou. The four evening newspapers still joined the discussion. They emphasized the reporting of evening newspapers and the functions of supplements. It was discussed in the forum that the news reports should reflect the pro-Communist ideas in the new information. The supplements should also recognize the new achievements and the new people. They had to put much more effort in promoting the cultural thought of Chairman Mao, so as to fully push forward the “prosperous era.” It was emphasized that the cultural activities should insist on catering to the needs of proletarian policies. Apart from the ideological aspect, the forum also included the strengthening of the informative level. Tao Zhu19 stressed the importance of evening newspapers. He gave a speech at the ceremony of the 10th anniversary of Nanfang Daily in 1959. He said, “I do agree that a big city should have an evening newspaper. That evening newspaper provides us not only with political issues, but also with the materials that can enhance our knowledge and widen our horizon. Reading the sports news and some information on popular science was considered as entertainment, which was better and more meaningful than shopping and playing card games.” 20 Evening newspapers were further developed in the early 1960s. There were more evening newspapers joining the market in 1961. One of the characteristics of the development of evening newspapers was that many of them were once the official daily newspapers of the municipal committees. The national economy was in a difficult time, the newspapers needed to be restructured. Therefore, the official newspapers of municipal committees were changed from daily ones to evening ones. They were redesigned to provide the readers with a more vibrant and attractive layout, enhancing the spiritual life of the readers. These changes were necessary at that time, which were considered to be constructive changes. In January 1961, the Central-South China Bureau of the Communist Party Central Committee imposed a few regulations on publications. One of them was that the municipality newspapers in the provincial capitals should be integrated with provincial newspapers, changed into evening newspapers. Table 21.1  The changes of the municipal newspapers in the provincial capitals Original newspaper

Guangzhou Daily (Guangzhou ribao 廣州日報)

Integration/Evening newspaper

Yangcheng Evening News (Yangcheng wanbao 羊城晚報)

Changsha Daily News (Changsha ribao 長沙日報) Changsha Evening News (Changsha wanbao 長沙晚報) Nanning Daily News (Nanning ribao 南寧日報)

Nanning Evening News (Nanning wanbao 南寧晚報)

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A HISTORY OF Journalism IN CHINA VOLUME 8

(Cont’d) Original newspaper

Yangtze Daily (Changjiang ribao 長江日報) Zhengzhou Daily (Zhengzhou ribao 鄭州日報) Xi’an Daily (Xi’an ribao 西安日報) Shenyang Daily News (Shenyang ribao 瀋陽日報) Chengdu Daily News (Chengdu ribao 成都日報) Hefei Daily News (Hefei ribao 合肥日報) Nanchang Daily (Nanchang ribao 南昌日報)

Integration/Evening newspaper

Wuhan Evening News (Wuhan wanbao 武漢晚報)

Zhengzhou Evening News (Zhengzhou wanbao 鄭州晚報) Xi’an Evening News (Xi’an wanbao 西安晚報)

Shenyang Evening News (Shenyang wanbao 瀋陽晚報) Chengdu Evening News (Chengdu wanbao 成都晚報) Hefei Evening News (Hefei wanbao 合肥晚報)

Nanchang Evening News (Nanchang wanbao 南昌晚報)

The evening newspapers listed in Table 21.1 were the official newspapers of the municipal committees. As there were no daily newspapers of the same level in these municipalities, the evening newspapers had to fulfill the functions of the daily ones. Under this circumstance, the evening newspapers had to perform the functions of daily newspapers as well as develop their characteristics and styles. These goals became a new challenge for the evening newspapers at that time. Peasants’ newspaper was also further developed in the early 1960s. It was mainly because of the rise of the movement of Communist education in the rural areas. In September 1962, after the Tenth Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee, some of the rural areas carried out rectification activities. The Central Committee formulated the “Former Ten Pieces of Experience” and the “Latter Ten Pieces of Experience” to initiate the Communist education movement in rural areas. Yet, the provincial newspapers at that time were not capable of strengthening the Communist education to the peasants, since they were not targeting the lower class cadres of the rural areas and peasants. It was hard for the provincial newspapers to reach many production brigades and production teams, who could not understand or showed no interest in the newspapers even though they could reach that. Thus there was an urgent need to publish a kind of newspaper that was targeted at peasants. After 1962, many provinces founded and recovered peasants’ newspapers among which most of them were the peasants’ versions or the rural versions of the official newspapers of provincial committees. For example, Anhui Daily (Rural Edition) (Anhui ribao nongcunban 安徽日報農村版) was founded in 1962, and Shanxi Nongmin ( 山西農民) was republished in the same year.

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Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

Nanfang Daily (Rural Edition) (Anhui ribao nongcunban 安徽日報農村版) and Heilongjiang Rural News (Heilongjiang nongcun bao 黑龍江農村報) were founded in 1963, and Shaanxi Farmers News (Shaanxi nongmin bao 陝西農民報) was also republished in the same year. In 1964, Hebei Farmers News (Hebei nongmin bao 河北農民報) was founded, and Gansu Peasants (Gansu nongmin bao 甘肅農民報) was republished. Many provinces or regions, including Beijing, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Henan, Liaoning, Jilin, Sichuan, Shandong, Guizhou, also followed suit to publish the rural editions of provincial newspapers or peasants’ newspapers. In December 1962, Tao Zhu emphasized the importance of the peasant’s editions of provincial newspapers at the publicity forum of the South Central China’s five provinces. He proposed that there was an urgent need to publish a popular newspaper that could reach the peasants for Socialist ideological education towards the peasants and the timely and accurate publicity of the Party’s policies. He also reckoned that it should be a “real” peasants’ newspaper targeted at production brigades, cadres of production teams, and the general public. This was the objective of the peasants’ edition of the newspaper. A real peasants’ newspaper should effectively accelerate the construction of the rural economy and enhance the ideological consciousness of the peasants. The newspaper also had to reflect the demands from the peasants, and their thoughts and emotions, which were appropriate and advanced. They should speak up for the peasants and help them solve the problems appropriately. The word choice should be clear and simple enough so that the peasants could understand it. In other words, it should be concise to achieve effective communication. A small yet thoughtful newspaper could still be an effective communications tool as long as it could gain popularity among the people.21 This objective of publishing peasants’ editions of newspapers was generally agreed on at that time. Tao Zhu also pointed out that it was necessary to pay attention to the circulation once the newspaper was out. It was significant to ensure that the newspaper could reach the production brigades and the production teams and monitor the time. Once the newspapers were delivered to the production teams, they had to organize newspaper-reading activities seriously. Each production should have a newspaper-reading group, who was responsible for reading the newspaper for the people regularly and paying attention to their reactions. Otherwise the newspaper was just useless. Shanxi Provincial Committee also stressed the work of Shanxi Daily (Rural Edition) . In September 1963, the Provincial Committee imposed an order that the Rural Edition had to educate the peasants about Socialism and to further strengthen the collective economy so as to develop the agricultural products as the key task. In January 1964, the Central-

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A HISTORY OF Journalism IN CHINA VOLUME 8

South China Bureau summarized the experience of the rural editions in the Central South China regions. One of the important tasks was to coordinate and connect the three aspects of the newspapers: editing, circulation, and newspaper reading, in order to perform the functions of rural editions. This kind of experience was introduced by the journal “Journalism Business ,” leading to much wider influence. Peasants’ newspapers performed significant functions in Socialist education to the peasants. Yet, the peasants’ newspapers were also affected by the development of the biased pro-revolutionary errors in the Socialist education at that time. Enterprise newspapers also entered a new phase in this period. There were only 29 kinds of enterprise newspapers before. The number then rocketed to 46. An addition of 15 newspapers appeared in 1958, such as Shanghai First Steel Factory’s First Steel News (Yi gang bao 一鋼報), Chongqing Steel Company’s Chongqing Steel News (Chong gang bao 重鋼報), Xinjiang Karamay Oil Management Bureau’s Xinjiang Oil News (Xinjiang shiyou bao 新疆石油報), Lanzhou Chemical Industry Corporation’s Lanzhou Chemical Labor News (Lan hua gongren bao 蘭化工人報). The development of enterprise newspapers slowed down during the economic downside. From 1962 to the time before the Cultural Revolution, there were not many enterprise newspapers founded and many of them were minor newspapers. These newspapers posed positive effects on the development of enterprises, yet they still included many biased pro-revolutionary ideas during the Great Leap Forward. Newspapers in ethnic minority languages had come to a new era, with more participants in the market. The more important ones were listed as follows: Table 21.2 The active newspapers in ethnic minority languages in 1950s and 1960s Newspaper

Mudanjiang Daily (Mudanjian ribao 牡丹江日報) (Korean edition)

Heilongjiang Daily (Heilongjiang ribao 黑龍江日報) (Korean edition)

58

Remarks

•• Official newspaper of Mudanjiang prefectural committee of the CPC •• Founded on January 1, 1957 •• Four pages •• Target readers: Koreans in China, especially in Mudanjiangm Heilongjiang Province •• Most of the content was translated from the Chinese edition of the Mudanjiang Daily •• Publication ceased in late 1961

•• Part of the Heilongjiang Daily , the official newspaper of the Heilongjiang Province of the CPC •• Founded on October 1, 1961 •• Titled as Heilongjiang Daily Korean Weekly (Heilongjiang ribao chaoxianwen zhoukan 黑龍江 日報朝鮮文周刊)

Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

(Cont’d) Newspaper

Liaoning Daily (Liaoning ribao 遼寧日報) (Korean Peasant’s edition)

Yanbian Young Post (Yanbian shaonianbao 延邊少年報) (Korean edition)

Yanbian Youth News (Yanbian qingnianbao 延邊青年報) (Korean edition) Zhaowuda Bao ( 昭烏達報)

Remarks

•• Four pages •• Renamed in 1963, and changed to be published with two issues a week, three issues a week, then on alternate days •• Retitled as Heilongjiang Korean News (Heilongjiang chaoxianwen bao 黑龍江朝鮮文報), and disconnected from the Heilongjiang Daily and became an independent newspaper •• Target readers: Korean peasants and cadres of lower levels in Heilongjiang Province •• Popular among the Koreans in Heilongjiang Province •• The highest circulation number: 33,894 copies, most of them were self-subscription •• Part of the Liaoning Daily , the official newspaper of Liaoning provincial committee of the CPC •• Founded on January 1, 1966 in Shenyang •• Four pages, two issues per week •• Most of the content was translated from the Chinese edition of the Liaoning Daily (Rural Edition) •• Renamed as Liaoning Korean News (Liaoning chaoxianwen bao 遼寧朝鮮文報) in June 1982, and changed to Liaoning News (Korean Edition) (Liaoning bao chaoxianwen ban 遼寧報朝鮮文版)

•• One of the earliest newspapers for young people since the founding of New China •• The official newspaper of the China Youth League in Yanbian Prefecture and team newspaper of the Young Pioneers of China •• Founded on July 1, 1957 in Yanji •• Originally named as Young People and Children (Shaonian ertong 少年兒童) •• Four pages, weekly •• Renamed as Yanbian Young Post in January 1966 •• Publication ceased in the beginning of the Cultural Revolution •• A total of 658 issues were published •• The official newspaper of the China Youth League in Yanbian Prefecture •• Founded in January 1959 •• Four pages, two issues per week •• Publication ceased in October 1959 •• The official newspaper of Ju Ud League22 Committee, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the CPC •• The Chinese edition was founded on October 1, 1956; the Mongolian edtion was founded on August 10, 1957

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A HISTORY OF Journalism IN CHINA VOLUME 8

(Cont’d) Newspaper

Jirem News (Zhelimu bao 哲里木報)

Bayannur News (Bayannaoer bao 巴彥淖爾報)

Kazuo News (Kazuoxian bao 喀左縣報)

60

Remarks

•• It was once a weekly, then changed to be published with two issues per week, three issues per week, six issues per week •• It was focused on the agricultural and herding economy in the area in order to publicize the policies of the Party •• Target readers: cadres and the general public in the herding areas •• Ju Ud was renamed as Chifeng in 1983, so it was retitled as Chifeng Daily (Chifeng ribao 赤峰日報)

•• The official newspaper of Jirem League Committee, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the CPC •• The Chinese edition was founded in July 1956, the Mongolian edition was founded on January 1, 1957 •• It was originally a weekly, and changed to be published with two issues per week, three issues per week, and then six issues per week •• It mainly reported on the work of the League Committee to arouse more attention to the forestry and herding businesses as well as to promote the policies of the Party •• Taget readers: peasants and herders, cadres of the lower level in the herding areas •• The official newspaper of Bayannur League Committee, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the CPC •• The Chinese edition was founded on August 1, 1958, the Mongolian edition was founded on September 25, 1958 •• It was mainly about local news, focusing on economic news, politics, culture, technology, and education, literary and artistic fields. •• Target readers: peasants and herders of the League and the cadres of the lower level in the region

•• The official newspaper of Harqin Left Wing Mongol Autonomous County Committee, Liaoning Province of the CPC •• Founded in 1958; publication ceased in 1960; republished on September 19, 1980 •• Published bilingually in Mongolian and Chinese at the same time •• Only published local news, without news dispatches from Xinhua and overseas news agencies •• A special column “Selection:” was added to report the news across China

Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

(Cont’d) Newspaper

Remarks

Kezilesu Bao (克孜勒蘇報) (Kyrgyz, Uyghur, and Chinese editions)

•• A comprehensive newspaper published by the Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture Committee of the CPC

Aksu News (Akesu bao 阿克蘇報) (Uyghur and Chinese editions)

•• The official newspaper of Aksu County Committee of the CPC •• Founded on September 1, 1958 •• Both editions were in four pages and published with three issues per week •• “Aksu” was translated “white water” in Uyghur, meaning clear and high-quality water •• It was focused on reporting the policies of the Party, publicizing national spirit, disseminating scientific knowledge, and enriching the cultural life of the public •• Target readers: general peasants and herders, cadres of the lower level •• Uyghur and Chinese editorial offices

Hami News (Hami bao 哈密報) (Uyghur and Chinese editions)

Yili Young Pioneers News (Yili shaoxian bao 伊犁少先報) (Kazakh edition)

•• The Kyrgyz editon was founded on January 1, 1957 •• As more and more Uyghurs lived in the Prefecture, the Kyrgyz editon was ceased on April 18, 1960 •• The Uyghur and Chinese editions were printed in July 1960 and published with three issues per week •• The Kyrgyz editon was republished in December 1979

•• Published by Hami Prefectual Committee of the CPC •• It was once mimeographed, and then was typographically printed since October 1, 1958 permitted by Hami Prefectual Committee of the CPC •• It was published bilingually in Uyghur and Chinese •• Three issues per week •• Two-thirds of the content was about the rural areas, and one-third was about urban areas •• Target readers: the agricultural-rural public and private enterprises, handicraft cooperatives, private shops, and the general public in Hami, Yiwu County, and Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County, government organizations, schools •• Uyghur and Chinese editorial offices

•• Published by Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefectural Committee •• Founded in 1957; publication ceased in 1967 •• Republished in September 1981, and renamed as Yili Young Young News (Yili shaonian bao 伊犁少 年報)

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A HISTORY OF Journalism IN CHINA VOLUME 8

(Cont’d) Newspaper

Tibet Daily (Xiang ribao 西藏日報) (Tibetan and Chinese editions)

62

Remarks

•• It was aimed at educating the children to develop a sense of belonging to the Party, to the Socialist country, and to science so that they could be the successors of Communism with all-round development •• Target readers: Kazakh children, counsellors at primary and secondary schools, and Kazakh parents •• It mainly introduced the good people, events, and thoughts, introduced the lives of revolutionaries, published science knowledge, fairy tales, poems, and riddles •• The Committee also founded a weekly “Yili Young People ” (Yili qingnian 伊犁青年) (Kazakh edition), which ceased publishing in 1968

•• Founded in 1956 •• It was very significant in suppressing the 1959 Tibetan Uprising •• On March 10, 1959, the armed Tibetan rebels publicly destroyed the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet and announced the “independence” of Tibet suddenly. They initiated the armed anti-revolutionary uprising in Lhasa. They killed the patriots and attacked the Party’s bodies in the autonomous region. The office of the Tibet Daily was no exception. •• On March 28, Xinhua released the State Council’s decision on suppressing the Tibetan Uprising, and the newspapers’ contents were also in line with this issue. It reported the firsthand information of the struggle, the reaction of the people, and publicized the “possession policy” in the previous period. Then, it published the news on democratic reform and revealed the crimes of the enemy. It promoted the true meaning of suppressing the uprising, and insisted on the importance of patriotism, the unification of a nation, and the freedom of religion and belief. It also uncovered the ambitious imperialism and expansionism, and the rebels’ anti-revolutionary ulterior motives hidden behind the so-called protection of religion. •• In order to cater to the needs of most of the illiterate Tibetans, the press photographer Chen Zonglie independently edited and released a few issues of Tibet Daily Pictorial (Xizang ribao huakan 西藏日報畫刊).

Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

(Cont’d) Newspaper

Zhuang New ( Zhuangwen bao 壯文報)

Remarks

•• It was in four pages, publishing the news and information on uprising suppression and the democratic reform. The book also publicized the unification of a nation and that of the military force and the people. It also emphasized the protection of religious freedom and published the photos showing the New China. The book was highly recognized. •• During the struggle of suppressing the uprising, the staff of the Tibet Daily worked on the newspaper in the daytime and they still performed the newspaper production duties. At night, they were on duty and armed for the struggle. There were underground passages in the typesetting room and guns on the typesetters, even the female staff formed a rescue team. •• In the evening and afternoon of March 20, the newspaper people’s militia set fire two times consecutively, dynamited the main building of the editorial office, eliminated the enemies in the north of the main building and even seized a few boxes of explosives. •• Under such an intense circumstance, they could still expand the layout from two pages to four pages. In the time when newspaper was not allowed, it still used broadcasts to publicize the Party’s policies and uncovered the crimes

•• The only newspaper in Zhuang language in China •• The official newspaper of the Ethnic Minority Languages Committee of Guaangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region •• A weekly founded on July 1, 1957 in Nanning •• Publication ceased in late 1966; republished in August 1982 •• Renamed as Guangxi National News (Guangxi minzu bao 廣西民族報) •• Zhuang is the ethnic minority with the largest population in China, accounting for 13,000,000 •• In 1955, the Party and the government assisted the Zhuang people to create their language based on Latin letters •• The State Council passed the “Proposal on Zhuang Langauge (Draft)” •• The founding of Zhuang National News was for the promotion of Zhuang language in Guangxi •• It was popular among the Zhuang people

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A HISTORY OF Journalism IN CHINA VOLUME 8

(Cont’d) Newspaper

Remarks

Xishuangbanna News •• The official newspaper of Xishuangbanna Dai (Xishuangbanna bao 西雙版納報) Autonomous Prefectural Committee of the CPC (Chinese and New Tai Lue editions) •• Founded in March 1957 •• Originally titled as News Post (Xiaoxi bao 消息報) •• Four pages •• New Tai Lue edition published with two issues per wekk; Chinese edition published with three issues per week •• Zhu De wrote the masthead of the newspaper •• Premier Zhou Enlai visited Xishuangbanna in April 1961, and asked for Xishuangbanna News once he arrived, and he also said it should be kept in high quality •• Publication ceased in 1966; republished in July 1972

More influential newspapers were also founded in this period. On September 1,

1958, China Sports (Tiyu bao 體育報) was officially founded by the State Committee of Sports in Beijing. Mao Zedong wrote the masthead of the newspaper. He Long23 always conducted the newspaper via letters, phone calls, and verbally. It was the

only national sports newspaper at that time. It featured in-depth sports news and was ideologically produced, which gained high popularity among the readers.

The catchy slogans, such as “China in My Mind, Widen My Sky” and “Start from Zero,” and the news reports on the achievements of the athletes were very influential. The period near 1958 was the high point of the sports newspapers in

China. More than a dozen provinces and munipalities published their local sports newspapers.

The newspapers on science also entered a new era under the slogan “March

to Science and Technology.” On January 1, 1959, the China Academy of Sciences

founded the China Science Daily (Kexue bao 科學報). It was more reader-oriented and the publicity was of a more highbrow nature.

The Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese

Kuomintang published a weekly on current affairs and politics — United Daily

(Tuanjie bao 團結報). It was founded on April 25, 1956 and circulated internally. It was restricted to the Committee members and related people only. It was issued publicly after August 1, 1957. It was the only newspaper published by the Chinese Kuomintang at that time.

Local newspapers also expanded in the period. In 1958, some provinces and

autonomous regions, and even every prefecture also issued their own Party ewspapers. Yet they ceased publishing since 1960.

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Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

The current affairs and political periodicals also reached their high point in this period. The magazine Red Flag (Hongqi 紅旗), published by the CPC Central Committee, was founded on June 1, 1958 in Beijing. Its publication was decided at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee. It was a central publication on political theories, led by the chief editor, Chen Boda. Apart from the editorial office set up by the Central Committee, there were editorial teams in the Shanghai Bureau and the Party committees of provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, responsible for collecting, initially approving and amending the manuscripts. It was the manifestation of the spirit of a “wholeParty newspaper.” It was once a bi-weekly, and was changed to a monthly. As stated in the debut message, it was important to learn from Lenin. The magazine was aimed at connecting with the people, listening to the voices from the people, and incorporating the Marxist principles with real-life applications. It also had to respect all the new matters and dared to propose questions and solve the problems under the new historical circumstances. The persistence to truth and the separations from revisionism and the thoughts not in line Marxism were also the objectives of the magazine. Red Flag followed these directions suggested by Chairman Mao. It was founded in New China. It was for further giving rise to the revolutionary thoughts of the proletariat. Undoubtedly, it was believed that any capitalist thought should be replaced by proletarian ideas. Red Flag was the most theoretical publication in publicizing Marxism-Leninism, Maoism, the Party’s directions, guiding principles, and policies. The appearance of Red Flag led to the trend of publications on political theories issued by the Party committees of provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions as shown in Table 21.3. Table 21.3 Examples of publications on political theories issued by the Party committees Location of Party committee Henan Hebei

Bejing

Shanghai

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Guangdong Sichuan

Publication

Zhongzhou Comments (Zhongzhou pinglun 中州評論) East Wind (Dongfeng 東風)

The Battlefront (Qianxian 前線) Liberation (Jiefang 解放) Practice (Shijian 實踐)

Xinjiang (Xinjiang 新疆)

Headstream (Shangyou 上游) Headstream (Shangyou 上游)

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A HISTORY OF Journalism IN CHINA VOLUME 8

(Cont’d) Location of Party committee

Publication

Guizhou

Unity (Tuanjie 團結)

Hunan

Guidance News (Xuexi daobao 學習導報) ; renamed as Xinxiang Review (Xinxiang pinglun 新湘評論)

Jiejiang

Jilin

Heilongjiang

Fujian Qinghai Gansu

Truth Seeking (Qiushi 求是)

Brave Advance (Fenjin 奮進)

Struggles (Fendou 奮鬥); originally was Learning Life (Xuexi shenghuo 學習生活) Proletarian and Professional (Hong yu zhuan 紅與專) Proletarian and Professional (Hong yu zhuan 紅與專) Red Star (Hong xing 紅星)

Hubei

Seven-One (Qi yi 七一)

Shaanxi

Idea Battle Line (Sixiang zhanxian 思想戰 線)

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Sparks (Xinghuo 星火)

Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Mind Emancipation (Sixiang jiefang 思想 解放)

Shanxi

Advance (Qianjin 前進)

Liaoning

Theory Study (Lilin xuexi 理論學習)

Yunnan

Creation (Chuangzao 創造)

Jiangxi

Anhui

Shandong

Jiangsu

Leap Forward (Yuejin 躍進)

False and True (Xu yu shi 虛與實) New Analects (Xin lunyu 新論語) The Masses (Qunzhong 群眾)

Some regional or even prefectural committees also founded their own

publications on political theories. These publications, from the central government to local governments, formed a propaganda network of political theories,

strengthening the power of promoting political theories. They included the theoretical works on the politics, economic, culture, and other aspects at that time,

with significant functions. However, as they were founded in the Great Leap Forward, biased pro-revolutionary ideas were inevitable.

Among the political publications issued by the Party’s local committees, The

Battlefront, published by the Beijing municipal committee, was more influential.

It was founded in November 1958 with Deng Tuo as the chief editor. Deng Tuo was reassigned from the People’s Daily in August 1958 to be the Secretary of the

66

Journalism in the Period of the Construction of Socialism ( January 1957– May 1966)

Beijing Municipal Committee who was responsible for monitoring The Battlefront .

As stated in its debut message, the construction of Socialism should not be anti-

revolutionary and conservative, at the same time, it should not be too ambitious

with only subjective enthusiasm. One should not act impetuously and implement any plan only out of instinctive ideas. Furthermore, one should not act based on trivial information without in-depth investigation. Thoughtful planning was

the first priority. In short, it was proposed that objective patterns should not be violated and interrupted. This kind of original and inspiring idea on current affairs

was rare and commendable during the Great Leap Forward. Yet these sayings were criticized groundlessly later in the Cultural Revolution.

In October 1957, Ethnic Unity (Minzu tuanjie 民族團結) was founded. It was a monthly issued by the State Ethnic Affairs Commission. It was an authoritative

publication about the Chinese ethnic issues, targeting different ethnic cadres who served the ethnic groups, conducted ethnic research and promotion in the

ethnic regions. Its publication ceased two times in the early 1960s and the Cultural Revolution. It was also issued in Mongolian, Uyghur, Kazakh, and Korean.

The English version of Beijing Review (Beijing zhoubao 北京周報) was founded on March 4, 1958. It was the only weekly on current affairs and politics in a foreign language. It was aimed at reporting the news about China’s economy, politics,

culture, and external relations. It was then published in French, Spanish, Japanese, German, etc. It was circulated in many countries and regions, and had international influence.

Photojournalism In this period, due to the biased pro-revolutionary thought and natural disasters,

the development of photojournalism also underwent ups and downs. The photojournalists still strived to perform their duties and made impressive

achievements. The photographs on newspapers were improved with new inspirations.

Photo reporting of newspapers Between 1958 and 1959, the activities of the Great Leap Forward led to the increasing number of photos on newspapers. Four of the newspapers, Henan Daily (Henan

ribao 河南日報), Guangxi Daily (Guangxi ribao 廣西日報), Beijing Daily (Beijing ribao 北京日報), and China Youth Daily (Zhongguo qingnian bao 中國青年報), used 200 to 300 photos monthly in 1959, which was a considerable growth. The

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larger number was related to the general improvement of newspapers and the reorganization of the duties of photo correspondents. For example, the number of photo correspondents of Fujian Daily (Fujian ribao 福建日報) rocketed from 40 to 400 in early 1960. At the same time, Henan Daily received around 60 photos from the correspondents every day, which was two times more than before. Many newspapers improved the quality of the correspondents after distributing reporting guidelines and learning materials to the reporters and having them handle rejected manuscripts and give direct guidance to the photojournalists. This practice nurtured a batch of talents in photography, becoming one the important sources of news photos for newspapers. From January 1959 to March 1959, 34% of the photos in Hubei Daily News (Hubei ribao 湖北日報) were from photo correspondents. Additionally, with in-depth exploration of photo reporting, the content and form of the newspapers were also improved. The appearance of controversial photos was considered as one of the breakthroughs. Since the establishment of New China, the photo reporting of China’s publications was only a blind praise of virtues and achievements without mentioning any bad news. The photos which uncovered the truth were restricted. In early 1957, the Communist Party initiated the Rectification Movement. The democratic atmosphere gave rise to controversial photos in newspapers. On March 18 and April 27, 1957, Liberation Daily (Jiefang ribao 解放日報) and Beijing Daily published two controversial photos respectively: “Something Shocking on Football Field: Jilin Team’s Refusal to Play the Match ” (Qiuchang qiwen jilindui bati 球場奇聞: 吉林隊「罷踢」) by Hua Pinfu and “A Pair of Carefree People ” (Yidui bujuxiaojie de ren 一對不拘小節的人) by Di Yuancang. The former one revealed that Jilin Football Team violated the order from the referee during a match of China’s Football League One, and refused to continue the match. It was regarded as an inappropriate practice at a sports event. The latter one showed a man and a woman ignoring social morality. They sat on a bench in the park and ate watermelon seeds, yet they just threw the skins of the seeds onto the ground. Although this kind of photo was constructive in a certain sense and was welcomed by a majority of the readers, the newspapers did not publish them anymore due to the biased pro-revolutionary thought. The controversial photos were just hot topics which were suppressed by the Anti-Rightist Movement. At the same time, there were also photography competitions. In May 1957, the “Color Page” of the Supplement of Shanghai’s Wenhui Bao ( 文匯報) pioneered an artistic photography competition. The works entering the competition should be taken after October 1, 1949 and should not have been published. The selected

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photos were judged in three categories for the prizes of RMB100, RMB50, and RMB30. Other participants with their photos selected would also receive a free threemonth subscription to the newspaper. China Sports also held a photography competition to select the best sports photos in 193. Among the 12 photos selected, “The Winners of World Champions ” (Shijie guanjun huodezhe 世界冠軍獲得者) by Zhao Qinghai and “The Young Athlete Wang Weijian ” (Qingnian xuanshou wang weijian 青年選手王維儉) by Song Ziyu were given the Special Class Awards. The photography competitions and selection activities were beneficial in expanding the photo pool and encouraging competition, which was considered to be meaningful. However, to avoid being suspected for promoting capitalist ideas, many newspapers dared not follow suit. Regular photo columns also appeared on the front page of newspapers. In July 1961, Guangzhou’s Yangcheng Evening News (Yangcheng Wanbao 羊城晚報) opened a new column called “Photos of the Week,” which occupied one-third of the layout for publishing photos. It was a creative idea and brought much vibrancy and distinguishing features to the newspapers, so as to make a breakthrough in the traditional practice in which pictures and photo columns were not put on the front page. The new practice provided the publicity of newspapers with new experiences. Edited photos were getting popular. Photo editing was also called the “cutting and pasting” of photos. The author, based on his or her idea, used various photos to edit them into a new picture or comics. This kind of picture had appeared in foreign countries in earlier times, yet China’s publications adopted this style only after 1958. For example, on July 19, 1958, the People’s Daily published the illustration “Get Out from Jordan ” (Cong yuedan gun chuqu 從約旦滾出去). This picture was an edited one with the public demonstration as the background, showing the expression of individual protesters. It was very effective in motivating people. Xinhua also released the excellent pictures circulated across the country. The illustrations “A Mother’s Protest ” (Muqin de kangyi 母親的抗議) and “Defeated ” (Shouxia baijiang 手下敗將) were used by many newspapers. Edited photos fell into a special category. They were an exaggerated and comparative device to manifest certain positions or points of view. Its unique style made it an effective promotion tool, which general news photos could not perform. The above-mentioned preliminary reform and exploration were not promoted and sustained. On the other hand, the misleading direction and the lack of planning in the Great Leap Forward adversely affected photojournalism. The prevalence of made-up stories, manipulations, and exaggerations posed ill effects to the industy and to society.

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The ups and downs of photography pictorials The pictorials in China went through an extraordinarily fluctuating development path as the socio-political environment was changing. Between 1957 and 1960, there were 16 newly-founded pictorials: Heilongjiang Pictorial (Heilongjiang huabao

黑龍江畫報), Anhui Pictorial (Anhui huabao 安徽畫報), Guangdong Pictorial (Guangdong huabao 廣東畫報), Fujian Pictorial (Fujian huabao 福建畫報), Jiejiang Pictorial (Jiejiang huabao 浙江畫報), Qinghai Pictorial (Qinghia huabao 青海畫報), Jilin Pictorial (Jilin huabao 吉林畫報), Shandong Pictorial (Shandong huabao 山東 畫報), Hubei Pictorial (Hubei huabao 湖北畫報), Shaanxi Pictorial (Shaanxi huabao 陝西畫報), Jiangsu Pictorial (Jiangsu huabao 江蘇畫報), Guizhou Pictorial (Guizhou huabao 貴州畫報), Jiangxi Pictorial (Jiangxi huabao 江西畫報), Yunnan Pictorial (Yunnan huabao 雲南畫報), Sichuan Pictorial (Sichuan huabao 四川畫報), and Shanxi Pictorial (Shanxi huabao 山西畫報). Ten of them were the products of the Great Leap Forward in 1958. This was another high point of the development of pictorials since the establishment of New China. In the time around 1961, a large number of pictorials were forced to come to an end. Apart from those issued by the central units, including China Pictorial (Renmin huabao 人民畫報), PLA Pictorial (Jiefangjun huabao 解放軍畫報), and Nationality Pictorial (Minzu huabao 民族 畫報). Xinjiang Pictorial (Xinjiang huabao 新疆畫報) was the only pictorial at the provincial level. The year 1959 was the 10th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. Under the guidance of the central leaders, China Pictorial Editorial Committee published the pictorial “China ” (Zhongguo 中國). This giant pictorial was a sextoproduced in 545 pages. It consisted of 463 photos (118 were color photos) taken by 172 photographers, introducing China’s natural environment, Socialist revolution and construction, lives of different ethnic groups, local special products, landscapes, historical relics, precious cultural antiques, etc. The rich content, outstanding photos, elegant packaging, and the impressive collaboration of photojournalism and artistic photography birthed the historical painting recording the 10 years of New China. Many provinces and municipalities also published local photobooks as dedications to the 10th anniversary, such as Beijing ( 北京), China’s Liaoning (Zuguo de liaoning 祖國的遼寧), Yunnan (雲南), Today’s Guangxi (Jinri guangxi 今日廣西),

Shaanxi Forward (Shaanxi zai qianjin 陝西在前進), Guangdong (廣東), Fuzhou in Great Leap Forward (Yuejin zhong de fuzhou 躍進中的福州), Wuhan (武漢). They used a lot of news photos to reflect the changes of the local regions in the 10 years. In order to collect the masterpieces of news photos, Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Publishing House, with the photos given by Xinhua’s photo editors,

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published two volumes of Selection of News Photos (Xinwen sheying xuanji 新聞攝影選集), which included more than 100 of the best news photos in 1956 and 1957 each year. The volumes generally summarized the changes in China in these two years. This kind of news photo album was considered a milestone in China’s media field. Yet this meaningful work was not continued.

News photo exhibitions In order to expand the photo publicity and enrich the cultural life of the people, different regions in China started to hold a variety of photo exhibitions in this period. There was only a comparatively large-scale photo exhibition of reality before 1956. China Photography Society held the 1st China Photographic Art Exhibition at Beijing Art Exhibition Center on December 1, 1957, with more than 28,000 visitors. Since then the exhibition became an annual event. The exhibits shown were taken by photojournalists. So were full of real-life inspirations. The success of the 1st China Photographic Art Exhibition aroused the attention from the photography field across the country. Different regions started to follow suit. According to the statistics, in 1959, there were 15 photo exhibitions held in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other municipalities. From 1961 to 1965, 25 local photo exhibitions in provinces, municipalities, and autonomous areas were organized for 86 times and 37 times in the capital. In February 1957, the Exhibition of Photographs by Zheng Jingkang was launched in Beijing. It was the first time a photographer held an individual photo exhibition in China. Later other photographers, such as Wu Zhongxing, Xue Zijiang, Cai Junsan, Shi Shaohua, Zhang Yinquan, also held their individual photo exhibitions, which showed their outstanding skills and unique styles. The show of Shi Shaohua, a renowned photojournalist, received positive feedback. It was highly appreciated as a “precious legacy and heroic poetry.” In order to exchange experiences on photojournalism and publicize the achievements of Socialist revolution and construction, ACJA and the China Photography Society organized the “China News Photos Exhibition” in Beijing in May 1964. The exhibits were categorized into five parts, which were politics, military, economy, culture, and international affairs. The exhibition showcased the excellent 482 news photos since the founding of New China. There were more than 45,000 visitors. It was the first time China had held a special news photo exhibition across the country. It was a great encouragement and motivation to photojournalists. More Chinese photos also entered the international photo exhibitions and competitions, which was considered to be a glory of the country. In September 1958,

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the News Photos of Socialist Countries Exhibition was held in Hungary. Chen Bo’s “Rain Brings Drive” was the champion. It was the first international photo exhibition

prize New China had received. Since then, Chinese news photos won different kinds of awards in many international photography competitions as follows:

Table 21.4 The awards Chinese photos received in international photography competitions Award

Gold Medal

Silver Medal, Bronze Medal, or Certificate

Photo

Lead the Water Upstream (Yin yaoheshui shangshan 引洮河水上山)

Photographer Ru Suichu

Flying Steel Flowers (Ganghua feiwu 鋼花飛舞)

Liang Yiding

The New Comer On Duty (Xinlai de zhibanyuan 新來的值班員)

Zhu Wenliang

Splendid Land (Qiaoxiu dadi 巧繡大地)

Wang Fuhua

Welcome the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army Back to Lü Houmin the Country (Huansong zhongguo renmin zhiyuanjun huiguo 歡送中國人民志願軍回國)

Expansion of Jilin Thermal Power Station Liu Entai (Kuojiazhong de jilin redianzhan 擴建中的吉林熱電站) Another Giant Hydroelectric Station in Huanghe (Huangheshang lingyizuo juda de shuidianzhan 黃河 上另一座巨大的水電站)

Zheng Guanghua

Small Football Team (Xiao zuqiudui 小足球隊)

Gao Ming

Drink to Revenge (He bei fanshen jiu 喝杯翻身酒)

Jing Jialian

Explore the Mystery of Glacier (Tansuo bingchuan de aomi 探索冰川的奧秘)

Ma Jingqiu

Nice to Meet You, Mr. Guevara from Cuba (Nihao guba gewala shushu 你好，古巴格瓦拉叔叔)

Li Jilu

Plane Fertilization (Feiji shifei 飛機施肥)

Liu Zhiwei

Winnowing (Yangchang 揚場)

Li Shuliang

Steel Ingot (Gangding 鋼錠)

Zheng Wei

Korean People Farewell the Volunteer Army Meng Xianquan (Chaoxian renmin huansong zhiyuanjun guiguo 朝鮮 人民歡送志願軍歸國)

Photography magazines In this period, photography magazines were further developed. They were

beneficial for ideas exchange and promotion of the photography field. In March 1951, the Central News Photography Bureau founded the magazine “Photography ”

(Sheying gongzuo 攝影工作), yet its publication was ceased after the first six issues.

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In the six years after, there was no similar publication like this in China until 1957. In April 1957, the China Photography Society published its first bimonthly “Chinese Photography ” (Zhongguo sheying 中國攝影). It was an introduction of different photography works with rich content and literary compositions. Each issue included more than 30 different kinds of photos. In July 1958, the Society also founded a monthly called “Popular Photography ” (Dazhong sheying 大眾攝影), which was more focused on promoting and enhancing the knowledge of photography. It was very popular. In January 1957, Xinhua’s photography office renamed the internal publication “Photography Business ” (Sheying yewu 攝影業務) to “News Photography ” (Xinwen sheying 新聞攝影) and continued to publish it as a monthly. It was then revised the next year with polished content and was circulated publicly. The publication always reflected the news of the news photography field, introduced the editorial experiences and research results, commented on photography works, and promoted a variety of photography skill and knowledge. The practice of publishing translated materials and outstanding news photos from overseas accelerated the growth of news photography in China. However, in July 1960, News Photography and Popular Photography were forced to come to an end due to the financial difficulties of China.

The development of photojournalism education China made achievements in photojournalism education and the development of talents in this aspect. A lot of new talents appeared in this period. In 1952, not long after the establishment of Xinhua’s photography department, the education and training of photography talents had become one of the foci. There were already 60 photojournalists in 1953 through short-term intensive training. From October 1956 to March 1957, in order to train up high-quality photography cadres, Xinhua and the Minzu Pictorial held a formal “photojournalist training session” in Beijing with 50 regular students and 20 auditors. The students were generally from higher cultural backgrounds, and many of them were the college students of the year. The syllabus included ideological education, photography skills, theories, and the applications of news photography. The total 800 class hours consisted of lectures, discussions, and practical training. Moreover, many renowned photojournalists and photographers were also invited to be the teachers for the training sessions, including Shi Shaohua, Zhang Yinquan, Qi Guanshan, and Xue Zijiang. Many of the students had become the core team of the news photography field. Between 1958 and 1962, more than 10 provinces and autonomous regions in China organized short-term training class on news photography, with the assistance from

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Xinhua’s photojournalists such as Zheng Jingkang. These classes became the talent hubs of more than 500 photojournalists for various municipalities and provinces, contributing to the local news photography business.

Besides, high-school photojournalism education was also further developed.

Before the liberation, the School of Journalism of Fudan University opened the

course of photojournalism. Yet this course only received attention since the

founding of New China. In 1952, “News Photography and Pictorial Editing” became a compulsory course. The syllabus became more all-round and even the students could be engaged in practical training. The teaching and research team was officially formed in 1957 to perfect the teaching content. Apart from Fudan University, Peking University’s School of Journalism and Communication also

added the course on news photography in 1955. The school organized the elective “Specialized Photojournalism,” which lasted for a year, for the graduate class in the fall of 1957. Most of the 10 students, who studied this course, were also

engaged in the field of news photography. Due to the demand of photographers with high education background, Renmin University of China’s School of

Journalism officially organized the photojournalism specialization in 1964, with the support from Xinhua’s photography team. This had been one of the effective

ways to expand the number of cadres for news photography. In the fall of 1964, 20 freshmen were admitted, and another 20 were accepted in the next year. The Cultural Revolution in 1966 caused the school program to be suspended, and photojournalism in the education system was forced to come to an end.

In this time, the photojournalism education in colleges’ journalism schools

was just at the beginning. Many of the teachers were just fresh graduates. They

lacked knowledge and real-life experience. Apart from the course on photography skill, the courses that were more practical, such as current affairs and industrial

and agricultural classes, were taught by more experienced photo editors and photojournalists. The lack of teaching materials also increased the difficulty of teaching. Until 1963, Renmin University of China’s School of Journalism edited the

book “Handouts of News Photography ” (Xinwen sheying jiangyi 新聞攝影講義), which basically solved the problem of teaching materials. It was also the first book on news photography since the founding of New China. The teaching reference

works were not limited to photography publications, including the internal ones. There were also the works edited by individual photographers, such as Shi Shaohua’s Photojournalism and Photojournalist (Xinwen sheying yu sheying

jizhe gongzuo 新聞攝影與攝影記者工作) (1960), Mao Songyou’s Photojournalism (Xinwen sheying 新聞攝影) (1952), and Hong Ke’s Applications of Photos in

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Newspapers (Zhaopian zai baozhi shang de yunyong xingshi 照片在報紙上的運 用形式) (1962). The translated works included the Russian work “How To Handle Photos of Newspapers ” (Zenyang chuli baokan tupian 怎樣處理報刊圖片) (1959). In the early 1960s, Xinhua’s photography team also published On Photography and Its Development (Lun sheying ji qi fazhan 論攝影及其發展), Capitalism of U.K. and U.S. and Photojournalism (Yingmei zichanjieji lun xinwen sheying 英美資產 階級論新聞攝影), Great Moments of Photojournalism (Xinwen sheying de weida shunjian 新聞攝影的偉大瞬間), and 40-Year Photography of the Soviet Union (Sulian sheying sishinian 蘇聯攝影四十年). These translated works provided the photojournalists in China with overseas experiences. So they could learn from others’ strengths so as to enrich the syllabus of news photography. On the other hand, photojournalism in this period was interfered with by the biased revolutionary viewpoint. It suppressed the opportunity that appeared in 1956. Since June 1957, the photojournalism field could not escape from the nationwide Anti-Rightist Movement. At that time, some of the top photojournalists, including the vice-chief editor of China Pictorial, the team leader of the photo archive of the People’s Daily , and the editorial director of Minzu Pictorial , were adversely affected by this political movement. They were criticized, dismissed, and suffered from other disciplinary actions. The journalists, who were regarded as pro-rightists, were also discriminated and were not put into important positions. This movement weakened the power of photojournalism in term of the structure, endangering the ideological aspect. The restriction to media channels and the narrowness of topics made news photography become only a political brainwashing tool. Public interest and the informative and artistic levels were ignored. In 1958, China Photography Society operated with the trend of the Great Leap Forward and held the “Great Leap Forward Photography Exhibition” in Beijing. Due to the lack of preparation time and thoughtful plan to cater to the needs of different industries, the exhibits were not well-polished. A photojournalist from China Youth Daily wrote an afterthought. He/she reckoned that it was difficult to choose an ideological and artistic photo since some of the topics could not meet the standards due to certain limitations. In fact, his/her comment was neutral yet it received much negative feedback, saying that it was a “capitalist artistic point of view.” His/her point of view was even considered as his/her background of exploiting class. The photojournalist did not receive ideological reform after liberation. The afterthought was also regarded as a serious problem in the time when the Rectification Movement was almost over. The photojournalist could only write to apologize to ensure his/her safety. It was just one of many examples. This

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reflected that under the abnormal political environment, many people dared not to speak up. They were too conservative to come up with constructive ideas.

In the high point of the Great Leap Forward, the magazine “News Photography ”

initiated a discussion on the factuality of news photography. Ironically, the

photojournalism field literally defended the principle of factuality, yet it was

producing misleading news photos. These photos were for the publicity of the achievements of the Great Leap Forward. They were the exaggerated truths. The photos showing unrealistic agricultural outputs were commonly found.

During such a period of fantasy, the ignorance of journalism principles in

photo reporting actually accelerated the fanaticism of the capitalist class. The

photos did not truly reflect the voice and the needs of the general cadres and the public. The photojournalists were always trying to be realistic and practical. Many

of the cadres and leaders such as the chief editor of China Pictorial , who dared to

voice out their opinions, were regarded as rightist-opportunists in the Anti-Rightist Movement. They were severely criticized and dismissed to the rural areas for disciplinary correction. This kind of biased pro-revolutionary political movement eroded the sense of security of the general photojournalists, adversely affecting

their daily duties. The restrictions on photo reporting came to a dead end in the “decade of chaos.”

Documentary movies In 1958, when the Great Leap Forward was in progress, the photojournalists strived to follow the pace of the Great Leap Forward. They followed the approach

of high expectation, misleading direction, exaggeration, and Communist ideas.

This kind of development adversely affected the documentary movies. On the other hand, this approach also incited the biased revolutionary mistakes.

The documentary movies in the Great Leap Forward had problems in three

aspects: the blind development of film studios, the prejudice of propaganda policy, and the exaggeration and unrealistic information in reporting.

The blind development of film studios Since 1958, different provinces, municipalities, and autonomous areas (except Tibet) prepared to set up film studios to produce documentary movies. The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television held the Movie Progress Working

Meeting in Beijing. The meeting was about the plan to set up film studios for the production of movies in that year. It was expected that 10 provincial film studios

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were to be established in the first season, others were expected to be finished in

the second season. The approach of simultaneous construction and production

was adopted. The first priority went to the documentaries that reflected the reality. This also indicated the beginning of the era of news documentaries. Guangdong

Studio Company (renamed as Zhujiang Studio Company later) produced the documentary “May 1 in Guangzhou ” (Wuyi zai Guangzhou 五一在廣州). In 1958,

there were 31 film studios responsible for news documentaries. The number of

documentaries produced in 1958 and 1958 was the total figure of the previous eight years. Yet the development was without the considerations of the human

resources, the production cost, the material resources, and technical factors. The demand of distribution and circulation was also ignored without a thoughtful plan. In 1962, the Eight-character Policy caused most of the studios to close down.

The prejudice of propaganda policy Some of the documentaries were only focused on promoting Communist ideas

and style. They blurred the boundary between Socialism and Communism in a certain sense. The issues, which different parties should consider from different viewpoints, were always analyzed in a dichotomous way. For instance, Fly to the

Sky (Zhi shang yunxiao 直上雲霄) praised the courage of the students and young

people, yet criticized the conservative attitude of senior professors. Triumph of

Life (Shenghuo de kaige 生活的凱歌) emphasized instigating the people. It valued the people’s passion in reform, at the same time, it also advocated the ignorance of science. Linkage of Factories and Communes (Changshe guagou 廠社掛鉤) publicized that the raw materials and facilities of the industrial units were to be sent to assist the rural areas unconditionally. In reporting the large-scale steel production, it was promoted that the success of the mission relied on the traditional production of steel. There were also other documentaries that were unrealistic and were blind followers of policies such as Agriculture as the Foundation (Nongye she jichu 農業是基礎). This kind of publicity was unfavorable to the Socialist construction.

The exaggeration and misleading information in reporting The exaggeration of news documentaries actually originated from that of the truths. Another case was that the news documentaries exaggerated the truth. Yet

those were just special cases. The documentaries were the collaborations of these

individual phenomena, which were then spread across the country, making the

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misleading information as a common phenomenon. For example, Harvest Song

(Fengshou qu 豐收曲) reported the great harvests of Chinese cabbage, carrots, wheat, and rice. The filming crew also showed their subjectivity. They thought that the more spectacular the scene the better, the more people the better, and the higher

number the better. They gathered as many people as they could in one scene, and even put all the production teams together for filming. They made up the idea that a province could produce millions tons of coal per day.

There were also other better documentaries in this period. They recorded the

significant changes and development. For example, Xinying Group produced Labor

Forever (Laodong wansui 勞動萬歲) and Journey to the Desert (Yuanzheng shamo 遠征沙漠), which recorded the construction of Ming Tombs Reservoir and scientific research, respectively. Haiyan Studio produced The Sunrise (Xuri dongsheng 旭日 東昇). Tianma Studio produced Symphony of Shanghai Heroes (Shanghai yingxiong jiaoxiangqu 上海英雄交響曲). Shandong Studio produced Cutting of Huanghe (Yaozhan huanghe 腰斬黃河). Hebei Studio produced New Look of the Ancient City (Gucheng xinmao 古城新貌). These documentaries reflected the pace of life and the cultural and spiritual aspects of the people at that time. However, generally speaking, many films were exaggerated in a certain sense. In February 1960, the Ministry of Culture held the 1st National News Documentary Meeting to summarize the experience and discuss the problems in production. It was also to perfect the service of constructing Socialism. The issue of factuality was the focus in the discussion. As mentioned, the Party stressed the importance of truth seeking. Xinying’s creative spirit in 1958 was also emphasized again. These acts increased the knowledge of the participants of the meeting and prevented the productions from exaggeration and misleading practice. While reviewing the documentary Song of the Homeland (Zuguo song 祖國頌), Premier Zhou Enlai pointed out that news documentaries should truly reflect the life of the people. As long as they showed the objective situation, they could perform the education function. Documentaries had to reflect the features of the historical period. They had to be faithful to the history without any falsified information, which was regarded as totally unacceptable. News documentaries should be real and natural. He also mentioned that different news photography units should discuss the meanings of factuality, the aesthetics of Socialism, and being typical. Typical issues should be selected from life to be incorporated with news documentaries, which should not be falsified. In order to oppose the exaggerations and misleading information in the news documentaries, Xinying Studio reviewed the productions and creations since

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the Great Leap Forward in February 1959 and May 1961. The creation issue of

news documentaries was mentioned at the Propaganda Department of the CPC’s

Directorial Meeting in March 1959 and May 1961. An order was released on June 1, 1961 to defend the factuality of news documentaries, and this order was called

the “June 1 Order.” As stated in the Order, news documentaries should be fully in line with the principle of factuality and faithfulness. This was the basic feature to distinguish news documentaries from dramas. News documentaries would have no value if this principle was violated. Yet, the ability to reflect the feature of the

historical period, as mentioned by Premier Zhou, was not only about the filming approach. First, it was important to have an in-depth observation of life. The journalists should be able to identify these temporary, one-sided, and unfaithful phenomena, and to choose those representative and typical issues for filming.

The Ministry of Culture once imposed strict restrictions on the films that

commemorated the National Day. The Eight-Character Policy was followed by

the Double-Hundred Policy, which improved the situation of film creation. The documentaries The 10th Spring (Dishige chuntian 第十個春天) and Ten-Year

Celebration (Huanqing shinian 歡慶十年) showed the changes and achievements of the 10 years of New China as well as the spectacular scene of the parade in Tiananmen Square. Millions of Peasants Stand Up (Baiwan nongnu zhanqilai 百萬農奴站起來) recorded the changes in the way of life of ethnic minorities. It also reflected the democratic reform in Tibet. Millions of serfs were freed from the reactionary rule of serfdom. This documentary uncovered the dark side of the serf system. The short films like Ordinary People (Pingfan de ren 平凡的人), Among the Neighborhood (Linli zhijian 鄰里之間), and Lost and Found (Shiwu zhaoling 失物招領) showcased the lives of people from another angle. The short film “In Rushing Stream ” (Zai jiliu zhong 在激流中) described how the lumberman travelled the rushing stream to exalt the persistence, courage, and determination of the working class. It also motivated people to overcome difficulties and strive for victory. The sports documentaries inspired the spirit of the people and stimulated their nationalism. For example, the world champion of the table tennis team and the climbing of the highest mountain were also filmed as documentaries. “Conquer the Highest Mountain in the World ” (Zhengfu shijie zuigaofeng 征服世界最 高峰) showed the determination and the courage of the athletes in climbing. Mou Sen, Xinying Studio’s photographer reached the height of 6,800 meters above sea level; and Wang Ximao’s record was 7,400 meters. Other mountaineers like Wang Fuzhou brought the cameras to record the scene of reaching Mount Everest. To reflect the achievements of the People’s Liberation Army in defending the

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motherland and constructing the country, the August First Film Studio produced

“Hill Leveling and Reclamation ” (Yishan tianhai 移山填海) to record railway corps participating in the construction of Yingtan-Xiamen Railway. “Heroic Victory

Over the Great Northern Wilderness ” (Yingxiong zhansheng beidahuang 英雄 戰勝北大荒) and “Green Field ” (Lüse de yuanye 綠色的原野) recorded the People’s Liberation Army soldiers overcoming hardships to expand agricultural land. Some documentaries such as Great Warrior (Weida de zhanshi 偉大的戰士), Learn from Lei Feng (Xiang leifeng xuexi 向雷鋒學習), and Six Battles between Brave Heart and Red Flag (Yinggutou liulianzhan qihong 硬骨頭六連戰旗紅) showed the life of military training and advanced typica1 cases. “Report to Chairman Mao ” (Xiang Maozhuxi huibao 向毛主席匯報) reflected the new level of military training of the People’s Liberation Army in the 1960s. In 1962, in the Sino-Indian border areas, border security forces provoked the Indian army in the name of self-defense. The August First Film Studio and Xinying’s war photography team filmed the “The Truth of the Sino-Indian Border Issue ” (Zhongyin bianjie wenti zhenxiang 中印邊界 問題真相) and “For the Peaceful Settlement of the Border Issue ” (Weile heping jiejue zhongyin bianjie wenti 為了和平解決中印邊界問題). The Ministry of Culture of the State Council awarded them in the prize presentation ceremony held in May 1963. Premier Zhou Enlai met with award-winning photographers and gave them encouragement. In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, Xinying made use of the videos taken by the Chinese and foreign reporters to produce “The Life of Red Army ” (Zhongguo gongnong hongjun shenghuo piantuan 中國工農紅軍生活片段), “Life in Yan’an ” (Yan’an shenghuo sanji 延安生活散記), “Nanniwan ” (Nanniwan 南泥灣), “In Memory of Norman Bethune ” (Jinian baiqiuen 紀念白求恩). It also filmed “Battle of Two Kinds of Destiny ” (Liangzhong mingyun de juezhan 兩種命運的決戰) and “Long live the Victory of People’s War ” (Renmin zhanzheng shengli wansui 人民戰爭勝利萬歲), which reflected the Second Chinese Civil War and the Second Sino-Japanese War as well as publicized Mao’s thought of a peoples’ war. Besides, the productions “Glorious History ” (Guanghui de licheng 光 輝 的 歷 程) and “A Single Spark Starts A Prairie Fire ” (Xinghuoliaoyuan 星火燎原) introduced the establishment of the Communist Party of China and how the Party led the people to start the armed struggles. These works played the role of news documentaries in terms of chronicling histroical progess. The news documentaries also helped China reach out to the world. They contributed to the promotion of China’s diplomatic policy and the safeguarding

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of world peace. The films that reflected the inter-governmental relations and the friendship of peoples included “President Sekou Toure’s Visit to China ” (Saigu

duer zongtong fangwen zhongguo 塞古杜爾總統訪問中國) and “Liu Shaoqi’s Visit to Korea ” (Liu Shaoqi fangwen chaoxian 劉少奇訪問朝鮮). In order to record the colonial countries which struggled for independence and liberation, some photographers went to Asia, Africa, and Latin American to record the victory of the oppressed peoples’ national struggles and the new lives of the people of the newly independent countries. The productions included “Song of River Nile ” (Niluohe song 尼羅河頌) “Struggling Cuba ” (Zhandou de guba 戰鬥的古巴) “A Visit to Guinea ” (Fang jineiya 訪幾內亞) “Journey in the Republic of Ghana ” (Manyou jiana 漫遊迦納) “Cape of Africa ” (Feizhou zhi jiao 非洲之角), and “Perseverant Algeria ” (Buqu de aerjiliya 不屈的阿爾及利亞). “Asian Storm ” (Yazhou fengbao 亞洲風暴), “World’s Enemy ” (Shijie renmin gongdi 世界人民公敵), and other films, which were edited with existing resources, exposed the reactionary nature of U.S. imperialism, and reflected the growing consciousness for the struggles with people’s unity. In addition, the documentaries like “World Knowledge ” (Shijie jianwen 世界見聞), broadened the horizons of the audience and increased their knowledge as well.

Journalism education and research In these 10 years, numerous achievements were made in China’s journalism

education and research. Yet, biased pro-revolutionary thought inevitably affected these two aspects.

Journalism education After 1958, greater progress was made in the journalism education in China.

The newly-established journalism education units nurtured more talents for the development of journalism in China.

In June 1958, Peking University’s journalism specialization of the Department

of Chinese Language and Literature was officially incorporated into the School of Journalism and Communication of Renmin University of China. The merger

strengthened the academic team of the School of Journalism and Communication

of Renmin University of China. There were more books and reference works of the field. The School was expanded to reach the number of more than 800 people, and the total number of students rocketed to more than 1,000. In the same year,

the School organized a one-year special training course for provincial newspaper staff, followed by three terms of two-year special training course for the cadres

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on service. After 1961, the admission target of the School was changed to high school graduates. Many of the students later became the core team of the field. In September 1959, Beijing Broadcasting Institute was officially established. It was

the first institute of higher education for training talents for radio and television

broadcast. It was formerly Beijing Broadcasting College founded in 1958. Beijing Broadcasting Institute’s mission was to implement the Party’s education policy

according to the needs of the development of China’s radio and television broadcast. It had to nurture the talents in broadcast media, who were intellectually and technically competitive for the industry. At the beginning, there were three departments: journalism, foreign languages, and radio broadcast, with a total of 11 specializations. The school was focused on training undergraduates, but it

also provided professional training. The undergraduate program was structured for four to five years, and the special training program was structured for two to

three years. There were four specializations in the journalism department: editing, radio broadcasting, literary editing, and television broadcasts. Before the Cultural

Revolution, it prepared more than 2,000 graduates for the broadcast system and other sectors. Many of them became the elites in China’s radio and television

broadcasting. Some provinces also founded broadcast schools to nurture medium-

level professionals. Fudan University’s School of Journalism in 1961 admitted two postgraduate students in journalism history. In the 17 years between the founding of New China and the Cultural Revolution, Fudan University was the only institute of higher education having trained research students in journalism.

Other journalism education units were founded from 1958 to 1960. Jiangxi

University’s Department of Journalism, Hangzhou University’s Department of Journalism, Xi’an University of Political Science and Law’s journalism specialization, and Nanjing University’s journalism specialization of the

Department of Chinese were founded in 1958. In 1959, Beijing Film Academy

trained the first batch of more than 70 cadres for television cinematography.

These cadres were selected from more than 20 provincial and municipal radio stations. In 1960: Guangzhou Jinan University’s journalism specialization of the

Department of Chinese, Jilin University’s journalism class of the Department of

Chinese (only the two-year special training for journalism cadres), Shandong University’s journalism specialization of the Department of Chinese, Tianjin

Normal University’s journalism specialization of the Department of Chinese, and

Jiangsu College of Journalism were also founded in 1960. Besides, in 1958, ACJA organized different kinds of seminars on journalism. Some branch offices and some newspapers founded Communist and professional schools and night schools in

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journalism, such as the Communist and professional college of journalism founded by Shanxi Daily and Shanxi Farmers’ Newspaper (Shanxi nongmin bao 山西農民報), the night school founded by Anhui Branch office of ACJA and Gansu Daily , and the journalism university founded by Hebei Daily , to train the journalism cadres on service. These educational institutes were established hastily during the Great Leap Forward with the name of “university.” They were overrated as there was a lack of qualified teachers. Despite the poor conditions, they still made considerable contributions to the nuturing of talents in journalism. In the period between 1961 and 1963 when China’s national economy was under adjustment, its journalism education was also modified. Many journalism education units closed down or stopped admitting students. The ones that continued to operate and admit students were Renmin University of China’s School of Journalism and Communication, Fudan University’s School of Journalism, and Beijing Broadcasting Institute. They were three of the most important hubs of journalism education. There were about 400 existing students in higher journalism education units in the beginning of New China. In this period, the number rocketed to the maximum of 1,500, which was three times more than the figure in the founding of New China. The number of teachers in higher journalism education institutes in the early years was 50, then the number was developed to about 200, which was four times the early days of the country. From the perspective of the numbers of teachers and students, the development of China’s journalism education was notable. However, in this period, the journalism education was also seriously affected by biased pro-revolutionary mistakes. The expansion of the Anti-Rightist Movement, some teachers and students from the journalism departments or in the media field were mistaken as “rightists,” leading to irreversible consequences. “Class struggle” was regarded as the key lesson in the Great Leap Forward. It was advocated that classroom teaching should be substituted by political movements, which posed serious impacts on journalism education.

Journalism research New achievements were also made in the journalism research in this period. The higher education units of journalism wrote and edited a batch of journalism teaching materials according to the teaching need. The teaching materials were mainly about journalism theories, the history of journalism, and the media business. In 1959, Renmin University of China published an internal letterpress printing materials — “Teaching Materials of the History of Modern Publications in China ” (Zhongguo xiandai baokanshi jiangyi 中國現代報刊史講義). These handouts were

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edited starting from 1955. In 1956, the Propaganda Department of the CPC held a

forum to discuss the syllabus of the history of modern publications in China. Hu Qiaomu delivered an important speech on how to write the history of newspapers in the forum. This was the first compilation of the history of modern publications

in China based on Marxism-Leninism, which laid the basis for the research on the history of journalism in modern China. Renmin University of China’s School of

Journalism and Communication also edited “Handouts on Newspaper Editing ”

(Baozhi bianji jiangyi 報紙編輯講義) and “Handouts on News Reporting ” (Xinwen

caifang jiangyi 新聞採訪講義), which were also earlier textbooks of journalism in accordance with Marxism-Leninism. The School also edited “Marx and Engels Thought on Newspaper ” (Makesi engesi lun baokan 馬克思、恩格斯論報刊), “Lenin Thought on Newspaper ” (Liening lun baokan 列寧論報刊), and “Selected Works on Chinese Newspapers ” (Zhongguo baokan gongzuo wenji 中國報刊工 作文集), which were important pieces of information for the study and research of Marxism-Leninism journalism. Fudan University’s School of Journalism edited “Selected Works on Chinese Newspapers Research ” (Zhongguo baokan yanjiu wenji 中國報刊研究文集), “Selected Works on Chinese Newspapers Critiques ” (Zhongguo baokan pinglun wenxuan 中國報刊評論文選), and “Selected Works on Chinese Newspapers Communication ” (Zhongguo baokan tongxun baogao xuan 中國報刊通訊報告選). Beijing Broadcasting Institute edited “Selected Works on News Broadcast in China ” (Zhongguo xinwen guangbo wenji 中國新聞廣播文集) and “Selected Works on Media Broadcast ” (Guangbo xuangao 廣播稿選). These were all useful teaching materials on journalism with their own characteristics. They were not only for journalism students, but also provided the people already engaged in the media field with reference materials. Some experienced journalists also published their works on journalism, such as Tian Liu’s “How to Write News Reports ” (Zenyang xie tongxun baodao 怎樣寫通訊報導) and Shi Shaohua’s News Photography and Photojournalist (Xinwen sheying yu sheying jizhe 新聞攝影與攝 影記者), which were mainly their own experience in the field of journalism. There were also works on the authors’ experiences of important historical events, such as The Memory of Xinhua Daily (Xinhua ribao de huiyi 新華日報的回憶) written by Pan Zinian. Besides, the CPC Central Marxism Compilation and Translation Bureau Research edited the three-volume “Introduction to the Publications in the May Fourth Movement ” (Wusi shiqi qikan jieshao 五四時期期刊介紹). Shanxi Journalists Association in 1961 edited “Provincial Party Committee Secretary’s Thought on Newspapers ” (Shengwei shuji lun baokan 省委書記論報刊). Xinhua News Agency edited and published “Our Experience ” (Women de jingyan 我們的

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經驗) in 1964.

In December 1957, ACJA founded “The Press ” (Xinwen zhanxian 新聞戰線).

The People’s Daily and Xinhua News Agency also sent representatives to join

the editorial work. It was an important publication for the study of journalism theories, exchange of real-life experiences, and discussion on the news business. In August 1960, it was merged with “Journalism Business ” (Xinwen yewu 新聞業務)

edited by Xinhua, and was then published with the title “Journalism Business .” It was co-published by the People’s Daily , Xinhua News Agency, and ACJA.

In 1958, Jiangxi Institute of Journalism and Anhui Institute of Journalism

were established. Hebei Institute of Journalism was also founded in 1959. These journalism associations preliminarily initiated the journalism research activities.

With the biased pro-revolutionary thought in this period, pro-revolutionary

mistakes were inevitable in the journalism research and some of the publications.

The most important issue was that the argument “newspaper became a tool of class struggle” was made absolute, and some other correct theories, viewpoints,

and suggestions were criticized. In this regard, the Academic Criticism Movement

of Renmin University of China’s School of Journalism and Communication in 1960 was one of the obvious examples. In this movement, some of the correct

journalism viewpoints in the teaching materials were criticized as modern

revisionist ideas and modern capitalist journalism viewpoints, leading to many biased pro-revolutionary viewpoints. These inaccurate journalism viewpoints

were even spread outside the school, inducing the adverse effects. In this

movement, the argument “newspaper became a tool of class struggle” was

regarded as the only correct suggestion, even the only correct definition. The discussion “newspaper was the public economic education tool in the period of

Socialist construction,” proposed by Lenin, was also distorted and denied the

information. It was suggested that newspapers should function as promoting the proletarian ideas so as to suppress the enemies. Then the groundless viewpoint that a “newspaper was a coercion unit” resulted, yet the appropriate viewpoint that “the factuality of newspaper was the principle of journalism” was criticized. The opponents just thought that the factuality limited the newspapers, whose

could only reflect the mainstream ideas and ignore other ideas. They could only

report on advanced matters without mentioning those that fell behind. They could only show achievements, yet covered up the shortcomings. The opponents

also doubted if the journalists should perform “critical thinking” under the

guidance of Marxism. They considered it was just asking for independence from the Party and disagreeing with its leadership. They even reckoned there

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was only struggle between proletarian newspapers and capitalist newspapers with no successive relationship. They even claimed that it was a struggle of two polarized ideas regarding the tradition of newspapers, and that between China and other countries. This movement was implemented in a political form, in which “class struggle” was the guidance idea. It blurred the boundary between political issues and academic ones, violating the Double-Hundred Policy. In 1961, the Propaganda Department carried out on-site investigation and correction in the School of Journalism and Communication of Renmin University of China. Its Party Committee also formed an investigation group to review the Academic Criticism Movement under the guidance of the Propaganda Department. It organized the teaching staff and the students of the Journalism School to have discussions again and teach them to distinguish between right and wrong, in order to correct the biased pro-revolutionary mistakes.

The Development of Journalism in China through Exploration In the era when all-round Socialist construction was started, despite the serious biased pro-revolutionary mistakes in the propaganda of the Anti-Rightist Movement and the Great Leap Forward, there were still considerable achievements made in the field of journalism. After 1961, the CPC Central Committee led the whole Party to conclude all the mistakes and lessons in order to improve the process. Much exploration in journalism since 1961 allowed improvements in different aspects. At the same time, as the biased pro-revolutionary mistakes cannot be completely corrected, those mistakes were inevitable in the news business. They were also further developed in the aspect of ideological propaganda. In short, the accomplishments in the news business in this period were still prominent with some useful experiences accumulated.

The importance of investigation and research in the news business In the early 1960s, due to the need of correcting the biased pro-revolutionary mistakes, the CPC Central Committee and Chairman Mao Zedong re-emphasized and advocated investigation and research. In January 1961, Mao Zedong pointed out during the Central Work Conference and the Ninth Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee that research was extremely important. He demanded the Party to investigate and study everything so as to become more practical. In March

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1961, the CPC Central Committee issued the “Letter to the Central Committee and the Party Committees of Provinces, Municipalities, and Regions — Issues on

the Investigation Process,” in which it was pointed out that “Investigation Work” (i.e. Against Dogmatism,” written by Mao Zedong in 1930), was a very important

document. It requested all the top-level and middle-level cadres of the Party to learn from the lessons and experiences of the recent years to have a thorough discussion. It was also indicated in the letter that the mistakes made since the Great

Leap Forward originated from the slack investigation and research. The unrealistic or one-sided materials led to unsound judgments and decisions and this became a major lesson. As requested by the Party Central Committee, many central and

local leaders carried out in-depth investigations to clarify the actual situation so as to summarize the experiences and solve the underlying problems. In April and May 1961, Liu Shaoqi visited Ningxiang Prefecture, Changsha, Hubei Province to

carry out investigation and make important commands on the propaganda in the news business. On April 28, he gave a speech on the propaganda of newspapers indicating that there should be three goals for every investigation:

•• To understand if the policies implemented by the Central Committee were correct

•• To understand the new circumstances and developments so that the situation could be improved according to the ineffectiveness of the old policies

•• To discover new problems for the formulation of new policies

He also mentioned investigation was not easy as many units were hiding

information so that it was hard to know the real situation. Some of them even made up one. The problem of cover-ups was very serious. It was impossible to

investigate if the people did not know the truths. Seeking truth had also been one of the goals. It was better to propose questions in the conversation to inspire the

listeners to reveal more truths. Sometimes it was also effective to suggest opposite

ideas and ask them in another way round and to listen to them with patience. Liu Shaoqi gave his view on the role of the People’s Daily on May 1, 1961. He pointed

out that the people in the newspaper business were “professionals in investigation and research.” All the articles should be the results of investigation and research.

He encourged the reporters and editors to carefully investigate and research. They

were expected to be practical journalists believing in Marxism-Leninism. Liu’s comments were important guidance to the improvement of the news business,

as well as the performance and the enthusiasm of journalists. His ideas also contributed to the construction of Marxist journalism with Chinese characteristics.

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To follow the call from the Party Central Committee, the propaganda of strengthening investigation and research was carried out in the news business. On January 29, 1961, the People’s Daily published the editorial “Impulse of Investigation and Research.” Issues 3 and 4 in 1961 of Red Flag published the editorial “Impulse of Investigation and Research with Practicality — Commemorating the 20-Year Rural Investigation” and other related articles. As pointed out in these works, strengthening the investigation and research skills was to be familiar with the actual situation of the reform in China, which should incorporate the common ideas of Marxism-Leninism. The achievement of truth-seeking and practicality was the best way to overcome subjectivism. The ignorance of investigation and research was a disconnection with reality, causing biased pro-revolutionary or rightist mistakes. The People’s Daily released many dispatches, news articles, and investigative reports to publicize the necessity and importance of investigation and practicality via facts. At the same time, the paper criticized the incorrect ideas caused by the neglect of investigation and research. For example, some of the low-level cadres thought that a series of investigations and research would only cause delays. The People’s Daily released the news dispatch “Is Investigation a Waste of Time?” in which theories met the reality to function as a kind of persuasive propaganda. Some newspapers clearly pointed out that investigation and research should be carried out in accordance with the Party’s central works in certain periods of time so as to achieve the maximal efficiency. Journalism Business also published numerous discussions on investigation and introductions to the experience in the news business. It even included a special column named “Be A True Professional Investigator.” This kind of propaganda was inspiring and beneficial for the journalists to accomplish the investigation and research tasks. In the time when investigation and research were popular, each news unit strengthened its own responsibilities in this aspect. Many news units held seminars to discuss the issues related to investigation and research. Some newspapers in North China and Northeast China co-organised forums on investigation. They reckoned that the prevalence of investigation could effectively enhance the quality of reporting, promote and implement the Party’s policies, as well as recreate the horizons for the newspaper journalists so as to change their attitude, which was also considered a crucial factor for running a newspaper. This was the first priority of a journalist. Each news unit continued to adopt specific measures in order to strengthen the investigation tasks. For example, they set up various investigation and research mechanisms, formulated plans and regulations for improving the quality of investigation, and established bases for investigation and research,

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etc. The national editorial committee of Xinhua’s head office proposed “Various Comments on Strengthening Investigation in News Writing,” in which some of the important ideas were included: Mao Zedong’s “No Investigation, No Right to Speak” and Liu Shaoqi’s “Professional Investigator.” It was emphasized that investigation was the basic ability of a reporter. With no investigation, there would be no proper plan for reporting, no appropriate topic, and no satisfactory news reporting. Writing without investigating was just like telling lies. The spirit of investigation and research should be carried through in all dayto-day reporting activities. The journalists should investigate different people of every class instead of just interviewing the cadres. They had to be open to different opinions instead of only listening to the ones which conformed to their minds. At the same time, they also had to listen to both positive and negative opinions, and analyzed them comprehensively. The need and the way of reporting certain issues should only be decided after investigation. Once the truth was found not to be in line with the reality, they should dare to overthrow their own assumption. They should respect the objective truths without covering up another’s bad deeds and praising the virtues. It was regarded as not appropriate for only exaggerating one side, yet ignoring or deliberately covering up another side. It also pointed out that the reporters found cadres instead of the public most of the time in recent years. This approach had already led to adverse consequences, which could only be reversed fundamentally. It was an argument pinpointing the serious problems of the journalists in the Great Leap Forward. The Editorial Committee encourged the reporters to reach the public and the lower class for investigation. It was not only the fundamental way to enhance the quality of reporting, but also an important approach to train reporters, to widen their horizons, and to reform their mindset. These comments were the significant conclusion of the experience and lesson of the journalists, as well as the application of the investigation ideology. It was guidance for the duties of journalists at that time, even in the long term. Then, many peoplein-charge, editors, and reporters of the news units visited the lower class and the public to initiate investigation and research tasks. The investigation and research methods adopted by the journalists at that time were as follows:

(1) Establishment of contact points This meant grabbing the general situation or pattern through collecting small clues from a few people. (2) Establishment of reporting bases By adopting this approach, reporters could collect more information and have

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a clearer understanding of the issues. The in-depth investigation of the region could also facilitate analyses and comparisons to further uncover the problems. (3) Special investigation The purpose was more obvious for there was a specific question. (4) Extensive indirect investigation Reporters could not investigate directly on their own for every issue, so indirect investigation was inevitable. (5) Participation of the Party Committee’s working group This means to investigate with the local cadres. In addition, with the purpose of reviewing the propaganda in the three years since the Great Leap Forward, working groups were assigned to the regions and units, which reported more often. Studying the people’s opinions on newspapers was beneficial to improve the newspaper business. The prevalence of investigation and research improved the news business. The journalists became more practical. The number of unrealistic reports was smaller. At the same time, there were also more influential and timeless outstanding news reports. In short, the quality of news propaganda was enhanced.

Further development of the whole-Party newspaper publishing and the emphasis on the people’s publishing The whole-Party newspaper publishing induced a high point during the 1959 Great Leap Forward. Affected by the biased pro-revolutionary mistakes, the wholeParty newspaper incited this kind of mistake. In the early 1960s, the whole-Party newspaper publishing was further developed and the newspaper publishing was relied on by the people. As some of the biased pro-revolutionary mistakes were corrected, the effect was much better. Generally speaking, the leaders in different provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions became more conscious of the issues of provincial newspapers and strengthened the monitoring of the official newspapers of the provincial committees. Many leaders of the provincial committees wrote to express their opinions on the news strategy of the Party. They discussed the issues of the whole-Party newspaper publishing and summarized the significant milestones of the Party’s news business. These articles and opinions, which were published in the People’s Daily , The Press , Journalism Business , and some other official newspapers of provincial committees, aroused the attention from the media field and became inspirational for the betterment of the Party’s

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news business. Some of the prominent works were as follows: •• Implementing the Order from Chairman Mao on Newspaper Publishing, written by Liu Jianxun, the First Secretary of the Committee of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

•• On the Whole-Party Newspaper Publishing, written by Zeng Xisheng, the First Secretary of Anhui Provincial Committee

•• The Full Control of the Party Committees over Official Newspapers, written by Tao Lujia, the First Secretary of Shanxi Provincial Committee

•• Be Good Students of Chairman Mao, Be Top Warriors of News Frontline, written by Wu Lanfu, the First Secretary of the Committee of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

•• News Team Armed with Maoism, written by Ye Fei, the First Secretary of Fujian Provincial Committee

•• The Party Newspapers Should Struggle for Implementing the General Line based on Marxism-Leninism, written by Wang Enmao, the First Secretary of the Committee of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

•• Enhance the Competitiveness of the Party Newspapers, written by Wang Renzhong, the First Secretary of Hubei Provincial Committee

•• To Succeed and Perform the Glorious Tradition of The Shian Kian Weekly Review, written by Zhang Pinghua, the First Secretary of Hunan Provincial Committee

In 1961, the Shanxi Journalists Association edited and published the book Provincial Party Committee Secretary’s Thought on Newspapers (Shengwei shuji lun baokan 省委書記論報刊) , which reflected achievements of this aspect. Traces of biased pro-revolutionary ideas were inevitable in their discussions, yet the secretaries still made constructive suggestions on the operation and workflow of the Party newspapers. They demonstrated the spirit of the whole-Party newspaper publishing business. Their contributions should be recognized. Tao Zhu, the First Secretary of Guangdong Provincial Committee, made considerable achievements in monitoring the Party newspapers. In September and October 1960, Tao Zhu and various cadres visited West Guangdong and Hainan Island for investigation duties. They got the opportunities to communicate with the cadres of all levels. They even interviewed them and some of the general public.

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They observed, listened, and communicated at that same time. The comrades edited all these into the newsletters with the title “Investigation Notes ” (Suixing jitan 隨行

紀談), which was published in Nanfang Daily (Nanfang Daily 南方日報). A total of 27 articles were edited as a leaflet. This little book was then renamed as “West

Guangdong Notes ” (Xixing jitan 西行紀談). Tao Zhu wrote the foreword for this book, and suggested significant comments on the news business. He said that a newspaper was an effective organizing and leadership tool. It was flexible and convenient. It was also one of the approaches proposed by Chairman Mao. It was also the reason why it should be applied appropriately. Editing West Guangdong Notes was a trial of this approach of leadership. He pointed out that there were some problems regarding the newspapers in Guangdong provinces: First, they dared not to raise questions; second, they barely proposed constructive criticisms; third, the form and style were rather monotonous. The issues proposed in the West Guangdong Notes included both the positive and the negative sides, and its style was comparatively new and original. Therefore, the writing style of the West Guangdong Notes was regarded as a breakthrough in the news reporting. From January 21 to 26, 1961, the People’s Daily selected six pieces from the West Guangdong Notes and had them published under the headline “West Guangdong Journey.” They were also published with the editor’s note stating that these articles described the reality, raised questions, and gave comments. The word choice was concise and figurative, which made it more reader-friendly. They were not like those eight-legged essays.24 The articles with this kind of content and in this form were encouraged. Although there were traces of the biased pro-revolutionary thought in the West Guangdong Notes , this publication was still a manifestation of the wholeParty newspaper publishing policy. It surely strengthened the leadership of the Party newspapers. Later, inspired by Hubei Daily and West Guangdong Notes , the reporters from these two newspapers and Wang Renzhong visited Jianghan Plain and edited the journey into the newsletter “Notes on Jianghai Journey ” (Jianghan jixing 江漢紀行). This publication was about some important issues and suggestions after the visit and research by the comrades from the provincial committee. Since the establishment of different writing or newsletter teams of the Party Committees of all levels for the Whole-Party Newspaper Publishing Campaign, a question appeared: Did the editorial teams of the newspapers have to develop a more extensive network directly with the correspondents and the writing enthusiasts (non-Party writers)? The newspapers had different viewpoints on this issue at that time. Some of them reckoned that the Party Committee’s writing teams could bear the responsibilities that were shouldered by scattered correspondents.

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The newspapers no longer had to rely on individual correspondents. Yet,

Journalism Business published the article on this issue, in which this viewpoint was regarded as one-sided and unconvincing. The policy “Walking on Two Legs” (industry and agriculture) should be followed. The Party Committee’s writing teams should not be the only focus. The functions of individual correspondents should also be brought into full play. In the Whole-Party Newspaper Publishing Campaign, the collective effectiveness of the Party Committee’s writing teams and the flexibility of individual correspondents.25 During this period, different news units further developed the Whole-Party Newspaper Publishing Campaign. In 1960, the People’s Daily cooperated with Hebei Daily , Liberation Daily , Yunnan Daily , and other provincial and municipal newspapers to write some editorials, which were always about the significant model cases of the provinces and municipalities. Through this approach, the People’s Daily enhanced the writing cohesion of editorials and made them echo this reality. This was a trial in which the central Party newspapers relied on the local Party newspapers. Tibet Daily sent telegraphs and letters to the allied Party newspapers across the country in early 1963, requesting for assistance to the special column “Introduction to Allied Provinces and Regions” of the newspaper. Many provinces and regions supported and responded instantly to the call. This is the first time the local Party newspaper relied on the allied Party newspapers. The People’s Liberation Army Daily (Jiefangjun bao 解放軍報) followed the principles of the Whole-Party Newspaper Publishing Campaign, so the newspaper was supported by the general public. In 1962, it received 196,000 letters from the army, among which 8,000 were used and 1,500 of them were headlines and focus articles of different columns. The writers of these articles varied from generals to soldiers, with a total number of 289. More than 80 of them ranked as generals or above. It had an extensive network formed by correspondents, special correspondents, and collective writing teams. The correspondents were once directly assigned by the head office, and later they were managed by the political units of different troops. The head office just provided them with necessary operational guidance. They exchanged experiences via the People’s Liberation Army Newsletter (Jiefangjun bao tongxun 解放軍報通訊), and reviewed and awarded annually. The special correspondents were based in more important units of the troops. As the important providers of information and communication, most of them were the special cadres for communication from the Propaganda Department recruited by the newspaper office. The collective writing teams included the writing teams under the Party Committee, the departmental collective writing teams, and the writing

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teams formed by the volunteer cadres guided by the Propaganda Department. Henan Daily decided to resume the idea of whole-Party newspaper publishing proposed by Chairman Mao in 1964. It focused on targeting the general public and proposed that “Care for the Public, Focus on the Public, Work for the Public.” It basically restructured the communication network of the entire province and set up a more reliable correspondent network. Hebei Daily even launched the column “Whole-Party Newspaper Publishing” to introduce the local policies of developing the whole-Party newspaper publishing. It also reported the new measures and experiences in the news business. The editorial office of Shanghai Municipal Committee’s Party newspapers relied on the public publishing, and it attained great achievements in this aspect. It published Life in the Branch (Zhibu shenghuo 支部生活), Rural Life in the Branch (Nongcun zhibu shenghuo 農村支部生活), and other Party publications. The editorial office always received a lot of letters and manuscripts. Most of them reflected the changes of thoughts, work experiences, work problems, and the letters of appreciation and complaints. In early 1964, the editorial office received around 13,000 letters per month, and more than 10 readers visited the office every day. They tried their best and thought of different ways to handle the issues. They released different articles for analysis or publicly offered answers in the columns such as “Mail Box.” They even published reference materials on some important conditions for the leaders. When it came to some meaningful topics that were not suitable to be published in the newspapers, it would call for “reader meetings” to discuss the issues. They also replied to the readers individually for some specific problems. If the issues had already been clarified in the publications, they would send the related publications to the readers. For the issues related to other units, they wrote to the units and informed the readers. For the letters of appreciation, they were seldom published due to the limited space of the layout. It would send the letters back to the units accordingly for further action. The urgent matters were regarded as the top priority to be handled. The editors replied to every letter within 15 days. The ones that were not handled by the deadline should be replied to within 24 hours. In addition, it also held writing evaluation meetings to handle the manuscripts that could not be used, so as to solve some common problems. It also held correspondent meetings to exchange comments with the correspondents. A data kit, including the assessed manuscripts, was prepared for each correspondent. In the time when it was necessary to discuss the manuscripts with a certain correspondent, they could have a more comprehensive analysis with the correspondent with all the manuscripts in hand. They cordially welcomed the

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visiting readers, even accommodated them in the editorial office. The staff were on shift duty to discuss things with the readers. These approaches were very effective. They expanded the data pool of the editorial office and the staff developed a

closer connection with the public. The newspaper was then appreciated by senior cadres and gained popularity among the people. Its success lay in the emphasis on the political thought inside the editorial team, which established a people-

oriented perspective. They reckoned that they had to be people-oriented, focusing

on the works of the “four circles.” The first circle was the 920,000 readers of the publication. To be people-oriented, they should first cater to the needs of these

readers. The second circle was the 3,200 correspondents of the publication. The

third circle was the 300 writers of the publication. The fourth circle was the editorial office itself, in which the cadres should be people-oriented as well. They advocated Zou Taofen’s spirit of catering to the readers and they had to strive

for the best of the best in serving the readers in a timely and all-round manner. Journalism Business published articles to introduce their accomplishments and experiences in 1964. Some of the approaches in the whole-Party newspaper publishing and the emphasis on the people’s publishing were not effective with the modern historical factors. They were the important parts of the impressive style of the Party newspapers, which should be inherited and further developed.

The achievements of news reporting With the prevalence of investigation and research, the rectification of exaggeration, and other phenomena of subjectivism, journalism became more practical and reader-oriented. Journalists did in-depth interviews and produced polished

writings, which effectively enhanced the quality of news reporting. In the first

half of the 1960s, numerous influential and excellent news reports were produced. These model cases on advanced individuals and collectives motivated the people to be self-reliant, diligent, and courageous when facing any difficulties, in order to be prepared for the construction of Socialism in China.

China Youth Daily used the entire front page to report on the “Pinglu Incident” on February 28, 1960. It included the news dispatch “For the 61 Brothers of the Class,” along with the editorial “Another Triumph of Communism.” These articles publicized the Communist team spirit in China in a lively way. The incident happened in the Lunar New Year. There were 61 road construction workers suffering from food poisoning in Pinglu Prefecture. They were all in critical

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condition and in urgent need of a certain kind of medicine. With the full assistance

from the military force and people from the capital, as well as the local cadres and people, they were saved just in time. This incident was briefly reported on by Xinhua and some newspapers. Once China Youth Daily was informed of this

news, they thought it was a meaningful topic that was worthy of further reporting.

They decided to take the initiative to produce a more in-depth news report, and confirmed the “One-Three-Five Plan” — One full-page report, three reporters

for the interview, and published on five consecutive days. The above-mentioned news dispatch was produced after the all-round investigation. On the next day of

the publishing date, the People’s Daily copied the whole news dispatch and the editorial, along with the editor’s note for appreciation. It was pointed out that the Pinglu Incident showed the esteemed merit of Communism. China Youth Daily

reported and commented on the story of this rescue action in a vivid manner.

Later, many newspapers and other publications also published the news reports and the editorial. The incident was made into a movie, or even edited in the language syllabus of secondary schools. The Press introduced this news dispatch.

It commented that this news dispatch was very special in terms of writing style. It was written like a shooting script of movies with different layers, which moved the readers. Shanxi Daily also made consecutive and persuasive publicity for the

incident.

In May and June 1960, Xinhua reported the achievement that the mountain-

climbing team in China had finally reached Mount Everest. The People’s Daily

published the serialized news dispatch “Red Flag on Mount Everest” and “Days

and Nights on Mount Everest,” written by Xinhua reporter Guo Chaoren. The news dispatches were about how the climbing team overcame all the difficulties and

demonstrated their heroism, patriotism, and collectivism. The People’s Daily even released the editorials “Success of Reaching the Highest Mount” and “Nothing We Can’t Reach,” which motivated the people to learn from the fearless spirit of

the climbing team. This kind of propaganda effectively encouraged the people in

China, who were facing financial hardships. Guo Chaoren also sent the letter “Stay

Together with the Heroic Climbers” to Xinhua’s Journalism Business , recording

news reporting experiences and the stories of another two Xinhua reporters. One of the key points was that they did not only stay in the station and reported from secondary sources, instead, they followed the climbing team to reach the top and they attained firsthand information. Chen Zonglie, the photojournalist, reached the

6,400-meter high Campsite No.3. Guo Chaoren and another reporter reached the

height of 6,600 meters. This was one of the breakthroughs in the history of journalism

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of both East and West. It was also an important factor for creating such a successful

news report. Tibet Sports Committee awarded these three reporters with the title “National Grade 3 Mountaineer.” They were also awarded with the certificates and commemoration badges from the State General Administration of Sports.

Since 1963, the propaganda related to the model case of an advanced

individual (Lei Feng) was further developed. Lei Feng was an outstanding soldier of the People’s Liberation Army and a member of the CPC. He died in August

1962. He was different from those heroes who sacrificed themselves in war, such as

Dong Cunrui26 and Huang Jiguang.27 He was a role model who demonstrated the

esteemed Communist moral standards in daily life. The People’s Liberation Army Daily and China Youth Daily had already published some articles about him. On January 7, 1963, the Ministry of National Defense named the class he was in as “Lei Feng Class.” Liaoning Daily immediately focused on publicizing Lei Feng. On February 7, the People’s Daily further released the news dispatches “Chairman Mao’s Good Warrior — Lei Feng” and “Abstracts from Lei Feng’s Diary,” as well as some pictures reflecting the daily life of Lei Feng, which were edited by Zhen Weimin, Tong Xiwen, Lei Runmin. They were published along with the article written by the critic of the newspaper — “The Great Ordinary Soldier.” On February 8, the People’s Liberation Army Daily released the news dispatch “The Great Warrior,” written by Chen Guangsheng, a special reporter. China Youth Daily , on May 4, published a long editorial titled “On Lei Feng — Message for the May 4 Chinese Youth Day,” which occupied the entire first and second page. Xinhua even released a wire copy for this. In the period between March 1963 and October 1963, the content about Lei Feng in China Youth Daily accounted for more than 500,000 words, which was one-tenth of the whole newspaper. China Youth Daily even published a feature on Lei Feng on March 2. Before the release of the feature, China Youth Daily wrote to Chairman Mao in mid-February to invite him to draft an inscription. Mao Zedong wrote “Learn from Our Comrade Lei Feng.” The People’s Daily also published this inscription on March 5. Mao’s action could effectively accelerate the development of “learning from Lei Feng” activities. In addition to promoting the advanced events of Lei Feng, the news units across the country also further began the propaganda of learning from Lei Feng. They urged the people to set Lei Feng as their role model. They had to whole-heartedly serve the people and they learned to be selfless. They also had to learn his optimism, his persistence, and his hardworking attitude. His belief in Communism and what he did were regarded as virtues, which should be learned by the people. Each news unit actively reported the good news that showed the spirit of Lei Feng.

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Some newspapers, based on their own position, publicized the events selectively.

For instance, Guangming Daily reflected how the students in secondary schools and colleges learned from Lei Feng and set high standards for themselves, as well as obeyed the allocation. Ta Kung Pao (Da gong bao 大公報) reported how the

business people learned from Lei Feng, and how they improved the management

and enhanced the quality. Shanxi Daily reported that the people in the province

learned from Lei Feng and raised their class consciousness. The Public Daily

(Dazhong ribao 大眾日報) and Xinhua Daily reported the young people in rural

areas learned from Lei Feng and developed their passion in building up team spirit to strive for agricultural harvest. The People’s Liberation Army Daily was

more focused on publicizing “Learn from Our Comrade Lei Feng.” They received 15,000 letters in just 40 days. The letters and articles came from different military

officials in different positions from the troops across the country, from generals to soldiers, from staff to cadre’s relatives, from retired soldiers to people’s militia. They all expressed that they had to contribute something extraordinary in their

ordinary positions, so many events of kindness and generosity appeared among the troops. The virtues of Lei Feng inspired a lot of people through the nationwide propaganda.

Jiao Yulu was another influential role model in the news reporting of this

period. On February 7, 1966, the People’s Daily releases the news dispatch “The Role Model of Provincial Committee Secretary — Jiao Yulu” written by Xinhua’s

reporters Mu Qing, Feng Jian, and Zhou Yuancai. It introduced the touching story of Jiao Yulu, Secretary of Henan Lankou Prefectural Committee. It was published

along with the editorial “Learn from Chairman Mao’s Good Student — Jiao Yulu,”

in which it was mentioned that the story of Jiao Yulu inspired the secretaries of different prefectural committees and the cadres of different sectors across the

country. Jiao Yulu was considered as a role model for thoroughly serving the people. In 1964, after Jiao Yulu’s death, Xinhua’s Henan Office once released the

2,000 word news story. Henan Daily also published editorials and news dispatches

publicizing Jiao Yulu’s story. In late 1965, comrades like Mu Qing were on the business trip to Henan. They did not have a specific topic in hand, and they had

not even heard of Jiao Yulu. Once they were informed of Jiao’s story, they decided

that they should report something about him. After the in-depth investigation, Mu Qing and other comrades successfully produced the above-mentioned articles,

which fully showed an excellent cadre as a role model. The news reflected how Jiao Yulu served the people wholeheartedly and his fine practice of carrying out

investigations. He not only demonstrated that he was a role model for the reform

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of prefectural committees, but he also educated the readers. When this news dispatch was broadcast in Lankou Prefecture, where Jiao Yulu was based, the

whole market suddenly was silent, and some of the people even burst into tears. Later, an extra 52,000 copies of newspapers were sold. The editorial committee of

Henan Daily encouraged the comrades of the newspaper to learn from Jiao Yulu to strive for the betterment of the newspaper business. The editorial staff expressed the idea that they had to be hardworking, and selfless to serve the people wholeheartedly, becoming the proletarian news warriors. There were also two most significant and influential model cases of advanced collectives being publicized: “Daqing Field” for the industrial battle line and “Dazhai Brigade” for the agricultural battle line. In 1964, Mao Zedong advocated “In industry, learn from Daqing” (Gongye xue daqing 工業學大慶) and “In agriculture, study Dazhai” (Nongye xue dazhai 農業學大寨). Then, the news units across the country further put much effort in promoting these two models. They reported that the people in Daqing developed the oil field practically. They learned and applied Mao Zedong Thought. They contributed a lot in the real-life struggles. The news units publicized a group of advanced individuals led by Wang Jinxi. Their patriotism was highly appreciated, and their spirit of independence, self-reliance, and persistence was frequently published. They emphasized the importance of science and urged truth-seeking, as well as the virtue of being selfless. The news dispatch “Daqing Spirit, Daqing People,” edited by the People’s Daily ’s reporters Yuan Mu and Fan Rongkang, was an excellent example of reporting the Daqing case. “Dazhai” was a model of the use of the revolutionary spirit to construct rural areas before the Cultural Revolution. The news units across the country generally publicized how the people overcame all the hardship and difficulties, as well as demonstrated the revolutionary spirit. “Road of Dazhai,” written by Xinhua’s Sha Yin and Fan Yinhuai, was one of the outstanding pieces of reporting in Dazhai. Xinhua’s reporters Li Feng and Yu Huiyin wrote the news dispatch “One-Dollar Spirit,” which was published in the People’s Daily on April 20, 1964. It explained a law that the construction of Socialism relied on the accumulation of the small yet significant efforts. It was important to treasure every bit of effort. Even an abandoned appliance could help promote the importance of being diligent and thrifty. The writers gave their viewpoint from analyzing the common and scattered matters. It was also the obvious characteristic of this news dispatch, as well as its key to success. “One-Dollar Spirit” aroused attention all over the country. Many newspapers made consecutive news reports on this issue, which further reported the stories of different local advanced units and individuals showing their “one-dollar spirit.”

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On December 5, 1964, the People’s Daily published the news “Many cadres participated in labor work to promote advanced experiences; the sales of Chinese cabbage in Beijing was improved for less wastage and lower prices.” At the same time, it also published “Vegetables-Selling Notes,” written by the Party Committee Secretary of Beijing Vegetables Company, along with other articles including “Leaders Being Led.” They were all about the controversial topics that the people were concerned with, and explained why cadres had to carry out indepth investigations so as to accomplish the leadership work. Mao Zedong also praised, “Even the Chinese cabbage could make it to the front page, which was an impressive phenomenon.”28 Many excellent news writings also appeared in this period, such as “Xing Yanzi Strived to Build New Rural Areas,” written by the reporters from Hebei Daily and Tangshan Labor Daily (Tangshan laodong ribao 唐山勞動日報); “Hardship Over Generations — On the Good Eighth Company on Nanjing Road,” written by the reporter from the People’s Liberation Army Daily ; “New Hope of Cotton Field — Creation and Promotion of Wu Jichang’s Cotton Transplantation,” written by Yan Ling; “Premier Zhou Enlai and Vice Premier Chen Yi Visiting Intellectuals,” written by the reporter from China Youth Daily ; ““Liang Shanbo Getting Married” and “Xiang Xiuli Saved the Factory from Fire,” written by a Xinhua reporter; “Two Mongolian Girls Protecting the Sheep from the Snowstorm” written by Xinhua’s reporter Zhao Qi. The above-mentioned news writings, in short, publicized the advanced individuals and collectives, as well as beneficial ideas and experiences. The practice provoked positive social effects and introduced improved styles and formats, which perfected the quality of the newspapers. However, the biased prorevolutionary thought was still inevitable in the news business at that time, which created a kind of imperfection in history.

The prevalence of ideological discussion In this period, the ideological discussion in the newspapers was more active. It was beneficial for the strengthening of the ideology of newspapers, the relationship between newspapers and the public, and the connection between newspapers and reality. In the period between May and July 1958, Beijing Daily initiated a very meaningful discussion in the special publication CPC Members (Gongchandang yuan 共產黨員). The topic was “Should the CPC Members Have Their Own Will?” The discussion was based on the real-life issues of the Party. Some of the members

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thought that one should not have their own will as a Party member. Otherwise,

this would be considered individualism. On the other hand, some of the members

just groundlessly emphasized individual will and prospects and they were even unwilling to follow the works distributed. The discussion aroused vigorous

feedback from the Party’s members of Beijing Municipality. Beijing invited Liu Shaoqi to summarize the discussion, and Liu accepted the invitation immediately.

On June 30, 1958, Liu Shaoqi went to the office of Beijing Daily to give a

summary on the ideological issue “Should the CPC Members Have Their Own

Will?” Liu went to the office in person and gave his view in a systematic, indepth, and impressive manner. He proposed the important idea that the Party’s members should be the role models of showing the hard work of the Party. He also pointed out that the topic was appropriate, and it should be raised in a better

way. It was because it would be wrong to simply answer “Yes” or “No.” The “correct” answer should be: As a Party member, one should have both individual will and serve the Party at the same time. It was necessary to connect individual

wills and the needs of the Party. Inspired by the speech of Liu Shaoqi, Beijing Daily summarized the idea of the speech. After the review and approval from Liu, it was published on July 29 in the form of an editorial, with the heading adjusted as “What Kind of Will should the CPC Members Have?” At that time, the central newspapers, as well as provincial and municipal newspapers also copied this editorial. Radio stations also made broadcasts on this article. Beijing Publishing House edited the articles on the discussion into a book with a print run of more than 3,500,000 copies. The discussion was very influential across the country, which had a tremendous effect on the ideological education of the Party’s members. From February to June 1963, Beijing Daily again initiated the ideological discussion “Is the commercial and service industry in a lower status?” The number of letters and articles received accounted for 3,017, among which 141 were published, arousing extensive attention from the readers. The discussion was formed in accordance with the issues mentioned in the letters from the readers. They reflected an ideological question in the business and service sector. The discussion was started from a letter selected from a reader, followed by six editorials, with elaborations and a conclusion. Li Xiannian, Vice Premier of the State Council in charge of Finance and Trade, and Yao Yilin, Minister of Finance, were very concerned about this discussion. Li Xiannian ordered the comrades in charge of finance to contact Beijing Daily to publish articles for the discussion. He also requested other provincial and municipal newspapers to hold this kind of discussion as well. On June 27, 1963, the People’s Daily particularly reported

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Beijing Daily and other local newspapers about discussing the issue. It also released the editorial “An Educational Discussion.” It was written that this kind of discussion was meaningful. It further developed the construction of Socialism and ideologically enhanced the quality of the Socialist construction team. The propaganda of the People’s Daily expanded the influence of the discussion. Beijing Daily summarized the discussion and pointed out that the topic for discussion should be selected wisely. It had to be a common topic among the public, and it also had to be meaningful and catchy in order to provide clear elaboration on the discussion topic. It was necessary to show a sense of democracy and to avoid any irony in the content. It had to dare to uncover the truth and paradox. Although it was focused on publishing positive articles, negative articles and the ones that posed questions were also needed. Editors had to give appropriate guidance, but this did not mean that they could show their viewpoints at once. Empty words would just lower the quality of propaganda. It was beneficial to gather some advanced individuals and senior staff to express their own opinions and experiences so as to be more convincing. Beijing Daily then started another discussion named “How Should Young People Lead A Meaningful Life?” that further guided young people to establish the correct value of life. More than 3,000 articles were received for this discussion. Workers’ Daily (Gongren ribao 工人日報), from May to August 1963, organized a discussion on the work of finance and accounting. It was a discussion that incorporated ideology and business. Three issues were raised: “The persistence in the implementation of the system,” “The appropriate exercise of authority of finance and accounting personnel,” and “The role of finance and accounting personnel in the movement of increasing outputs and saving resources.” The column for the discussion was published in 33 issues of the newspaper. Many people in different regions across the country participated in the discussion. Most of them were finance and accounting personnel. There were also factory owners, managers, secretaries of the Party committees, etc. Finally five editorials were released for a summary. On September 3, Li Xiannian’s “Various Hopes on Finance and Accounting Personnel,” in which it was pointed out that the discussion was beneficial to enhance the ideological knowledge of the finance and accounting personnel and to further strengthen economic review so as to facilitate the movement of increasing outputs and saving resources. It was very constructive. It was aimed at motivating the finance and accounting personnel to be more dedicated to their works and increasing their political consciousness of Socialism. The People’s Daily , Ta Kung Pao , and some provincial and municipal newspapers copied or abstracted these

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editorials and Li Xiannian’s articles. Many people from the industrial enterprises

and related units learned from these materials. The readers reflected that the discussion was very inspiring. They learned something very practical, and at the same time they also grasped some political knowledge.

From 1963 to 1964, some newspapers began the extensive discussion on the

value of happiness of the revolutionary youth. The Public Daily opened the column

“How To Treat Happiness Correctly?” It included the issues of proletarian values

about life. Nanfang Daily created the column “The Prospect of Rural Life and Its

Pleasure,” in which the ideological issues of young intellectuals’ participation

in agricultural production were included. Henan Daily started the discussion

based on the topic “Learn from Comrade Lei Feng.” Shanxi Daily promoted that the search of materialism was not the real happiness. True happiness was about

struggling for the construction of Socialism. Some of the newspapers published the articles about the viewpoints of happiness of some senior revolutionaries and model laborers. Zhejiang Daily , in 1962 and 1863, opened the column “The Necessary Lesson” that was aimed at starting ideological discussions and Socialist education.

There were many issues raised in the discussions, in which the common issues related to every class and every sector were included. The People’s Liberation

Army Daily initiated the discussion “The Revolutionized Youth Warriors.” It was about the meaning of revolutionization and its reasons, as well as the approach of implementation. In the same year, Hebei Daily organized the discussion on “betrothal gift” to oppose the undesirable marriage customs. In addition, Hebei Daily started the discussion around the topic “Work for Revolution Or Work for Money” to carry out the education on revolutionary life value. Hebei Farmers News, in 1965, advocated the importance of both persistence and the style of unification, which was very popular among the peasants. Most of these ideological discussions at that time were correct in terms of content, yet there were biased pro-revolutionary mistakes. The major problem lay in the overemphasis on the ideological class struggle. From the perspective of the form, ideological discussion was an effective self-learning tool with the guidance from the newspapers. It was also an advantageous format for the Party newspapers to rely on the people and to connect with the people. It was beneficial to develop democracy and increase the variety of the newspapers.

The emphasis on the importance of being informative and interesting The informative and interesting levels of publications were not the foci under the

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influence of the biased pro-revolutionary thought. The ideas were even criticized

as the journalism viewpoints of capitalism as there was a sense of a separation of class. Yet history proved that it was not correct. In the first half of the 1960s, the

informative and interesting levels of publications were once the foci. They were

further improved and explored to make the publications more vibrant and flexible, becoming more popular among the readers.

In late 1960, the People’s Daily decided to have a revision. There were a

total of eight pages at that time. Since January 1961, four pages had been used

for publishing informative, artistic, and interesting works every Sunday. The fifth page was for international essays, world knowledge, local and overseas

academic news, as well as travelogues. The sixth page was the introduction of

different places, scientific articles, news on ancient relics, as well as cultural and sports activities (including Chinese chess information). The seventh page was for

publishing literary and artistic works. The eighth page was the weekly pictorial, including news photos, artistic photos, and other art works. The quality of the

newspaper was improved after the revision. The design of the newspaper became more up-to-date with a variety of topics and more attractive layout. With the

increasing number of readers, it also enriched the spiritual aspect of the readers’ lives. It also played the role of incorporating both work and leisure during the

economic downside. The revision of the People’s Daily led to the revision trend in

the newspaper business. Many newspapers also published similar supplements.

China Youth Daily launched “Sunday,” “Art and Photography,” “Stage and Screen,” “Growth of Knowledge,” and other informative supplements. This newspaper believed that knowledge education was an important part of the Communist education towards the young people. Different kinds of knowledge could inspire the revolutionary passion of the youth, arouse their curiosity, and help them establish the correct world outlook. Heilongjiang Daily also created some supplements such as “Sunday” and “Pictorial.” “Sunday” was an all-round cultural supplement. It was aimed at enhancing the ideological level, providing more information, stimulating cultural life, and offering appropriate leisure activities. This newspaper stressed the connection with its readers. Some of the columns, including “View of Motherland” and “Life Dictionary,” were started as suggested by the readers. Sichuan Daily initiated “Weekly Supplement,” in which one-third of it was informative news, which was also the common interest of the general public. It was believed that the publicity of the supplement should be closely related to the core objective of the newspaper itself. It had to be an inseparable organic part of the newspaper. The supplement also was focused on

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introducing the history and the cultural knowledge of Sichuan in the informative

articles so as to enhance the local characteristics of the supplement. Wenhui Bao ’s

supplement “Pen Club” featured bright articles. Ta Kung Pao had the column

named “Knowledge of Commodity,” which provided scientific knowledge of commodities. The content catered to different groups of readers, from the people

engaged in the commercial industry to the general public. This feature was also in line with the newspaper’s focus on publicizing financial news. Liberation Daily

launched the column “World Knowledge,” which was about international conflicts

and significant events. The evening posts were more concerned about the degrees of being informative and interesting in accordance with their characteristics.

Yangcheng Evening News published a comprehensive supplement “Social Evening,” in which there were many ever-updating informative and interesting columns, such as “Science Sketch,” “History Sketch,” “Science Around You,” “Movie Talk,” “Actor and Audience,” etc. Many radio stations also added some informative programs such as “Stories of History.” In September 1962, the Internal Affairs Office of ACJA held the forum on the appropriate and purposeful approach for the newspapers to convey knowledge. The participants included the People’s Daily , Ta Kung Pao , China Youth Daily , Beijing Evening News , as well as the representatives from the China Association for Science and Technology. One of the important questions raised was the connection between informative articles and the reality. The participants reckoned that those international informative articles should be connected to the current world events. For instance, the column “Knowledge of Commodity” should be incorporated with the real-life situation, instead of being blindly in line with the core works. The actual politico-economic situation of the country should also be considered. The propaganda information provided in the supplements of evening posts should consist of a wide range of topics. They had to conform to the central works. At the same time, they also had to show a connection with reality. Some informative articles, which were politically harmless yet with little educational meaning, were acceptable. However, there should not be too many. Informative works should cater to the needs of readers in the aspects of politics, production, daily life, and ideology.

The prevalence of essays in newspapers The essay has been one of the most significant forms of writing since the May Fourth

Movement. The essays written by Lu Xun led to the first high point of China’s essay

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era. Essays were ideological, artistic, informative, and interesting. They were also related to a wide range of topics, which were very popular among readers. In the

early 1960s, the essays in newspapers occupied a very important position in the history of the development of essays. Some of the influential essay columns at that time belonged to those renowned writers. The influence was prominent.

“Evening Talks at Yanshan” was an essay column in the Beijing Evening News

supplement “Land in Five Colors.” It was launched on March 19, 1961 and written by Deng Tuo. It was then ended on September 2, 1962, after the publication of a total

number of 152 essays. The names of the column were decided by Deng Tuo, signed

with the pen name “Manan cun 馬南邨” Deng Tuo explained that “Yanshan” was an important mountain range in Beijing. “Night Talk” was referred to as having

conversations at night. “Manan cun,” as the pen name, was the name of the village

once The Chin-Cha-Chi Daily relocated. It was always on Deng Tuo’s mind. It was

the difficult time in the domestic economy. This column was aimed at advocating reading, enriching knowledge, widening horizons, and inspiring one’s mind. It

catered to the needs of the general readers. The first article that Deng Tuo wrote for

Evening Talks at Yanshan was “One-Third of Life.” It was mentioned in the article

that Deng Tuo would like to use the nighttime to arouse the attention from the people. He hoped that the people would treasure this one-third of life, by providing

them some useful knowledge after work.29 Evening Talks at Yanshan featured a great variety of topics ranging from history to current issues. Deng Tuo fully showed his expertise in writing on different kinds of topics, such as politics, education, work,

ideology, philosophy, science, history, geography, literature, art, etc. Some of the topics in the articles were from the people. They were the common issues that the

people were concerned about. Some articles were inspiring. Deng Tuo had profound

knowledge and outstanding critical thinking skills, so he could produce an essay in less than an hour. Evening Talks at Yanshan was then edited into a book. The circulation numbers accounted for more than 300,000 copies. It was very popular among the readers. Deng Tuo was really a great contemporary essay writer.

“Notes of Three-Family Village” was the essay column of the bi-weekly “The

Battlefront ” (Qianxian 前線). It was included in this publication from the 19th issue in 1961 to the 13th issue in 1964. There were 67 essays. This column was initiated by Deng Tuo, and it was written by him, Wu Han, and Liao Mosha, explaining the name “Three-Family Village.” They shared the same pen name “Wu Nanxing 吳南星.” This pen name was formed by three Chinese characters selected from their names: “Wu” in Wu Han 吳, “Nan” in Manan 馬南 (Deng Tuo 鄧拓), “Xing” in Fanxing 繁星 (Liao Mosha 廖沫沙). They rotated writing the column. Each article was about 1,000

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words. They were responsible for their own writing without any interference. They enjoyed the freedom to write according to their own viewpoints. If they

encountered any difficulties in writing, they could ask for assistance from others. Therefore, five of them were written by other writers. The articles of the column

were edited into a book and published in 1979. As mentioned in the foreword written by Lin Mohan, the articles introduced the experiences and their beliefs of some famous ancient people in different aspects such as learning, politics, and the military. They also criticized some negative inclinations and styles in the reality,

appreciated the people and achievements in the Socialist society, and introduced some useful knowledge. Although this book was not regarded as a classic, it

was full of wisdom. It helped widen the horizons of the readers, enriched their knowledge, and enhanced their critical thinking skills. 30 Some of the essays

written by Deng Tuo were rather obscure, such as the one titled “To Cure

Amnesia.” Readers would find it hard to grasp the true meaning of the author. This kind of obscurity was a reflection of the inadequate democracy of the Party and the country. It represented the purity of Deng Tuo’s essays.

“Records of Articles” was an essay column started by the People’s Daily in its

supplement since May 4, 1962. It was ended on December 8, 1962, with a number

of 37 essays. The key writers included Huang Si (Xia Yan), Zhang Bai (Wu Han), Chen Bo (Meng Chao), Wen Yiqian (Liao Mosha), and Wen Yiyu (Tang Tao). The host of the column was Chen Xiaoyu, the head of the People’s Daily ’s Cultural

Department. The writers list was first proposed by the editorial department. It was then confirmed after the individual discussions with the writers. In other

words, it was not formed by the writers on their own. The People’s Daily valued

this column very much. The editorial board even held special meetings to draft the plan for “Records of Articles,” to confirm the objective of the column. It was

written in one of the documents that this column was expected to be in line

with the Double-Hundred Policy. It should also shoulder the responsibility of

appreciating advanced experiences, pointing out inappropriate trends, stimulating

thinking, and enriching knowledge. Direct persuasion was not adopted to fully show the characteristics of essays. These suggestions were visionary. Huang Si’s

“From Choosing the Play” lively explained that subjectivism was not suitable in

leading the cultural works. Misleading direction was unacceptable. Deng Xiaoping also commented on this article. Wen Yiqian wrote “Two Home Letters of Zheng

Banqiao31” and mentioned that Zheng Banqiao asked his brother to educate his

son. From the modern point of view, one should not have a sense of superiority in family education, and one should not think that he is better. This kind of

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discussion was meaningful in rectifying the moral standard of the society.

The above three newspapers performed the best in running the essay columns.

They were the most popular ones as well. Yet they became the major subjects for being criticized in the Cultural Revolution. Besides, Xinmin Evening News ’

“Jottings,” The Public Daily ’s “Lixia Talk,” and Yunnan Daily News ’ “Tianyun Talk” were also very influential.

The development of biased pro-revolutionary thought in news propaganda The serious expansion of the Anti-Rightist Movement, the Great Leap Forward that interrupted the economic laws, and the unrealistic People’s Commune

Campaigns also affected the news propaganda, in which there were many biased pro-revolutionary mistakes. Since November 1958, the central government once corrected some of these mistakes, yet the correction work was not thorough. In

August 1959, the Anti-Rightist Movement began. It changed the direction of rectifying the biased pro-revolutionary mistakes. In the five or six years afterwards,

the national economy was improved a lot through adjustment, strengthening, consolidation, and enhancement. On the other hand, it was believed that the Three Red Banners, including the General Line, the Great Leap Forward, and the

People’s Commune Campaigns, were basically correct. They should be continued.

Especially in 1962, Ma Zedong pointed out in the Tenth Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee that the capitalist class would exist and was attempted to

be restored in the history of Socialism. He advocated that the class struggle should not be forgotten and emphasized that it had to be remembered every second. He

actually proposed the class struggle as being the objective. Later, the biased pro-

revolutionary mistakes were further developed in the news propaganda. Many radical criticisms appeared in the ideological aspect.

In September 1962, when the Tenth Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central

Committee criticized the so-called “prevalence of verdict revision,” Kang Sheng32

groundlessly accused the novel “Liu Zhidan,” written by Li Jiantong, of being the

great anti-Party cause for revising the verdict of Gao Gang33 Affair. Mao Zedong

reckoned that the use of the novel as an anti-Party tool was quite effective. In order to overthrow a regime, it was important to create public opinion first as

the ideological aspect was very influential. Both the revolutionary class and the

counterrevolutionary class functioned in the same way. “Liu Zhidan” was still a sample for collecting opinions at that time. Only parts of it were published serially

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in Daily Worker in July and August 1961. This incident turned out to be a case

of injustice, in which thousands of people were entangled. Daily Worker could

not escape from the accusation even if its Party committee held various review meetings. The editor was investigated. It was not only related to the ideological

aspect, but also about the organization itself. This incident showed that the pinpointing of the biased pro-revolutionary mistakes in the class struggle in the ideological aspect was seriously developed.

In May 1963, Wenhui Bao published the long essay “Discussion on ‘Ghost

is Harmless,’” organized by Jiang Qing.34 This article was a criticism against the

“ghost plays” across the country. It was about the Kunqu opera “Li Huiliang,”

revised by Meng Chao in 1961. It criticized Fanxing (Liao Mosha) for publishing a critique on approving this play in Beijing Evening News. These criticisms were groundless. Meng Chao and Liao Mosha were even accused of taking revenge on the Communist Party.

In 1964, Mao Zedong was disappointed that many theater organizations and

their publications nearly fell into the trap of revisionism. He criticized that some

movies were the materials of revisionism. Then, many publications, including the

People’s Daily , released articles criticizing various movies, such as Beiguo Jiangnan ( 北國江南), Early Spring February (Zaochun eryue 早春二月), and Lin’s Store (Linjia puzi 林家鋪子). They were criticized as reconciling the class conflicts, obliterating the class struggle, and preparing ideological conditions for the restoration of capitalism. Since the summer of 1964, this kind of pro-revolutionary criticism was even expanded to the aspects of philosophy, economics, history, and other academic studies: Yang Xianzhen’s35 One Divides into Two controversy; Sun Yefang’s36 emphasis on the law of value and profit and expansion of enterprise authority; Jian Bozan37 and Wu Han’s38 opposition to the theory of class struggle and support of conciliatory policies. At that time, these academic perspectives were not started from the spirit of the Contention of the Schools of Thought. On the other hand, they were criticized based on the struggles between two classes, two roads, and two lines. For example, the People’s Daily and Red Flag regarded Yang Xianzhen as the supporter of revisionism and conciliatory policies, as well as the internal representative of the capitalist class in the proletarian class. Eventually, Yang Xianzhen was misunderstood as an anti-Party individual. Other comrades were also attacked in a similar way. The criticism against the new historical play “Dismissal of Hai Rui ” (Hairui baguan 海瑞罷官), written by Wu Han, was one of the accelerators of the Cultural

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Revolution. In April 1959, Mao Zedong proposed that the people should learn Hai

Rui’s courage to dare to tell the truth. In June, Wu Han, as invited by a comrade of

the Central Committee, wrote the article “Hai Rui’s Condemnation to the Emperor” for the People’s Daily based on the spirit proposed by Mao Zedong. This happened

before the Lushan Conference. In September, Wu Han released the article “On Hai

Rui” in the People’s Daily . He even adopted the value of the Eighth Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee, and claimed that he was advocating the “real

Hai Rui.” He opposed the “pseudo Hai Rui” and the right opportunist idea. In the

second half of 1959, Ma Lianliang, the famous performer from the Beijing Opera Troupe, asked Wu Han to write a play about Hai Rui. The script was finished in late 1960, with the title “Hai Rui” ( 海 瑞 ). It was renamed as “Dismissal of Hai Rui” in

accordance with the suggestions. The play was officially in theaters in 1961. Later,

Jiang Qing kept emphasizing that the “Dismissal of Hai Rui ” was a serious political

problem. It was the canker, which satirized the present by using the past, so it should

be criticized. In 1964, Kang Sheng reasoned that “Dismissal of Hai Rui ” was related

to the Lushan Conference and the Peng Dehuai issues. Jiang Qing coordinated with some people in Beijing to produce articles attacking “Dismissal of Hai Rui ,”

but no one followed. In 1965, Jiang Qing went to Shanghai to conspire with Chang

Chunchiao39 and Yao Wenyuan.40 Yao Wenyuan wrote the article “An Analysis of the

Newly Edited History Play ‘Dismissal of Hai Rui,’” which was published in Wenhui

Bao in November 1965. He criticized that “Dismissal of Hai Rui ” was a canker from the political perspective. The publications in Beijing did not copy this article immediately, and it was only published 10 days later. Beijing Daily and the People’s Daily released the articles with the editor’s notes. As emphasized in the editor’s note in the Beijing Daily , discussions should be held when different opinions arose. It was necessary to alleviate the disputes in a practical manner. As stated in the editor’s note in the People’s Daily , the people engaged in history, philosophy, and literature, as well as explaining that other readers were welcomed to join the debate on the “Dismissal of Hai Rui ” and on its related issues. The objective was the acceptance of the freedom of both criticism and counter-criticism. Moreover, the inappropriate comments had to be explained and clarified in a reasonable and convincing way. One had to be practical. This editor’s note was written based on Peng Zhen’s41 comments, and it was also amended and approved by Zhou Enlai. The People’s Daily copied Yao Wenyuan’s article in the column “Academic Discussion” on the fifth page. Obviously, it was regarded as an academic issue.42 Since then, the People’s Daily and Beijing Daily continually released some articles to initiate the academic discussion on the issues. Under the direct control of Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunchiao

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and Yao Wenyuan used Wenhui Bao to begin a “large-scale debate.” They adopted

different approaches to collect feedback from the celebrities and intellectuals in Beijing and Shanghai, and classified the viewpoints. The opposite ideas to Yao Wenyuan’s were identified as “rightist” opinions. They aimed at luring the opposite

parties. Mao Zedong, in 1965, said that the key problem of the “Dismissal of Hai Rui ” is the “dismissal.” Jiajing Emperor dismissed Hai Rui. Peng Dehuai was also “Hai Rui.”43 These comments made the criticisms against the “Dismissal of Hai Rui ” become very political ones. In early 1966, this criticism movement reached its high point across the country. There were many articles published in the newspapers attacking Wu Han and other people. In February 1966, Peng Zhen set up the “Five Man Group.” It stressed that the issue of Wu Han was an academic one. They drafted the “February Outline” after the meeting. This Outline was intended to limit the developing criticism movement to academic discussion. Under this circumstance, many publications in China included numerous articles on the academic issues of the “Dismissal of Hai Rui .” Yet, both the People’s Daily and Guangming Daily released Qi Benyu’s article “The Reactionary Nature of ‘Hai Rui’s Condemnation to the Emperor’ and ‘Dismissal of Hai Rui ’” on April 2, 1966. They further criticized Wu Han in the political aspect. Mao Zedong ordered revoking the Five Man Group’s February Outline and the Cultural Revolution Group, and restructured the Cultural Revolution Group. Planned by Jiang Qing, the People’s Liberation Army Daily published the article “To Attack the Anti-Party and Anti-Socialism Reactionary Force” with the undersigned “Gao Ju 高炬.” On the same day, Guangming Daily released the article “To Clear Up the Mind for Identifying the Truth” with the undersigned “He Ming 何明.” On April 10, 1966, Yao Wenyuan’s “Discussion on the Three-Family Village — The Reactionary Nature of ‘Evening Talks at Yanshan’ and ‘Notes of Three-Family Village’” was published on the Liberation Daily and Wenhui Bao in Shanghai. The seventh issue of Red Flag released Qi Benyu’s “The Capitalist Standpoint of The Battlefront and Beijing Daily .” Deng Tuo, the “ThreeFamily Village,” The Battlefront , and Beijing Daily were seriously attacked in these articles, yet it was actually the Beijing Municipal Party Committee being the target. Thus, the criticism against the “Dismissal of Hai Rui ” became the attack towards the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and the Propaganda Department, triggering the Cultural Revolution. To gain the power to rule over the Party, Lin Biao44 conspired to create a cult of personality for Mao Zedong. Mass media was his tool to develop such a kind of personality cult. In April 1961, Lin Biao proposed that the People’s Liberation Army Daily should usually publish the quotations of Mao Zedong. The newspaper

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started to follow the proposal since May 1, 1961, which marked the start of publishing Mao’s quotations in newspapers. In March 1964, Lin Biao ordered that the People’s Liberation Army Daily should always use the national language proposed by the Central Committee and Chairman Mao. If the manuscripts received did not include this kind of language, the editorial office had to edit them on their own. The practice not only advocated the cult of personality, but also gave newspapers room for falsification and exaggeration. In late 1965, Lin Biao released another order to the People’s Liberation Army Daily : The editorial on January 1 and the People’s Liberation Army Daily were mainly used to prove the sayings of Chairman Mao. It was believed that even one sentence spoken by the Chairman was thousands of times more powerful. Therefore it was necessary to be collected and quoted. In 1966, Lin Biao emphasized in the “Foreword” of the second edition of Quotations from Chairman Mao that newspapers should always incorporate Mao’s quotations with the reality in the content for study and application. Lin Bao’s extreme pro-revolutionary thought caused serious harm to the news propaganda. It also induced formalism and vulgarization to the propaganda of learning the works of Mao Zedong, seriously damaging the established fine style of newspapers. Since November 1960, the magazine Red Flag began to boldface the citations of Mao Zedong and other revolutionary leaders. The pro-revolutionary propaganda of creating the personality cult was also a kind of preparation for the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

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Chapter

Journalism in the Cultural Revolution (May 1966– October 1976)

A HISTORY OF Journalism IN CHINA VOLUME 8

The May 16 Notification (released on May 16, 1966) marked the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. The 10 years until the downfall of the Gang of Four on October 6, 1976 were the period of turmoil of the Cultural Revolution. It was also the time when biased pro-revolutionary mistakes were common. During this period, China’s journalism became the tool to initiate and develop the Cultural Revolution. Being manipulated by Lin Biao and Jiang Qing, the two counterrevolutionary cliques, the news business in China turned out to be the weapon for instigating the extreme pro-revolutionary thought, agitating the cult of personality, conspiring against the Party’s central power. Both the Party’s and the people’s news units were seriously destroyed. The fine practice was severely damaged. Although the journalism sector did carry out some anti-revolutionary thought activities, with a certain degree of success, in general, China’s contemporary journalism encountered the most serious setbacks in the decade.

Journalism in the Beginning of the Cultural Revolution Top-down publicity — big-character posters During the Tenth Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee in September 1962, Mao Zedong gave his view on the expansion and absolutism of the class struggle in a Socialist society. He briefly estimated the situation of the class struggle at that time. He emphasized that the first step to overthrow a regime was to fabricate public opinion. The ideological work should be prioritized, which could be applied to both the revolutionary class and the counterrevolutionary class. Mao’s speech was spread across the pro-revolutionary ties in the academic sector. It was even prevailing across the country in the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, becoming an important weapon for the counterrevolutionaries like Lin Biao and Jiang Qing to fight for their positions in the news business. Many central and local public opinion bases were dominated. Jiang Qing, Chen Boda, Kang Sheng, Zhang Chunqiao, and Yao Wenyuan exerted overall control over the public opinion forums and news channels in the country. The confusion of right and wrong, falsification of news, and smearing of decent people all shaped the dark age of China’s journalism. The public opinion for the Cultural Revolution was initiated in Shanghai. On November 1, 1965, Shanghai’s Wenhui Bao released the article “An Analysis of the Newly Edited Historical Play ‘Dismissal of Hai Rui ,’” with the undersigned Yao Wenyuan. This article was secretly produced by Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, and Yao Wenyuan in Shanghai, and it was kept confidential for seven to eight months.

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After nine revisions, it was finally approved and announced by Mao Zedong. This

article aimed to criticize the “prevalence of verdict revision” and the “prevalence

of capitalist inclination.” It was not written from the academic perspective, but the political one. It was pinpointing the Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC, and the frontline leaders of the CPC, preparing public opinion for the Cultural Revolution.

In the two weeks after the release of “An Analysis of the Newly Edited

Historical Play ‘Dismissal of Hai Rui ,’” the newspapers in Beijing did not publish

this article. The chief editor of the People’s Daily , Wu Lengxi, decided not to

publish the article after requesting approval from the Central Committee. Peng Zhen, Mayor of Beijing Municipality, was disappointed that the article attacked

Wu Han, Vice-Mayor of Beijing Municipality and a renowned historian, without notifying him in advance. Beijing Daily did not copy Yao Wenyuan’s article as well. Mao Zedong noticed that the newspapers in the capital and others in

the country had no feedback, so he ordered the Shanghai government to issue pamphlets. The situation put pressure on Premier Zhou Enlai. The Beijing Municipal Committee held meetings and agreed that the newspapers in Beijing

reproduce Yao Wenyuan’s article. On November 29, 1965, Beijing Daily was the first one to reproduce it, followed by the People’s Daily on November 30, and

Guangming Daily on December 1. However, the People’s Liberation Army Daily published Yao’s article before the People’s Daily on November 29, with its editor’s note as well. It called the “Dismissal of Hai Rui ” an anti-Party and anti-Socialism tumor. When reproducing Yao’s article, the People’s Daily added its editor’s note suggesting that the comments on the “Dismissal of Hai Rui ” should be based on the Double-Hundred Policy. It also launched public discussions on academic issues, such as the way to evaluate historical figures, and the perspective and approach of historical research. Some of the articles were even aimed at attacking the mistakes of the groundless accusation of Yao’s article. Yao Wenyuan’s article induced ideological chaos in both the academic and the cultural sectors. On February 3, 1966, the “Five Man Group,” led by Chen Zhen, held the enlarged meeting for the discussion on the problems in academic criticisms. The meeting was based on the summary of Chen Zhen. The content of the meeting was edited into a document named the “February Outline .” The Outline was trying to limit the pro-revolutionary inclination in academic criticism, emphasizing the importance of truth-seeking, as well as proposing the principle of fairness before the truth. It was significant in that it tried to persuade people by facts instead of arbitrariness and authority. The importance of thoughtful criticism

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with the names mentioned in newspapers was also mentioned in the document.

On February 12, the CPC Central Committee agreed to publish the Outline, yet it

was then denied by Mao Zedong. Mao clearly expressed that the Outline blurred

the boundary between right and wrong, and censured that the Propaganda Department and Beijing Municipal Committee sheltered the opposite parties.

In the time when the February Outline was being drafted, Jiang Qing and Lin

Biao colluded with each other and held the Army Art and Culture Seminar and proposed the theory “Cultural Black Line Dictatorship,” which further enhanced the impact of public opinion and accelerated the Cultural Revolution. From February 2 to 22, 1966, Jiang Qing held another Army Art and Culture Seminar in Shanghai, and produced the “Proceedings of the Army Cultural Work Meeting

Held by Jiang Qing and Entrusted by Lin Biao ” (referred to as the “Proceedings” hereinafter). The Proceedings were amended and approved by Mao Zedong, and were then reported to the CPC Central Committee in the name of the Central Military Commission of the CPC for review. It was eventually released to the whole Party. The Proceedings obliterated the achievements of the cultural sector under the leadership of the Party since the founding of New China. The cultural sector was also denigrated for being dominated by the counterrevolutionary “black line” which was regarded as anti-Party and anti-Socialism as well as opposite to Mao Zedong Thought since the establishment of New China. Therefore, it was necessary to carry out a Socialist revolution on the cultural battlefront in order to eliminate this black line. On the other hand, it was believed that there would be more black lines if this one was defeated, so the struggle would be continued. The Proceedings reflected Mao Zedong’s estimation of the severity of class struggle in the cultural sector and his determination in beginning the Cultural Revolution. On April 18, the People’s Liberation Army Daily released the article “Raise the Red Flag of Mao Thought, Participate in Socialist Cultural Revolution,” which was aimed at publicizing the spirit of the Proceedings. The reputation of the People’s Liberation Army was used to publicly call for the launching of the Cultural Revolution. The CPC Central Politburo Enlarged Conference was held in Beijing from May 4 to 26, 1966. During the conference, Peng Zhen, Luo Ruiqing, Lu Dingyi, and Yang Shangkun were criticized for their “anti-Party mistakes.” Their duties were terminated. The May 16 Notification , formulated by Mao Zedong, was also passed in the conference. As stated in the notification, the Five Man Group, led by Peng Zhen, was dismissed. It was then restructured into the Cultural Revolution Group1 under the guidance of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Politburo. The group was directly in charge of the Cultural Revolution across the country. It

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also structurally solved the authority of the Cultural Revolution. The focus of the

Cultural Revolution was turned to Beijing. The revolution, which was indicated by criticizing the “Dismissal of Hai Rui ,” broke out across the country.

In the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, the criticism against the Three-

Family Village (Deng Tuo, Wu Han, and Liao Mosha) was a famous case of injustice in the journalism world. The renowned articles like “Evening Talks at Yanshan”

and “Notes from Three-Family Village” were garbled and misrepresented, and

they even became the materials used to defame others through the fabricating of “facts.” Deng Tuo was regarded as an anti-Party and anti-Socialism gangster, who was criticized by the whole country. Deng Tuo and Wu Han were persecuted to death, and Liao Mosha was sentenced based on groundless accusations.

When attacking the play “Dismissal of Hai Rui ,” the news units in the capital,

such as the People’s Daily and Beijing Daily , were very passive. They did not

catch up with the pace of the newspapers in Shanghai, so Mao Zedong was disappointed. Jiang Qing and Chen Boda grabbed this opportunity to attack the

Beijing Municipal Committee and the news sector of the capital. As the criticism against the Three-Family Village became more serious, the Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC was restructured. The senior management of Beijing Daily , Beijing Evening News , and The Battlefront were replaced. Later, People’s Daily , led by Wu Lengxi, and Xinhua were facing power seizures as well. On May 9, 1966, the conference participated in by the people-in-charge of the major newspapers in the capital was held at the Great Hall of the People. Chen Boda announced the new managing members of the newly-established Central Cultural Revolution Group. Then he harshly criticized the mistakes made by the People’s Daily in the period. He ordered the People’s Daily to carry out investigations and to draft a written report to the Central Committee. At the same time, Wu Lengxi was also dismissed from the power of leading the propaganda of different newspapers in Beijing. From “An Analysis of the Newly Edited Historical Play ‘Dismissal of Hai Rui ’” to the May 16 Notification , the management of People’s Daily , for many times, initiated the writing of editorials and the reforming of the layout in order to publicize the Cultural Revolution. Until May 17, 1966 when they were informed of the May 16 Notification , the editorial board of the People’s Daily was still trying to change the situation that night. They wrote a report to the Central Committee declaring that they wanted to terminate the relationship with Wu Lengxi. They suggested that the Central Committee could suspend Wu Lengxi from duties, but no feedback was received.

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On the afternoon of May 31, 1966, the Central Committee held a conference in

Zhongnanhai with the people-in-charge from the newspapers in Bejing, Xinhua,

and Central People’s Broadcasting Station. It was announced that the Central

Committee had decided to assign Chen Boda to form a working group to be sent to the office of the People’s Daily . That night, Chen Boda and his working

group entered the office and seized authority from Wu Lengxi, which changed

the management of the People’s Daily . His working group controlled the layout

of the newspaper on a daily basis. At the same time, it conducted the external news operations of Xinhua and the radio stations. On June 2, 1966, Chen Boda

announced at the staff meeting that Wu Lengxi was suspended from duties in order to have a period of introspection. The reality was that Wu had been

dismissed and criticized as a counterrevolutionary revisionist. Chen Boda even seriously claimed that his working group accomplished a “little political reform” in the newspaper office.

Wu Lengxi officially became the chief editor of the People’s Daily after June

29, 1957. Mao Zedong regarded him highly, and once told him, “When managing the People’s Daily , you have to be mentally prepared for the worst situation. You

have to be prepared for not being afraid of five things: dismissal, being expelled from the Party, divorce, imprisonment, and the death penalty. Being prepared for

these five things is the first step to being practical and truth-seeking.” However, Mao Zedong was disappointed at the performance of the People’s Daily before the

Cultural Revolution. Wu Lengxi was finally defeated.

From “An Analysis of the Newly Edited Historical Play ‘Dismissal of Hai Rui ’”

to the release of the articles of “Gao Ju 高炬” and “He Ming 何明” (pen names),

the instigating propaganda in the form of the big-character posters started to be widespread in the country. In early May 1966, under pressure, the People’s Daily

used four pages to publicize the Cultural Revolution every day. There were slogan-

like headlines in every page to make a show of strength, such as “Raise the Red Flag

of Mao Thought, Promote Proletarian Thought, Alleviate Capitalist Ideas,” “Insist on Removing Revisionism of the Capitalist Class and the Anti-Party and Anti-Socialism Black Line, Fully Implement the Socialist Cultural Revolution,” “We Should Identify and Uncover the Truth of those Enemies and Evil People to the World,” etc.

On May 27, 1966, the People’s Liberation Army Daily made a breakthrough in

the layout. It used more than a half page for publishing Lin Biao’s quotation: “I will never forget the class struggle, the proletarian dictatorship, the outstanding politics,

and the rise of Mao Zedong Thought.” Articles were even published under this

headline to motivate the young people to “rebel.” People’s Daily also reproduced

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Lin Biao’s four “unforgettables” the next day. All the newspapers in China regarded

the People’s Liberation Army Daily and the People’s Daily as their role models. They also followed suit to publicize the Cultural Revolution, which occupied the layouts.

On the night of May 31, 1966, Chen Boda led the team to produce the editorial

“Remove all the Evil People,” which was then published on June 1, 1966. It also

indicated the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. As written in the editorial, a proletarian cultural revolution was officially started in a stormy way. A situation

that was going to destroy everything was sweeping through China. Since then, the status of the People’s Daily had been shaken. It was no longer in a passive

position, and became a helpful arm to the Cultural Revolution in such a short

period of time. The People’s Daily advocated for the Cultural Revolution and tried

to sway public opinion across the country.

On June 2, 1966, People’s Daily published the full text of the big-character

posters of Nie Yuanzi2 on the front page, with the enlarged headline “The Big-

Character Poster of Seven Comrades of Peking University Exposed a Great

Conspiracy.” It also released a critic’s article “Applause for the Big-Character Poster at Peking University.” As indicated in the article, Peking University, led by Lu Ping and Peng Yun, was regarded as an important base of the “Three-Family

Village” gang. It was suspected as being the headquarters of anti-Party and anti-

Socialism activities. It called for the action of revolutionaries to destroy it. On

the night of June 1, 1966, Central People’s Broadcasting Station broadcast the content of this big-character poster. Then, the newspapers across the country also reproduced the poster. The instigation resulted in numerous letters and telegraphs that expressed support for Nie Yuanzi to Peking University. Many publications in different regions also serially published the pro-Nie big-character poster articles. Peking University became the center of the Cultural Revolution.

Later, in early June, the People’s Daily published a series of editorials that

advocated the urging and the importance of Mao Zedong Thought and the

revolution. The editorials were aimed at gathering the masses and “educating” them ideologically. They spread the message of the need to defeat the “evil people,” and to eradicate the “Four Olds” — old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits. Serious class struggle was inevitable. The newspapers across the country

reproduced these editorials. Encouraged by the words featuring “revolutionary ideas,” the young students were the first group to stand up and rebel. They went to

the streets to destroy the “Four Olds.” They stole, beat people, and seized families. Many schools and the Party’s units were paralyzed in the chaos. The cadres and the teachers were generally in a panic state. From the central to the local governments,

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a large group of news cadres, who were trained by the Party, were criticized and

attacked. Many leaders of news units were replaced by the people belonging to the Gang of Four. The news world of China was facing a great disaster.

The changes of news propaganda in the personality cult fanaticism During the Cultural Revolution, when Lin Biao and Jiang Qing were advocating

the rebellion, the personality cult of Mao Zedong also began. The publicity of

newspapers, radio stations, and television stations strengthened and accelerated the trend, which formed a prominent feature of journalism in this period.

Since 1960, the propaganda for learning Mao Zedong Thought showed the

inclination to formalism and the personality cult of Mao Zedong. The comrades

and the propaganda units of the Central Committee pointed out and corrected that. When the Cultural Revolution began, there was an influx of extreme pro-

revolutionary ideas. These “corrections” were regarded as the “accusations” of anti-Mao Thought and anti-Chairman Mao, which were uncovered and criticized.

From the “Dismissal of Hai Rui ,” the “political criticism” in the form of bigcharacter posters, to the groundless accusation against the “Three-Family Village,” the people engaged in the news business were forced to express their “loyalty”

and “worship” via different news forms under political pressure. Different media channels explicitly publicized the greatness and the “achievements” of Mao

Zedong. Mao was portrayed as the leader and the “genius” of the Party, who was disconnected from the people and the Party. The People’s Daily , Red Flag ,

and the influential People’s Liberation Army Daily , controlled by the Central

Cultural Revolution Group, published some “templates.” The revolutionaries

across the country, encouraged by the propaganda for “rebellion,” always used these templates to compare and check the layouts, headlines, positions, and size

of photos of different publications. Therefore, the newspapers across the country

were forced to follow the templates of the central newspapers, including the position of top news, headline, font size, photo size, etc. The night-shift editors

had to use different channels to inquire about the arrangements of the central newspapers for comparison so as to avoid any “political mistake.”

Mao Zedong himself also showed his disappointment towards the publicity of

the personality cult in newspapers, radio broadcasts, and television broadcasts. He had also suppressed this kind of propaganda through releasing orders and giving speeches. Yet, in general, he reckoned that it was still “necessary” to defeat those

“evil people.” In other words, he considered that the propaganda for the personality

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cult was for the needs of the political struggle and the line struggle. Thus, this

propaganda never came to an end throughout the Cultural Revolution. Instead, it was constantly recreated according to the development of political struggle.

Since the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, different newspapers followed

the People’s Liberation Army Daily to cite the quotations from Mao Zedong in

the eye-catching area on the front page, with the heading “Top Instruction.” At

the same time, the quotations from Mao were bolded in articles and news reports

for highlighting purposes and to show respect. There was an increasing trend of

the appearance of bolded words in the newspapers. The headlines and the articles

that showed loyalty to Mao Zedong were easily found. The articles, the critiques,

even the news reports in the newspapers were always full of Mao quotes and examples. The articles were usually started with the poems written by Mao, with

the common greetings like “Dearest Leader,” and “Long Live.” All these empty words and quotations formed the writing style of the Cultural Revolution. There were also more and more photos of Chairman Mao in the newspapers. They were bigger, and occupied eye-catching areas of the newspapers. Sometimes, a photo of him dominated half of the page.

The propaganda of the personality cult of Mao Zedong was closely related to

the instigation of “rebellion” and the prevalence of the extreme pro-revolutionary

thought. The newspapers were full of brainwashing news, such as “Use Mao Thought to Remove the Old World,” “Use Mao Thought to Construct a New

Red World,” “Become the Little Red Guard of Mao,” etc. At the beginning of

the Cultural Revolution, the student rebellion groups formed the Red Guards to destroy the “Four Olds” in the streets. They put up slogans, flyers, and big-

character posters. They held meetings, released orders, drafted reports, broke name boards, changed the names of the stores, schools, and the roads, advocated

the amendment of the constitution and the abolishment of the national anthem, as well as influenced the fashions of the people. Xinhua would report this kind

of news in a timely manner. On August 30, 1966, People’s Daily even released

the editorial “Extremely Good.” The local parties followed what the central news units advocated. In other words, they carried out more radical “revolutionary”

activities, such as destroying god statues and antiques; destroying temples and

ancient relics; burning books, paintings, and costumes; relocating all the “evil people” from the urban areas; dismissing the consultative groups and democratic

parties; ordering monks to resume secular life; interfering with the operation of hotels, salons, and stores. They even caught people to carry out private penalties

and assaulted people to death. The newspapers reported that the Red Guards, the

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revolutionary teachers, and students were carrying out the “Great Union” (Da

lianhe 大聯合) across the country, as well as that Mao Zedong had met the Red Guards in the capital. The release of articles and critiques on these events further resulted in chaos across the country. On August 18, 1966, over a million people gathered in Tiananmen Square to hold a celebration of the “proletarian cultural revolution.” Mao Zedong dressed in a military uniform with the armband of the Red Guards, and met the representatives from the Red Guards. The whole of Tiananmen Square was full of red flags. People shouted “Long Live Chairman Mao!” and “We want to see Chairman Mao!” and so on. It was also broadcast across the country. On the next day, all the newspapers reported the event with a lot of coverage and pictures. Later, the color documentary “Chairman Mao and A Million Soldiers of the Cultural Revolution Together” was broadcast again and again in China. Mao Zedong met the Red Guards seven times on August 31, September 15, October 1, October 18, November 3, November 10, and November 26, 1966, in Tiananmen Square. A total of 3,000 Red Guards, teachers, and students from different primary and secondary schools went to Beijing. They met Chairman Mao and were reviewed. Many news channels also specially publicized these eight meetings. The propaganda not only motivated the public to participate in the Cultural Revolution, but also further formed the high point of the personality cult of Chairman Mao. Before the Cultural Revolution, there were students going to Beijing. On August 18, 1966, after Mao Zedong met the Red Guards in Tiananmen Square, the number of students going to Beijing increased. In this period, the students in Bejing also went to other areas to carry out the Great Union. As the leaders of the Central Committee advocated “movement means to move,” along with the appreciation of this activity by the newspapers, many people just stopped going to schools for revolution and went to other places to incorporate with others. They instigated and set up contact points. They even attacked important administrative units of the Party, criticized the cadres, and encouraged the people to struggle with others. These activities worsened the existing disastrous chaos. Once the Cultural Revolution began, the publicity for Mao Zedong himself entered an extreme stage. For example, on July 25, 1966, the People’s Daily and some other newspapers specially reported Mao Zedong’s swimming in Yangtze River. The coverage was published with big headlines as well as large photos of Mao in the Yangtze River and waving his hands on the boat. His speech was also quoted. On July 26, 1966, the People’s Daily released the editorial “Follow Chairman Mao to Move Forward on Windy and Stormy Days,” in which Mao Zedong swimming in the Yangtze River for “1 hour and 5 minutes” was regarded as a piece

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of national good news. All the people celebrated the health of Mao Zedong. The

editorial also asked the people to move forward with Chairman Mao in windy and stormy days so as to uncover and destroy all the counterrevolutionary conspiracies.

The Cultural Revolution could only be accomplished that way. In August 1966, the Central Committee held the Eleventh Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central

Committee, which passed the “Decision on the Proletarian Cultural Revolution ”

(referred to as the “Decision” hereinafter). On August 10, Mao Zedong went to the

public reception office of the CPC to meet the people that celebrated the release of

the Decision. In front of the excited and agitated people, Mao Zedong said, “You have to be concerned about the national events, and fully implement the proletarian

Cultural Revolution.” On the next day, the People’s Daily reported this event and Mao’s speech under the headline lined in red. The two ideas eventually became the quotations that were repetitively publicized and exaggerated.

During the Cultural Revolution, the People’s Daily and other newspapers

always published the artwork and revolutionary “proverbs” that showed appreciation of Mao Zedong and his works, such as “The words in Chairman Mao’s books are the battle drum for truth.” From time to time, the newspapers

also adopted the headlines like “Mao Zedong Thought is the Common Wealth of the Revolutionaries in the World” and “Mao Zedong Thought is the Lighthouse for the People’s Revolution” along with the news that people around the world were eager to learn the works of Mao Zedong. On August 8, 1966, the People’s

Daily announced that the Central Committee of the CPC decided to publish Mao Zedong’s works in a large quantity, along with the editorial “The Joyful Nationwide Occasion of All the People.” On August 12, 1966, the first batch of Selected Works

of Mao Zedong (Mao Zedong xuanji 毛澤東選集) four-volume set was first put in

circulation in the prominent colleges in Beijing. The newspapers specially reported how the high schools cordially welcomed the “precious book.” In a period of time,

the newspapers reported the release of Selected Works of Mao Zedong nearly every day. Some of them even publicized Xinhua Bookstore and beat drums, set

off firecrackers, hung red palace lanterns, and put up the Chinese character posters “Xi 喜” (happiness) to celebrate the launch of the book. Later, Selected Works of

Mao Zedong was released across the country. After that, the “Little Red Book” and

Mao’s quotations became the indicators of loyalty to the leader. Photos showing people with the Little Red Books in their hands appeared in the newspapers, which further raised the high tide of the personality cult of Mao Zedong.

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Power seizure in the media field On January 1, 1967, the People’s Daily and Red Flag published the editorials announcing that the year 1967 would be the time to fully start the class struggle,

according to Mao Zedong. It was also the time to fight back against those capitalist

parties with power and the “evil people” in the society. Zhang Chunqiao and Yao

Wenyuan initiated the class struggle in Shanghai which was named the “January Incident.” It began with the power seizure in Shanghai news units. On January 3

and 4, 1967, Shanghai’s Wenhui Bao and Liberation Daily were taken over by the

rebellion party, which indicated the prologue of the January Incident. On January 9,

1967, the People’s Daily released the editorial “Let Mao Zedong Thought Dominate

the Newspapers,” in which the power seizure of Wenhui Bao and Liberation Daily

was a “great event” in the development of the Cultural Revolution. It was also a breakthrough in the development of China’s proletarian journalism. The editorial also encouraged all the people in China to learn from them.

The so-called “January Incident” was a conspiracy deliberately planned by

Lin Biao, Chen Boda, and the “Gang of Four.” It was an important step for them

to induce chaos across the country and to usurp power of the Party. On January 5, 1967, Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan met the representatives from the

Commanding Office of Shanghai Labor Revolution and Rebellion in the name

of the investigators of the Central Cultural Revolution Group. Zhang Chunqiao

said that the fundamental issue was to get the authority, as well as to uncover and defeat the capitalist parties who had power in hand. They groundlessly

accused the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government and Shanghai Municipal Committee of the CPC of holding the reins of power of the old revisionists and

counterrevolutionaries. A large number of senior cadres were regarded as “traitors,” “secret agents,” or “capitalist roaders,” including Cheng Pixian, Shanghai Muncipal

Committee Secretary, and Cao Diqiu, Mayor of Shanghai Municipality. On January 6, 1967, orchestrated by Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan, the rebellion group in Shanghai, led by Wang Hongwen, held the meeting to “defeat” the municipal

committee. It usurped the Party’s administration of Shanghai Municipal and this resulted in the January Incident. On January 11, 1967, the People’s Daily released the

congratulatory message to the rebellion groups in Shanghai, drafted by the Central

Cultural Revolution Group in the names of the Central Committee of the CPC, the State Council, the Central Military Commission of the CPC, and the Central

Cultural Revolution. The People’s Daily and Red Flag published the editorials

“The Cooperation of Proletarian Revolutionaries Won Over the Capitalist Roaders” and “On the Power seizure of Proletarian Revolutionaries,” which approved and

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supported the power seizure in Shanghai, as well as advocated the nationwide power seizure. With the effect of Shanghai’s power seizure and the instigation from Lin Biao and Zhang Chunqiao, the high tide of power seizure appeared: •• •• •• •• •• •• •• ••

Shanxi on January 14, 1967 Guizhou on January 25, 1967 Heilongjiang on January 31, 1967 Shandong on February 3, 1967 Beijing on April 20, 1967 Qinghai on August 12, 1967 Inner Mongolia on November 1, 1967 Tianjin on December 6, 1967

The powers of the eight provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions were seized by the rebellion parties, who also set up the revolutionary committees. In September 1968, revolutionary committees were established in Tibet and Xinjiang. The 29 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in China began serious power seizures, and they finally founded the so-called “Communist political power” — revolutionary committee. The so-called prevalence of Communist thought across the country was eventually realized. In the power seizures in different provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, all the official newspapers of the Party committees were the targets. The power seizures in some provincial and municipal newspaper offices turned out to be bloody incidents. Since the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, the journalists of the official newspapers of the Party committees in different provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions were pinpointed. Many upright journalists were criticized or accused groundlessly. Some senior journalists, such as Deng Tuo, Meng Qiujiang, Jin Zhonghua, Fan Changjiang, Zhang Hanfu, Pan Zinian, were even persecuted to death. During the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, many provincial and municipal newspapers could not be published as usual. On January 3, 1967, the Central Committee released a notification on the newspaper issue. It was stated that it was acceptable for the provincial and municipal newspapers to cease publication for the revolution, as long as they could assist in the printing of the People’s Daily , the People’s Liberation Army Daily , and Guangming Daily in order to convey the messages of the Central Committee in a timely manner. After the January Incident and the power seizures, many journalists were expelled from the news units. Once the revolutionary committees were established, the official newspapers of the Party committees fell under the revolutionary committees of the Communist political power. Some of them were even renamed, had their masthead

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redesigned, or recatalogued, which implied their disconnection with the original

official newspapers of the Party committees. At the same time, many central and local newspapers were regarded as “old and rumor-spreading” ones. Therefore, they were banned or had their power seized by the rebellion parties. According to the statistics, the number of central and local newspapers released by the State

Post Office in 1965 was 413. The figures of 1966 and 1967 dropped to 390 and 334,

respectively. In 1965, there were 767 central and local magazines released by the State Post Office. The figures of 1966 and 1967 dropped to 248 and 102, respectively.

On September 1, 1968, People’s Daily , Red Flag , and the People’s Liberation

Army Daily published the article “Thorough Implementation of the Great Revolution of the News Battle Front” in the name of the three editorial offices. This article was planned and produced by Chen Boda and Yao Wenyuan. As mentioned in the article, “China’s Khrushchev”3 (Liu Shaoqi) and many leaders in the ideological political cultural world and the news business, including Peng Zhen, Luo Ruiqing, Lu Dingyi, Zhou Yang, Deng Tuo, Wu Lengxi, Yang Yi, were regarded as “a gang of scoundrels” and counterrevolutionary revisionists. Many important orders and valuable journalism ideas to the proletarian news business in the long-term revolutionary struggle proposed by Liu Shaoqi were misinterpreted and denied. Liu Shaoqi and some other people were also groundlessly accused of adopting public opinions to oppose the “proletarian revolutionary direction” in the four stages4 since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. It was also emphasized in the article that Liu Shaoqi and others represented the interests of imperialism, counterrevolutionaries of the Kuomintang, and the Five Black Categories.5 They kept promoting the counterrevolutionary capitalist direction for journalism. Moreover, they assigned traitors, secret agents, and capitalist roaders to different news units in order to turn the news business into a tool for overthrowing proletarian dictatorship and restoring capitalism. It was going to blot out the achievements of the news business since the founding of the state, and thoroughly denied the effort of the entire news team. It was also mentioned in the article that the Cultural Revolution was destroying the independent counterrevolutionary kingdom led by China’s Khrushchev and his people. The power seizure between the proletarian class and the capitalist class in fighting for the authority of newspapers did not come to an end. The “counterrevolutionary revisionist journalism direction” should be thoroughly cleared. This editorial was the theoretical summary and discussion on the power seizure in the news business since the Cultural Revolution, especially the January Incident. It was also the guiding principle for continually devastating the news business.

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In the Cultural Revolution, among the 298 chief editors, vice chief editors,

directors, and vice directors of the central and provincial news units,6 none

was investigated as a traitor, secret agent, or capitalist roader. Chen Boda

and Yao Wenyuan insisted on transforming the news business into the “counterrevolutionary independent kingdom.” They aimed at fighting for the “authority.” They criticized that the cadres of Xinhua were “a basket of rotten

tomatoes,” the cadres of the People’s Daily were “evil people,” and that the

cadres of Red Flag should be swept away. The contributors to the newspapers

were accused of being traitors, secret agents, evil people, and capitalist experts

of the news business. Chen Boda considered them as the promoters of the counterrevolutionary thought. Chen Boda and others replaced the leaders

of different news units with his own followers in order to control the public opinions. They trampled on the Party’s policies on cadres and the policies of

intellectuals, as well as expelled a large number of journalists from the news units. For instance, the original team of Red Flag was dismissed for nearly 10 years.

For the staff of the People’s Daily , they assigned followers to select “positions for

relocation” in Hubei, Liaoning, and Shanxi to prepare for the replacement of the whole team. Yet Mao Zedong stopped them in a timely manner, they could not

accomplish the mission successfully. There were many cases where the cadres of different news units were replaced.

The class struggle in the news business ruined the journalist team and confused

the thought of the journalists. It seriously devastated the news business. With the “success” in the class struggle, the Central Cultural Revolution Group controlled

all the newspapers across the country and manipulated the tools of public opinion. It guaranteed the convenience to carry out the extreme pro-revolutionary strategy.

Tabloids at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution When the Cultural Revolution began, many newspapers published by the Party, the administrative units, the military force, and cultural institutions were forced to

cease publishing, especially after the power seizure in the news business. With the

appearance of different Red Guards and rebellion groups, there was a rise of the “Cultural Revolution tabloids” and the “Red Guards tabloids.”

This kind of tabloid was originally mimeographed. Many of them were

produced through lead letterpress printing. They were first circulated in schools,

state units, factories, and they were then circulated in society. The print runs ranged from a few thousand to more than 100,000. Many of them were irregular

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periodicals. Most of the tabloids ceased publishing shortly after they were started. They did not have official editorial departments, and they did not have to apply or register to the related departments. They enjoyed great freedom in publication issue and suspension. Therefore, there were no very accurate statistics for the varieties and issue numbers of the Cultural Revolution tabloids and the Red Guards tabloids. According to the collection of He Li, an amateur newspaper collector in Beijing, and the research by the main libraries in Beijing, there were nearly 1,000 kinds of the Cultural Revolution tabloids recorded in Beijing, accounting for 8,770 issues. The number of the kinds of the Cultural Revolution tabloids (produced through lead letterpress printing or offset printing) reached more than 6,000. More than a thousand of the Cultural Revolution tabloids in Beijing could be categorized as shown in Table 22.1. Table 22.1 The Cultural Revolution tabloids in Beijing Category

Quantity

Inter-college tabloids run by high school Red Guards

11

State administrative newspapers of all levels run by the masses

Over 100

Newspapers run by the culture and art sector

42 (16 were tabloids run by the film sector)

College tabloids, including the ones run by the Cultural Revolution preparatory committees of schools, Red Guards, public organizations, temporary organizations, revolutionary committees, Beijing college students from other regions Second school tabloids, including the ones run by secondary schools, vocational secondary schools, the Cultural Revolution preparatory committees of technical schools, Red Guards, municipal secondary school organizations, Beijing secondary school students from other regions Factory and mile newspapers run by the masses and revolutionary committees

Newspapers run by military schools in Beijing and organized by the masses Newspapers in Bejing run by college students, secondary students, or the masses from other regions

Newspapers run by the general public engaged in different sectors, including medicine, science & technology, sports, media & publishing, railway, posts & telecommunications, ethnic affairs, civil affairs, overseas community affairs, public transportation, primary schools, vocational schools

128

210

70

30

15 46

200

Journalism in the Cultural Revolution (May 1966–October 1976)

Yet the tabloids of the United Front strategy, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative system, and the United Front Democratic Parties at that time have not yet been found. There were 185 of these newspapers with more than 10 issues published, among which 83 were college newspapers and 10 were secondary newspapers. (Please refer to Table 22.2 for more examples of the tabloids published by colleges and secondary schools.) Table 22.2 Tabloids published by colleges and secondary schools in the Cultural Revolution School

Peking University Tsinghua University Beijing Institute of Geosciences

Publication

New Peking University (Xinbeida 新北大) Jinggang Mountains (Jinggang shan 井岡山)

Number of issues 200

156

East Red News (Dongfanghong bao 東方紅報)

149

Jinggang Mountains (Jinggang shan 井岡山)

141

Red Flag (Hongqi 紅旗)

118

Beijing Institute of Mining and Technology

East Is Red (Dongfanghong 東方紅)

129

Beijing Steel and Iron Institute

East Is Red (Dongfanghong 東方紅) New Beijing Steel and Iron Institute (Xin Gangyuan 新鋼院)

55 72

East Is Red (Dongfanghong 東方紅)

51

Daqing Commune (Daqing gongshe 大慶公社)

54

Beijing Normal University Beijing Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Beijing University of Technology East Is Red (Dongfanghong 東方紅)

University of Science and Technology Beijing

Beijing Institute of Petroleum Beijing Institute of Posts and Telecommunications Beijing Institute of Technology

Beijing Institute of Agricultural Engineering

Beijing Institute of Posts and Telecommunications East Is Red (Beiyou dongfanghong 北郵東方紅)

Beijing Institute of Technology East Is Red (Beigong dongfanghong 北工東 方紅) Beijing Institute of Technology Red Flag (Beigong hongqi 北工紅旗)

East Red War Bulletin (Dongfanghong zhanbao 東方紅戰報)

Beijing Foreign Studies Institute Red Guards News (Hongwei bao 紅衛報)

75

98 96 98 53 41

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(Cont’d) School

Publication

Beijing Light Industry Institute

Red Eagle (Hongying 紅鷹)

Minzu Institute of China

Chinese People's Anti-Japanese Military and Political College (Kangda 抗大) Minzu Institute of China East Is Red (Minyuan dongfanghong 民院東方紅)

Tsinghua University (Head Office)

Renmin University of China

China Agricultural University Beijing Broadcasting Institute Beijing University of Political Science and Law

Capital Red Guards (the Third Command)

Capital Red Guards Congress

Jinggang Mountains News (Jinggang shan bao 井岡山報)

Number of issues 63

25 (with 5 additional issues) 25 39

Renmin University of China Three Red (Renda sanhong 人大三紅) New Renmin University of China (Xin renda 新人大)

65 78

New China Agricultral University (Xin nongda 新農大)

65

Beijing University of Political Science and Law Commune (Zhengfa gongshe 政法公社)

63

Combat (Zhandou bao 戰鬥報)

69

Capital Red Guard s (Shoudu hongweibing 首都紅衛兵)

32

Capital Red Guards (Shoudu hongweibing 首都紅衛兵)

63

Capital Secondary School Army Army War Bulletin (Bingtuan zhanbao 兵團戰報)

Bayi School

34

Spring Thunder (Chunlei 春雷)

14

Capital Red Guards (the Third Command) Secondary and Vocational Branch

Capital Red Guards (Secondary School Edition) (Shoudu hongweibing zhongxueban 首都紅衛兵 [ 中學版])

10

Capital Red Guards Xicheng Duty Team

Red Guards Post (Hongweibing bao 紅衛兵報)

15

Capital Secondary School Red Guards Congress

Beijing Pinggu Secondary School

Red Guards Pos t (Hongweibing bao 紅衛兵報)

25

Single Spark (Xingxing zhi huo 星星之火)

42

Besides, a majority of newspapers (more than 700 kinds) published only two

to nine issues, while 61 newspapers only published only one issue. Generally .

speaking, these tabloids could not be published on schedule as they were irregular publications. Some of the influential tabloids in China at that time, such as New

Peking University , Tsinghua University’s Jinggang Mountains , Beijing Institute of

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Geosciences’s East Red News , Beijing Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’s

Red Flag , were circulated across the country through the post office in Beijing Municipal. They were even opened for subscription and retail. Yet, they were not published regularly. These tabloids were generally weeklies at the beginning, and began to be published with two issues per week at their peaks. Sometimes they were published with three or four issues per week, and even became bi-weeklies as well. Some of them published supplements, features, extra editions, etc. These additional pages were aimed at gaining momentum. They also published “joint editions” with the newspapers sharing the same viewpoints. Some of the joint editions were produced by more than 10 tabloids. The mastheads of these tabloids were generally printed in red color and in the font of Chairman Mao’s handwriting. They usually published large-size pictures of Mao in their debut issues, anniversaries of important events, and festivals. The pages were full of slogans, quotations, and catchwords. Some of them even designed supplements or culture columns, as well as political comics. The authors normally did not use their real names no matter in news, critiques, or literary works. They usually used the names of the fighting teams or the popular pen names at that time. Most of the articles were not published with signatures. For the subjects being criticized in articles or headlines, the characters of their names would be reversed or replaced by “x.” The articles and pictures of accusations and uncovering secrets were commonly found. There were a lot of rumors. The layouts were dominated by the articles attacking the parties in confronting positions and the contents of groundless accusations. They always published those “leaders’ speeches” or updated news for their own interest. Most of them were misleading and exaggerated, which were full of uproarious words and attacks. The Cultural Revolution tabloids emerged along with the movement of Red Guards at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. In January 1967, after the power seizure, tabloids were developed rapidly. According to the preliminary statistics, among the 700 tabloids produced through lead letterpress printing or offset printing in Beijing, 120 were started in 1966. (The earliest was in May 1966; the latest was in December 1966.) 575 were started in 1967 and 5 were started in 1968. After October 1967, due to the “strategic plan” proposed by Mao Zedong, different units and teams followed the policy of the “Great Union.” Many public organizations were dismissed, and the tabloids of different enterprises, organizations, as well as cultural or technological groups were suspended, leading to a decrease in circulation. In July 1968, Mao Zedong met the leaders of the capital Red Guards. He also sent the labor and military propaganda teams to the

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high schools, then he assigned propaganda teams to different kinds of schools to

coordinate the activities of the Cultural Revolution. The Red Guards and the public organizations were then dismissed, and the Red Guard tabloids also came to an end between August and October 1968.

The Cultural Revolution tabloid was the product in the special period. On

August 17, 1966, Mao Zedong named the new school magazine, which was published by the Cultural Revolution Preparatory Committee of Peking University,

to show his support. It also indicated the beginning of the Cultural Revolution tabloids. This kind of tabloid was originally the tool for “rebellion movements”

of anarchism; it was then manipulated by the leaders and the participants of the Cultural Revolution, especially the counterrevolutionary cliques led by Lin

Biao and Jiang Qing, for creating chaos across China. They adopted the so-called

strategy of the “great democracy” in which they instigated the people to rebel in a bottom-up manner. They ignored the Party committees to launch the revolution,

which caused the downfall of the administrative units of the Party. Revolution

standing committees (or preparatory committees), the Red Guards, and different public organizations were granted extreme authority to start rebellions in schools and units, even in the whole society. These activities gave rise to the demand of the expansion of propaganda and newspaper publishing.

Undoubtedly, if the tabloids violated the goal and the “general direction” of

the Cultural Revolution, they would be criticized or even banned from publishing. During the time when the extreme pro-revolutionary thought prevailed, different public organizations expressed their “loyalty” to the Cultural Revolution, as well as

carried out “mutual supervision” so as to prevent the publications from violating the goals. For example, there was a publication titled “Secondary School Cultural

Revolution News ” (Zhongxue wenge bao 中學文革報) in Beijing. It included Yu Luoke’s “Family Background Theory” and his other articles pinpointing blood relationship and its origin in society. It doubted the popular concept of “blood relationship” in the Red Guards, which led to a debate in society. Capital Secondary School Army’s Army War Bulletin released an article condemning Yu Luoke’s ideas and requesting the banning of Secondary School Cultural Revolution News . On April 14, Qi Benyu, a member of the Central Cultural Revolution Group announced that the “Family Background Theory” was a counterrevolutionary article. Its author Yu Luoke was persecuted, and Secondary School Cultural Revolution News was suspended from being published. Besides, when the public organizations were in conflict due to different viewpoints towards the leadership and the movements, tabloids became the tool to fight the enemies. When the

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conflicts became more serious, the tabloids of both parties became the targets. Typographical errors and technical mistakes were also reasons for groundless accusations and they resulted in bans.

From the summer and fall of 1966 to the fall of 1968, People’s Daily and Central

People’s Broadcasting Station reproduced and broadcast the articles written by the editorial offices and reporters of tabloids. For instance, on February 4, 1967, People’s

Daily copied the editorial essay “Appreciation of the Chaos of the Revolution,” from Expel the Enemy (Qu hubao 驅虎豹) run by Beier Machine Tool Works. On February 24, 1967, it released the news dispatch “Struggle Persistently with the Revolutionaries,” written by a reporter from Haerbin’s Reasonable Rebellion (Zaofan youli 造反有理). On February 27, 1967, it reproduced an article from Sports Bulletin (Tiyu zhanbao 體育戰報), and at the same time, it also published the commentator’s article “Applause for the Big-Character Poster by the Member of East Is Red .” The People’s Daily also added an editor’s note to express that these two articles suggested common and urgent problems, which should be noticed by the proletarian revolutionaries across the country. To strengthen the guidance and control over the tabloids, the CPC Central Committee announced the “Comments on Improving the Newspaper Propaganda Organized by Revolutionaries ” on May 14, 1967. This document first approved the newspapers and flyers published by the revolutionaries and these played an important role in the Cultural Revolution. Then the committee proposed constructive ideas for the issues of this kind of newspaper propaganda. First of all, it was emphasized that the “political direction” of the revolutionaries’ tabloids should be in line with the orders from Mao Zedong, Lin Biao, the CPC Central Committee, and the Central Military Commission. At the same time, they should also implement propaganda by referring to the important editorials and critiques of the People’s Daily , Red Flag , and the People’s Liberation Army Daily .” Moreover, it also regulated the propaganda strategy of tabloids. For example, the publishing and printing of the articles, speeches, and documents of Mao Zedong and Lin Biao, as well as the internal documents, minutes, and internal speeches of comrades of the Central Committee, which were not publicly announced, were prohibited from being published. The tabloids could not publish articles and news that opposed the People’s Liberation Army . They had to strictly guard the secrets of the Party and the country, and to prevent the leaks of information to the tabloids. The propaganda had to be focused on politics, and obscene and vulgar material was not allowed. “Political rumors” were banned from being published as well. The acceptance of tabloids published by the Red Guards and public organizations, the reproduction of articles from tabloids, and the regulations of

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tabloids all reflected the attitude of the Central Committee towards the tabloids. Since their appearance, the tabloids had publicized the theories, principles, and policies of the Cultural Revolution suggested by Mao Zedong. They played a vital role in motivating the people to participate in the Cultural Revolution. The general public could understand the documents, the leaders’ speeches, and different background information of the Cultural Revolution from the tabloids. Lin Biao and Jiang Qing adopted tabloids as their weapons to instigate and hoodwink the people. As different units of the central government were paralyzed, the leaders of the Cultural Revolution could obtain the information of the lower-class situation and the public emotion through tabloids, as well as the implementation of different principles and policies. Tabloids became the important media to convey significant ideas of the Cultural Revolution. Since the tabloids published the news that was not included and reported on by other newspaper and radio stations, they gained attention from the public organizations. Tabloids were an important tool for the public organizations to enhance their socio-political influence. After the central document was released on May 14, 1967, the problems of the tabloids mentioned in the document could not be resolved. Some of them became more serious. The dismissal and cancellation of the public organizations led to the downfall of their Cultural Revolution tabloids.

Discredit and distortion of the principle of the Party spirit The journalism business of the Party and the people, led by the CPC, was developed with its own fine practices through the long-term people’s struggle. One of the fine practices was the principle of the Party spirit. The Communist Party represents the interests of the people. The spirit of the Party and that of the people are consistent. The news business of the Party is that of the people. The practice and the goal of the CPC made the people trust the Party as well as the news business of the Party and the people. During the Cultural Revolution, due to the abnormal political life of the Party, especially the manipulation and the control of Lin Biao and the “Gang of Four,” the principle of the Party spirit of the news business was severely discredited and distorted. The Cultural Revolution was started from naming and criticizing cadres in newspapers, which violated the principle of democratic centralism of the Party. It was a reflection of the unhealthy political life of the central government. The cadres were randomly criticized by the newspapers. The orders and the slogans were confusing. The policies were not well-planned, and the boundary was

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blurred as well. Thus, the Cultural Revolution that swept through the whole society began. The principle of the Party spirit of the news business, which gained trust from the people, was seriously damaged and distorted, especially after the

power seizure within the journalism sector. A large number of managing cadres, who insisted on truth-seeking and were familiar with the principle of the Party

spirit of newspapers, as well as news cadres were expelled from news units. On the other hand, a group of opportunistic followers of Lin Biao and the Gang of

Four controlled the important news units and public opinion, which seriously destroyed the principle of the Party spirit of the people’s news business.

At the time of Mao Zedong’s meeting with the Red Guards in Tiananmen

Square on August 18, 1966, Mao was portrayed as the “commander” in different media platforms and Lin Biao was also projected as the “vice commander.” In

the news reports, Liu Shaoqi, as a member of the CPC Central Politburo and the

Chairman of the PRC, was neglected. In the news report on the meeting with the Red Guards in Tiananmen Square on August 18, the ranking of Liu Shaoqi

dropped from second to eighth in the leadership list. Among the 40 photos released in the newspapers, none of them showed Liu’s face clearly. Since then, the leadership list and its order in news reporting became one of the tools in the power seizure.

Since Chen Boda led the working group to the People’s Daily , he then gained

the authority to control the People’s Daily , even Red Flag and the People’s Liberation Army Daily . The status of the “Two Newspapers and One Magazine” changed. Some important articles reflecting the comments of Lin Biao, Jiang Qing, and the Central Cultural Revolution Group were published by the Two Newspapers and One Magazine at the same time. The editorials and the articles produced by the Two Newspapers and One Magazine became the conductors to unify public opinions and command the Party and the country. The Two Newspapers and One Magazine always revealed the “top commands” and the new slogans of movements said by Mao Zedong, as well as released the updated strategies for the movements. They were of a high level of authority, becoming the major channel for the cadres of all levels and the people to understand the “central spirit.” Therefore, different newspapers across the country had to reproduce the content of the Two Newspapers and One Magazine. Moreover, the whole country had to learn and implement the policies, even put on the slogans, let off firecrackers, and hold demonstrations to celebrate. These editorials and articles were often edited into booklets and distributed to the public for “learning purposes.” The “January Incident” in 1967 started the nationwide power seizure, which

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caused chaos on a larger scale. A large number of leaders and senior cadres were

criticized or attacked with their names mentioned. In some cases, their houses or properties were confiscated. The normal workflows of different government units, factories, schools, rural areas, or even the military forces were adversely

affected. The formation of two confronting parties, the party struggle, and the

armed struggle became more serious. A group of senior revolutionaries, such as

Tan Zhenlin and Chen Yi, stood up for the future of the Party and the people. During the Party meetings, they debated with Lin Biao, Jiang Qing, Kang Sheng,

Chen Boda, Zhang Chunqiao, and Yao Wenyuan on the issues of supporting the leadership of the Party, protecting the majority of the cadres, and stabilizing the

army. The debate was referred to as the “February Struggle.” Yet the struggle

of the senior revolutionaries was misrecognized as the “February Setback.” The cliques led by Lin Biao and Jiang Qing instigated students and the young people to demonstrate, confiscate others’ property, and smash the exhibitions, so as to start the propaganda against the February Setback. Besides, the senior revolutionaries had no opportunity and possibility to voice their opinions in the newspapers. They were in a disadvantaged position of being criticized and condemned.

On April 1, 1967, the fifth issue of Red Flag released Qi Benyu’s article of “great

criticism” — Patriot or Traitor — On the Counterrevolutionary Film “Sorrows of the Forbidden City.” This article showed the different comments on the film

that produced aggressive debate about the beginning of New China after just 10

years. The reason for this was to fight back against the “capitalist roaders” in the Party, who also had power in hand. As harshly stated in the article, the capital

roaders in the Party were “pseudo-revolutionaries” and “counterrevolutionaries.” They were the Khrushchovka in China. Later, on April 8, 1967, the People’s Daily

released the editorial “Raising the Criticizing Flag of Proletarian Revolution,”

and Guangming Daily released the editorial “Criticizing to Make the Downfall of China’s Khrushchovka.” On April 9, 1967, Wenhui Bao also included the

editorial “On Motivating the Great Union in the Great Criticism.” These editorials advocated a “serious final attack” on the capital roaders in the Party, which led

to an unprecedented revolutionary movement burying China’s Khrushchovka.

Since then, the “great criticism” against Liu Shaoqi, referred to as “China’s Khrushchovka,” was started in the newspaper circle in China. Liu Shaoqi was

then being seriously attacked and criticized without any democratic procedure, discussion, or decision in the Party. Liu himself was exploited from the opportunity

of argument and struggle. Liu Biao, Jiang Qing, and their followers controlled

the news units and other public opinion platforms, so they also possessed the

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privilege of “judgment by default.” This was the reckless trampling of democracy and the legal system. On May 8, People’s Daily published the article “The Key

Point of Self-Cultivation is to Betray the Proletarian Dictatorship,” which was

released by the editorial offices of Red Flag and the People’s Daily . It highlighted

the famous work of Liu Shaoqi — “Self-Cultivation of Members of the Chinese Communist Party.” Its work was interpreted as anti-Marxism–Leninism and anti-

Maoism tumor. The article groundlessly attacked Liu for opposing the proletarian dictatorship. Liu Shaoqi was accused of opposing the proletarian dictatorship, and intending to transform it into a capitalist dictatorship. As the criticism against Liu Shaoqi became more serious in newspapers, the witch-hunt against him within the Party and the military committee went to the next level. His enemies even

made up letters to extort him and they made groundless accusations to portray Liu Shaoqi as a traitor, a quisling, and a wicked person. During the Twelfth Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee, the wrong decision of expelling Liu Shaoqi from the Party was made.

Lin Biao and Jiangqing abused their privilege to further control public opinion

to initiate more large-scale chaos in the country. In July 1967, Lin Biao and Jiang Qing “directed” the Wuhan Incident so as to eliminate some of the capitalist

roaders in the army. They openly violated the order that a strike against the army

was not allowed since the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. On August 1, 1967, Red Flag published the article “Elimination of Some Capitalist Roaders in

the Army,” drafted by Guan Feng, which publicly proposed the elimination of some capitalist roaders that held power in the army. It indicated the high tide of attacking military units across the country. At the same time, Jiang Qing publicly

announced her support to the strategy of “attacking with reason, defending with force.”7 It worsened the armed struggles in different areas, which induced the

“all-round civil war.” The whole country was put into a more chaotic state. From July to September 1967, Mao Zedong visited North China, South Central China,

and East China, and gave a series of speeches. With his general approval of the Cultural Revolution, he delivered speeches which relieved the chaotic situation

at that time. During this period, Mao Zedong strictly criticized the editorials about the elimination of capitalist roaders in the army published in Red Flag on

August 1, 1967. Lin Biao, Jiang Qing, Kang Sheng, and Chen Boda colluded and

claimed that Wang Li and Guan Feng were the ones responsible for this. Thus,

pro-revolutionaries Wang Li, Guang Feng, and Qi Benyu, were quarantined for investigation in September 1967 and January 1968, respectively. The newspapers

also initiated a series of propaganda pieces on fighting “anoles” and “reptiles.” The

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elimination of capitalist roaders from the army, advocated by Lin Biao and Jiang Qing, was suspended due to the treatment to Wang Li, Guang Feng, and Qi Benyu. The publications also stopped this kind of propaganda. This indicated that only

Mao Zedong could limit and control the propaganda started by Lin Biao and Jiang

Qing. The propaganda was separate from the collective leadership of the Party, in other words, the principle of the Party spirit.

Since the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Lin Biao’s status had been

enhancing. His speech regarding the operation of the People’s Liberation Army

Daily and his thoughts on class struggle were circulated extensively. In addition to the central propaganda strategy of the “Two Newspapers and One Magazine,” Lin Biao’s so-called “newspaper-publishing thought” became very influential in the news business. His newspaper-publishing thought was contrary to the fine practice of the people’s news business. With “revolution” as the excuse, it severely destroyed and distorted the principle of the Party spirit of China’s news business. It also misrepresented Marxist ideas of masses, class, political party, and leader. Lin Biao exaggerated the individual function of Mao Zedong and deified him as the genius of all time. Mao’s speeches were regarded as the words of wisdom. Lin requested the newspapers to publish Mao’s quotes. He disconnected the relationship between Maoism and Marxism, and simplified Mao Zedong Thought. He advocated pragmatism, claiming that Maoism consisted of only “a few principles.” He also kept publicizing the positive experiences of learning Maoism and the model cases of flexible application. Therefore, the number of propaganda pieces of formalism and one-sided ideas in newspapers was increasing. The personality cult of Mao Zedong became more outstanding. Lin Biao also talked about the so-called historical experience and his advocacy of a coup d’etat. He overstated the danger of the restoration of counterrevolution, and he even connected the newspaper propaganda with the so-called “consolidation of power.” In fact, the clique of Lin Biao and Jiang Qing totally damaged the democratic centralism of the Party. They just adopted the news business as their counterrevolutionary propaganda tool. They requested the newspapers to serve the clique and to repel those who held opposite views. They even attacked and falsely incriminated the revolutionaries, gathered anti-Party power, as well as served the pro-clique parties. Lin Biao denied historical materialism and opposed the “Mass Line” — from the mass, to the mass. He refuted the newspaper’s role as a bridge connecting the central units and the people. He only emphasized that the newspaper was the invisible “commander” and “conductor.” The key mission of the upper-level

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administrative units was to monitor the newspapers, and to ensure that they published the slogans and quotations of the leaders. They were also responsible for providing “theories” and “references” for fabricating news and public opinions.

During the Cultural Revolution, in order to be in line with the “newspaper-

publishing thought” of Lin Biao, some newspapers advocated the extreme prorevolutionary thought, including fabricating groundless accusations to repel the

“enemies,” which caused adverse effects. The further development of the Cultural Revolution resulted in the nationwide dissemination of Lin Biao’s newspaper-

publishing thought. It induced more serious harm to the journalism sector of

China. The principle of the Party spirit of the news business was further destroyed and distorted.

Model Cases of News Reporting in the Period of Struggle, Criticism, and Rectification The 9th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, held in April 1969,

approved the achievements of the Cultural Revolution theoretically, systematically, and practically. As the close comrade and the successor of Mao Zedong, Lin Biao was written into the Constitution of the CPC. The key members of the Lin Biao-

Jiang Qing Clique and many of their trusted followers entered the Party Central Committee and the CPC Central Politburo. They were then granted higher

authority, which enabled them to further manipulate the public opinion platforms so as to promote the extreme pro-revolutionary thought.

Based on the discussion at the 9th National Congress of the CPC, the

news works were aimed at motivating the activities of struggle, criticism, and rectification.8 To start the movement of struggle, criticism, and rectification, the

“Two Newspapers and One Magazine” of the Central Committee repeatedly

stressed the importance of the great criticism of revolution. The so-called “great criticism” was a method of adopting the extreme pro-revolutionary ideas to groundlessly persecute others and to advocate metaphysics, one-sided ideas, and formalism in philosophy, history, education, journalism, art, economy, natural

science, and other research aspects. This kind of great criticism confused people’s

minds and destroyed the economic construction, which led to a devastation of the ideology and culture in China.

To motivate the development of struggle, criticism, and rectification, at the time

of the launching of great criticism, the newspapers also reported on some model

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cases. With the goal of “serving the line struggle,” the exaggerated, fabricated, and misleading reports on model cases dominated the layouts.

Model reports on the “six factories, two schools” The “six factories” refers to Beijing Xinhua Printing House, Beijing Knitwear

Factory, Beijing Feb. 7th Motor Company, Beijing Northern Suburbs Timber Factory, Nankou Motor Factory, and Beijing Chem No. 3 Factory. The “two schools” are Peking University and Tsinghua University.

In 1967, the Cultural Revolution became a nationwide movement in China. Its

rapid development defied expectations. The people in different regions formed two conflicting parties. There were more and more “capitalist roaders” being

identified. The situation was different from Mao Zedong’s estimation proposed at the Central Work Conference which ended on October 25, 1966 — “It may take two

months or more.” The number of people from the rival party was bigger than his estimates. The national economy and the cultural units were basically paralyzed.

Mao Zedong nearly secluded himself from the world later in life. Zhongnanhai

guards, 8341 Special Regiment,9 became his intelligence agents. He gained the

information of the movements in the Forbidden City from the Regiment. The

guards showed their absolute loyalty and would never betray Mao. Thus, Mao Zedong assigned the cadres and the guards of the Regiment to visit the factories

and the schools, where the movements were more active, to understand more about the situation. He also implemented the trial plans for the movements in these

factories and schools. It also gave rise to Chi Qun, the director of the propaganda

unit of the 8341 Special Regiment. He was also one of the trusted followers of the Gang of Four.

When the members of the 8341 Special Regiment visited the “six factories, two

schools,” they were viewed as the “relatives” of Mao Zedong — this was also what

was written in the news reports at that time. These ordinary factories suddenly became the advanced units of the Cultural Revolution because of those “relatives” sent by Mao Zedong.

The “two schools” were the headquarters of intellectuals. The 8341 Special

Regiment guided the students and the teachers to seriously criticize the direction of revisionism. Physical struggles were common at Tsinghua University and

Peking University. Under the control of the Jiang Qing Clique, the chaos could only be alleviated through action from the People’s Liberation Army.

On the other hand, the editors and the reporters in different news units, such

as the People’s Daily and Xinhua, entered the “world” of the Cultural Revolution.

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They had been taught by the “old school” establishment. They were facing the challenge of changing the world’s outlook, in other words, and receiving reeducation from the workers, peasants, and soldiers. There were two approaches of reeducation: physical labor and investigation. The investigation should first be focused on the “six factories, two schools.” Therefore, many reporters went to these units and lived with the laborers. They ate together, lived together, and practiced labor work together. They received reeducation, and at the same time, they were also reporting on the movements. There were special reporting groups formed by the reporters from Xinhua and the People’s Daily stationed in these units. In October 1968, the People’s Daily selected some of the staff for investigation. A letter was written to Yao Wenyuan and Chen Boda with the investigation topics: •• Introduction of the model cases of flexible applications of Mao Zedong Thought •• Introduction of the model cases of the stabilization of proletarian ruling and the revolutionization of the leadership •• Experiences of “struggle, criticism, and rectification” of various units •• Experiences of the reorganization and founding of the Party In October 1968, Mao Zedong passed his instructions through Chen Boda: One-third of the People’s Daily people had to practice labor work, one-third had to carry out investigation, and the remaining one-third had to continue working. This approach was considered a better one, which had to be continued. Mao also approved the work of the reporters of the People’s Daily . At the same time, Xinhua also conveyed the instructions in a timely manner. They sent reporters to these checkpoints to carry out political missions. From 1968 to 1976, these two major news units sent reporters to the six factories and two schools, and the reporters regarded the news reports on these units as a way to gauge their attitudes towards Mao Zedong. More reports meant more achievements, and vice versa. In such a political climate, the news reports on the six factories and two schools dominated the newspapers during the Cultural Revolution. Due to the frequent publicity, the six factories and two schools became the all-round and satisfactory model cases. For example, for Beijing Knitwear Factory, the People’s Daily released an 8,000word news dispatch on December 29, 1967 — “Red Sun Brightens Up Beijing Knitwear Factory.” Later, the People’s Daily published a full-page report on the elimination of cliquish attitudes from the factory in its second page on January 23, 1968. In the same year, the People’s Daily included the reports on the factory assisting the cadres to reform, the revolution construction of the revolutionary committee, and the acceleration of production on February 14, February 24, March

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18, April 1, and June 16. In six months, there were more than 26,000 words about Beijing Knitwear Factory in the People’s Daily . In addition, there were 11 reports on Tsinghua University in the People’s Daily in 1969, accounting for 44,000 words. The reports on the “six factories, two schools” were neither news stories nor news dispatches. Instead, they were more like the articles for the great criticism. The key experience of the “six factories, two schools” signaled the clearing of class ranks. In 1968, Mao Zedong made the instruction based on the article “The Experience of the Military Management of Beijing Xinhua Printing House Launching Struggle by Instigating the Masses.” He said that the article was the most well-written among the similar materials he had seen, so he suggested circulating it across the country. In early 1969, the Central Committee released the “Report on the Policy of the Implementation of Reeducation to the Intellectuals ,” drafted by the laborers stationed in Tsinghua University and the propaganda team of the People’s Liberation Army. In the same year, the Central Committee also released the documents about Beijing Northern Suburbs Timber Factory implementing the Party’s policies of the capitalist class. The spirit of these documents started to be manifested in the open reports on the “six factories, two schools.” The documents aimed at making an ultimate clearance of the so-called Black Five Categories of people, special agents, traitors, capitalist roaders, and the remnants of the Kuomintang which were all being identified in different ways during the Cultural Revolution. In 1969, after the 9th People’s National Congress, the experience of Beijing Xinhua Printing House reorganizing and founding the Party was reported. The reports introduced its approach of “replacing the old with the new.” In other words, the factory took the clearance of class ranks to the next level. It repelled the so-called confronting individuals from the Party. Led by Beijing Xinhua Printing House, the activity of clearing the class ranks became much more large-scale. Many innocents were persecuted. The policy of “giving a way out” publicized in the reports on the “six factories, two schools” was actually sending the ones with opposite viewpoints towards the Cultural Revolution to May Seventh Cadre Schools for reeducation. With the historical factors of the Cultural Revolution, the function of public opinion could not be underestimated. Even a newspaper or an article could put China in a chaotic state. The “six factories, two schools” cleared the class ranks with the assistance of the propaganda of the non-stop struggles with the enemies in different classes. In the later stage of the Cultural Revolution, the Jiang Qing Clique attempted to overthrow Mao at a time when his health was deteriorating. Jiang Qing was too

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impatient to use the name of Mao Zedong to uphold her status. She acted like she was the one who was most loyal to Mao Zedong in front of people. In fact, she just made use of the respect from the people in the “six factories, two schools” to Mao

Zedong, and transformed the “six factories, two schools” into her “checkpoints.”

In 1976, when Mao Zedong passed away, she frequently went to Tsinghua University, Beijing Xinhua Printing House, and Beijing Feb. 7th Motor Company to attend different activities and to deliver speeches.

Yet by then Mao Zedong’s criticism against the Gang of Four was already

circulating in society. The reporters at the checkpoints also expressed their disappointment or even anger of the acts of Jiang Qing. They were no longer as

blind as they had been at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. They hoped that the cursed revolution would soon come to an end. The newspapers did not publicize Jiang Qing’s activities at all. With the downfall of the Gang of Four, the extreme pro-revolutionary propaganda of the “six factories, two schools” faded.

Reports on the model cases of the line struggle consciousness At the time near the 9th People’s National Congress, the newspapers emphasized reporting on a group of model individuals, such as the Party members, cadres, and

class warriors, who were regarded as line struggle conscious. The cases included

the warriors that Chairman Mao was waving hands to, the proletarian red sentries,

the good cadres that were unconditionally loyal to the revolutionary direction of Mao Zedong, as well as the courageous rural cadres. Among these “models,” some

were just fake, or even “pseudo-models.” Some of them were really hardworking

and upright comrades. Some of them died in accidents. Yet some leaders just wanted to hide the truths and escape from the investigation by exaggerating and praising the models. Besides, under the control of the extreme pro-revolutionary

direction, the publicity for the model individuals was greatly distorted. It overstated their loyalty to Mao Zedong so as to encourage the personality cult.

The reports stressed the line struggle consciousness of the model individuals

should be the main focus, while this kind of content was always exaggerated and fabricated. For example, in January 1970, all the newspapers generally published

the news dispatch “Support Revolution till Achieving Communism,” which was about Wang Guofu, a low-level cadre in the rural area of Beijing. He was actually a

good cadre. As described in the news dispatch, he was concerned about the people in a selfless manner. He kept working when he was sick. These were basically

the facts. However, the content about “line struggle” in the news dispatch was

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totally fabricated. For instance, Wang Guofu once learned and executed the rural

management approach of “fixing farm output quotas for each household.” It was considered to be an effective approach in managing outputs. Yet, it was vividly written in the news dispatch that Wang Guofu struggled with the capitalist roaders

in the people’s commune. It was described that he was opposed to the promotion

of this “disappointing capitalist experience.” Moreover, when the production brigade called for meetings with the cadres, they would have dinner together if it was too late. Wang Guofu joined the dinner, and he once left due to other business. The dispatch showed that Wang Guofu attended the dinner meeting held by the

production brigade, but Wang Guofu refused to treat and so he left. Once this news dispatch was published, the Beijing Revolutionary Committee released the document expressing that Wang Guofu was a role model. It even founded an exhibition hall in his hometown. The acts of Wang Guofu were even adapted to be cultural programs being broadcast across the country. The confronting cadres

mentioned in the news dispatch were criticized and attacked. This piece of news

was actually aimed at criticizing Liu Shaoqi and serving the so-called “former Beijing Municipal Committee.” It was an important article emphasized by the person-in-charge of the Beijing Municipal Committee. This kind of so-called

model reports for “serving the line struggle” not only misrepresented the people mentioned, but also defamed the news business.

The Dazhai Brigade of Xiyang Prefecture, Shanxi, was also a model case

emphasized in the Cultural Revolution. Since 1953, when the Dazhai Brigade

started the agricultural collectivization, they instigated the people to develop the

infrastructure to change the agricultural production factors under the leadership of

the Party, becoming an advanced unit developing the rural area. In the summer of 1963, a heavy rainstorm swept through Dazhai, and many properties were destroyed.

The Party Branch led the people to be self-reliant in order to struggle and reconstruct the area. Moreover, in order to give the priority to the units that were much more

in need, they declined the rescue goods, food, and funds from the state, showing their virtuous spirit. The comrades that belonged to the municipal and prefectural

committees also summarized the experience of Dazhai and reported it to the Central Committee. During the 3th National People’s Congress, held between late 1964 and

early 1965, Premier Zhou Enlai concluded the general experience of Dazhai in the Government Work Report : political thought principle, self-reliant and hardworking spirit, and the Communist style of patriotism and collectivism. The central government proposed the “Learn from Dazhai in agriculture” campaign. After 1964, different media platforms also reported and broadcast the experience of Dazhai.

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Since the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, the management of Dazhai

Brigade used the idea “Dazhai is a red flag established by Chairman Mao” as their

political capital. They actively supported and participated in the rebellion and

attained the Party administrative power of Xiyang Prefecture. They even entered the Party focus group of the provincial revolutionary committee. The three-level

senior cadres from the country committee, the prefectural committee, and the provincial committee, including the ones that provided assistance to Dazhai, were defamed as the “anti-Dazhai vanguards.” They were criticized and attacked until

the imprisonment. The leaders of Dazhai Brigade even attacked and smeared the production quota mechanism when they were meeting the cadres from other

regions, who went to Dazhai to have on-site learning. They doubted the so-called “labor vouchers” and “material incentives,” instead, they advocated the production

allocation mechanism used in Dazhai, which was based on equalitarianism. They

also criticized the proper domestic sideline production and the industrial sideline production as being the manifestations of capitalism. At the same time, they set up exhibitions and released written materials to mold Dazhai into a model case that was being persecuted by the revisionist direction. They strictly controlled

the news reports on Dazhai with a lot of limitations. They assigned special teams to standardize all the information released, even the weather data could only be reported with approval. Furthermore, they claimed that the news units, which had been actively publicizing the experience of Dazhai, distorted the spirit of Dazhai,

adopted capitalism to suppress Communism, and used the approach of Dazhai to become anti-Dazhai. Under the ruling of the extreme pro-revolutionary thought and the political factors, the news business also wanted to weaken the anti-

Dazhai image. So different media platforms put emphasis on reporting the anticapitalist and anti-revisionism experience of Dazhai according to the direction set by the leaders of Dazhai. In this way, Dazhai was transformed from a production

model case into a political one; from an advanced model of agriculture into an extreme pro-revolutionary model. As there were more and more anti-revisionism and anti-capitalism struggles in Dazhai, the news reports on Dazhai were more concentrated and active. Since its popularity, the Dazhai Brigade received a large amount of investment and subsidies from the state due to its special status. The Brigade also unconditionally requested resources from enterprises, units, and

the army. In addition to the hard work of the Dazhai Brigade, Dazhai changed a

lot and its agricultural output reached a higher level as well. However, all these

outcomes were regarded as the results of the rapid development of the “line struggle” in the news reports. It was also emphasized that five kinds of people had

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to be eliminated from the leadership: deteriorating individuals, capitalist roaders, democrats, non-conscientious individuals, and lazy cowards. The class struggle was further expanded in the rural areas. Yet while reporting and publicizing the

“restructuring” and “reorganizing” experience of Dazhai, the media platforms also praised and supported many unscientific activities. To protect the “red flag”

of Dazhai, different media platforms produced many exaggerated and misleading news reports on the agriculture outputs and “achievements” of Dazhai under the supervision of the Dazhai Brigade.

One of the characteristics of the news reports on the Dazhai model case is that

Dazhai was portrayed as multifunctional and appropriate. Dazhai was not only an agricultural model case, but also an indicator of culture, hygiene, the one-child policy, broadcasting, the people’s militia, theorectical learning, housing, water

conservancy projects, and other things. Dazhai possessed the so-called experiences

in different aspects. Every time there was a new political movement, Dazhai could follow the goal of the movement and apply its “experiences.” Although it seemed that Dazhai’s experiences and news changed from time to time, the key ideas included:

(1) To continuously and manually initiate “class struggle” by regarding the cadres

and the masses as revisionists, even the trivial matters in the daily life of the public were criticized groundlessly;

(2) To advocate the continual reform of production relationships; (3) To constantly weaken and block capitalist ideas, cancel the domestic sideline productions, and ban the developments of rural industrial sideline production and rural markets;

(4) To constantly advocate equalitarianism, criticize the idea “to each according to his contribution,” and oppose production quota management and quota remuneration; and

(5) To emphasize standardization in a one-sided manner, which limited the freedom of thought and the freedom of living of the people.

The Dazhai Brigade became the model case of pseudo-Socialism and the Socialism of “poverty.”

Model reports on “anti-trend” and “anti-restoration” To boycott Premier Zhou Enlai’s criticisms of the extreme pro-revolutionary high

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tide and to oppose the “All-round Rectification” led by Deng Xiaoping, the Gang of Four conspired to form a “cabinet” for their intended overthrow of power at

the time of the 4th National People’s Congress. They deliberately collected and fabricated some model cases of “anti-trend” and “anti-restoration” and had them published in the newspapers.

On April 3, 1973, the State Council approved and released the “Comments on

the Admission Work of High Schools in 1973 ,” in which it was proposed that the outstanding workers, peasants, and soldiers with two-year practical experience should be selected for universities, with the recommendations and appraisals from the public. Based on the acceptable political factors, the cultural level became the focus and cultural assessment would be carried out. It was an approach to understand the ability of the referred individuals in mastering basic knowledge, analyzing problems, and problem-solving. At the same time, it was important to avoid an overemphasis on marks. The Jiang Qing Clique was very resentful of these suggestions. They defamed the cultural assessment as a shortcoming of university admission. The emphasis of intellectual education and cultural level was regarded as a capitalist idea. The key members of the Gang of Four, Mao Yuanxin, who was the Liaoning Provincial Committee Secretary, and the Jiang Qing Clique conspired together to find an “excuse” to condemn the cultural assessment. In June 1973, there was a candidate sitting for the cultural assessment named Zhang Tiesheng, in Xincheng, Liaoning. He attained 38 marks in language, 61 marks in mathematics, and 6 marks in science. He thought his results were not satisfactory enough to be admitted to university. So he wrote a letter at the back of the examination paper, imploring the leaders to consider his application. In the letter, he condemned others as jobless bookworms and selfish university fanatics, and boosted himself as a hardworking person, who would work for the people selflessly with an excellent performance. In addition, he also claimed that entering university was his dream since childhood. Mao Yuanxin felt very impressed by Zhang Tiesheng’s act. He polished the letter and added the editor’s note, then had it published on the front page of Liaoning Daily on July 19. As written in the editor’s note, although Zhang Tiesheng handed in a blank examination paper in the cultural assessment, his letter at the back of the examination paper was inspiring. He made a few suggestions on the direction of the admission to universities, which were very constructive and inspiring. On August 2, Shanghai’s Wenhui Bao copied Zhang Tiesheng’s “answer” and the editor’s note from Liaoning Daily . They were published along with the editor’s note: “We hope that the comrades on different battle lines also discuss this issue.” Wenhui Bao even opened the column “What

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Kinds of People Should Be Selected to Universities” since August 4. It was aimed at initiating discussions and criticizing the top priority of intellectual education.

On August 10, the People’s Daily also published Zhang Tiesheng’s “answer sheet”

on the front page with its editor’s note. Zhang Tiesheng was suddenly praised by the Jiang Qing Clique as the hero of anti-trends. Zhang Tiesheng was admitted to

the university and the Party because of his “blank examination paper.” He became the Party Committee’s Vice Secretary of Liaoning Tielin Agricultural College, and was then selected as a representative of the National People’s Congress and a

member of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee. The newspapers

focused on condemning the cultural assessment based on reporting the model case of Zhang Tiesheng. The cultural assessment was said to be the restoration of the

“old” higher education entrance examination. It was a counterrevolutionary idea to the education reform, a capitalist class revenge on the proletarian class, and the counterattack of the capitalist class.

At the same time, Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan found other model

individuals, who opposed the idea that “intellectual education was the first

priority,” in Shanghai. A student from the Chinese Department of Shanghai

Normal University, before graduation, talked about some thoughts and faced the

thought struggle regarding graduation. The trusted followers of Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan in Shanghai found these materials very valuable, and polished

them into the article “Conversations Record” — “model material” opposing the intellectual education as the first priority. However, this student graduated and

was assigned to work in Northeast China. The trusted followers of the Gang of Four in Shanghai sent someone to take the flight to the Northeast to find the student for his agreement. Thus, on November 21, 1973, Shanghai’s Wenhui Bao

and Liberation Daily released this “model case,” and started the discussion in different battle lines of education, culture, news, publishing, sports, hygiene, etc. The discussion lasted for more than three months. There were a total of 30 groups

of articles, accounting for 170 articles. This echoed with the propaganda for the “blank examination paper” hero.

In order to deny the examination system, the media platforms criticized it as

the “rightist restoration of the revisionist education direction.” Some newspapers

like the People’s Daily even extensively reported the “Ma Zhenfu Incident.” Zhang

Yuqin, a secondary two female student, from Ma Zhenfu People’s Commune in

Tanghe Prefecture, Henan Province, left her examination paper blank when sitting for the English examination. She even wrote a bit of doggerel saying that it was

useless to learn English at the back of the examination paper. Thus she was then

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criticized by her teachers. In addition to other factors, Zhang Yuqin drowned

herself. Regarding this unfortunate issue, the Party committee of the people’s commune, the provincial committee, and the prefectural Cultural Educational

Bureau carried out investigation immediately and handled the case appropriately.

Five months later, Jiang Qing was informed of this tragedy from a brief report, and

she used that for manipulation. She assigned Chi Qun and Xie Jingyi to investigate again. They wrote a report defaming Ma Zhenfu Secondary School as a “Fascist

dictatorship,” “strangling the proletarian education reform,” and “revenge on the

proletarian class.” They insisted that Zhang Yuqin was persecuted to death because of the revisionist educational direction. On January 31, 1974, the CPC Central

Committee copied the report written by Chi Qun and Xie Jingyi, and requested the Henan Provincial Committee to review the case seriously, and handle the adverse consequences brought up by the revisionist education reform. The People’s Daily

and other newspapers across the country also published about this event, and condemned it as a concrete example of the restoration of the revisionist education reform. Since then, the newspapers began to publicize more about the restoration

of the revisionist education reform, the primary and secondary schools across the country entered a chaotic state again.

In September 1973, a primary five student in Haidian District, Beijing, with the

assistance of his parents, wrote a letter to Beijing Daily on October 21 due to some conflicts with the teachers. The letter was then posted on the newspaper’s internal

publications. Chi Qun and Xie Jingyi planned to use this as a tool for manipulation.

They met this primary school student in person and gave him encouragement and support. They even published the letter opposing the respect to teachers and his diary abstracts selected by the newspaper, under the headline “A Letter and

Diary Abstracts from A Primary School Student,” in Beijing Daily on December 12.

As mentioned in the editor’s note of the newspaper, the primary school student

proposed a solution to a big problem in education reform based on the anti-trend revolutionary spirit. The problem was that the revisionist ideas on the education

battle line were not thoroughly cleared, and some of the old values still existed.

Other issues were also listed in the editor ’s note, including the relationship between politics and business, the “Up to the mountains, down to the countryside”

campaign,10 the admission of workers, peasants, and soldiers Army to universities, the May Seventh Directive , the open-door schooling, the examination system, the

thought reform of teachers, the working class leadership of schools, etc. It was believed that “there were serious struggles in these issues, which required more

hard work.” It was also reckoned that one should be aware of the restoration of

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revisionism and should oppose the “advocator of retrogression” of the education reform. The People’s Daily , on December 28, reproduced “A Letter and Diary Abstracts from A Primary School Student,” along with the editor’s note. It was written in the editor’s note that this primary school student dared to question the revisionist education direction, and proposed to pay much more attention to the struggle of “two classes, two lines, and two kinds of thought.” With the extensive and repetitive coverage of different media platforms across the country, this primary school student became another “anti-trend” hero opposing the idea of respecting teachers. Due to the blind opposition to the “examination” and the “respect to teachers,” the order of schools was interrupted again, which aroused attention from different sectors in society. Although the Gang of Four used different propaganda tools to praise this primary school student as an “anti-trend” hero, there were still some people with other viewpoints of the issue. Three comrades from the Inner Mongolia Production and Construction Corps wrote a letter to this primary school student with the pen name “Wang Yazhuo 王亞卓.” They admonished her not to be abused by others. The Gang of Four initiated criticism with this letter. On February 11, 1974, the People’s Daily published the student’s reply, which was actually “tailor-made” by the Gang of Four, with the editor’s note. The three comrades were then regarded as the allies of counterrevolutionary restoration and encountered cruel persecution. In order to boycott and interfere with Zhou Enlai’s rectification of order, restore necessary rules and regulations, guarantee the normal operation of the industrial production, the Gang of Four also searched for model cases of anti-restoration in the industrial and agricultural productions. On February 1, 1974, the People’s Daily reproduced a big-character poster “Being the Dock Owner instead of a Slave,” released by some laborers from the No. 5 loading area of the Shanghai Port Authority and published by Shanghai’s Wenhui Bao and Liberation Daily . Since then, they started to criticize the so-called “emphasis on tonnage, output value, and margin,” which was then further developed into “no production for incorrect line.” The Gang of Four even supported the “Worker Theoretical Group” via news reporting to participate in the “Criticize Lin Biao, Criticize Confucius” movement, and in criticizing “restoration,” as well as “retrogression.” All these adversely affected both the industrial and the agricultural productions, which seriously interrupted the development of the national economy. Between October and November 1974, the Gang of Four orchestrated the so-called “Fengqing 11 Incident.” The principle of developing ocean freight was formulated by Zhou Enlai based on the national conditions when he was

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conducting the work of the State Council. It was approved by Mao Zedong. The key idea was to focus on both liner manufacturing and procurement. It was

aimed at basically ending the situation of taking foreign liners on lease. The local manufacturing of liners would be the focus of the principle. The lease of foreign liners was only adopted when the local manufacturing speed could not catch up

with the demand. It was important to make sure the initiative of ocean freight was

controlled domestically. It was also the appropriate principle of developing the self-reliant ocean freight business. In order to attract Zhou Enlai, the Gang of Four

condemned this principle as an act of being slavish to the Western countries. On September 13, 1974, Fengqing, the ocean liner manufactured in China, finished its

journey and was back to Wusongkou, Shanghai. The Gang of Four just grabbed

this opportunity for their conspiracy plan. They assigned more than 20 reporters to visit the ocean liner. On October 12, Shanghai’s Wenhui Bao and Liberation

Daily published detailed coverage on the Fengqing ocean liner on the front pages under the banner headlines. They also released articles written by commentators. As mentioned in these articles, liner manufacturing and the foreign procurement were regarded as two polarized ideas, in which Zhou Enlai was insinuated as betraying the country and being slavish to the Western countries. The Gang of Four even abused this issue to launch an attack on the State Council, which was led by Zhou Enlai, at the conference of the CPC Central Politburo. They forced the members of the Politburo to declare their stands on the spot. The Gang of Four also fabricated different opinions in newspapers as part of their plan. The 11th issue of Red Flag , released on November 1, 1974, published the articles “On the Struggle between Patriotism and Treason in the Northern Song Dynasty” written by Luo Siding, and “Elated 32,000 Nautical Miles,” with the undersigned “The Party Branch of Fengqing.” Yao Wenyuan added the editor’s note for the latter article pointing out that it was a powerful criticism against capitalist thought, such as being slavish to the Western countries. It was believed that the meaning of the article was not limited to the shipbuilding industry and the ocean freight business. Within a month, Shanghai’s Wenhui Bao and Liberation Daily published stories about this incident on their front page three times, with articles of more than 200,000 words. Additionally, different forms of propaganda were also adopted to publicize the incident, including stories, television programs, films, and reports among other things. At that time, the Central Committee was preparing for the selection of the leadership of the 4th National People’s Congress. The Gang of Four used the Fengqing Incident to oppose Zhou Enlai so as to achieve their conspiracy

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of “forming the cabinet.” However, Mao Zedong considered that the Fengqing Incident was a trivial matter and it was being solved. He criticized Jiang Qing and the other people involved. Thus, the conspiracy was not accomplished.

Review of model cases reporting Many of the news reports on model cases during the Cultural Revolution were produced by the Gang of Four with hidden agendas. These reports were the tools for their political purpose, which were usually the “weapons” for persecuting the confronting individuals. The dominance of these news reports originated from the political conspiracy of the Gang of Four, as well as the long-term simple understanding of model cases reporting in the news business. Commending advanced individuals and other model cases via newspapers and other media platforms had been one of the effective ways to facilitate different kinds of works. It was also one of the important functions and missions of the journalism business of the Party and that of the people. Yet advanced individuals and model experiences should be produced through the people’s struggles, instead of certain kinds of political factors. The recognition of advanced individuals and model cases should be based on practical, comprehensive, and scientific research. History proved that the advanced model cases fabricated for a political purpose were not convincing at all. Advanced models, like other things, are not constant, but ever-changing. They have to be analyzed from two different angles. One should not ignore the shortcomings by only emphasizing the strengths. It is important to conclude the experience from the model cases. Apart from recognizing the achievements, it is necessary to find out the difference for improvement. However, when important changes happen in both of the subjective and objective factors, which make them to be no longer advanced, one should not protect the status as a model case. Falsification and lies are not acceptable as well. Only truths are accepted in reporting and introducing the advanced model cases. Reporting, introducing, and promoting model experiences should be practical. One should not jump to conclusions at the very beginning. The first step goes to the analysis of the factors that triggered the advanced model experiences. One should identify the special experiences and common phenomena. It was more effective to consider different demands and targets when promoting the advanced experiences. Rigid application and coercion would not be effective. Any stereotyping of the reports on model cases is inappropriate and harmful. Different regions, tasks, and conditions would produce different model cases.

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Those “multi-functional” model cases are usually exaggerated and falsified ones.

Journalists should feel passionate towards all the new matters in daily life. They have to be good at discovering and summarizing different kinds of model cases,

instead of just following suit without critical thinking. Moreover, journalists should not spread “rumors,” as well as politically accuse others groundlessly. Any administrative suppressing strategy is not acceptable. News reporting should oppose and boycott, instead of encourage “misleading direction.”

Reporting advanced model cases was always related to the reporting

of advanced individuals. The advanced individuals from the masses were

considered worth-introducing. Yet this kind of reporting should be factual and

realistic, without any exaggeration and falsified elements. Furthermore, the role and the function of the advanced individual in the people’s struggles should be

appropriately portrayed. They should not be described as extraordinary heroes. At the same time, journalists should not use the inferiority of the masses to highlight their advancement. The propaganda for the advanced individuals should not

only be practical, but also be thoughtful. News reporting should be a tool to help connect the advanced individuals with the masses, but not a weapon making them conceited and complacent, and disconnected from the people.

Extreme Pro-revolutionary Propaganda and Anti–Extreme Revolutionary Struggle in Journalism The Gang of Four’s damage to the anti–extreme pro-revolutionary struggle In 1971, since the Lin Biao Incident when Lin Biao betrayed the country and escaped, there had been important changes in the political environment in China.

The cruel truth of the Lin Biao Incident shocked both the Party and the people, which led to a standstill of the revolutionary fanaticism. After the Lin Biao

Incident, with the support from Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai started to conduct the daily operation of the Central Committee. Although Zhou Enlai was facing a very

tough situation, he still succeeded in rectifying and strengthening the management of industrial enterprises, as well as implementing the appropriate rural financial

policies. These improved both the industrial and agricultural productions. Besides,

Zhou Enlai put much effort in carrying out the Party’s cadre policies. Some of the senior cadres, who were persecuted and attacked, had their reputations resumed and jobs assigned. He also achieved breakthroughs in the external work. The

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international status of China was being gradually improved via criticizing the

extreme pro-revolutionary thought and anarchism. There were turning points in different aspects. When conducting the daily operation of the Central Committee,

Zhou Enlai also asked about the work of the People’s Daily and advocated the

criticism against the extreme pro-revolutionary thought in the news propaganda. Thus it could overcome the harms caused by pro-revolutionary mistakes in economy, organization, diplomacy, and other aspects, and eliminate the damages

caused by the interference of the Lin Biao Clique. This correct approach proposed by Zhou Enlai was advocated and supported by many cadres of the news sector.

On January 1, 1972, as pointed out in the editorial of the People’s Daily , it

was necessary to continue to exalt the hardworking and self-reliant spirit, to fully implement the principle that said to: “grasp revolution, promote production,

work, promote work, promote combat readiness, promote work, promote combat readiness,” and to make an all-out effort, aim high, and achieve greater, faster, better, and more economical results in accomplishing national plans. To reverse

the wrong direction of not “grasping production and business” caused by the

phony politics advocated by the Lin Biao Clique, Red Flag , in the issue published

on April 1, released an article titled “Correct Understanding and Handling of the Relationship Between Politics and Business.” It was mentioned in this article that

the more understanding of the objective pattern in the business operation, the

more in-depth the skill researched, the more contributions to the people. It was also more beneficial to the Socialist revolution and construction. The inconsistent

research on the business and the learning of culture and techniques for revolution was not in line with Mao Zedong’s revolutionary direction. The politics striking

against Socialist production and business was totally not a proletarian one, but only

landlord capitalist politics and revisionist politics. This kind of propaganda for the development of economy, production, and education was welcomed by the public.

On April 24, the People’s Daily released the editorial “Scientific Criticism

for Improvement,” in which it was pointed out that it was necessary to strictly distinguish two kinds of conflicts different in nature. The correct approach of

“union—criticism—union” should be adopted to treat all the cadres, who made mistakes. It was also emphasized that the senior cadres, who came across long-

term revolutionary battles, were the invaluable treasure of the Party. The May 1 Red Flag also released an article specifically on the principle “scientific criticism for improvement.” It stressed that one should not only focus on the individual cases of cadres, but also their overall history and performance. It was significant to liberate cadres in an appropriate way. This kind of propaganda was important to

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the liberation of cadres and their resumption of duties.

On October 1, 1972, the People’s Daily , Red Flag , and the People’s Liberation

Army Daily jointly published the editorial for the National Day “Seizure of the New Victory,” which pointed out that it was necessary to facilitate the development of Socialist construction, and to implement various proletarian policies, including the cadre policy, the intellectual policy, and the economic policy proposed by Mao Zedong. The goal of “being Socialist and professional” was advocated. At the same time, one should also learn the business operation, culture, and techniques for the revolution under the rule of proletarian politics. In the summer of 1972, Zhou Enlai proposed that before the People’s Daily established its leading authority, the cadres should form a team for the review of the blueprint and the implementation of collective leadership. Additionally, the cadres should consist of different generations. Neither juniors nor seniors were effective. However, the “agents” of Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, and Yao Wenyuan, in the People’s Daily spread the criticism against the extreme prorevolutionary thought, with backing from the Jiang Qing Clique. In the spring of 1972, as invited by the People’s Daily , Zhou Peiyuan, a renowned physicist and the Vice President of Peking University, wrote the article “Thought on the Education Reform — Integration of Science Subjects in University” based on Zhou Enlai’s guidance. It was meant to be published in the column “How To Run Socialist Universities” of the People’s Daily . This article pinpointed the existing problems of high schools. It was important to emphasize and strengthen the research on the basic study of natural science. Therefore, it was proposed that the science subjects were aimed at nurturing the talents, who were well-trained with knowledge in natural science, for the existing production demands, as well as the ones for the future development of both production and the scientific research of the country. Thus, the teaching of fundamental courses had to be emphasized to show the focus of the research on the basic theoretical study of science subjects. In May 1972, the editorial department of the People’s Daily solicited opinions from the representatives participating in the Joint Universities and Foreign Language Schools Education Reform Forum. The comrades sitting for the forum all agreed that the release of the article was necessary as it was beneficial to the acceleration of the education reform of science subjects and the activation of the thought of teachers. Yet Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan interrupted the release of the article by every possible means. They first used the “request of authoritative opinions from Shanghai” as an excuse, and then they claimed that it would cause conflicts and it was not suitable timing so

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as to delay the publication date. With the repetitive requests from the comrades of the People’s Daily , Yao Wenyuan ordered that the article was to be published by Guangming Daily . After its release on October 6, 1972, Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan assigned people to Peking University to secretly investigate the “origin” of the article. They also ordered that Zhou Peiyuan had “back-up.” Yet they still insisted on criticizing him. They even instigated Shanghai’s Wenhui Bao to abuse the names of some teaching staff as well as workers, peasants, and soldiers to release a series of articles attacking the general viewpoint of Zhou Peiyuan’s article. They advocated that fundamental theories were boosted by the capitalist class, which were biased ideas left over by the “old” education system that had to be abandoned. Only Marxist ideas could be regarded as fundamental theories. Based on the criticism against the extreme pro-revolutionary thought proposed by Premier Zhou Enlai, the National Planning Conference, the Security Work Conference, and other science meetings, held between the end of 1971 and the fall of 1972, considered the criticisms against anarchism and the extreme prorevolutionary thought as the top issues. In August 1972, Zhou Enlai delivered his speech criticizing the People’s Daily and that other units were not doing enough to criticize the extreme pro-revolutionary thought. He even intensively mentioned that the failure of the criticism against the extreme pro-revolutionary thought would cause the rise of the rightist thought. In September, he again pointed out that the failure of the criticism against the extreme pro-revolutionary thought indicated that the people were not courageous enough to follow the correct “line.” According to the opinion of Zhou Enlai, in October 14, the People’s Daily published the article titled “Anarchism as the Counterrevolutionary Means of Pseudo-Marxist Hypocrites”, with the undersigned “Longyan 龍岩” (Theoretical Team of Heilongjiang Province). This article was about the struggle between Marxism and anarchism. It was pointed out that the Lin Biao Clique adopted anarchism to make trouble, they were the “chief offenders” promoting anarchism. Their goal was to direct “struggle, criticism, and rectification” to an evil road, which totally destroyed the Socialist labor discipline, disorganized the Socialist production, and shook the proletarian dictatorship. Besides, the article was also published along with the articles introducing Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin, the father of anarchism, and his works, as well as the afterthought articles of Lenin’s work “Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder.” All these articles formed a page in the newspaper, which highlighted the controversial issue of anarchism and the opposition to the extreme pro-revolutionary thought. Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and their followers had long

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been opposing Zhou Enlai’s idea of criticizing the extreme pro-revolutionary

thought and anarchism in the “Criticism against Lin Biao and Rectification” movement. They pinpointed the articles in this page of the People’s Daily to

initiate troubles. On November 4, Wenhui Bao News , the internal publication of

Wenhui Bao , suddenly released a so-called “labor meeting record,” which was edited by Shanghai Municipal Committee’s writing team and approved by Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan. It was to attack Longyan’s article published in the People’s Daily . On November 24, Wenhui Bao was ordered to publish another issue of Wenhui Bao News , in which some of the articles on Longyan’s work in different newspapers regarded as opposite ideas were listed. Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, and Yao Wenyuan condemned that Longyan’s article was a tumor, and inquired about liabilities. At the same time, they seriously attacked revisionism and the restoration of the inclination to the rightists in the newspaper. Some comrades in the People’s Daily showed their disappointment by directly writing to Mao Zedong. Yet they were criticized by Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, and Yao Wenyuan as extreme rightists, who subverted the central power of the Party. They even uncovered their “crimes” and criticized them, and then sent them to rural areas for labor reeducation. The “criticism” further stabilized the status of the Jiang Qing Clique as the agent of the newspaper. On December 17, 1972, when Mao Zedong mentioned in his speech that Lin Biao was an extreme rightist and a revisionist, who aimed to subvert the Party and conspired with others to commit treason. Thus, the Jiang Qing Clique adopted this as their weapon and only allowed the criticism against Lin Biao’s extreme rightist thought instead of the extreme pro-revolutionary ideas. On New Year’s Day of 1973, as emphasized in the People’s Daily , Red Flag , and the People’s Liberation Army Daily ’s editorial “New Year Message,” the focus of the “Criticism against Lin Biao and the Rectification” movement was to criticize the extreme rightist nature of the counter revolutionary revisionist direction. Since then, Zhou Enlai encountered more difficulties in rectifying the order and implementing the policies.

Prevalence of historical “irony” in newspapers The 10th National People’s Congress of the CPC was held in August 1973. The

congress continued the erroneous theory of continuing the revolution under

the proletarian dictatorship. At the same time, it was mistakenly believed that the political direction and organization proposed at the 9th People’s National Congress was correct. Wang Hongwen and Kang Sheng were elected as the vice

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chairmen of the CPC Central Committee; Zhang Chunqiao became the member of

the Standing Committee of the Politburo; Jiang Qing and Yao Wenyuan were the committee members of the Politburo. Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan,

and Wang Hongwen formed the “Gang of Four” in the CPC Central Politburo.

They made use of their authority to initiate public opinions for their conspiracy of overthrowing the Party and seizing power through recklessly controlling and manipulating different media platforms.

In May 1973, in the Central Work Conference, Mao Zedong proposed issuing

criticism against Confucius. On July 4, he again brought up in a conversation

that both Lin Biao and the Kuomintang advocated following Confucianism

and opposing Legalism. This made the issue of “Confucius, Confucianism, and Legalism” become a political one, and gave an excuse to the Gang of Four to initiate troubles. After September 1973, the articles against Confucianism,

orchestrated by the Gang of Four, started to be released in Beijing, Shanghai,

and then across the country. These articles did not directly pinpoint Lin Biao but instead they were critical of Confucius, the Duke of Zhou, and the chancellor in an attempt to “ironically” attack Zhou Enlai.

On September 15, 1973, the new magazine in Shanghai “Learn and Criticize ”

(Xuexi yu pipan 學習與批判) published the article “On the Worship of Confucianism

and the Opposition to Legalism” in its first issue. It was instigated by Yao Wenyuan with the undersigned “Shi Lun 石侖.” As suggested in the article, the struggle

between Confucianism and Legalism was the struggle between the conservative

and the revolutionary and that between the restoration and the anti-restoration. It

was also advocated in the article that the thorough criticism against the trend of

the “worship of Confucianism and the opposition to Legalism” was a significant struggle in the ideological circle. The development of the struggle was believed to be an effective way to further understand and implement the class struggle and the

line struggle in real life. In November 1973, the 11th issue of Red Flag included the

article titled “The Struggle Between the Restoration and the Anti-Restoration in the

Development of the Qin Dynasty,” which was edited by the Shanghai Municipal Committee’s writing team with the pen name “Luo Siding” under the direction of Yao Wenyuan. As mentioned in the article, once Lü Buwei12 became the chancellor,

he promoted a counterrevolutionary political line for the restoration of the slavery

system. Since Legalism was the dominant school of thought in the Qin Dynasty, it was impossible to encourage Confucian ideas at that time. So eclecticism became another thought to be highlighted. The Gang of Four transformed the “Criticize Lin Biao” rectification movement into the “Criticize Lin Biao, Criticize Confucius”

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campaign to “ironically” attack Zhou Enlai.

On New Year ’s Day 1974, it was emphasized in the article “New Year

Message,” jointly published by the People’s Daily , Red Flag , and the People’s

Liberation Army Daily , that the criticism against the worship of Confucianism and the opposition to Legalism was to be continued. It was reckoned that the leaders of both foreign and local counterrevolutionaries and opportunists were Confucianists, so the criticism against Confucianism was one of the components of the criticism against Lin Biao. On January 18, Mao Zedong approved the reproduction of “The Ideas of Lin Biao, Confucius, and Mencius ” (Lin Biao yu kongmeng zhi dao 林彪與孔孟之道), which was edited and selected by Jiang Qing. Red Flag and the People’s Daily released short commentaries and editorials on the work, commenting that the struggle between the anti-Confucianists and the worship of Confucianism was actually the struggle between the two classes and the two lines of revolutionaries and counterrevolutionaries, which indicated the progress and the regression in the Socialist period. This struggle had not ended yet. A more widespread political struggle of “criticize Lin Biao, criticize Confucius” was developing in different aspects. The leaders had to regard the “Criticize Lin Biao, Criticize Confucius” movement as their first priority. Since then, the Jiang Qing Clique delivered materials, participated in the mobilization meetings, instigated the army, and encouraged the people to “suggest Legalism and criticize Confucianism.” They tortured Zhou Enlai, who already suffered from cancer, in different ways, and launched sudden attacks. They even “ironically” attacked Zhou Enlai by criticizing the Duke of Zhou and the chancellor on different occasions. The newspapers in this period were flooded with different articles on Confucianism and Legalism. Many of these articles were put on the front pages, especially the ones edited by the writing teams controlled by the Gang of Four. They were usually the most effective in motivating the people. The writing teams, controlled and manipulated by the Gang of Four, were mainly: •• Great Criticism Team of Peking University and Tsinghua University, controlled by Chi Qun and Xie Jingyi

•• Shanghai Municipal Committee’s writing team, manipulated by Yao Wenyuan •• China National School of Administration’s writing team •• Jiang Qing’s writing group in the Ministry of Culture

Their pen names included Liang Xiao 梁效,13 Bo Qing 柏青, Gao Lu 高路,

Jing Hua 景華, An Jie 安傑, Wanshanhong 萬山紅, Liang Xiaozhang 梁小章, Zhu

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Xiaozhang 祝小章, Qin Huaiwen 秦懷文, Ding Xuelei 丁學雷, Qi Yonghong 齊永紅, Fang Zesheng 方澤生, Fang Hai 方海, Fang Yanliang 方岩梁, Zhuang Lan 莊嵐,

Jin Ge 靳戈, Wu Gengpan 吳耕畔, Shu Haoqing 舒浩晴, Gong Xin 宮欣, Jia Shuzhang

賈漱章, Le Ying 樂英, Tang Siwen 唐思文, Fang Tianji 方天戟, Wu Fu 伍甫, Xin Qiming 忻啟明, Kang Li 康立, Shi Lun 石侖, Liang Lingyi 梁淩益, Qi Chengluo

戚承樓, Shi Feng 史鋒, Shi Xianghui 史向輝, Wu Ying 吳英, Shi Yue 史鉞, Shi Wentong

史 文 桐, Shi Ding 施 丁, Shi Ding 史 汀, Shen Yue 申 越, Song Minbin 宋 敏 彬, Yin Xuedong 殷學東, Cao Sifeng 曹思峰, Shi Tu 史圖, Zhai Qing 翟青, Zhai Hai 翟海,

Zhai Ping 翟 平, Gong Xiaowen 宮 效 聞, Jin Shengxi 金 盛 曦, Jing Chi 景 池, Ren

Du 任 犢, Du Huazhang 杜 華 章, Shi Yige 石 一 歌, Tang Xiaowen 唐 曉 文, Fan Xiufeng 範秀風, Shi Jianwen 史建文, Chi Heng 池恒, Cheng Yue 程越, Jiang Tian 江天, ​​Chu Lan 初瀾. They kept initiating conflicts in the media platforms controlled by the Gang of Four. Besides, the writing teams organized by various revolutionary

committees used different pen names to publish articles of Liang Xiao’s works in newspapers. This led to the situation of “small newspapers copying big

newspapers, all newspapers following Liang Xiao.” These writing teams formed a special detachment for the Gang of Four to initiate different public opinions

for their conspiracy. The Gang of Four usually provided them with necessary information and disclosed the situation and news of the central government. They received orders from the Gang of Four directly. Many topics of the “key” articles

were directly suggested by the Gang of Four, pointing out the strategic points. The

articles were then polished and edited by the Gang of Four. Some of the articles were reproduced among the major newspapers or published at the same time.

To attack Premier Zhou Enlai, the Gang of Four initiated public opinions

for their conspiracy of overthrowing Zhou Enlai and opposing the Party. They

used different means to collect materials so as to fabricate articles criticizing the

“Confucian chancellor.” They claimed that Confucius was the acting chancellor in the State of Lu. Despite his old age of 71 and his poor health, he still wanted to meet the emperor. All of these efforts were insinuations against Zhou Enlai.

When criticizing the “Confucian chancellor,” the Gang of Four stressed

condemning the so-called eclecticism. In the fourth issue of Red Flag in 1974, Luo Siding’s article “On the Annals of Lü Buwei” suggested that there were always

similarities among the historical events, and the counterrevolutionary thought

shown in the Annals of Lü Buwei , which was the form of eclecticism, still existed.

The so-called “doctrine of the mean” was a manifestation of eclecticism. It was proposed that some people used the ambiguous attitude, which was presented as a

kind of fairness, to hide the extreme rightist nature. They pretended to be objective,

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yet they actually protected the counterrevolutionaries and aimed at defeating the pro-revolutionaries as soon as possible. The Gang of Four condemned Zhou Enlai’s

hard work in protecting senior cadres, maintaining social stability, and protecting production during the Cultural Revolution as the “doctrine of the mean” and

“eclecticism.” They were especially disappointed at Zhou Enlai’s act of criticizing the extreme pro-revolutionary thought since he directed the central work after the Lin Biao Incident.

The Jiang Qing Clique abused the “Criticize Lin Biao, Criticize Confucius”

movement as an excuse and sent people to the Ministry of Culture and other military units to seize power. They individually wrote letters and delivered

materials to many military units, as well as sent so-called “reporters” to the army to collect information. They even conspired with Zhang Chunqiao and other trusted followers to pressure the senior cadres to reveal conflicts and problems.

On January 17, 1974, the People’s Liberation Army Daily published a short

article titled “On Both Criticism and Compromise” in the special column “The

Party’s Life” on the third page. The article introduced an air force member of the Party Committee learning from Mao Zedong’s work “Methods of Work of Party

Committees,” as he would like to improve the unity of the senior committee members. The Gang of Four suddenly condemned this article for encouraging the

“doctrine of the mean,” which blocked the “Criticize Lin Biao, Criticize Confucius” movement. So they ordered the cadres and the warriors of the regiment to write

complaint letters to the newspapers, as well as instigated some people to put on big-character posters in the office of the People’s Liberation Army Daily in the

name of the regiment. Zhang Chunqiao even used his authority to abuse the name

of the CPC Central Politburo and coerced the People’s Liberation Army Daily to stop publishing their house articles. The People’s Liberation Army Daily , from

mid-March 1974 to early September 1974, only published the news dispatches from Xinhua. In other words, it ceased publishing for more than half a year.

During the preparations for the 4th National People’s Congress, the “Gang

of Four” created public opinions in an attempt to achieve their conspiracy of

forming the “cabinet.” They also made use of the fanaticism of commenting on

Confucianism and Legalism to lavish praise on female emperors, such as Empress

Lü Zhi14 and Empress Wu Zetian.15 Although Mao Zedong warned Jiang Qing not

to form the cabinet and criticized the Gang of Four during the meetings of the CPC Central Politburo, their ambition to overthrow power was not ended. The articles

praising Empress Lü Zhi and Empress Wu Zetian continued to be published in the newspapers.

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As Zhou Enlai’s health was gradually deteriorating after the summer of 1974,

the “Gang of Four” became more radical in opposing Zhou Enlai. They advocated the criticizing of the “modern Confucius” so as to prepare for their conspiracy. As Zhou Enlai was seriously ill, the struggle for the position of Vice Premier of the

State Council became more intense. The Gang of Four adopted different means to interrupt the reappointment of Deng Xiaoping. They stressed the importance of

developing a “Legalist leadership” within the central power in the “ironic” articles

in the newspapers. They claimed themselves as a Legalist leadership so as to create public opinions to attain the highest authority.

The “ironic” article is a special form of writing orchestrated by the Gang of

Four during the Cultural Revolution. It became a weapon for them to persecute others in political struggles.

Gang of Four’s damage to the propaganda of All-round Rectification During the preparations for the 4th National People’s Congress, the Gang of Four

openly attacked Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping so as to create public opinions for

their conspiracy of forming the “cabinet.” It aroused attention from Mao Zedong. On November 12, 1974, Mao Zedong directly expressed his disappointment at Jiang Qing’s ambition to form the cabinet in his reply to her letter. Mao Zedong

supported Zhou Enlai to prepare for the 4th National People’s Congress and continue to be the premier. He also supported Deng Xiaoping to become the

chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army General Staff Department and the Vice Chairman of the CPC. During the first meeting of the 4th National People’s Congress, Deng Xiaoping was selected as the Vice Premier of the State Council.

As Zhou Enlai was hospitalized after the 4th National People’s Congress, Deng Xiaoping was in charge of the daily operation.

The Jiang Qing Clique could not reconcile themselves to the failure of forming

the cabinet. They made use of the order of “learning the proletarian dictatorship”

proposed by Mao Zedong in December 1974 to continue the propaganda for their

conspiracy. They advocated the opposition to empiricism, limitation of capitalist authority, and the “all-round dictatorship.” Red Flag , published on February 1, 1975, released the article “Conscientiously Learning the Theory of Proletarian Dictatorship” with the undersigned “Chi Heng.” On February 22, the People’s

Daily released the quotations from “Marx, Engels and Lenin on the Dictatorship of the Proletariat ,” which was selected and edited by Zhang Chunqiao. The quotations were then reproduced by the third issue of Red Flag . Yao Wenyuan,

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Zhang Chunqiao, and their writing teams also published articles like “On the Social Foundation of Lin Biao’s Anti-Party Organization” and “On the All-round Dictatorship of the Capitalist Class.” They started discussions on the history and the significance of limiting the authority of the capitalist class, attacked the principle of “distribution according to one’s performance” in Socialism, initiated conflicts among the cadres, and made the senior cadres the origin of all problems. At the same time, they pinpointed that the major existing “danger” was empiricism so as to insinuate Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping as the supporters of empiricism and conservatives. They wanted to restore the old system. Mao Zedong reckoned that the Cultural Revolution had been in progress for more than eight years. He thought that it was time for China to enter an era of stability. In his written comments dated April 23, 1975 and the speech delivered during the meeting of the CPC Central Politburo on May 3, he criticized the approach of only pinpointing empiricism yet excluding dogmatism. Besides, he emphasized the importance of stability and unification, and the advocacy of Marxism and fairness. He criticized Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen, and condemned them for forming the Gang of Four. According to Mao’s order, Deng Xiaoping directed the meetings of the CPC Central Politburo, in which the Jiang Qing Clique had been criticized various times. These suppressed the activities of the Gang of Four, and created favorable factors for the rectification works. During this period, Deng Xiaoping decisively rectified the orders in different lines including transportation, industry, agriculture, science and technology, as well as the military. In the rectification work, Deng Xiaoping stressed that the three directives proposed by Mao Zedong were the guidelines for different works in a certain period of time: to learn theories, to stabilize and unify, and to improve the national economy. Conducted by Deng Xiaoping, the Central Committee announced a series of documents approved by Mao Zedong on the rectification works of the economy. The rectification works were successfully implemented with promising results. The newspapers and other media platforms cooperated with the rectification works. They played a very important role in publicizing Mao Zedong’s three directives, criticizing factionalism of the capitalist class, and emphasizing the importance of discipline. On July 25, 1975, Mao Zedong replied to the letter from the producer of the film “Entrepreneurial Pioneers ” (Chuangye 創業). As the Jiang Qing Clique kept picking faults in the film, Mao Zedong approved the film as having no major mistakes and saying that it would be distributed. The 10 accusations were too

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much for the adjustment of the cultural policies in the Party. Mao Zedong’s comment was immediately circulated across the country. People were looking forward to the adjustment of the cultural policy so as to recover the cultural business that had been ruined by the Cultural Revolution. It was also hoped that the situation in which all people could only watch revolutionary model operas would be changed. Xinhua’s reporters wrote a few news pieces on the feedback on Mao’s comments from some artists for “internal reference.” Yet they were withheld from being published by Yao Wenyuan. In September 1975, the State Council held the National “Learn from Dazhai in Agriculture Campaign” Conference in Xiyang Prefecture in Shanxi. Jiang Qing treated the comrades in the cultural sector and the reporters two times during the conference. She directly insinuated, attacked, and defamed Deng Xiaoping. Once Zhu Muzhi, Xinhua’s Director, Mu Qing, Xinhua’s Deputy Director, and Li Qin, Xinhua’s Deputy Director of Chief Editorial Office were informed of the situation, they assigned reporters to edit it into an article and report it to Mao Zedong. Jiang Qing was extremely disappointed, and ordered Yao Wenyuan to persecute the three above-mentioned comrades for a few months. Deng Xiaoping’s All-round Rectification had been very effective. The Gang of Four tried different means to suppress Deng Xiaoping. On August 13, 1975, Mao Zedong mentioned the classical novel “The Water Margin ” (Shuihu 水滸) in his conversation with his crew. He considered that it was a book only about opposing corrupted officials but not the emperor. Song Jian’s surrender was interpreted through a revisionist prism. Once Yao Wenyuan received word of this conversation, he wrote to Mao Zedong suggesting that the conversation should be released to the comrades of the CPC Central Politburo in Beijing and other news units in order to facilitate the publishing and the commentary works of the three versions of The Water Margin . At the same time, Red Flag , the People’s Daily , and Guangming Daily started the critiques on The Water Margin . Approved by Mao Zedong, the Gang of Four became more active. Yao Wenyuan gathered writing teams to produce articles. On August 31, the People’s Daily reproduced the short critique “Emphasis on the Comment on The Water Margin” on the front page, which was originally published in the ninth issue of Red Flag . It also included the long article “On The Water Margin” produced by the Gang of Four’s writing team. With the big headline “The Water Margin as a Negative Example to Let People Know of the Surrenders,” the ninth issue of Red Flag released a series of articles on The Water Margin . On September 4, the People’s Daily published the editorial “The Beginning of Critiques on The Water Margin,” which publicized Mao Zedong’s

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comments on The Water Margin . It was written in the editorial that the critique

on The Water Margin was an important struggle on the politico-ideological line in

China. It was a component of implementing Mao Zedong’s orders of theoretical learning and the avoidance of revisionism. The newspapers soon started

publishing the articles related to The Water Margin . These articles mentioned

“surrender” and “the ignorance of Chao Gai” to insinuate Deng Xiaoping’s Allround Rectification with the support from Zhou Enlai.

The Gang of Four used the reviews on The Water Margin to attack and to

interfere with the rectification work. In some provincial committee meetings,

Deng Xiaoping questioned the intention of all the reviews on The Water Margin . He mentioned that Mao Zedong had been reading the 71-chapter edition for three months. He doubted that some people used Mao’s comment on The Water Margin

to achieve their conspiracy. Deng Xiaoping overcame the obstacles from the Gang of Four and continued his works of the All-round Rectification.

However, the encounter with many erroneous policies during the Cultural

Revolution was inevitable in beginning the rectification works. It meant that these

policies had to be corrected, which aroused the anger of the Gang of Four. The result, approved by Mao Zedong, was that the Central Committee would start the “Criticize Deng Xiaoping, Anti-Rightist judgment revision” movement. On

December 4, 1975, the People’s Daily reproduced the article titled “No Changes

for the Direction of Education Reform,” with the undersigned “Great Criticism Team of Peking University and Tsinghua University.” This article was originally

published in the 13th issue of Red Flag . As mentioned in the article, the rectification

work on the education line based on Deng Xiaoping’s order was misinterpreted as the restoration of the “revisionist education line,” which further denied the

Cultural Revolution and altered the revolutionary line of Mao Zedong. The article

also stressed that this debate on the education line was the struggles between the

two classes and that between the two lines. Since then, the newspapers started the propaganda for the anti-rightist judgment revision. The rectification works, which

once showed the effectiveness, suddenly came to a standstill. The country entered another chaotic state again.

Propaganda disseminated overseas in the Cultural Revolution Journalism of the Party and that of the people had always attached great importance to the international publicity. In accordance with the tradition of the

Party newspapers, one of the missions of the newspapers in terms of international

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publicity was to explain the Party’s general viewpoints of the international situation and issues via news reporting and newspaper critiques. It was also

aimed at publicizing China’s peaceful diplomacy so as to build up an amicable

relationship with different countries through diplomatic struggles and events and support fair stuggles in other countries. Additionally, it played an important role

in providing information of overseas politics, economy, science, and culture to the people in a timely and accurate manner. It offered analyses and explanations

of major international events, providing a platform for the people in China to broaden their horizons and receive new information and knowledge.

During the Cultural Revolution, affected by the pro-revolutionary mistakes,

especially the control and effects from the counterrevolutionary clique of Lin Biao

and Jiang Qing, the propaganda disseminated overseas by the newspapers and the

news agencies featured pro-revolutionary or even the extreme pro-revolutionary mistakes and styles.

As one of the influential newspapers during the major 10-year historical event,

the People’s Daily demonstrated its role as an international “propagandist.” It

generally reflected how newspapers performed in international publicity during

the Cultural Revolution. The overseas propaganda of the People’s Daily in these 10

years could be divided into five stages. (1) 1966 to 1967

At the time of the Cultural Revolution, as portrayed in the propaganda, China

was the world revolutionary center, which motivated a world revolution. The propaganda was also focused on publicizing Mao Zedong Thought,

even overseas as well. It included the criticism against both the capitalist roaders in China as well as the overseas capitalist class. All these made up

the theme of the overseas propaganda at that time. It was regarded that the country was in an era when “imperialism was collapsing and Socialism was

about to dominate the world.” Therefore, “all demons and monsters” were

being swept away. It publicized the concept that imperialism, revisionism,

and the counterrevolutionary thought should be removed and be eradicated from history. Especially in 1967 when the extreme pro-revolutionary thought prevailed, the People’s Daily made more serious makes in the spread of overseas propaganda.



The Central Cultural Revolution Small Group was directly in charge of

the overseas propaganda of the People’s Daily at that time. It formulated a

principle on inappropriate propaganda and criticized that the People’s Daily

was not aggressive enough in overseas propaganda. It did not contribute

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much in opposing imperialist, revisionist, and counterrevolutionary thoughts, and it did not adopt Mao Zedong Thought in the struggles as well. It was believed that the People’s Daily and Xinhua, the official propaganda agencies, should not only consider the issues from the perspective of the diplomatic relationship. They should not be the diplomatic tool and accessory, instead they should struggle with the capitalist classes in China and other countries. The refusal to struggle was considered to be rightist. Using this principle, the People’s Daily committed a series of errors in the overseas propaganda, which were highlighted in the media coverage on the issues of Hong Kong and Myanmar. In mid-May 1967, the anti-British struggle caused by pro-Communist leftists broke out in Hong Kong. The Central Committee clearly instructed that should be no strikes, no initiative to fight, and no immediate resumption of sovereignty over Hong Kong. Freedom should be given to the local people to launch a rational, constructive, and restrained political struggle. It was emphasized that the propaganda had to be practical and of a low profile. Yet Chen Boda and Wang Li ignored the principle proposed by the Central Committee and ordered the People’s Daily to write the editorials “Urge Hong Kong Comrades to Struggle Against British Imperialism” and “It Can Be Of a High Profile.” Thus on June 3 and June 10, 1968, there was some uproar in the editorials and critiques published in People’s Daily which urged the Hong Kong people to struggle to defeat the British imperialists and counterrevolutionary governing. This kind of propaganda and instigation resulted in adverse effects internationally. Apart from the issues of Hong Kong and Myanmar, People’s Daily also made biased pro-revolutionary mistakes in the overall overseas propaganda as follows: •• It exaggerated the revolutions around the world with instigation and support. Unrealistic and misleading content dominated the international news section of the newspaper, such as claims that the “armed struggle was becoming more widespread and serious.” •• It initiated the “all-round attack” opposing the imperialist, revisionist, and counterrevolutionary thoughts around the world. The governments of the United States, United Kingdom, and the countries in Western Europe, and those of many countries near China were regarded as counterrevolutionaries, which should be eradicated. All revisionist ideas had to be suppressed. On May 4, 1967, in the article titled “The Bankruptcy of the

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New Strikebreakers in Europe,” the Communist leaders in Eastern and

Western Europe were condemned as the traitors to Marxism-Leninism, the

strikebreakers of the working class, and the enemies of the revolutionary Communists.

•• It promoted revolutionary ideas and kept publishing content of Mao Zedong Thought. Apart from publishing the articles written by overseas

pro-revolutionaries encouraging the Mao Cult, it also included the proMao articles and critiques edited by the Chinese people, with content like

“Chairman Mao is the sun of the people around the world,” “The revolution

can only be achieved by following Mao’s direction,” and “The Cultural

Revolution in China accelerates the development of Communism around the world.” It also encouraged other countries to take the revolutionary experience of China as their reference.

•• The “quotations” and the language of “big-character posters also dominated the world news section of the newspaper. The bold Mao quotations and

empty slogans had nothing to do with the international affairs. There was no practical scientific analysis at all. Since Yao Wenyuan proposed that the

People’s Daily had to reproduce and publish the articles of the Red Guards, different kinds of big-character poster language started to appear in the world news section, which ruined the traditional fine style of the People’s Daily . (2) 1968 to 1969

In the spring of 1968, reading of the race riots and political uprisings by African Americans in the United States, Mao Zedong made a very important

announcement. Apart from uncovering the invasion and the strategic policies of the American imperialists, the overseas propaganda of the People’s Daily

would support the revolutionary struggle of these Americans. Then in March 1969, the Sino-Soviet border conflict originated from the Zhenbao Island Incident. The People’s Daily began to oppose the Socialist imperialism of

the Soviet Union and proposed the idea of “defeating the new Czar.” It was emphasized that war was inevitable and the country had to be ready for war. On April 22, 1970, it even released the editorial article “Leninism or Socialist Imperialism,” which led the opposition to revisionism of the Soviet Union to reach a high point. (3) 1970 to 1971

During this period, the support to Cambodia and the Indo-Chinese States to

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fight against the U.S. occupied the most prominent position in the overseas

propaganda. Mao Zedong issued a statement on May 20, 1970 claiming that

the danger of war still existed in the new world, yet the main trend of the world was the inclination to revolution. He called the people around the world

to get united and to defeat the U.S. aggressors and all their followers. On February 25, “Two Newspapers and One Magazine” published the editorial titled “The Asians Unite and Drive the American Invaders Out of Asia.” On September 30, 1970, the People’s Daily and the People’s Liberation Army Daily

released the editorial proposing the opposition to Japanese militarism. In late 1970, Władysław Gomułka16 in Poland stepped down, and the People’s Daily published the reviews on the support for the Polish revolution. (4) 1971 to 1973

In 1971, Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai, based on the analysis

of changes in the international situation, made major policy decisions to adjust the diplomatic policy and the international strategy of struggle. The

announcement of C. Clark Kissinger’s17 visit to China was released in October

1971. In February 1972, President Richard Nixon visited China, and announced the famous and influential “Shanghai Communique,” which indicated the

beginning of Sino-U.S. diplomacy. In the same year, China’s resumption of legal status in the United Nations greatly improved the status and the role of

China in the international arena. During this period, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev18

vigorously advocated hegemonism. The international publicity of the People’s

Daily was focused on the opposition to the hegemony of the “Soviet Union revisionism,” and continued to support the struggles of the Indo-Chinese and Arabs. The quantity of the criticism against the U.S. government was reduced. (5) 1974 to 1976

Based on the long-term observation and study of the international political situation, Mao Zedong put forward the “Three Worlds Theory” and strategic

thought. In April 1974, Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping delivered a speech during

the 6th Special Session of the United Nations, explaining the Three Worlds Theory and its ideas.

The Three Worlds Theory became the basis of China’s discriminatory policy.

It was also the reason of different propaganda approaches to different countries. Western European countries belong to the Second World. China treated them with less criticism in support of their joint anti-hegemony principle. Yet the Gang

of Four had flagrantly violated this policy. In January 1974, they claimed that the

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movie “Chung Kuo   Cina ,” the work of Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni,

defamed China. They arranged the People’s Daily to condemn him by publishing

the commentator’s article. It even serially published special pages with banner headlines, criticizing the movie “Chung Kuo   Cina .” Later, Mao Zedong criticized

that it was just a storm in a teacup. This international “great criticism” was stopped.      Mao Zedong did a series of important instructions on the trend of the

exaggeration and fabrication in the overseas propaganda at that time. As early as April 1968, Mao Zedong proposed that the reform had to be done in a firm

and step-by-step manner. He did not agree with the “Mao Cult” approach. He considered it as unscientific, anti-Marxist-Leninist, and he also doubted the title of the “great leader.” He repeatedly requested that Mao Zedong Thought should not be emphasized in overseas propaganda. He reckoned that one should not interfere

with the internal politics of other countries. There should not be any exaggeration

in the overseas propaganda. Zhou Enlai also criticized the mistakes made in

reporting the issues of Hong Kong and Myanmar. In 1970, he proposed the

opposition to the extreme pro-revolutionary thought and writing style. He asked different central news units to rectify the writing style. These comments from Mao

Zedong and Zhou Enlai were influential to the People’s Daily and the overseas propaganda of other newspapers.

Struggle in the media field during the Tiananmen Incident On January 8, 1976, Premier Zhou Enlai passed away due to illness. The news shocked the whole country. People were in deep sorrow. The Gang of Four abused

their authority, and used every means to limit, interfere, and destroy the media coverage on the mourning of Premier Zhou Enlai.

On January 9, Xinhua relayed to Yao Wenyuan that there was a need to

coordinate different newspapers across the country for the release of the news

reports about Zhou Enlai after his death. Yao Wenyuan claimed that as the

memorial speech was not ready, that it was not the time for coordination yet. He ordered the newspapers not to publish the letters and other related content in

memory of Zhou Enlai, and even stipulated the avoidance of terms like “Dearest Premier Zhou” in the newspapers.

On January 11, when the body of Zhou Enlai was being sent to Babaoshan from

Beijing Hospital, many Beijing people stood in Chang’an Avenue to wait for the

hearse. This reflected the deep respect and remembrance of the people to Premier

Zhou Enlai. At the same time, it was also an open challenge to the suppression of

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the mourning of Zhou Enlai. On January 13, Yao Wenyuan released the order to Xinhua and the People’s Daily again and again on the same day, banning the highlighting of Premier Zhou Enlai and the use of banner headlines. He coerced a limit on the news on the remembrance activities and moved the related news dispatches from the front page to pages 3 and 4. Yao Wenyuan even asked the people to “transform their sorrow into power” in the articles in order to fight against the prevalence of “Counter-Rehabilitation of Rightist Personnel.” On January 14, the day before the memorial service of Premier Zhou Enlai, the mourning activities held by the people reached their high point. Nearly a million people gathered in Tiananmen Square to mourn for Zhou Enlai. They ignored different prohibitions issued by the Gang of Four and expressed their respect and gratitude towards Zhou Enlai in different ways. Surprisingly, there was no mention of Zhou Enlai in the first three pages of the People’s Daily on this day. Instead, the Gang of Four published the news piece entitled “Great Debate Brings About Great Change,” in which it was mentioned that the people across the country were concerned about the great debate on the education reform of Tsinghua University. The Yao Wenyuan Clique felt very satisfied with their strategy. They considered that it was a “model article” released at the very right moment. The timing was more important than the article itself. Yet the people were very disappointed at this kind of practice, which was viewed as an act which went against public opinion. Many people tore the newspapers into pieces and sent them to the office. The People’s Daily received more than 100 angry phone calls in one day. After the memorial service of Premier Zhou Enlai, Yao Wenyuan ordered Red Flag not to publish the portrait of Zhou Enlai. It was not allowed to publish the obituary and the memorial speech of the Party’s Central Committee. Yao Wenyuan even ordered the television stations not to broadcast the funeral committee list, the portrait with mournful dirges, the photos of Zhou Enlai’s daily life, or scenes of millions of people gathering to mourn for Zhou Enlai. Scenes of millions of people mourning for Zhou Enlai were not to be edited into news programs and even news of foreign leaders going to the embassies for mourning activities was forbidden from being broadcast. The comrades of the press, regardless of the ban by the Gang of Four, adopted various means to record the scenes of people mourning for Zhou Enlai, but the Gang of Four did not allow their publication. The comrades of the Central News Documentaries Studio worked day and night to complete the filming of the largescale documentary titled “Our Immortal Premier Zhou Enlai,” yet the film was

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withheld by the Gang of Four. Some comrades of the People’s Daily wrote an

internal publication in remembrance of Zhou Enlai. Then Yao Wenyuan phoned to

question two times: “What are you doing? Who asks you to do this? Who proposes the idea? Is it for Counter-Rehabilitation of Rightist Personnel and counterrevolution?” He also claimed it was a “line mistake,” which had to be investigated. The issue of Xinhua Daily , published in January 1976, included the content on the

mourning for Premier Zhou Enlai. However, all the copies were detained by the Gang of Four and were banned from being circulated.

Contrary to the will of the people, the Gang of Four started their propaganda

to initiate the public opinion for counterattacking the trend to reverse the Anti-Rightist Movement. Red Flag published the article titled “Fighting Back

the Reversion of the Anti-Rightist Movement in the Science and Technology

Sector.” The People’s Daily , on the front page with the editor’s note, published

the long article “Criticizing the Old World to Build the New World — Our Approach Against the 17-Year Revisionist Education Line,” written by Chaoyang

Agricultural College. The People’s Daily also released “On the Three Directives

as the Guidelines” with the undersigned “Liang Xiao” and “Ren Ming.” It even reproduced Chi Heng’s article “From Capitalist Democrats to Capitalist Roaders,”

which was first published by Red Flag . It further created public opinions for the Gang of Four to seize the highest authority of the country, yet their conspiracy did not succeed. Mao Zedong proposed Hua Guofeng to be the Acting Premier

of the State Council to oversee the daily operation of the Central Committee. The proposal was then approved by the CPC Central Politburo. The Gang of Four made use of the ironic articles to attack Hua Guofeng.

The Gang of Four considered the far-reaching impact of Zhou Enlai in people’s

minds as the obstacle to seizing power. So they continued to attack Zhou Enlai

when criticizing Deng Xiaoping. In Xinhua’s internal publications, they edited the materials about the special agent of the Kuomintang framing Zhou Enlai. The third issue of Learn and Criticize in 1976 also had articles ironically attacking Zhou Enlai

for approving and supporting Deng Xiaoping to start the restoration.

On March 5, when Wenhui Bao published the article “Shenyang Regiment

Insists on Learning from Lei Feng,” Zhou Enlai’s message about learning from Lei Feng was deleted. On March 25, Wenhui Bao released the news dispatch “Capitalist

Roaders Still Exist, We Have to Struggle With Them,” in which Zhou Enlai was

condemned. “The biggest capitalist roader in the Party has to recommend another defeated and stubborn capitalist roader,” the article explained. The people in

Nanjing were the first group who stood up to reveal and denounce the evil articles

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in Wenhui Bao . They painted the slogans criticizing Wenhui Bao on trains which

went from Beijing to other regions. On April 1, the Gang of Four phoned the Jiangsu Provincial Committee. They claimed that the people in Nanjing revealing and condemning Wenhui Bao were actually parts of a political incident which was

aimed at destroying the Party Central Committee that was led by Mao Zedong

and which defended Deng Xiaoping. They also urged for a thorough investigation to trace the planner of this “political incident.” The threat and suppression from

the Gang of Four further disappointed the Nanjing people. The people across the country showed their support to the struggle in Nanjing.

Since late March 1976, the Beijing people made use of the custom of

remembrance of revolutionary heroes in the Qingming Festival to gather in

Tiananmen Square. They put flowers in front of the Monument to the People’s Heroes, put up slogans and leaflets, delivered poems and speeches, so as to express their sorrow for Zhou Enlai’s death, at the same time condemning the perverse acts of the ambitious with a hidden agenda. The news of the Nanjing

people’s struggle instigated the people in the capital. On the day of the Qingming Festival, the memorial activities for Zhou Enlai in Beijing reached a peak.

Thousands of people gathered in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Zhou

Enlai and to condemn the people with a hidden agenda via different methods. The meeting of the CPC Central Politburo Beijing Committee was also held that night. The participants, including Jiang Qing, regarded the memorial activities

as the fighting back of counterrevolutionary thought. They claimed that people

were taking the opportunity to oppose Mao Zedong and the Central Committee

as well as to interfere with the direction of the struggle. The Jiang Qing Clique also groundlessly requested clearing the flowers and the banners from Tiananmen Square, and caught the people delivering “counterrevolutionary speeches.”

They assigned people’s militias and public security guards to block the people from sending flowers and gathering in Tiananmen Square. Mao Zedong, who

was seriously ill at that time, read the minutes and decisions of the Politburo’s

meeting. On April 5, the revolutionary people continued to go to Tiananmen Square and collided with some of the people’s militia, public security guards, and

the People’s Liberation Army. Some of the cars and press cars were demolished in the chaos. The commending unit of the labor people’s militia, located at the southeast of the Square, was on fire. Some of the general public, people’s militia,

and policemen suffered injuries. That night, after Wu De, First Secretary of Beijing Municipal Committee, delivered his speech, the Gang of Four assigned 10,000

members of the people’s militia, 3,000 policemen, and the security guards from

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the five camps to block Tiananmen Square. People were caught and beaten with wooden sticks. The activity in Tiananmen Square on April 5, 1976 was regarded as a counterrevolutionary rebellion by the Central Committee. In the evening of April 7, 1967, the Central People’s Broadcasting Station broadcast the Mao-approved, so-called “live report” of the Tiananmen Incident titled “The Counterrevolutionary Political Incident in Tiananmen Square,” which was orchestrated by Yao Wenyuan, as well as the speech delivered by Wu De in Tiananmen Square on April 5. At the same time, the decisions were made to appoint Hua Guofeng as the First Vice Chairman of the CPC and the Premier of the State Council, and rescind Deng Xiaoping from all internal and external duties of the Party with his Party membership retained for further observation. The “live report” orchestrated by Yao Wenyuan was just a piece of fabrication full of misleading information and falsified accusations. On April 8, the newspapers across the country published the decisions of the Central Committee and the article “live report.” The people expressed great anger for the Gang of Four’s fabricated misleading reports on the Tiananmen Incident. After April 8, People’s Daily kept receiving complaint phone calls and letters. As written in the letters from readers: “Our voice: Support Deng Xiaoping! Defeat Zhang Chunqiao! Defeat Yao Wenyuan! Defeat Jiang Qing! We will defeat the evil people with a hidden agenda.” On some of the envelopes, the greeting “Attn: Chief Editor, Beijing People’s Daily” was written on the front, yet the back was “To the Editor Goebbels.” The April 8 issue of the People’s Daily was put into the envelope, yet the title was changed to “Rumor Daily.” Furthermore, a note was written: “Shocking! The Party newspaper becomes a devil, and a speaker for some Fascist careerists and conspirators!” Despite the disappointment and condemnation from the public, the Gang of Four still insisted on criticizing Deng Xiaoping in the newspapers under their control. The layouts were full of the headlines attacking and pointing fingers at Deng Xiaoping. In the early morning of September 9, 1976, Chairman Mao Zedong passed away. At 15:00, the Central People’s Broadcasting Station broadcast this news to the country. In any released information on the death of Mao Zedong, including messages, photos, television programs, or films, Yao Wenyuan insisted on finding ways to highlight Jiang Qing’s role as the “queen.” They also falsified Mao Zedong’s deathbed injunction based on the so-called general practice, and it was then published through the editorial sections of the “Two Newspapers and One Magazine” on September 16. Yao Wenyuan ordered that Xinhua had to keep publicizing this deathbed injunction six times. He said that repetition was not important, and it had to be included in the significant content so as to make

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it outstanding on every page. On October 2, Hua Guofeng uncovered that the Gang of Four had falsified the deathbed injunction in a directive. On October 4,

Guangming Daily published Liang Xiao’s article “Always Follow the Practice of Chairman Mao” on its front page. It was also mentioned that “any revisionist leaders, who distorted Chairman Mao’s practice, had to pay the price.” The Gang of Four revealed their conspiracy to seize power. On October 6, the CPC Central Politburo, on behalf of the party and the people, smashed the counterrevolutionary clique of the Gang of Four. It also indicated the end of the Cultural Revolution. The Central Committee sent people to the Central People’s Broadcasting Station, the People’s Daily , Xinhua News Agency, the People’s Liberation Army Daily , Guangming Daily , and other units to firmly grasp the power of public opinion and propaganda. On October 24, 1976, Xinhua broadcast scenes of a million soldiers and people celebrating the victory of smashing the Gang of Four in the capital. On October 25, the People’s Daily , Red Flag , the People’s Liberation Army Daily published the editorial titled “The Great Historic Victory.” From October 24 to October 30, Xinhua continued to report the news of celebration in the 29 provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions, as well as in the People’s Liberation Army regiments. The downfall of the Gang of Four brought a new life to the journalism business of China.

The Difficulties of Journalism in Different Media Channels Radio and television broadcasts During the Cultural Revolution, the counterrevolutionary clique led by Lin Biao

and Jiang Qing aggressively controlled all the public opinion platforms across

the country, especially the central-level news units, so as to prepare for their

conspiracy of usurping the supreme authority of the Party and that of the country.

The content of the broadcasts went against the appropriate directions of Marxism-

Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, and it was also contrary to the fundamental interests and legitimate aspirations of the people, which seriously damaged the reputation of the broadcasting industry among the people.

 A large number of unique and influential programs produced by the Central

People’s Broadcasting Station were forced to close down during this period. The key news programs like “News and Newspaper Digest ” and “China People’s

Radio Stations’ Simulcast ” were dominated by the articles and news reports

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orchestrated by the Gang of Four. The prevalence of idealism and metaphysics,

misleading information, falsification, and fabrication caused great ideological confusion among the people. The theoretical program was changed to the program “Worker-Peasant-Soldier’s Application of Chairman Mao’s Works ,” in which

some of the Marxist viewpoints were distorted, and many correct principles and theories were regarded as revisionist and capitalist ideas, which were then being criticized. The programs popular among teenagers and children, such as “Little

Trumpet ” (Xiao laba 小喇叭) and “Star Torch ” (Xingxing huoju 星星火炬) were changed to “Little Red Guards ” (Hong xiaobing 紅小兵) and “Red Guards (Hong weibing 紅衛兵)” As with other programs, they also included the “top directives” and the articles from the “Two Newspapers and One Magazine.” Some unique and influential programs broadcast to Taiwan were forced to end, and even the ones left behind were also full of misleading information and fabricated ideas. Programs of “letters home” to the Mainland went from being human interest stories to “preaching” programs and this left a bad impression on audiences in Taiwan. The cultural news and programs publicized feudal-fascist-totalitarianism and cultural nihilism advocated by the Gang of Four. For a long time, the Central People’s Broadcasting Station could only broadcast the eight revolutionary model operas, the eight historical songs, and the abstracts from three movie recordings. The people’s right to reach cultural and spiritual knowledge was being exploited by the suppression of access to other programming. The announcers of the Central People’s Broadcasting Station had long inherited and carried forward the fine practice of Yan’an (Shanbei) Radio, which had a solemn, simple, warm, and natural style, and was praised by an audience of millions across the country. It then became a good friend of the people. During the 10 years of turmoil, the radio broadcasting work was severely devastated. The radio programs were full of the “yellings and disappointments” of the “rebels,” for whom programs had been changed to be just annoying empty words. The situation led to a disconnection from the audience. Since the Cultural Revolution, the prosperous development of local radio stations was seriously damaged as well. In January 1967, the CPC Central Committee issued “Notice of Radio Broadcasting Issues ,” in which it was decided that all the local radio stations should stop running the self-produced programs and they should only broadcast the programs produced by the Central People’s Broadcasting Station. Once different provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities established their revolutionary committees, the local radio stations gradually restored a few self-produced programs, yet they could only follow the style of the central “Two

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Newspapers and One Magazine.” Thus, the broadcasts across the country became monotonous. There were only two kinds of feature programs in local radio stations: “Application of Chairman Mao’s Works ”(Huoxue huoyong maozhuxi zhuzuo 活學

活用毛主席著作) and “Revolutionary Great Criticism (Geming da pipan 革命大 批判) .” The news reporting was full of lies and fabricated materials. The principle of factuality was ignored.

In order to cater to the needs of radio and television programs, in the 1950s

and 1960s, many local radio and television stations set up professional or amateur radio and television cultural teams. They created programs and performed based

on the cultural characteristics of radio and television, which enriched the cultural

programs. Yet the Cultural Revolution led to the dismissal of many of these art groups. Although the Central Broadcasting Art Ensemble, Shanghai Broadcasting

Symphony Orchestra, and Shaanxi Broadcasting Art Ensemble were reserved, they

could not perform their activities as usual. They actually existed in name only. These art groups did hold some activities during the later stage of the Cultural Revolution, but they were still strictly controlled by the Gang of Four. They lost character as radio and television art groups, and they could not perform their functions.

In 1969, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Broadcasting Bureau provided

that the funds for provincial radio stations had to be included in the national budget. The operating expenses of the people’s commune amplification stations were allotted by the local governments. Therefore, during the turmoil, the linear broadcasting network in rural areas was still developing. The people engaged

in the broadcasting field set up networks and amplifiers in the fields, along the rivers, and in the mountains, so as to link the broadcasting system to thousands

of households. In 1973, the National Broadcasting Planning Meeting was held in

Tianjin. Based on the summary of the experience, the construction principle of the rural linear broadcasting network was confirmed: With a broadcasting station

as the center, the people’s commune amplification station as the base, linear broadcasting was the key to building a rural broadcasting network of high quality and efficiency. In late 1976, 2,503 linear broadcasting stations were built; 0.113 billion broadcasting amplifiers were set up; 91% of the people’s communes, 93%

of the production brigades, and 86% of the production teams were connected to

linear broadcasting; 60% of rural households had their broadcasting amplifiers set up. Besides, in pastoral areas and remote areas, more than 160,000 broadcasting

networks were developed in terms of people’s communes or brigades. However, the counterrevolutionary clique led by Lin Biao promoted the principle “telephone,

alarm, and broadcast 3 in 1,” and he demolished the broadcasting circuits in some

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areas, which paralyzed the broadcasting network. Some local governments used

administrative mandates to compulsorily popularize broadcasting within a certain

period. They just exaggerated the situation and even used the stems of sunflowers

as wire poles. The confusing management also led to the situation of “set up in the

first year, chaos in the second year, paralysis in the third year.” The stability and development of the rural broadcasting network encountered a lot of difficulties. The content of linear broadcasting was the same as that of radio broadcasting, which was affected by extreme pro-revolutionary thought.

The external broadcasting during the Cultural Revolution was always filled

with pro-revolutionary political preaching, empty words, and lies. The programs that were broadcast in different languages, like the ones for internal broadcasting, included all the long-winded content on the principles and policies, as well as

articles and speeches, of the Cultural Revolution. They also directly broadcast

Mao Zedong’s works, which were regarded as the high points of the revolutionary struggle. The cultural content in broadcasting was mainly revolutionary model

operas and “quotation” songs. The targets of the broadcasts were limited to those so-called “revolutionary audiences.” The opening greeting of the broadcast was

changed from “Dear Audience” to “Dear Comrades and Friends.” This kind of style turned off audiences.

The emerging television business had made some progress in the early and mid-

1970s, but it also suffered from enormous destruction by the Gang of Four. In early

1970, the Central Broadcasting Bureau held the National Television Professional Meeting with the relevant industrial and telecommunications sectors. They decided to focus on producing color televisions while developing black-and-white televisions

at the same time. After the meeting, most of the provinces emphasized restoring and establishing formal television stations. Up until 1971, apart from the various

television stations which had been reserved, the stations in Jiangsu, Zhejiang,

Sichuan, Anhui, Fujian, Shandong, Hubei, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi, Henan, Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Gansu, Ningxi, Qinghai, and Xinjiang were

reconstructed or newly established. There were 32 television stations across the country, among which one was central-level, 27 were provincial-level, and 4 were municipal-level. Apart from Beijing and Tibet, every province, autonomous region,

and municipality had their own television station. (The television stations in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Beijing were founded in 1978 and 1979, respectively.)

China started black-and-white television broadcasting in 1958, and it began

the research on color television the following year. At that time, only the U.S. was running color television broadcasting, and the U.K., France, Japan, Germany, and

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the Soviet Union still had color television broadcasting methods only in the R&D

stage. In May 1960, the testing of color television broadcasting in China reached a certain degree of effectiveness, but it was forced to be terminated due to the

temporary difficulties in the national economy until 1970. In September 1970, the Central Broadcasting Bureau drafted a proposal to the State Council on the issue of setting up a pilot color television station in Beijing. It confirmed the construction

plan and the goal. In late 1970, the Color Television Experience Exchange Seminar was held in Beijing. The State Council then approved the establishment of pilot

color television stations in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Sichuan. It coordinated with the related units in some provinces and municipalities to manufacture the

facilities for color television broadcasting, and it even sent delegates overseas for the development of color television broadcasting in 1972. PAL was used as the temporary mode. (China had decided to adopt PAL as the video mode for its color television broadcasting.) On May 1, 1973, color television programs were first

broadcast in Beijing. On May 26, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications

and the Central Broadcasting Bureau jointly carried out the testing of Beijing-

Shanghai microwave transfers of color television programs. On August 1, Shanghai Television Stations started to broadcast color television programs. On October 1,

Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai performed the transfer of color television programs.

The change from black-and-white to color indicated a new era of television business and television industry of China.

However, due to the destruction by the Gang of Four and the effects induced

by the pro-revolutionary mistakes, the content and style of the television programs

were empty and vacuous. Monotonous and dull scenes, as well as lies and empty

words, made up the style and content of the television programs at that time. Cultural, educational, and entertainment programs were cancelled as they were considered feudalist, capitalist, and revisionist. Most of the prominent art works from different countries and eras were banned, with only a few songs, a few

revolutionary model operas, and three films19 left. The production of television

programs entered its darkest age.

In the 30 years between the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the

end of the Cultural Revolution, with the long-term practice and hard work of the

people engaged in the radio and television broadcasting industry, much experience was accumulated, along with lessons learned.

From the founding of the People’s Republic of China to the Cultural Revolution

and the end of nearly 30 years in radio, workers had gained rich experiences and learned valuable lessons.

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Insistence on the principle of the Party spirit and the principle of factuality to achieve the goal of serving the people The content of radio and television programs in China had moved in the Socialist direction, and promoted the construction of Socialism. The impact of radio and television was more widespread than imagined. Therefore, making the radio and television broadcasting become the helping arm of the Party and the government and the best friend of the people was the responsibility and mission of the journalists in the radio and television industry. Truthfulness and accuracy should be prioritized for radio and television production. The most effective and acceptable approach should be adopted to report both local and international news in a timely and efficient manner. It should also demonstrate the directions, principles, and policies of the Party and that of the country, as well as enthusiastically and practically reflect the creative production of the people and their comments, hopes, and needs. The radio and television productions provided the people with different kinds of knowledge and entertainment, which was multifunctional and thoughtful.

Insistence on the principle of independence to bring the advantages of radio and television into full play Every communications tool has its own characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses. In Socialist China, the various communication tools coordinate with each other, complement each other, and compete with each other. They do not and cannot replace each other. The strengths of radio and television include: extensive range of receivers, timely, multi-functional, intrusive, and easy for listening and watching. The weaknesses are: instant yet not suitable for repeated reading and appreciation, not optional due to ordered sequence. Under the harsh conditions, radio and television workers strived to explore, inherit, and develop the fine practice and tradition based on the national situation of China. They were aware of the popularity and colloquialism in the aspects of content, arrangement, and production. Their emphasis was welcomed by the public with great achievements. In the 1950s, the open-door principle was adopted for broadcasting. It conformed to the “mass line,” which was beneficial for the radio and television broadcasting to gain support and assistance from society. It greatly enriched the content of the programs. In the 10 years of turmoil, both radio and television broadcasts were manipulated by the Gang of Four so that they could not show their strengths and their development was hindered.

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Proper approach to handle the relationship between propaganda and technology and emphasis on the technology and management of radio and television industry Both radio broadcasting and television broadcasting were developed based on the rapid advancements in modern electronic science. Therefore, the radio and television stations at all levels were propaganda units as well as technology management bodies, while the propaganda work was the focus. Technology was for the need of propaganda, at the same time, the need of propaganda also accelerated the development of technology. To perfect the propaganda work of radio and television broadcasting, the technology for radio and television should be emphasized. These two aspects were interrelated and inseparable. China had long been leading and managing propaganda and technology together. As pointed out at the 4th National Broadcast Meeting in 1956, coordination between propaganda and technology was unfavorable to the accomplishment of the propaganda work. The integrated approach of leadership was a satisfactory guarantee to the goal of technology serving propaganda. In order to form a radio and television network that covered the whole country and reached every household so as to spread the sound and image of China all over the world, it was necessary to continue to strengthen the management. This was achieved by using the least resources to achieve the maximal economic and societal benefits.

Strive to train up a team of professional cadres During the periods of the founding of New China and the First Five-Year Plan, China concentrated on perfecting the Central Radio Station. Many technologies, propaganda strategies, and management talents were assigned from local radio stations to supplement and strengthen the central broadcasting units. This had facilitated the development of the central broadcasting business, yet weakened the construction of local broadcasting work. In the period of the Second FiveYear Plan, the approach of emphasizing both the central and local broadcasting work did help train up a new pool of talents. However, the lack of cadres was still a striking issue. To solve the problem, the national radio and television stations continued to train up the current cadres while setting up professional institutes at the same time so as to nurture middle-level and senior professionals for the radio and television broadcasting industry. The work for training professional cadres was interrupted during the Cultural Revolution.

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Strengthening of the theoretical research on radio and television broadcasting, and establishment and improvement of the theoretical system The workers engaged in China’s radio and television broadcasting accumulated abundant experience in the long-term practice. They researched and explored some regular patterns.

Among the modern media channels, compared with newspapers and news

agencies, radio and television were up-and-coming platforms. The scope and

depth of the theoretical research on the radio and television broadcasting still could not catch up with that of the practice. In the 10 years of turmoil, the Gang of Four

criticized and denied some correct theories, which led to ideological confusion in

radio and television broadcasting. These factors harmed the development of the radio and television industry.

Photojournalism In the decade of the Cultural Revolution, affected by the extreme pro-revolutionary

mistakes, photojournalism in China was disconnected from the direction of serving Socialism and the people. It just became a propaganda tool for the extreme prorevolutionary mistakes, and further incited the rebellions.

Photo reporting of the People’s Daily The images in the newspapers during the Cultural Revolution were not in line with the needs and the interests of the readers. The subjects covered were narrow

and only empty words were used. The People’s Daily was one of the best examples in this regard. It used a lot of pictures to build up the individual authority of Mao

Zedong, which was encouraging the Mao Cult. In the second half of 1966, Mao

Zedong met the Red Guards eight times in Tiananmen Square. The newspapers covered all the meetings. On October 1, the People’s Daily published an extra-

large photo of Mao Zedong on its entire front page. In order to highlight the image

of Mao Zedong, it even relocated the masthead under the image. In the photo reporting of the 17th National Day, it published seven solo pictures and 11 images in which Mao Zedong was the focus, accounting for 36% of all the images of the

National Day. The pictures were magnified (21.5 x 24 cm; 32.7 x 23.5 cm). The photo captions were full of exaggerated praise of Mao Zedong. For example, next

to the enlarged solo image in the feature report of the National Day dated October 5, the caption was: “Chairman Mao applauded for us. He was glad to see the

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vibrancy of the revolutionary army. He guides us to victory. He is the most reddish sun in our hearts. We follow our great helmsman to unite together to overcome the

hard time, in order to seize the victory again and again. May the red flag of Mao Zedong Thought wave in the wind forever.”

In relation to this, another major theme of photo reporting was the propaganda

of the mass movement of the workers, peasants, and soldiers studying Mao Zedong’s

works. In December 1966, the People’s Daily compiled and edited eight special

pages and a column on this theme. The solo picture was not included. Besides, there was also photo coverage of the People’s Liberation Army: 17 photos in October 1966, 11 photos in November 1966, 23 photos in December 1966. This theme ranked the

first among all the topics in terms of solo image. There were only 18 photos related to industry and agriculture in the People’s Daily in November 1966. Many of them

were shots of laborers and the Party members learning Mao Zedong’s works, while there were really only a few photos about production. The cultural education units were paralyzed at that time. Capitalist roaders and counterrevolutionary academic

authorities suffered from cruel criticisms and struggles. In these three months, apart from the Rent Collection Courtyard and modern revolutionary Peking operas, there was generally no photo coverage in the culture and education sector.

In late 1972 when the later stage of the Cultural Revolution took place, the People’s Daily published a total of 443 individual news photos, including the ones related to the important people of the Party and external activities, accounting for 51% which exceeded those related to internal news. Many news photos did not really reflect any news. For instance, there was only news about a worker performing a laboratory test, a member of a production brigade hunting, cadres of the People’s Liberation Army carrying out the “Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points of Attention” to the warriors, and other similar activities. These were daily normal issues with nothing special. This kind of photo accounted for more than 95% of the local news. There was only a small amount of international news photos. The regions covered were unevenly distributed. The People’s Daily focused on reporting the Vietnam War and the liberation movements in Albania and Africa. From October to December 1966, the People’s Daily published 154 international news photos, among which 52 were about Vietnam and Albania, accounting for 33.7%; 23 were about Africa, accounting for 15%. For other more influential countries like the Soviet Union, the U.S., India, the U.K., West Germany, Italy, and Canada, there was little or no coverage. In the later stage of the Cultural Revolution, there was a sharp decrease in the number of international news photos. From October 1972 to

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December 1972, People’s Daily published 46 photos on this theme, which was less than one-third of the number of the same period in 1966. The photos of Indo-China and Albania occupied 70%, of which the scope was narrowed. There were fewer reports on the developed countries and the West.

Recession of pictorials and photography magazines Once the Cultural Revolution began, Xinjiang Pictorial and Nationality Pictorial ceased publishing. From October 1966 to June 1971, China Pictorial and PLA Pictorial were the only two photography magazines left in the country. In the later stage of the Cultural Revolution, there were various new pictorials, such as Guangxi Pictorial (Guangxi huabao 廣西畫報) (1971), Hunan Pictorial (Hunan huabao 湖南 畫報) (1972), Worker-Peasant Army Pictorial (Gongnongbing huabao 工農兵畫報) (1972), Jiangsu Pictorial Art Monthly (Jiangsu huakan 江蘇畫刊) (1974), and Liaoning Pictorial Magazine (Liaoning huakan 遼寧畫刊) (1975), among others. Since July 1972, Xinjiang Pictorial , Guangdong Pictorial , Anhui Pictorial , Sichuan Pictorial , Nationality Pictorial , and Guizhou Pictorial resumed publishing. During this period, the instability of the country brought many difficulties to the publishing field. Many of the local pictorials were published for a longer period, and they were generally bimonthlies or quarterlies. Some pictorials were issued irregularly without any publication schedule. For example, Hunan Pictorial , which made its debut in 1972, only published seven issues up to 1974. It only resumed publishing two years later. Some of the pictorials were smaller with fewer pages, and they even ceased publishing not long after they appeared. As the publishing work of individual publications could not be operated normally, they were made as irregular ones. The content of the pictorials was of a preaching tone. The scope of topics was narrow, along with negative images, and the readability was poor. Later, many provinces and autonomous regions set up news photo agencies or photography studios, which were for collecting news photos for editing photography magazines, such as Gansu News Photos (Gansu xinwen zhaopian 甘肅新聞照片), Henan News Photos (Henan xinwen zhaopian 河南新聞照片), and Shaanxi News Photos (Shaanxi xinwen zhaopian 陝西新聞照片). They were normally monthlies, including various feature stories, distributed to rural areas, factories, mines, enterprises, cultural centers, and other basic-level units. They were limited to local circulation. After the downfall of the Gang of Four, many areas started to resume the publishing of pictorials. This kind of news photo was then stopped from being published.

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The magazine “Chinese Photography ” was forced to cease publishing in March

1966. Within eight years, there were no photography magazines in the country.

Chinese Photography only resumed publishing in September 1974. This was the only photography magazine in China. The photos and the manuscript of the first issue of Chinese Photography were reviewed and approved by Jiang Qing, which drafted the editorial principles for the republication. Interfered with by the Gang of Four, Chinese Photography was forced to publish content with a lot of mistakes. After 1970, PLA Pictorial started to edit the internal publication “PLA Pictorial Newsletter ” (Jiefangjun huabao tongxun 解放軍畫報通訊), which introduced reporting and editing experiences and photography technology, and skills. There were six issues annually, circulated in the Army.

Resumption of photo exhibitions and the characteristics The popular photo exhibitions were interrupted once the Cultural Revolution began. The China Photography Society held the China Photographic Art

Exhibition annually after 1957. After six years of suspension, it was only resumed in 1972. Then various photo exhibitions were held in 1974 and 1975, including

“South China Sea Islands — Paracel Islands Photo Exhibition,” “National Sports

Photo Exhibition,” and “The People’s Liberation Army of China Photo Exhibition.” These exhibitions were inevitably affected by the Cultural Revolution. Regardless

of the nature of the exhibitions, the images of Mao Zedong were always the highlights. At the China Photographic Art Exhibition in 1972, there were 84 photos of Mao Zedong. Many of them were solo images of Mao Zedong, while only a few were with other people. There was none capturing Mao Zedong with other revolutionists.

In 1975, during the National Sports Photo Exhibition at the 3rd National

Games of the People’s Republic of China, the photos like the ones showing

the athletes learning proletarian dictatorship theories, initiating revolutionary criticism, visiting Mao Zedong’s former residence, and attending class struggle

lessons were put in prioritized places so as to highlight the politics. Among the 240

photos showcased, less than 20 were about the games, which accounted for only

8% of the photos. There were even no photos reflecting some important sporting events.

The Gang of Four’s manipulation of news photos for conspiracy In August 1973, the Central Committee convened the 10th National People’s

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Congress. When reviewing the photos of the Congress, Jiang Qing ordered to

add Wang Hongwen to the photo capturing the conversation between Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai, so as to raise the political reputation for

the Gang of Four. In January 1975, the 4th National People’s Congress was held in Beijing. Yao Wenyuan, who had an ulterior motive, did not allow the release of the photos capturing Zhu De, Chairman of the NPC Committee, presiding at the

Congress, and Premier Zhou Enlai delivering the work report of the government.

He aimed at denouncing and writing off their glorious images in people’s minds. In the later stage of the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong repeatedly criticized

Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao, Jiang Qing, and Yao Wenyuan for forming a clique for their hidden agenda. The Gang of Four did not feel guilty; they even regarded Mao’s criticism as a “political rumor” and investigated this among the

cadres and the public. In September 1975, Jiang Qing and Yao Wenyuan went to

Shanxi Dazhai to participate in the 1st National “In Agriculture, Study Dazhai” Meeting. They grabbed this opportunity to produce the photos showcasing Jiang

Qing performing “labor” work. Jiang Qing approved the photos and made the newspapers publish them to fix the difficult position of the Gang of Four, and to

prove that Mao Zedong’s criticism was just a “political rumor.” After the death of

Mao Zedong, from September 13 to 16, Jiang Qing did not keep a vigil beside the coffin. So the newspapers could not publish anything about Jiang Qing keeping a vigil beside the coffin. Yao Wenyuan felt frustrated because of this. To highlight the role of Jiang Qing, he ordered the selection of a picture of the first day with Jiang Qing on it when he was reviewing the photos taken by Xinhua. Then he sent the photo to the newspapers in the capital. Once it received the photo, the People’s

Daily discovered that Jiang Qing was not on the list of those keeping a vigil. It was reckoned that it was going to be unfaithful to the truth if the photo was published, so the People’s Daily did not follow this practice. Yao Wenyuan could only revoke the photo when he knew the situation went against what he expected. The Gang of Four tried every means to disunite the Party and to seize power. On September 17, 1976, the leaders of the CPC mourned in front of the body of Mao Zedong. Hua Guofeng, First Vice Chairman of the CPC was in the middle, and there were 10 people on both sides. Yet, in the photos released by Xinhua, Hua Guofeng was relocated to one side, Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao, and Jiang Qing were in the middle. This picture was designated by Yao Wenyuan. He ordered the newspapers to publish the photo under banner headlines in prominent positions, which further seized the top authority of the Party and that of the country to produce public opinions.

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The death of Zhou Enlai and photojournalism of the Tiananmen Incident Zhou Enlai passed away in January 1976. Yao Wenyuan released a few orders to Xinhua: First, not to release the photos showcasing people bidding farewell to the body of Zhou Enlai; second, not to release the photos capturing a million people crying in Chang’an Avenue to bid farewell to Zhou Enlai’s hearse in Beijing; third, only a page was allowed for reporting the life events of Zhou Enlai; not to publish the photos in which Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong were together. In 1964, Mao Zedong and Zhu De went to the airport to meet Zhou Enlai for his return to China. Yao Wenyuan was ordered to crop Mao Zedong and Zhu De out of the photos; fifth, not to allow Xinhua, People’s Fine Arts Publishing House, and other units to publish the photo series titled “The Glorious Life of Zhou Enlai Struggling for Communism” (rural popular edition). Xinhua Printing House had already finished printing more than 100,000 sets of these photos (24 photos per set), even though Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan still insisted on the suspension of circulation. The general public was disappointed at the conspiracy of the Gang of Four in attacking and defaming Premier Zhou Enlai. Their anger was finally revealed in the first Qingming Festival after the death of Zhou Enlai. From late March to early April, people of all generations in Beijing held memorial activities in Tiananmen Square with flowers and Zhou Enlai statues. They wrote poems, delivered speeches, and drafted “blood letters” to cherish the memory of Zhou Enlai and to condemn the crimes committed by some people that had evil hidden agendas. On April 5, the memorial activities reached their high point. There were 100,000 people gathering in Tiananmen Square and their gathering formed a spontaneous political protest against the Gang of Four. The amateur photographers who participated in the memorial activities risked their lives to record this great historical event. Two days later, the patriotic acts in Tiananmen Square were regarded as “counterrevolutionary” activities. The Gang of Four ordered the tracking down of the people who took the photos in Tiananmen Square, and notified the studios in Beijing to confiscate the related photos and negatives. Yet the conspiracy of the Gang of Four was not successful. Most of the photos of the Tiananmen Incident were preserved. These precious photos, which could not be published at that time, were revealed after the downfall of the Gang of Four. Five of them — White Flowers to Premier Zhou (Bai hua xiangei zhouyeye 白花獻給周爺爺) (by Bao Naiyong), Unite to Struggle till Tomorrow (Tuanjie zhandou dao mingtian 團結戰 鬥到明天) (by Wu Peng), Let Our Blood Flow Together (Rang women de xie liu zai yiqi 讓我們的血流在一起) (by Wang Liping), Turning Back the Powers of Darkness

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(Liwankuanglan 力挽狂瀾) (by Luo Xiaoyun), and Scolding the Clowns (Nuchi xiaochou 怒斥小丑) (by Chen Bigang) — received the First Prize of the Tiananmen Incident Photographic Works presented by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and China Photographers Association. A technician from the research institute of Baotou Steel Company had 120 negatives, which were then collected by the National Archives by Xinhua. Many works were edited into the pictorial “The People’s Mourning ” (Renmin de daonian 人民的悼念) for further circulation.

News documentaries Lin Biao and the Gang of Four using news documentaries to produce counterrevolutionary opinion Soon after the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, the Cultural Revolution Group attempted to control the Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio. Qi Benyu stirred up troubles in the Studio, and asked the Studio to film the scenes of physical struggle in different areas in the name of “a shot is an order.” The Gang of Four always used the fact that their “mission [was] appointed by the Central Committee” as an excuse to order the Studio to produce films and information, such as “January Storm ” (Yiyue fengbao 一月風暴) and “Establishing the Revolutionary Committee ” (Jianli geming weiyuan hui 建立革命委員會). The Studio was forced to film the misleading “model cases.” For example, a film introducing the experience of “six factories, two schools” was produced to tie in with the “clearing class teams” campaign. During the time of “Criticize Lin Biao, Criticize Confucius,” the Studio was also forced to produce a special series on “Criticize Lin Biao, Criticize Confucius,” which was about the experiences of Xiaojinzhuang, Tianjing, and Shanghai Fifth Steel Factory. The Gang of Four even ordered the Studio to send a film crew to be stationed at Tsinghua University and Fudan University to produce videos to tie in with the so-called “fight-back” against the prevalence of CounterRehabilitation of Rightist Personnel. After the Tiananmen Incident, the Studio was also assigned to film “Heroes Before Tiananmen Square ” (Tiananmen qian de yingxiongmen 天安門前的英雄們), which was to publicize the quelling of the Tiananmen Incident. Regarding the news documentaries filmed during the Cultural Revolution, Lin Biao and the Gang of Four advocated that the truths and the facts should cater to the needs of politics. Under the control of this kind of fallacy, many films violated the principle of truthfulness as news documentaries. For instance, in the time when the extreme pro-revolutionary line caused economic difficulties, to construct

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a picture of prosperity, the Gang of Four orchestrated Haertao commune’s “Socialist great fair” in Liaoning. In fact, this was to force the members of the

people’s commune to sell the agricultural products to the country, which was a

Socialist approach against the capitalist direction. Therefore, the Studio filmed the

news documentary titled “Haertao Market ” (Haertao daji 哈爾套大集), which was full of exaggerated, misleading, and falsified information. This kind of news documentary seriously harmed the overall credibility of news documentaries.

Filmmakers of news documentaries struggling in the time of adversity Under the control of Lin Biao and the Gang of Four, the filmmakers of news documentaries boycotted and opposed the reactionary direction via different

means, while continuing to follow the fine revolutionary practice at the same time. They investigated into reality, and recorded the instability and reform. While

many film studios in China stopped their production work, Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio and August First Film Studio still continued to produce news documentaries. Although the Gang of Four had been running the country

and caused considerable damage to the national economy, there was still economic

development with the selfless contribution and enthusiasm for Socialist construction

from the people. Despite many unfavorable factors, the photojournalists still reported many significant events of the economic construction. Traces of photojournalism

could be found in the front line of industry and agriculture, important construction projects, the second climb up Mount Everest, as well as the Tangshan earthquake. They recorded the important historical chapters created by the people, and produced many great news documentaries, including Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge (Nanjing

changjing daqiao 南京長江大橋), Chengdu-Kunming Railway (Chengkun tielu 成昆 鐵 路), Xiangyang-Chongqing Railway (Xiangyu tielu 襄 渝 鐵 路), Daqing Red Flag (Daqing hongqi 大慶紅旗), and Second Climp Up Mount Everest (Zaici dengshang zhumulangmafeng 再次登上珠穆朗瑪峰). When filming “Second Climb of Mount Everest ,” Shi Xuezeng, the cameraman, climbed the mountain two times. Shen Jie, who had become handicapped more than 10 years earlier when his leg froze while he was climbing the mountain, took the initiative to coordinate the shooting work of the documentary. Without bringing any oxygen, the cameraman Liu Yongen brought the camera to film at the altitude of 8,400 meters. Filming in this high location set a record for a professional cameraman in China. Shi Ming, another cameraman, sacrificed his life when climbing the mountain. In the Xinjiang border area, the photographers suffered from the surprise attack of the enemy’s invasion,

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yet they still insisted to struggle to the last breath of life. From the Ussuri River to the

Heilongjiang border, photojournalists and frontier guards shot down the evidence against the invaders, and finished filming the documentaries like Inviolable Zhenbao

Island (Zhengbaodao burong qinfan 珍寶島不容侵犯) and New Czar ’s AntiChina Violent Acts (Xin shahuang fanhua baoxing 新沙皇反華暴行). As China’s diplomatic activities began, the filmmakers of news documentaries filmed the visits of U.S. President Richard Nixon and Japan’s Prime Minister Kakuei Tananka. They also recorded China’s resumption of membership in the United Nations, which was regarded as an important historic milestone, into the documentary titled “The 27th General Assembly of the United Nations ” (Di ershiqijie lianda huiyi 第二十七 屆聯大會議). They also filmed another program about Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping and China’s delegate attending the Special Sessions of the United Nations General Assembly. Besides, August First Film Studio produced “South China Sea Islands ” (Nanhai zhudao 南海諸島), in which a lot of relics and real-life examples were used to prove that the South China Sea Islands were parts of the territory of China. August First Film Studio was keen to record the military and technological developments of China, so they produced documentaries on reporting the success of the launches of missiles and artificial satellites. The filmmakers in Fujian Province had been producing programs on how the minions of the Gang of Four damaged the productions, persecuted the revolutionary cadres, and started physical struggles in Fujian. In 1977, when the Gang of Four was smashed, they edited all the information into the news documentary titled “Irrefutable Evidence — The Record of the Crimes of the Gang of Four ” (Tiezheng rushan jilu sirenbang de zuixing 鐵證如山—紀錄四人幫的罪行). Its release aroused considerable feedback from the public. In January 1976, the people were very saddened to hear of the death of Premier Zhou Enlai. The photojournalists of the Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio carried out the shooting work with the deepest sorrow. Apart from recording the official memorial activities, the cameramen also went to different places to capture the moments when the people expressed their respect towards Premier Zhou Enlai and gave voice to their sadness. They shot the moving scene showing Tiananmen Square full of white flowers and people from all generations who had come to Tiananmen Square to mourn for Zhou Enlai. When the hearse was on the way to Babaoshan, the cameramen captured the sad faces of the people that were waiting on the cold windy day in Chang’an Avenue. However, when the film was being reviewed, the trusted followers of the Gang of Four brought up unreasonable requests in order to edit out the “unwanted” scenes. For example,

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the scenes of unofficial memorial activities and the shots with people crying were

not allowed. The introduction of Zhou Enlai’s life was also trimmed. They even

delayed the review process to interrupt the release of the film. The documentary “Our Immortal Premier Zhou Enlai ” (Jingai de Zhou Enlai zongi yongchuibuxiu

敬愛的周恩來總理永垂不朽) could only be released in 1977 when the Gang of Four had been smashed. Nearly all the cameramen of the Central Newsreel and

Documentary Film Studio participated in the production process. More than 10 producers joined the editorial work. The entire production crew of more than

20 people worked day and night to contribute their efforts to this documentary.

Therefore, this film was full of the painstaking care of the film crew. As this documentary truly reflected the connection between Zhou Enlai and the people

and glorified Zhou Enlai’s contributions for the people, along with the passionate description, it aroused tremendous emotions from the people.

Journalism education and research Journalism education Journalism education was inevitably interrupted by the Cultural Revolution. The

schools were generally suspended by the revolution. The journalism departments

or courses of study at institutions of higher learning were also closed and they stopped accepting students. Teaching routines were adversely affected. On March

29, 1969, the article titled “We Advocate Thorough Revolution,” written by the labor team of Fudan University and the Mao Zedong Thought Propaganda Team of the People’s Liberation Army, was published on the front page of People’s Daily .

The article stressed that journalism departments “could not nurture revolutionary

fighter-journalists, and they should be closed.” Fudan University ran the so-called

“May Seventh Arts Class” to replace humanities courses. In this circumstance, the operations of the journalism department of Fudan University were actually

suspended. In 1971, Renmin University of China had its operations cancelled, and its journalism department was no exception. The work of the Beijing Broadcasting Institute had already been cancelled at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

The development of journalism education in China had been obstructed. The journalism major program of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Peking University could only be restored in September 1971. A majority of the

teaching staff from the journalism department of Renmin University of China performed labor work at the May Seventh Cadre Schools. In 1973, some of them

were assigned to teach the journalism courses at Peking University. In late 1971,

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Fudan Journalism School took in the first batch of worker-peasant-soldier students. In 1973, the Beijing Broadcasting Institute resumed operations with the approval from the State Council, and started accepting students the year after. Additionally, some other journalism education units were restored or newly established. In 1972, the Chinese Department of Guangxi University offered a journalism major program. At the same time, the journalism class of the Chinese Department of Tianjin Normal University accepted worker-peasant-soldier students. In 1974, the Chinese Department of Jiangxi University ran an advanced journalism class for cadres. In 1976, the Chinese Department of Zhengzhou University started the pilot scheme of a journalism major program. These restored and newly-established journalism education units were all seriously affected by the extreme prorevolutionary thought, which promoted the ideas of “open-door schooling” and “workers, peasants, and soldiers attending universities, managing universities, and reforming universities.” The extreme pro-revolutionary thought also went against the ideas of teachers’ dignity, Confucianism, Legalism, and the prevalence of “Counter-Rehabilitation of Rightist Personnel.” The disordered teaching routine led to low quality teaching.

Journalism research Journalism research in China during the Cultural Revolution was also seriously affected by the extreme pro-revolutionary thought. Many journalism researchers could not carry out research on journalism as usual. A large amount of valuable information was damaged during the chaos. Not many works on journalism were produced in these 10 years of turmoil. Only around 40 publications were issued in this period. Many of them showed a bias due to the extreme pro-revolutionary thought. Some important journalism publications, such as Journalism Business , were forced to cease publishing during the early stages of the Cultural Revolution. Many news research institutions and associations, like the All-China Journalists Association and other local journalist bodies, were dismissed or had their activities suspended. On September 1, 1968, the central “Two Newspapers and One Magazine” editorial board released the article titled “To Thoroughly Implement the Great Revolution on the News Line,” which distorted and attacked Liu Shaoqi’s correct and important journalistic thought. Lin Biao and the Gang of Four kept spreading their fallacies on journalism so as to achieve their counterrevolutionary goals of usurping the Party and seizing power. The ideas and theories of journalism were confused with the pro-revolutionary viewpoint, which led to undesirable effects in different aspects.

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Newspapers in ethnic minority languages Newspapers in ethnic minority languages could not escape from the 10 years of turmoil. A majority of these newspapers were seized or ceased publishing. The surviving ones were mainly the official newspapers of the Party committees of autonomous regions or those with longer histories. These newspapers had no characteristics at all, in spite of the general printing and design features. Regarding the content, these newspapers just published the news dispatches from Xinhua. Some of them were even renamed as “Xinhua Telegraph” (Xinhuashe dianxun 新華 社電訊) and “Xinhua News” (Xinhuashe xiaoxi 新華社消息). They were actually the translations of the “Two Newspapers and One Magazine.” They were designed and edited only according to the Chinese versions. The vast majority of ethnic minority language newspapers were managed in a military manner. Many journalists were persecuted with fabricated accusations. The dramatic drop of different professional technicians led to the inadequacy of talent in the field after the Cultural Revolution. Some newspapers were even renamed as Red Rebellion News (Hongse zaofan bao 紅色造反報). They were issued in “rebellious,” “military,” and “revolutionary” editions. The progress of newspapers in ethnic minority languages became very sluggish. China’s ethnic minority language newspapers were only developed in the 1970s. There were Yanbian Agriculture and Technology Post (Yanbian nongye kexue jishu bao 延邊農業科學技術報) (trade edition) and Health Publicity (Weisheng xuanchuan 衛生宣傳) founded in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Northwest China. The former one was published in January 1971 in Longjing by Yanbian Agricultural Science Research Institute and Yanbian Agricultural Science Information Center; the latter one was founded in 1970 in Yanji by Yanbian Health Education Office. In Inner Mongolia, the Mongolian edition of Wulanchabu Daily (Wulanchabu ribao 烏蘭察布 日報) was founded in 1971. In Xinjiang, the Kazakh edition of Tacheng Bao (塔城報) resumed publishing in June 1976. The Kazakh and Mongolian editions of Reference News were also officially released in this period. In 1971, the Central People’s Broadcasting Station no longer broadcast the programs in the five ethnic minority languages (Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur, Kazakh, and Korean). Kazakh was first used in the broadcasts of the central station. In the following section, Hami News , the official newspaper of the Hami Prefectual Committee of the CPC, Wulanchabu Daily , the official newspaper of the Wulanchabu Government in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Reference News in Uyghur, Kazakh, and Mongolian editions will be used as examples for an analysis of the newspapers in ethnic minority languages in this period.

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At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Hami Prefecture was more

stable than other inland areas. The official newsapaper Hami News could still be

published as usual. On September 3, 1966, the rebels started to attack local Party

committee units and the leaders. Affected by the January Storm, the authority of

Hami News was seized by the rebels. From January 27 to March 20, 1967, Hami News was changed to fit the publication of a “rebellious edition” with three issues in a week. There were 25 issues in total. It included the “power seizure announcement” from the rebels and other related coverage, so as to attack the leaders of the Party, administrative units, and the military forces, as well as the people from different ethnic groups. This was to publicize the notion of “rational vandalism” (dazaqiang youli 打砸搶有理). Hami Prefecture entered a state of chaos. In such a difficult situation, Hami News operated under military control after March 20, 1967, and produced its “military edition.” Up until March 15, 1969, there were around 312 issues. It mainly covered the direction of “Grasp revolution, Promote production” and on how the situation had been stabilized. It also emphasized the appropriate handling of cadres and the public, which was quite effective in maintaining the cohesion between the army and the people. However, the small newspapers were just copycats of large newspapers. They just published the edited news dispatches provided from Xinhua. Hami News could not escape from the influence of the pro-revolutionary thought. Once the revolutionary committee was established in the Hami region, as the official newspaper of the revolutionary committee, Hami News turned to release its “revolutionary edition” of three issues a week. Since March 15, 1969, there were a total of 790 issues. This revolutionary edition was actually an instigator of the extreme pro-revolutionary thought. Especially after the Twelfth Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee, it condemned the February Struggle and publicized the struggle between the two lines, leading to adverse effects. On November 6, 1973, the local Party committee decided that Hami News would resume publication in January 1974 with three issues a week. It was published in both Uyghur and Chinese. The newspaper’s content mainly covered the restoration of the rightist ideas, “Criticize Lin Biao, Criticize Confucius,” and the publicizing of the “anti-trend.” It reproduced Xinhua’s news dispatches and local model cases to fill the layout. Nine out of 17 people from the editorial board of Hami News were criticized and attacked. Some of them were illegally imprisoned for a year. They took turns performing labor works at the May Seventh Cadre Schools. Due to the special situation and unfavorable working environment,

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Hami News ceased publication on November 1, 1974. It only resumed publication in 1986 after a 12-year suspension. Wulanchabu Daily (Mongolian and Chinese editions) was the official newspaper of the CPC Inner Mongolia Wulanchabu Government. The Chinese edition was founded on August 1, 1958, and was published on an alternate day basis. It once ceased publishing in February 1961, and resumed publishing on New Year’s Day 1963. It was then changed to a six-day publication after July 1965. The Mongolian edition was founded on July 1, 1971, and then became a weekly edition of selected articles. Since April 25, 1976, it was published on alternate days. The Mongolian edition targeted readers in pastoral areas and the agro-pastoral areas, catering to the needs from urban areas as well. The major target readers were the herders and the cadres of lower levels in the pastoral regions. Reference News was edited into three ethnic minority languages: Uyghur, Kazakh, and Mongolian. The Uyghur and Kazakh editions of Reference News were translated and published by Xinjiang Daily . There were six issues a week, while each issue was four pages long. The Uyghur edition was founded in 1957, the Kazakh edition was founded on August 1, 1975, and the Mongolian edition was founded on April 1, 1973. They were circulated across the country after 1975.

Experiences and lessons learned from China’s journalism in the Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution ended with serious damage and devastation to the

news business in China. The reputation of the industry dropped to its lowest point. Many journalists were persecuted. For the betterment of the industry, it is important to learn from history for the future.

To practically improve and strengthen the leadership of the news business The Socialist news business has to be under the leadership of the Party. The

people involved should also take the initiative to implement the Party’s political and ideological directions. At the same time, it is important to oppose individual

arbitrariness. During the Cultural Revolution, there was no order and democracy in the Party and the country. Lin Biao and the Gang of Four abused newspapers

and other media channels to suppress and oppose the conflicting opinions in the

Party. They even criticized and condemned the comrades with opposite ideas as their enemies. Apart from the political conspiracy of the Gang of Four, the lack

of a comprehensive democratic and monitoring system for the Party was also a

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A HISTORY OF Journalism IN CHINA VOLUME 8

reason for this situation. The situation was worsened by the personality cult of the Party’s leaders, which led to the patriarchal governance in the Party. Under this circumstance, some careerists and conspirators tried different means to gain trust from the leaders so as to seize power and authority for their hidden agendas. To prevent this unfavorable scenario from happening again, it was important to strengthen democracy in the Party, to improve the democratic monitoring system in the Party, and to enhance the disciplinary standards in the Party. The Party newspapers should unconditionally publicize the directions, principles, and policies of the Party. The Party members were not allowed to express their personal opinions going against the central government in newspapers and the broadcast media. They should also not adopt the Party newspapers as their propaganda tools for individuals and certain parties. The conflicts and debates among the core leaders should be solved via the Party’s regular democratic system. One should not use the media channels to attack and condemn others. Before a major conflict came to a consensus, one should not publicize the information on the newspapers to avoid ideological confusion in the Party. Some issues are posted in the newspapers as decided through the Party’s meetings. The equal powers of expressing opinions for both parties should be guaranteed. The newspapers should be aware of the criticisms with the names mentioned. This has to be approved by the top units of the Party. The people being criticized in the newspapers should also enjoy the right to explain themselves.

To correctly understand and perform the dual functions of the news business Media channels are the mouthpieces of the Party and the government, and also of the people. They not only publicize the policies of the Party and the government so as to facilitate the development of works, but also listen to the people’s opinions and investigate into different issues while implementing the policies as they are always connected to the people. They have to reflect the opinions, needs, difficulties, and emotions of the people to the Party committees of all levels and the central government. The Party and the government can use different channels, including the media, to understand the people, reality, and the problems during the implementation of different policies, so they can adjust, improve, or perfect the policies to avoid any faults. The news business should be the tool for the people to monitor the Party and the government. However, we only emphasized the function of the Party newspapers as the “mouthpieces of the Party” while ignoring or even denying their function as the representatives of the people. We

196

Journalism in the Cultural Revolution (May 1966–October 1976)

even suppressed the function of the Party newspapers to research on policies. All these have interrupted the functions of the news business. During the Cultural Revolution, the counterrevolutionary clique led by Lin Biao and Jiang Qing seized the authority of the news business, and exploited the journalists’ powers to reflect people’s opinions. Thus, the newspapers and other media channels were just parroting biased individual opinions. Newspapers lost their function of connecting the people with the Party and the government, which worsened the mistakes and failures of the Party. History proves that the persistence of the dual functions of the news business can brighten up the Party newspapers to continue their duties in connecting the people with the government. Undoubtedly, journalists have to shoulder the responsibilities to reflect people’s opinions and investigate the Party’s policies. They have to be mindful of the correct ideological and political direction and to insist on the principles of faithfulness. Moreover, they have to stand firm in any circumstances. They have to fight for the truth, and dare to tell the truth for the interests of the Party and the people. Journalists should keep cultivating their minds and enriching their knowledge for higher quality work.

197

Notes Chapter 21 1.

2.

3. 4.

5.

6.

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

16. 17.

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the People’s Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956. The idea “Let a hundred flowers blossom since the first half of 1956, let a hundred schools of thought contend” (Baijia qifang baijia zhengming 百花齊放，百家爭鳴) are also referred as the “DoubleHundred Policy” (Shuangbai fangzhen 雙百方針). Mao Zedong 毛澤東, Mao Zedong xinwen gongzuo wenxuan 毛澤東新聞工作文選 (Selected Works of News Activities of Mao Zedong) (Beijing: Xinhua chubanshe, 1983), 200. “Wenhui bao de zichanjieji fangxiang yingdang pipan” 《文匯報》的資產階級方向應當批判 (The Capitalist Direction of the People’s Daily Should Be Criticized), Renmin ribao 人民日報 (People’s Daily), July 1, 1957. Luo Longji (1896–1965) was a scholar. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, he had been the Central Vice-Chairman of the China Democratic League, National Committee Member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and Committee Member of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee. Big-character posters are handwritten, wall-mounted posters using large-sized Chinese characters, used as a means of protest, propaganda, and popular communication. They have been used since the imperial times in China. They are often considered the iconography of the Cultural Revolution. Mao Zedong 毛澤東, Mao Zedong xinwen gongzuo wenxuan 毛澤東新聞工作文選 (Selected Works of News Activities of Mao Zedong) (Beijing: Xinhua chubanshe, 1983), 188. It was actually the 8th Plenum of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and was an informal discussion about the Great Leap Forward. Double-Anti Campaign refers to the Anti-Waste and Anti-Conservative Campaign, which was a significant part of the Rectification Movement. The three slogans are also recognized as the “Three Red Banners” for constructing China as a Socialist state. “Setting satellite” refers to the unrealistic and exaggerating coverage in the Cultural Revolution. The saying originated from the Soviet Union’s launch of the first artificial satellite “Sputnik 1.” Mao Zedong 毛澤東, Mao Zedong xinwen gongzuo wenxuan 毛澤東新聞工作文選 (Selected Works of News Activities of Mao Zedong) (Beijing: Xinhua chubanshe, 1983), 202–4. Ibid. Wu Lengxi (1919–2002) was the former chief editor of the People’s Daily and head of Xinhua News Agency. Chen Boda (1904–1989) was a member of the Communist Party of China, a secretary to Mao Zedong and a prominent member of the leadership during the Cultural Revolution, chairing the Cultural Revolution Group. Hu Qiaomu (1912–1992) was a revolutionary, sociologist, Marxist philosopher and prominent politician of People’s Republic of China. He was also the first president of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Mao Zedong 毛澤東, Mao Zedong xinwen gongzuo wenxuan 毛澤東新聞工作文選 (Selected Works of News Activities of Mao Zedong) (Beijing: Xinhua chubanshe, 1983), 213.

199

Notes

18. The principle here is also referred as the “Eight-character Policy 八字方針” as the principle was labeled with eight Chinese characters: consolidate (tiaozheng 調整), deepen (gonggu 鞏固), enhance (chongshi 充實), grow (tigao 提高). 19. Tao Zhu (1908–1969) was the Former Member of the 8th Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China. 20. Tao Zhu 陶鑄, “Sixiang ganqing wencai” 思想．感情．文采 (Idea, Sensibility, Literary Grace), Xinwen zhanxian 新聞戰線 (The Press), No. 1 (1960). 21. Ibid. 22. A league is an administrative unit in Inner Mongolia. It is like a prefecture in China. 23. He Long (1896–1969) was Division Commander of the Eighth Route Army and Vice Chairman of Central Military Commission. 24. The eight-legged essay was a style of essay writing that had to be mastered to pass the imperial examinations during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is named so because it was divided into eight sections. 25. Liu Jianbang 劉建邦, and Lu Ke 盧克, “Tan tongxunyuan zai quandang banbao yundong zhong de zuoyong” 談通訊員在全黨辦報運動中的作用 (The Role of Correspondent in the Whole-Party Newspaper Publishing Campaign), Xinwen yewu 新聞業務 (Journalism Business), Vol. 12 (1961). 26. Dong Cunrui (1929–1948) was a Chinese Communist soldier in the People’s Liberation Army during the Chinese Civil War who committed a suicidal bombing in order to destroy a Kuomintang bunker guarding an important bridge in Longhua Prefecture. 27. Huang Jiguang (1931–1952) was a member of the People’s Liberation Army. At the battle of Triangle Hill, he sacrificed himself by blocking the enemy’s fire hole with his chest. 28. Mao Zedong 毛澤東, Mao Zedong xinwen gongzuo wenxuan 毛澤東新聞工作文選 (Selected Works of News Activities of Mao Zedong) (Beijing: Xinhua chubanshe, 1983), 218. 29. Beijing wanbao 北京晚報 (Beijing Evening News), March 19, 1961. 30. Wu Nanxing 吳南星, Sanjiacun zhaji 三家村札記 (Notes of Three Writers Village) (Beijing: Renmin minxue chubanshe, 1979), 1. 31. Zheng Banqiao (1693–1765) was a Chinese painter. He was renowned for his drawing of orchids, bamboo, and stones. In 1748, he resumed to be the “official calligrapher and painter” for the Qianlong Emperor. 32. Kang Sheng (1898–1975) was a CPC official. He monitored the work of the People’s Republic of China’s security and intelligence unit at the high point of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s. He was a close associate of Mao Zedong. 33. Gao Gang (1905–1954) was a CPC leader during the Chinese Civil War and the early years of the People’s Republic of China. He was of peasant background with a very low level of education. Trusted by Mao Zedong, Gao Gang was promoted in the final years of the civil war to become the Party, state, and military head of the key Northeast area of China. He later attempted a leadership challenge against Liu Shaoqi and Zhou Enlai. The attempt failed, and he committed suicide in August 1954. 34. Jiang Qing (1914–1991) was Mao Zedong’s last wife and a major CPC power figure. Jiang Qing was most well known for playing a major role in the Cultural Revolution and for forming the radical political alliance known as the “Gang of Four.” 35. Yang Xianzhen (1896–1992) was a politician who was the tenth president of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Yang served as president from 1955 to 1961. 36. Sun Yefang (1908–1983) was a renowned Chinese economist. Sun advocated market-oriented reforms and was denounced by the Maoists. 37. Jian Bozan (1898–1968) was a prominent Chinese Marxist historian.

200

Notes

38. Wu Han (1909–1969) was one of the most important historians in the development of modern historical scholarship in China with his work in the 1930s and 1940s. After 1949, he was the Deputy-Mayor of Beijing. In November 1965, at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, he was attacked due to the play “Dismissal of Hai Rui.” He committed suicide in prison in 1969. 39. Zhang Chunqiao (1917–2005) was a prominent Chinese political theorist, writer, and politician. was a member of the Maoist radical group “Gang of Four.” 40. Yao Wenyuan (1931–2005) was a Chinese literary critic, a politician, and a member of the “Gang of Four.” 41. Peng Zhen (1902–1997) was a leading member of the CPC. Yet, he was purged during the Cultural Revolution for opposing Mao Zedong’s views on the role of literature in relation to the state. 42. Chen Mingxian 陳明顯, and Zhang Heng 張恆 et al., Xinzhongguo sishinian yanjiu 新中國四十年研究 (Research on the 40 Years of New China) (Beijing: Beijing Institute of Technology Press, 1989), 348–9. 43. Ibid., 348. 44. Lin Biao (1907–1971) was a major Chinese Communist military leader, who played a vital role in the communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, especially in Northeastern China. He and Jiang Qing are still considered to be the two “major counter-revolutionaries” blamed for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution.

Chapter 22 1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

13.

Chen Boda was appointed as the Team Leader, Jiang Qing as the First Vice Team Leader, and Kang Sheng as the Consultant. Nie Yuanzi (1921–) is a Chinese academic who taught philosophy at Peking University. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (1894–1971) led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and served as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. The four stages were the beginning of the state establishment, the general accomplishment of the Socialist reform in 1956, the Three Years of the Difficult Period, and the eve of the Cultural Revolution. The Five Black Categories referred to landlords, rich farmers, anti-revolutionists, bad-influencers, and rightwingers. These news units included the central and provincial newspaper offices, the ones in autonomous regions; the head office and the branch offices of Xinhua; radio stations in provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions. It refers to “wengong wuwei 文攻武衛.” “Wengong” means to condemn both in speech and in writing; “wuwei” means to defend through violence. It means to struggle for repelling the capitalist roaders, to criticize the capitalist class and revisionism, and to rectify the unreasonable rules and regulations. 8341 Special Regiment, later named the People’s Liberation Army 61889 Regiment, also Chinese Central Safeguard Regiment, is responsible for guarding and protecting the main leaders of the CPC and the PRC. This campaign, launched in December 1968, called on millions of educated young people from cities to go to rural areas in order to learn from the poor and lower-middle peasants. Fengqing (風慶) was the name of the ocean liner manufactured in China. Lü Buwei (291?–235BC) served as the chancellor of China for King Zhuangxiang of the Qin Dynasty, and as the regent and the chancellor for the king’s young son Zheng, who became Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. Liang Xiao is the homonym of the “two schools” ( 兩校), which are Peking University and Tsinghua University.

201

Notes

14. Lü Zhi (241–180 BC) was the empress consort of Emperor Gao, the founder and first ruler of the Han Dynasty. 15. Wu Zetian (625–705) was a concubine of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty; after his death she married his successor and the 9th son, Emperor Gaozong, officially becoming Gaozong’s furen 夫人 (“empress,” “wife,” or “first consort”) in 655, although having considerable political power previous to this. After Gaozong’s debilitating stroke in 660, Wu Zetian ruled as effective sovereign until 705. She is the only woman to rule China in her own right. 16. Władysław Gomułka (1905–1982) was a Polish communist leader. He was the de facto leader of Poland from 1945 to 1948, and from 1956 to 1970. 17. C. Clark Kissinger (1940–) was the National Secretary of Students for a Democratic Society in 1964-65. He visited the PRC twice during the Cultural Revolution, and is a devoted Maoist. 18. Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (1906–1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), presiding over the country from 1964 until his death. 19. The three films were Tunnel Warfare (Didao zhan 地道戰), Landmine Warfare (Dilei zhan 地雷戰), and War on All Sides (Nanzheng beizhan 南征北戰). Many people named the films as a series of “Three Wars.”

202

Index agricultural production 103, 150, 153 agricultural products 57, 189 agriculture 6, 26, 28, 41, 43, 77, 93, 144-5, 163, 183, 189 All-round Rectification 147, 162, 164-5 anarchism 132, 154, 156-7 anti-Party 16, 109, 115-17, 119 anti-restoration 146-7, 150, 158 Anti-Rightist Movement 2-3, 6, 9, 14-15, 68, 76, 83, 86, 108, 172 anti-rightist struggle 3, 10-14, 16-17, 33-4, 40, 54 anti-Socialism 14, 16, 116 anti-trend 146-8, 194 army 93, 116, 136-8, 145, 159, 161, 185, 194 Beijing Broadcasting Institute 82-4, 191-2 Beijing Daily 14, 67-8, 100-2, 110-11, 115, 117, 149 Beijing Evening News 54, 105-6, 109, 117 Beijing Municipal Committee 67, 115, 117, 144 Beijing Television 38-9, 42-4 Beijing Xinhua Printing House 140, 142-3 biased pro-revolutionary mistakes 45, 83, 86, 90, 103, 108-9, 114, 167 big-character posters 5, 12, 26, 114, 118-21, 133, 150, 161, 168 book 34-5, 63, 74, 92, 101, 106-7, 123, 164 broadcast media 32-3, 41-2, 82, 196 cabinet 147, 161-2 cameramen 190-1 Capital Red Guards 130-1

capitalist class 21, 76, 108-9, 118, 126, 142, 148, 156, 163, 167 capitalist roaders 124, 126-7, 136-7, 140, 142, 144, 146, 166, 172, 183 Central Broadcasting Bureau 38, 42, 177-9 Central Cultural Revolution Group 120, 124, 127, 132, 135 central newspapers 51, 101, 120 Central People’s Broadcasting Station 24, 33, 38, 40-4, 51, 118-19, 133, 174-6, 193 chancellor 158-60 chaos 119, 122, 124-5, 132-3, 136, 140, 173, 178, 192, 194 checkpoints 141, 143 chief editors 5, 7, 13-14, 29-30, 65-6, 76, 115, 118, 127, 174 China Democratic League 5, 7, 11, 13 China Photography Society 71, 73, 75, 185 China Youth Daily 6, 14, 25, 67, 75, 95-7, 100, 104-5 Chinese editions 58-61, 64, 195 circuits 51-3 circulation 13, 25, 47-8, 57-8, 77, 123, 131, 187-8 class struggle 10, 83, 85-6, 108-9, 114, 116, 118-19, 124, 127, 138, 146, 158 coal 18-20, 78 column 6, 28, 54, 93-4, 102-8, 110, 147, 155, 183 Communism 20, 22, 62, 77, 95-7, 168 Communist Party 5, 7, 9-12, 48, 55, 68, 109, 134 conflicts 2, 6-8, 10, 12, 15-16, 132-3, 149, 154-5, 196 Confucianism 158-9, 161, 192 conspiracy 124, 151-2, 158, 160-2, 165, 172,

203

Index

175, 185, 187 construction 39, 49, 51, 57, 70-1, 78, 80, 87, 154, 181 correspondents 5, 31, 50, 68, 92-5 counter-criticism 10, 16, 110 counterrevolution 138, 172 counterrevolutionaries 114, 116, 124, 1267, 136, 156, 158-9, 161, 167, 183 counterrevolutionary class 108, 114 counterrevolutionary cliques 114, 132, 166, 175, 177, 197 counterrevolutionary revisionists 118, 126 CPC Central Politburo 116, 135, 139, 151, 158, 161, 163, 172, 175 Cultural Revolution Group 111, 116, 188 current affairs 53, 64-5, 67, 74 daily newspapers 54, 56 Daqing 47, 99 Dazhai 47, 99, 144-6 Dazhai Brigade 99, 144-6 deathbed injunction 174-5 Deng Tuo 54, 66, 106-7, 111, 117, 125-6 Deng Xiaoping 44, 107, 147, 162-5, 172, 174 Dismissal of Hai Rui 110-11, 114-15, 117, 120 documentaries 44, 77-81, 189-91 Double-Hundred Policy 3, 5, 7, 11, 79, 86, 107, 115 eclecticism 158, 160-1 editorial board 54, 107, 117, 192, 194 editorial offices 11, 14, 29-31, 34, 54, 63, 945, 112, 126, 133, 137 education reform 148-50, 155, 165, 171 empiricism 162-3 ethnic minority languages 53, 58, 193, 195 evening newspapers 53-6

204

exaggeration 14, 18-19, 31, 33, 37, 39, 45, 69, 76-8, 95, 112, 153, 170 examination paper 147-8 exhibitions 71, 136, 145, 185 expansion 2, 48, 83, 108-9, 114, 132 Fengqing Incident 150-2 film studios 76-7, 189 films 11, 39, 76, 78-9, 81, 136, 151, 163, 171, 174, 179, 188-91 First Secretary 29-30, 91 forum 38, 54-5, 84, 105, 155 Four Olds 119, 121 free expression 2-7, 9, 11-12, 15 Fudan University 8, 74, 82-4, 191 Gang of Four 124, 134, 158, 161-2 groundless accusations 115, 117, 120, 131, 133, 137 Guangming Daily 4, 6-8, 10, 13, 98, 111, 115, 125, 136, 156, 164, 175 Hua Guofeng 172, 174-5, 186 ideology 16, 22, 100, 105-6, 139 in-depth investigation 36, 45, 50, 67, 87, 90, 98, 100 incident 5-6, 10, 12, 32, 36, 95-6, 109, 124-6, 151, 173 inscription 44, 97 instigation 119, 121, 125, 167 instructions 2, 141-2 intellectuals 3-5, 43, 48, 111, 127, 140, 142 international publicity 165-6, 169 Jiang Qing Clique 140, 142, 147-8, 155, 157, 159, 161-3, 173 journalism education 2, 81-3, 191-2 journalism research 2, 83, 85, 192

Index

journalism sector 14, 22, 31, 33, 47, 114, 135, 139 Legalism 158-9, 161, 192 Lei Feng 47, 80, 97-8, 172 letterpress printing 127-8, 131 Liaoning Daily 59, 97, 147 Lin Biao 111-12, 114, 116, 119-20, 124, 132-9, 153-4, 156-9, 161, 166, 175, 177, 188, 192, 195 line struggle 121, 143, 145, 158 linear broadcasting 177-8 local newspapers 20, 29, 46, 51, 64, 102, 126 local radio stations 39-41, 43, 176-7, 181 Mao Zedong Thought 8, 116, 118-19, 123, 141, 167-8, 170, 175, 183 Marxism-Leninism 8, 84, 87-8, 91, 168, 175 mass movements 23-4, 26-8, 36, 183 media channels 75, 120, 175, 195-7 media platforms 19, 135, 144-6, 148, 150, 152, 158, 160, 163 memorial activities 173, 187 Ministry of Agriculture 6, 43 Ministry of Culture 78-80, 159, 161 misleading information 45, 77-8, 174, 176 model cases 93, 95, 99, 138, 140-1, 143-5, 147-8, 150, 152-3, 188 model individuals 143, 148 Mount Everest 79, 96, 189 mourning 170-2 municipal committees 55-6, 66, 124 municipal newspapers 55, 93, 101-2, 125 Nanfang Daily 54-5, 57, 92, 103 National People’s Congress 17-18, 144, 1478, 151, 157, 161-2, 186 New China 11, 40, 54, 59, 63, 65, 68, 70-1, 74, 79, 82-3, 116, 136, 181

news documentaries 38, 77-80, 188-90 news photography 73-6 newsletters 7, 92 newspaper journalists 47, 88 newspaper offices 23, 26-7, 29-31, 93, 118 newspaper propaganda 87, 133, 138 newspaper publishing 23-4, 49, 90-1, 132 notification 114, 116-17, 125 official newspapers 3, 54-6, 58-61, 63-4, 901, 125-6, 193-5 output 17-19, 26 Party newspapers 3-5, 9, 15, 26, 29-30, 37, 48, 91-3, 95, 103, 165, 174, 196-7 Party spirit 134-5, 138-9, 180 Party’s directions 36, 65 Party’s leaders 4, 196 Party’s policies 57, 63, 88, 127, 142, 197 Party’s rectification 5, 9, 13, 15 peasants 43, 53, 56-8, 60, 79, 103, 141, 147, 149, 156, 183, 192 Peking University 4-5, 81, 119, 156, 191 pen names 30, 106, 118, 150, 158-60 people’s communes 20-2, 34, 39, 144, 149, 177, 189 People’s Liberation Army 40, 79-80, 97, 116, 133, 140, 142, 173, 175, 183, 185, 191 people’s militia 98, 146, 173 personality cult 111-12, 114, 120, 122, 143, 196 photo exhibitions 71, 185 photographers 6, 38, 70-1, 73-4, 81, 189 photography competitions 68-9, 72 photography magazines 72, 184-5 photojournalism 2, 46, 67, 69-71, 73-6, 182, 187, 189 photojournalists 67-8, 71, 73-6, 84, 96, 18990

205

Index

pictorials 70, 104, 184, 188 political movements 75-6, 83 political struggle 121, 159, 162 power seizures 117, 124-7, 131, 135 prefectural committees 98-9, 144-5 Premier Zhou Enlai 43, 64, 78, 80, 115, 144, 156, 170-2, 186, 190 principle of journalism 35, 85 pro-revolutionary 15, 22, 31, 33, 35, 37, 3940, 85, 154, 161, 166, 178-9, 182 production brigades 56-7, 144, 177 proletarian dictatorship 118, 137, 156-7, 162 proletarian revolutionaries 124, 133 promotion 3-5, 7-8, 20, 22, 25, 63, 67, 72, 80, 100, 144 Propaganda Department 31, 79, 84, 86, 934, 111 propaganda units 32-3, 120, 140, 181 provinces 9, 19, 25-6, 30, 39-40, 42-3, 51, 56-7, 64-5, 70-1, 73-4, 93-4, 125, 175-6, 178-9 provincial committees 29-30, 56-7, 59, 90, 92, 145, 149 provincial newspapers 20, 25-9, 55-7, 90 quotations 111-12, 121, 123, 131, 139, 162, 168 radio 18, 20, 24, 34, 39-42, 44, 76, 82, 175-7, 179-82 rebellion 120-1, 124, 145, 182 rebels 35, 62, 118-19, 132, 176, 194 rectification 3-7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 95, 139, 141, 156-7, 163, 165 Rectification Movement 2-4, 7, 13, 15, 68, 75 Red Banners 33-5, 39, 108 Red Guards 121-2, 127-8, 131-3, 168, 176,

206

182 reeducation 141-2 Reference News 47-9, 195 regiment 140, 161 Renmin University of China 9, 74, 83-4, 130, 191 restoration 109, 138, 148-50, 157-8, 165, 172, 194 revision 48-9, 104, 115 revisionism 65, 109, 140, 150, 165-6, 168 revolutionaries 62, 103, 119-20, 123, 133, 136, 138, 158-9 revolutionary committees 64, 125, 128, 141, 160, 176, 188, 194 rightist-opportunists 34, 76 rightists 2-4, 9-16, 36, 83, 157, 167 role model 97-8, 101, 119, 144 self-evaluations 12-13, 15, 32 senior cadres 95, 124, 136, 153-4, 161, 163 shortcomings 16, 23-4, 37, 45-6, 85, 147, 152 six factories 140-3, 188 slogans 10-11, 23, 25, 49, 64, 121, 131, 1345, 139, 173 Socialist construction 8, 23, 37, 39, 77, 85, 155, 189 Socialist countries 8, 62 Socialist education 58, 103 Socialist revolution 8, 70-1, 116, 154 State Council 7, 9, 63, 80, 101, 124, 147, 151, 162, 164, 172, 174, 179, 192 steel industry 19-20, 22 students 5, 73-4, 77, 81-3, 86, 98, 122, 140, 148-50, 191-2 subheadlines 5, 8, 18, 26 supplements 25, 54-5, 104-5, 107, 181 syllabus 73-5, 84

Index

tabloids 127-34 Tao Zhu 55, 57, 91-2 teaching materials 74, 83-5 television broadcasting 38-9, 41-2, 44, 82, 179-82 television productions 42, 180 television programs 42, 151, 174, 177, 17980 television stations 38, 44, 120, 171, 178, 181 Three-Family Village 106, 111, 117, 120 Tiananmen Incident 170, 174, 187-8 Tiananmen Square 39, 79, 122, 171, 173, 182, 187, 190 traitors 124, 127, 136-7, 142, 168 turmoil 114, 176-7, 180, 182, 192-3 United Nations 169, 190 universities 12, 39, 83, 147-9, 155, 192 whole-Party newspaper publishing 29, 31, 90-5 writers 10, 29, 93, 95, 99, 107 writing style 23, 25, 42, 46-7, 92, 96, 121, 170 writing teams 30, 92-3, 157-60, 163-4 Xinhua News Agency 2, 24, 29, 32-5, 44-7, 84-5, 175 Yao Wenyuan 10, 110-11, 114-15, 136, 148, 151, 155-9, 162-4, 168, 170-2, 174, 186-7 Zhang Chunqiao 21, 114, 124, 136, 148, 155-8, 161-3, 186-7 Zhou Enlai 44, 110, 150-1, 153-62, 165, 170-3, 187, 190-1 Zuo Ye Incident 6, 12

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