This cable, from the U.S. consulate in Chengdu, is a great read. It's from 2007,  but one suspects the world of Chinese state propaganda hasn't changed much since then. If you're in a hurry, take a look at the "Propagandizing Foreigners" section at the bottom.   

ENCOUNTER WITH SOUTHWEST CHINA PROPAGANDA OFFICIAL

Identifier:	07CHENGDU285
Origin:	Consulate Chengdu
Created:	2007-12-07 09:44:00

 

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENGDU 000285

 

E.O. 12958: DECL:  12/7/2017

TAGS: PGOV, CH, SOCI

SUBJECT: ENCOUNTER WITH SOUTHWEST CHINA PROPAGANDA OFFICIAL

 

CHENGDU 00000285  001.2 OF 003

 

 

CLASSIFIED BY: James A. Boughner, Consul General, U.S. Consulate

General, Chengdu, China.

REASON: 1.4 (b), (d)

1.  (C) Summary:  Openly disparaging of the Communist Party's

standard propaganda manual, a young Kunming City propaganda

department official in southwest China told us of his hopes to

work his way up to a comfortable job in a state enterprise.

Among other "pearls of wisdom," the widely available propaganda

manual highlights the importance of careful management of the

internet to prevent foreign "ideological infiltration and notes

that "feeding propaganda" to foreigners should be approached

differently than internal agitprop.  End summary.

 

 

 

2.  (C) A Kunming, Yunnan Province Communist Party Committee

Propaganda Department official introduced himself to Congenoff,

whom he had noticed reading the 2003 Red Flag Press book

"Practical Manual for Party Propaganda Work" during one of our

recent trips to the city.  The worker volunteered the book was

too abstract and divorced from the practicalities of everyday

propaganda work.  He remarked that his ideological studies had

made him skilled in analyzing arguments to see the "naked

interests that lay underneath their ideological clothing."

 

 

 

3.  (C) The official, in his late twenties, said he had received

a degree in computer science and then worked for Hitachi in

Japan for three years.  Back in Kunming, he found the local job

market tough but eventually latched onto a position with the

Kunming City Party Committee Propaganda Department.  His

eventual goal was to get a job at a state-run company.  His

ideal job, he said, would be to work for the tobacco monopoly, a

very large and profitable state enterprise.

 

 

 

--------------------------------------------- --------------

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Highlights of 2003 "Practical Manual for Party Propaganda Work"

 

--------------------------------------------- --------------

-------

 

 

 

4.  (SBU) This 2003 Red Flag Publishing House, purchased at the

Kunming Xinhua Bookstore is also widely available online.  Hu

Jintao in his foreword to the book wrote "If the masses are not

guided by a scientific theory as the push forward social change,

they cannot succeed... As times change our thinking and

understanding too must move forward~ the theoretical basis of

the Party, must based on what we have inherited from the past

constantly absorb new experiences and new thinking."  In the

first section of the "Propaganda Manual" Hu Jintao and others

expound on the "Three Represents" of former Party Secretary

Jiang Zemin.

 

 

 

5.  (SBU) As the propaganda worker warned, the book, and

especially the first section, is very dull reading.  The next

sections on the theory, purposes and methods of Party propaganda

work are more enlightening.

 

 

 

----------------------------

 

Goals of Party Propaganda

 

---------------------------

 

 

 

6.  (U) The goal of Party propaganda is to mold generation after

generation of new socialist people. (p. 80)

 

-- Insist on positiveness in propaganda.  News reporting should

hold to the positiveness principle by handling properly the

balance praise and exposing problems.  In any case, reader

should be left with feelings of encouragement, trust, courage

and hope.  (p. 82 - 82)

 

--   Party propaganda must serve the purposes of the Party

center and give guidance to the people (p. 82)

 

--  Propaganda should saturate society.  The object of a

propaganda message needs to get the message continually and from

many different sources including books, movies, periodicals and

 

CHENGDU 00000285  002.2 OF 003

 

 

the Internet.  The experience of the Party shows that messages

from many sources re-enforce one another.   Different people and

groups need to get the message in a way that is suitable for

them.  (pp. 88 - 89)

 

-- The Internet has an ever greater impact on people's thinking.

People outside mainland China are always plotting ways to

infiltrate China ideologically.  We need to strengthen our

management of news websites and other websites.

 

-- Make clear to everyone that development is the number one

task for China and the Party.   Development is the key to

solving all the problems facing China today.   Ideological

awareness and strength is an important dimension of China's

overall national strength.   (p. 98)

 

 

 

-------------------------------

 

Methods of Party Propaganda

 

-------------------------------

 

 

 

7.  (U) Preparing the masses for a change in the Party line is

an art form.  The change must be subtle and gradual so as not to

upset people, always keeping in mind the capacity of the masses

to accept change.   With changes in the line, propaganda

intensifies so that it penetrates everywhere.  (pp. 107 - 108)

 

 

 

---------------------------

 

Propagandizing Foreigners

 

---------------------------

 

 

 

8.  (U) Feeding propaganda to foreigners is done differently

from domestic propaganda work.  The first task is learning about

your propaganda target, keeping in mind that the targets of

foreign propaganda are different from the targets of domestic

propaganda.  The approach will also vary according to the

country or area of the person.

 

-- Take a subtler and gentler approach. Present facts and let

them draw their own conclusions.  Explain what the foreigner

doesn't understand, even over simplifying if necessary.   Avoid

using propaganda slogans or saying things that might cause

disagreement.

 

-- Make use of visitors to China to spread the propaganda

message overseas.  Be sure to give the foreigners only what they

can accept.  Take care that what they see and their experiences

in China will, when they return home, help to build an image of

China in the minds of the people of the world.  (p. 118)

 

-- Other methods include arranging interviews for the friendly

foreign press, submitting articles to Xinhua and other Chinese

publications aimed at foreign audiences and attention to the

positiveness of TV programming on the closed circuit TV system

of hotels frequented by foreigners. (pp. 118 - 119)

 

-- Make sister city agreements with foreign cities.

 

-- Plan tourist group itineraries so visitors will get a

positive impression of China.

 

---Arrange for tour group guides and interpreters to subscribe

to foreign language Chinese magazines destined for foreign

audiences.

 

 

 

--------

 

Religion

 

--------

 

 

 

9.  (U) While respecting the principle of religious freedom,

strengthen education of the masses, and of young people in

particular, in dialectical materialism.  As Lenin said, religion

 

CHENGDU 00000285  003.2 OF 003

 

 

and foolishness are the deepest roots of religion.  Thus the

roots of religion will last for a long time to come.  We have no

alternative but to implement a policy of religious freedom and

not of compulsion.  Through education in socialist culture and

civilization, we will weaken the roots of religion.  The role of

Party propaganda is to uphold the rights of both believers and

non-believers and not allow religion to be used to harm the

country.

 

--  In  recent years, there has been some propaganda that does

not comply with the Party's religion policy that has offended

believers.  We should not use words that offend believers.  If

in doubt about whether propaganda is too sensitive, contact the

United Front Department [Tongzhanbu] for advice.

 

-- Religion is a particularly sensitive topic in international

affairs.  We should be especially careful to correctly present

the Party's policy on religion to foreigners.

 

-- Religious publications should be closely controlled.  Foreign

publications are not allowed.  Literature and art works should

treat religions matters properly. (pp. 124 - 125)

 

 

 

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Nationalities

 

------------

 

 

 

10.  (U) The top priority is to uphold the principle of unity of

all China's nationalities.

 

--- It is essential not to equate the reasonable demands for

autonomy under the Party's minorities policy with splittism.

 

-- Throughout the entire country, propaganda should stress that

the unity of the Han nationality and of the national minorities.

 

--- While minority people should be encouraged to learn Chinese,

minority languages should be respected and promoted.  (p. 125 -

126)

 

 

 

11.  (U) The concluding section on the art of making speeches

discusses not only Mao Zedong but also Ronald Reagan and

Lincoln's Second Inaugural. (pp. 237, 242).

BOUGHNER