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To What Extent are China’s Media Censorship Policies Sustainable?

  • Writer: anthropy
    anthropy
  • Jan 23, 2024
  • 5 min read

Written by Binqi Zhan

Edited by Zihan Zhou

Design by Jiali K. Wang


Introduction

Potter Stewart, an American lawyer and judge, once stated “Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself.” If he is to be believed, then censorship can be regarded as a way for a government to show the uncertainties and fear of its own values, beliefs, and principles. On November 16th, 2006, the government of the People’s Republic of China implemented “The Great Firewall of China” which acts as a restriction for people who use the mobile service of Mainland China to access any foreign or external websites including but not limited to Google, Youtube, Instagram and Whatsapp. Till this day, China has adhered to  the censorship policy and many limitations have been set on the Chinese internet over time in order to ensure full coverage of the media. However, as diaspora and migration have increased over the last few decades, we can still spot some foreign content on some Chinese social media platforms. Thus, how will the Chinese government react to the uncontrollable import of external information and will the censorship policy still be feasible in the long run for the country?


The Great Firewall of China

Among many discussions, it all comes to one question: “Why did the Chinese government implement “The Great Firewall of China” at the first place?” Does it help with any aspects of the country? Apart from China, a few countries, including North Korea, Eritrea, and Iran, also have censorship policies. One of the major reasons behind the implementation of censorship set by these countries can be social control and reduce the chance of civil riots. Acknowledging the fact that many censored countries are authoritarian governmental systems, this would make it harder for local citizens to raise their opinions and voice against the government and hence, diminish the possibility of dissemination of campaigns that could potentially lead to civil protests within the nation-state. However, in 1989, the Tiananmen Square Protest marked one of the biggest historical events in China. The student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square lasted from April 15th to June 4th 1989, and the reason behind the protest was commenced by the death of a martyr called Hu, who believed in political liberation and unfortunately passed away on April 22nd. This initiated numerous students in Beijing to form a protest against the Chinese government seeking political, social, and economic reforms. Within a few weeks, many citizens from other prominent cities–including Shanghai, Nanjing, Xi’an, Changsha, and Chengdu–also joined the protests for political liberation within the nation. The Chinese government then realised the magnitude of the civil riot and implemented some severe measures like sporadic shootings to mitigate the commotion and by June 5th, the military had secured complete control over its citizens. Despite many foreign countries having condemned the way China coped with the protests, the government believes that political stability should be the top priority. The event was so monumental and was spread over the Western media in a short period of time. However, due to censorship policy in China, many Chinese people who were born after the year 2000 have no clue about the historical event. The Chinese government specifically blocked any information about the Tiananmen Square Protest on the internet of Mainland China and thus, the topic soon became “invisible” to the citizens and the history faded eventually inside Mainland China.


The Effects of the Emigration Craze

After the 1990s, China experienced an “emigration craze” where approximately 10.5 million Chinese citizens lived overseas in countries like the United States, Canada, and other European nations. In addition, the Chinese diaspora was estimated between 35 to 50 million in the early 20th century which shows an increasing amount of emigration from Mainland China to other parts of the world. This is also how Chinese people get exposed to foreign cultures and discover software applications including Google, Instagram, and Facebook which were previously inaccessible to them. Furthermore, this has also led to a huge import of foreign content and information on Chinese social media platforms followed by the invention of Virtual Private Networks (VPN) in 2014 or 2015 that enables Mainlanders to access foreign information and “pierce through” the “The Great Firewall of China”. 


K-pop and its Impacts on the Chinese Government's Censorship Policies

The advent of Korean-pop (K-pop) has also marked drastic changes in China. K-pop started to gain its fame around 2000 in China and many Chinese mainlanders have got exposed to this genre of music. The spread of globalisation has definitely benefited both countries economically and diplomatically. However, in 2016, the Chinese government has unofficially prohibited unauthorised K-pop-related content from entering the country due to political hostility that exists between the two nations. This includes disallowing K-pop artists or bands to perform or hold concerts in mainland China and promoting any forms of advertisement within the country’s borders. Apart from the unofficial prohibition of K-pop, this has also led to a growing prevalence of xenophobia and heightened patriotism among the Chinese populace. If a person posts something about K-pop on any Chinese social media platform like XiaoHongShu or Douyin, there will inevitably be some Chinese netizens commenting something like “we should boycott K-pop and support C-pop(Chinese-Pop)”. Despite the increasing boycott of K-pop in Mainland China, numerous Chinese netizens still support K-pop or pop music and it is not considered as illegal in the nation. Taking that into consideration, recently, a piece of breaking news happened in a Chinese reality show titled Keep Running: a Thai K-pop member participated in the reality show with a Chinese K-pop member and they advertised their K-pop music throughout the show. It was perfectly normal to witness the Chinese K-pop member in Keep Running because she was involved in the show for seasons and the status of her being a mainland Chinese citizen. However, the collaboration with the Thai K-pop idol was shocking and broke the unofficial regulation of prohibiting foreigners from participating in any sort of Chinese Mainland media. In addition, even if she was authorised to be on the show, playing K-pop music was even more astonishing to be premiered on a popular reality show in China. Apart from that, Charlie Puth, a famous American Singer, held a concert in Shanghai in September which also serves as an indication of foreign pop culture is becoming more noticeable in Mainland China. Thus, could this be an implication that China will be more tolerant towards exotic bands to enter the social media of Mainland China in the future?


Conclusion

“The Great Firewall of China” was implemented in 2006. Until now, it has lasted for approximately 18 years. In 1989, we witnessed the Tiananmen Square Protest and how China was like with censorship. However, recently, we also had a vague image of what China will be like without censorship with more and more foreign celebrities entering Mainland China. Thus, is the censorship policy sustainable in China in the long term? In terms of economic development, China might be better off without censorship due to globalisation. On the other hand, in terms of political stability and sovereignty-wise, censorship has helped China in multiple aspects. As China continues to navigate these complexities, the tension between openness and control will likely remain a central theme in the ongoing narrative of its development.


Bibliography

"10 Most Censored Countries." Committee to Protect Journalists, 1 Feb. 2022, cpj.org/reports/2019/09/10-most-censored-eritrea-north-korea-turkmenistan-journalist/.

Balaban, David. "State Controlled Internet: The Story About VPNs in China." HackerNoon - Read, Write and Learn About Any Technology, 26 Mar. 2019, hackernoon.com/state-controlled-internet-the-story-about-vpns-in-china-a16ee6de5ec7.

"Great Firewall." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 13 Nov. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Firewall. Accessed 22 Jan. 2024.

Heidi Østbø Haugen and Tabitha Speelman. "China’s Rapid Development Has Transformed Its Migration Trends." Migrationpolicy.org, 28 Jan. 2022, www.migrationpolicy.org/article/china-development-transformed-migration.

"Just a Moment..." Inspirational Quotes at BrainyQuote, www.brainyquote.com/quotes/potter_stewart_104481.

"Tank Man." Encyclopedia Britannica, 31 Jan. 2022, www.britannica.com/biography/Tank-Man.

"Timeline: China's Net Censorship." BBC News, 29 June 2010, www.bbc.com/news/10449139.

 
 
 

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