User:Ccgx29/sandbox

People's Republic of China

Propaganda is used by the Chinese Communist Party to sway public and international opinion in favour of its policies. Domestically, this includes censorship of proscribed views and an active cultivation of views that favors the government. Propaganda is considered central to the operation of the Chinese government. The term in general use in China, xuanchuan (宣傳 "propaganda; publicity") can have either a neutral connotation in official government contexts or a pejorative connotation in informal contexts. Some xuanchuan collocations usually refer to "propaganda" (e.g., xuānchuánzhàn 宣传战 "propaganda war"), others to "publicity" (xuānchuán méijiè 宣傳媒介 "mass media; means of publicity"), and still others are ambiguous (xuānchuányuán宣传员 "propagandist; publicist").

Aspects of propaganda can be traced back to the earliest periods of Chinese history, but propaganda has been most effective in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, following the Chinese Civil War, owing to mass media and an authoritarian government. China in the era of Mao Zedong is known for its constant use of mass campaigns to legitimise the state and the policies of leaders. It was the first Chinese government to successfully make use of modern mass propaganda techniques, adapting them to the needs of a country which had a largely rural and illiterate population. In poor developing countries, China spreads propaganda through methods such as opening Confucius Institutes, and providing training programs in China for foreign officials and students.

The Chinese Dream is an example of mass media being used to promote propaganda in the 21st Century. The overall message of its propaganda was a new start for China through posters and displays. Visuals were used in order to shape the thinking of people considering past historical and social events. Posters showing rural environments, peasants, and folk art were intended to mix both the past and present of China.

As the internet is becoming more advanced, China has began to implement technology into their media and mass propaganda techniques. China has created their own digital applications throughout the recent years in order for its government to spread their word through more efficient communication. An instance where an uproar occurred was an Internet water army, where false rumors about the Coronavirus in Wenzhou and the nuclear pollution in Fukushima was spread throughout social media platforms. Because of the catastrophic outcomes, the government had taken stricter precautions with social media. WeChat was monitored in 2014 by the government for any sensitive posts (which later were deleted) and censored to minimize the possibility of any false rumors spreading.