It is a governmental masterstroke. After two years or so, the phrase “harmonious society” is about as a fresh as a shrivelled daisy. When things go wrong these days, the sardonic line “so much for a harmonious society” is a common display of disappointment. Well I have heard it a lot at work anyway. A new promotional method is needed and it doesn’t involve printing more wallet-friendly cards carrying the “Ba Rong, Ba Chi” or releasing more stories through Xinhua.
Get the people to spread the word. Just ask the general public to celebrate all things harmonious (that’s the third time I have used “harmonious” already - it is in no way linked to a pathetic desire to see this blog flagged up on google following the input of the search words “harmonious society”) through a writing competition and offer an attractive cash prize.
The full Xinhua report is here:
Chinese Internet operators are working to promote the political philosophy of “harmonious society”.
They are running an online competition under the banner “Building a harmonious society guided by the scientific thinking on development” in which members of the public are invited to submit articles, photographs and video clips related to harmonious society, however tenuous, for a top prize of 5,000 yuan.
The competition is being co-sponsored by all 188 Chinese news and entertainment portal sites licensed by the State Council to publish news, including sina.com and tom.com, and will run from August 3 to September 20.
There are no restrictions to the age, region or nationality of the participants and both individuals and groups can take part in the competition, an official with the organizing committee said.
According to the organizing committee, many works including articles and photos have been uploaded to the portals already.
“Social development can be perceived from details of people’s lives displayed in their photos and written articles,” the official said.
An indicator of the heart-warming nature of the competition could be seen in a series of photos entitled “Love sent her back to school” displayed at www.tom.com. They tell the story of a student named Li Dongmei who has recovered from disease with assistance from her classmates and donations from society.
According to President Hu Jintao’s New Year speech, 2007 is an important year in building a socialist harmonious society under the guidance of the scientific thinking on development advocated by the Chinese central leadership.
It would be slightly misleading to attribute the idea of the competition to “Chinese Internet operators”. You would think the Publicity Department would be proud to claim this particular piece of PR as its own. I had a look at two of the major news portals - www.tom.com and www.sina.com - and there is a link to the competition buried in their homepages. The actual competition pages are here and here, both with individual designs for the banners at the top, which read “Building a harmonious society guided by the concept of scientific development” and, as a sub-banner, “I build, I witness, I record”.
The current story on Tom’s competition page, I am told, is extolling the virtues of email, a revolutionary form of communication which is apparently pushing conventional letter-writing into the shade. I suppose that’s the scientific development link although the internet as a tool to promote harmonious society rather being seen as a possible threat by the Party is a tad far-fetched.
Anyway, seeing as the competition is open to all nationalities, and Hu Jintao is committed to building a harmonious world, it would be nice to see a global response. Cash prizes down to fourth place by the way.
Will | 15-Aug-07 at 2:01 pm | Permalink
I particularly like how the word “harmonized” (as in “I’ve been harmonized”) has become a bitterly ironic synonym for censorship and heavy-handed state management:
“What happened to all those articles about crappy food products?”
“They’ve been ‘harmonized’ by GAAP.”
“That’s a relief.”
Yep, I’m sleeping easier in the glow of harmony and scientific development.
Phil | 15-Aug-07 at 5:05 pm | Permalink
scientific thinking on development - I like it. Translating slogans is always a mare. Wenming chengshi was my particular bete noire. Is this one “official”?
The Lazy Aussie | 15-Aug-07 at 5:21 pm | Permalink
I think it would be easier to collect bulk flies. Any word on the tonnage collected yet? That might be a good follow up.
Chris O'Brien | 15-Aug-07 at 8:34 pm | Permalink
I can see the phrase “Youuuuuu’ve been harmonized!” said in the style of an enthusiastic, and slightly manic, American game show host (bringing The Running Man to mind) catching on in time for the Olympics.
Phil: Strange actually, the official translation has always been “scientific concept of development”, which is what it said when the copy left my desk. The releaser appears to have changed it to “scientific thinking on development” so maybe the powers that be have had one of their translation meetings. Perhaps, scientific concept of development just wasn’t sexy enough - or not as sexy as “jiang wenming shu xin feng ying ao yun” (be civilized, promote new atmosphere to welcome the Olympics).
Lazy Aussie: a fine idea - I was preparing to write a post on how Xinhua needs to go tabloid in order to survive so I’ll make the necessary suggestions tomorrow.