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RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 3247

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENGDU 000285 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/CM AND INR 
 
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. 
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
-------- 
 
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) 
 
 
 
------------- 
 
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