By Kavin Monesh
Image Courtesy: The Hollywood Reporter
C3S Issue Brief: X / 2022
C3S launches its Issue Brief initiative. An issue brief is a summary of the knowledge surrounding an issue or a problem. It summarizes the issue by giving clear, concise, and complete information describing all facets of a particular issue including a detailed illustration in the form of images, data, and facts. It also includes recommendations for action and predictions on the future course of an issue.
ABSTRACT
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) established the People’s Republic of China on 1st October 1949, and it has maintained an authoritarian regime in the country ever since. This authoritarian state of China has faced its own large-scale protests such as the Tiananmen Square Protests, the Tibetan Unrest, the Taiwan Independence movements, etc. However, none of them seemed to have had a huge impact on the state’s power or its authoritarian acts. Are the efforts of the protestors useless against the power of the government? How does the CCP extend its order over such a vast country with such a vast population? The answer to these questions is that the government is terrified of the public. Especially the public turning their backs on the government.
A few steps taken due to this fear mainly include establishing an unusually strict censorship system within the country. This kind of internal censorship aids the state and party in manipulating public opinion in its favour. One other step taken by the CCP to maintain its authority is the concealment of information regarding Chinese internal affairs from the outside world (censorship of any authoritarian move made by the government). This paper attempts to delve into the manipulation of public opinion through the Chinese government's censorship of the film industry and mass media to maintain this authoritarian control over the country. It will also discuss how the Chinese government censors its own affairs from the rest of the world thereby maintaining its current standing as a superpower country. Further, many have identified that the Chinese censorship rules and regulations are leaking into foreign countries through private organizations hoping to exploit the Chinese market. The author also attempts to elaborate on how the media and film censorship in China has spread even to foreign countries because of economic dependence on the Chinese market and the commercialization of censorship.
Read the full Issue Brief at this link:
(Mr. Kavin Monesh is a Research Intern at C3S. He is pursuing his Bachelors in Law from O.P. Jindal Global University.The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the views of C3S)
