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Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. U·M·I University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. M148106-1346 USA 313/761·4700 800/521·0600 Order Number 9416062 The Chinese press in an age of reform Li, Haichuan, Ph.D. University of Hawaii, 1993 V·M·I 300N. ZeebRd. AnnArbor,MI 48106 THE CHINESE PRESS IN AN AGE OF REFORM A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY DECEMBER 1993 By Haichuan Li DISSERTATION COMMITTEE: Stephen UhaIley, Jr., Chairman Oliver Lee Idus Newby Tien-Yi Tao Alvin So ABSTRACT The Chinese press in the post-Mao period has experienced many significant changes which have profoundly influenced the nation's political, economic and social life. These changes were not only limited to the fast increase of the number of newspapers, greater diversity, and improvement of news quality, but also represented by journalists' advocating political and economic reforms while struggling for their own professional independence and freedom of expression. Though the press has experienced various political oscillations and still has a long way to go in achieving real political freedom, the historical changes in the press and its significant contributions to the nation's modernization and democratization process should not be neglected. This study discusses and evaluates the changing status of the Chinese press and its role in reform movements in post-Mao China. It concludes that the press has been transforming from a uniform, rigidly controlled, and centrally directed propaganda instrument into a pluralistic, informational, and livelier press. The essence of this transformation is that the vertical, downward communication links that the Party preferred are being supplemented, if not completely supplanted, by horizontal links that have enabled various social groups to learn about each other's concerns and demands. The new press is thus able to serve not only the political authorities but to discharge effectively its duties to inform, enlighten, and entertain the common people and enable them to gain access to information previously denied them. 1Il TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ....................................................................................... iii List of Tables VI Abbreviations , , VII Preface viii I. THE SETIING 1 Historical Development of the Chinese Press , ,. 1 Three Sources of Influence 9 Confucian Tradition '" , , 10 Western Ideas of Democracy and Freedom 17 Marxist-Leninist Ideology 23 Notes 32 II. MOVrNG TOWARD PRESS REFORM 37 The Great Debate on the Criterion of Truth '" ... .. .. ... 38 Democracy Wall Movement and Unofficial Publications 47 Lurching to Start the Reform '" '" .. , " . .. .. 59 Notes 73 III. THE PRESS AS A MAJOR INSTRUMENT OF ECONOMIC REFORM 78 The Press and the Rural Reform , ,. .. 79 The Press and the Urban Reform .............................................. 92 The Press and the Open-door Policy 104 Notes 114 IV. THE EXPANSION OF THE CHINESE PRESS 119 Expansion and Increasing Diversity '" 119 Economic Life ofthe Press 127 Journalism Education and Research 136 Pay More Attention to Newsworthiness 142 Notes 149 iv V. TWISTS AND TURNS IN THE PRESS REFORM 153 The Abortive Anti-Spiritual Pollution Movement 153 Demands for a "More Open and Livelier Environment" 162 The Press in Anti-Bourgeois Liberalization Movement 170 Zhao Ziyang's May 13, 1987 Speech: A Turning Point 180 Notes 186 VI. A NEW ROLE FOR THE PRESS: STRIVING FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM ...190 The 13th Party Congress: More Openness in Politics .. 190 Opinion Polls: A Test ofAttitude 197 Striving for a Press Law 201 Changing Topic: Cultural Re-Examination '" 214 Crisis Awareness and Growing Tension 221 Notes 231 VII. THE PRESS IN THE 1989 PROTEST MOVEMENT 236 Initial Response: Getting the News Out .. 237 "We Want to Tell the Truth" 245 Defiance Under Martial Law 258 The Press After the Crackdown .. ........ .. ... ....... ..................... 265 Notes 275 VIII. CONCLUSION 280 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 299 v LIST OF TABLES 1. Structure of the CCP Propaganda System 28 2. Media Growth in China 120 3. Journalism Education in China 136 4. Basic Attitudes ofChinese Journalists 199 5. Basic Attitudes of Chinese Journalists Towards News Work......................... 200 vi ABBREVIATIONS CASS Chinese Academy of Social Sciences CCP Chinese Communist Party CPPCC Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference KMT The Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) NPC National People's Congress PRC People's Republic of China SMPO State Media and Publications Office vii PREFACE Speaking at a national conference of propaganda chiefs held in Beijing in July 1989, after the crackdown of the prodemocracy movement, Chinese premier Li Peng blamed the Chinese press as "one of the major sources that led to the turmoil and rebellion" and referred to it as "a disaster area hit hardest" by the ideological flooding of bourgeois liberalization (People's Daily, 7/21/1989). In a long article published in the same newspaper on August 9, Song Muwen, the new director of the State Media and Publication Office, summarized what appeared to be the official explanation of what happened in Chinese journalism in the past decade: For many years, the ideological trends of 'bourgeois liberalization' and decadent ideas of every description have occupied a great deal of space in the press, such a phenomenon is unprecedented in our history. It is almost beyond our imagination. It is a bitter fruit that we have to swallow. The press ...extolling capitalism, smearing China's socialism, negating China's cultural tradition, distorting the entire history, propagating abstract democracy, freedom, and humanism, and directly vilifying and attacking Marxism, Leninism, and Mao Zedong Thought.. .. All these created a rather perilous situation and aimed at toppling the government. For decades, the Chinese press remained a uniform, rigidly controlled, and centrally directed instrument of propaganda and did little more than act as the mouthpiece of the Party. The Chinese leaders were fully aware that communist power is based, above all, on thought control. Thus they placed enormous emphasis on political propaganda to justify the legitimacy of its rule. Suddenly the Party control over the media collapsed and the press changed into something fearful to the conservative leaders. Vlll It became a forum for diverse ideas and sometimes a prominent channel ofdissent, which not only opposed the status quo and advocated changes, but paved the way for the nationwide democratic movement in 1989. During that movement, journalists not only showed their sympathy for the students in covering their demonstrations, but became active participants in the demonstrations themselves. These unprecedented events raised a lot of questions: How had Chinesejournalists come to the point of marching in the streets? What changes took place in the press with regard to journalists' practices, attitudes, and beliefs in these years? What were the factors behind these changes? What were the significant implications of these changes? What role did the press play in the political, economic, and social reforms? Who were reformers and who were the opponents of the press reform? What were the major differences of opinion that surfaced between the two? How did reform leaders use the press to advocate reform programs? What were the influences of Chinese tradition and Western ideas on the contemporary Chinese press? How did the Chinese population react to the press reform? What is the future of the Chinese press? Much has been written about the political, economic, and social reforms in the post-Mao era, but few of the studies have focused on the press. Press activity is part of the environment in which we live. The study of the development of any society presupposes the study of the press in that society, because the press is an institution woven into the fabric of society. If we don't understand the way the press works, we don't understand the society. This is especiaIIy true in the case of China. The Chinese press was charged with a difficult balancing role of