Posted 25 August 2014 5:28 GMT
West Gate of Peking University. Photo by 維基小霸王 via Flickr (CC BY-SA 3.0)
A central government coordination body called Central Internet Security and Informatization Leading Group was established on February 27, 2014 led by the Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li keqiang and head of the propaganda authority Liu Yunshan. Such high level coordination group suggests that internet information security has become the top priority of the Chinese government.
In addition the protection of domestic information network, the control over information flow in the Internet through censorship and opinion channelling are considered as most important “stability maintenance” routine. In order to strengthen the monitoring of the Internet, the Chinese government decided to endorse “Internet opinion analyst” as an official occupation status. Many critics point out that the policy implies a change of the Chinese government propaganda tactic, yet relatively little is known about how opinions are “channelled” and what mechanisms analysts use in order to do their jobs. This begs the question: what exactly do online opinion analysts do?
Different from the “Fifty-Cent Party,” people who are responsible for channelling public opinions by writing online comments and deleting posts, online opinion analysts use computer software to monitor social networking sites and forums, collect netizen opinions and attitudes, compile reports and submit the reports to decision-makers. Opinion analysts provide crisis management strategies for private, state and party-affiliated institutions such as universities, charity groups and civic organizations, as well as local and national governmental authorities.
According to The Beijing News, roughly 2 million people in China currently work as public opinion analysts, officially outnumbering China’s 1.5 million active armed service members.
A recently leaked evaluation of an opinion-channelling program at Peking University reveals much about the mechanism of Party-led opinion making in China. The research center, led by the Communist Youth League of China, is responsible for the coordination of opinion channelling and analysis within the University. The program monitors online conversations and messaging within the University community and publishes regular reports analyzing online opinion for University administrators.
The leaked report concerned opinion-channelling efforts at Yenching Academy, a residential college at Peking University that launched this past spring. Yenching offers full scholarships for an one-year Master program of Chinese Studies (taught in English) and is designed to prepare an elite class of future global leaders. According to the University’s plan, the residential college was to be located beside the main library at the center of the campus, which is surrounded with ancient Chinese courtyards and buildings. Many felt that the development project would ruin the heritage of Peking University.
In June, a university online survey showed that 88% of people were against the proposed location of the Academy’s residence. University students started organizing campus protests in late June. An open letter about the matter, addressed to the Chinese president Xi Jinping, was posted on Weibo on July 6.
On July 9, the Peking University leaders discussed the matter with university faculty members and students at an open consultation session.
The leaked evaluation, published by the Youth Research Center, describes the work undertaken by the opinion channelling program since July 9, the date of the open consultation.
