A hard-hitting and important People's Daily article on August 29, 2021, by Li Guangman, former
Editor-in-Chief of Central China Electric Power News, which began its trial publication on
October 1, 1995, and ceased publication in 2012, targeted China's entertainment industry and
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prominent personalities like Wu Yifan, Ho Zun, Zhang Zhehan and Hunan TV host Qian Feng,
Zheng Shuang, Zhao Wei and others for politically incorrect and unacceptable behaviour and tax
evasion. Quite unusually, the article was reproduced by the Global Times Zhang Zhehan was
blamed for having visited Japan's Yasukuni Shrine, and Qian Feng for recent suspicion of rape and
Zheng Shuang for tax evasion of 299 million yuan for which he has been punished by the State
Administration of Taxation. The commentary declared that the Chinese entertainment industry has
'rotted' and, if not corrected, the whole cultural circle, literary circle, performing arts circle, film
and television circle will also become rotten. It said that the series of recent crackdowns on
"entertainment chaos" tells us that "China is undergoing major changes, and the economic,
financial, cultural and political fields are undergoing a profound transformation". It stated that "the
capital market will no longer seem a paradise for capitalists to get rich overnight, the cultural
market will no longer be a paradise for nymphomaniac stars, and news and public opinion will no
longer be a base camp for worshipping Western culture. The return of red, the return of heroes,
and the return of blood. Hence, we need to control all cultural chaos and build a lively, healthy,
masculine, strong, and people-oriented culture. We need to crack down on the chaos of big capital
manipulation, platform monopoly, and bad money driving out good in the capital market". The
commentary said, "we need to deal with all cultural chaos, building a healthy, masculine, strong,
people-oriented culture, we need to combat the capital market manipulation, monopolies, guide
the flow of funds to real enterprises, high-tech enterprises, to manufacturing industry, the current
ongoing governance and education disorder from governance training institutions, so that
education really returns to its roots of equity, so that ordinary people can have the upward mobility".
It called this a return from the capital group to the people, a transformation from being capital- to
people-centered. Hence this is a political change; the people are again becoming the subject of this
change, and all who block it will be discarded. This profound change is also a return: to the original
intention of the CPC, and to [politics] being people-centred, and a return to the essence of socialism.
It said the changes will bring in a new crop of people in the entertainment, literary, film and
television circles. It recommended that they be placed under grass-roots level supervision, so that
"ordinary workers, ordinary people become the masters of literature and art". The commentary's
concluding two paragraphs asserted that China is facing a "more and more complex international
environment, the United States is imposing severe military threats, economic and scientific
blockade, financial attacks, political and diplomatic siege, is launching a biological warfare,
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cyberwarfare, public opinion war, space war against China" and the United States is increasingly
more vigorously mounting a colour revolution. It stated that "profound changes that are taking
place in China right now are in response to the current grim and complex international situation
and to the ferocious attacks that the United States has begun against China". These social changes,
it said, will cleanse not only the capitalists, but also the entertainment circles so that the society
remains healthy.
(Comment: It is rather unusual for an article posted on a personal social media account to be
reproduced by the People's Daily, Global Times, CCTV, the PLA news portal, and other state
media. It indicates high level approval of the article and its content.)
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