Wednesday, February 18, 2015

NetEase Summoned for "Orientation Problems," Communist Youth League Worried About Zombified Chinese Spreading Virus of Western Values

On February 2, 2015, Xinhua published a report entitled " State Internet Information Office Summons Representative From NetEase" (国家互联网信息办公室约谈网易公司负责人). According to the report, as part of the annual inspection of website operators: "SIIO officials pointed out that NetEase had shown severe orientation problems with respect to its operation Internet news information services, and had illegally reposted news information . . . ." (国家互联网信息办公室有关业务局负责人指出,在提供互联网新闻信息服务过程中,网易存在严重导向问题,并存在违法转载新闻信息 . . . .).

On February 4, 2015, the website of the Chinese Communist Youth League published an editorial by a commentator entitled "Unfurl the Banners of the Ideological Struggle" (意识形态斗争旗帜就要亮出来). Some excerpts: 
The day before yesterday NetEase was summoned by the SIIO, and for while this became industry news,  with all kinds of speculation, and people saying that there must some important "signal" here. 
That's right, this absolutely was a "signal" - a signal to the Internet industry and society as a whole. It was said that the main reason NetEase was summoned was because it suffered from severe orientation problems. The orientation problems were issues relating to supporting the leadership of the Party, insisting on the socialist path, carrying forward socialist core values, and spreading positive energy, or being insufficiently pro-active, or doing the opposite of what they should. In summoning NetEase, the SIIO was giving other websites a look, as well showing them its attitude is "Orientation First," "Ideology First." 
These days these kinds of signals are appearing more frequently. Some people express concerns, saying we are seeing an ideological constriction, that there is increasingly less freedom of speech, that we are going backwards, etc., blah blah. Their kind of reaction is normal, consistent, and to be expected. What is not normal is that some people who work in this area are in the wrong themselves, try to cover it up, dare not explain themselves, and appear to be behaving less-than-honorably.
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Our enemies have already been attacking for a long time, and have occupied the majority of our battlefield. Many people are not only not doing anything, but are to the point where they feel embarrassed to defend themselves, laying down their weapons and saying "Sir, please have seat."
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On the battle of ideology, universities are the front lines, and the Internet is field of battle. Therefore, the central authorities moving to strengthen ideological work and national and Beijing Internet regulators summoning NetEase are all signals that we need to strengthen ideology building. It is also a call to arms. . . . . 
Some people have become numb, even to the point where (whether intentionally or unintentionally) they have become accomplices to our enemies. Whoever mentions positive energy, that person gets attacked. Whoever mentions strengthening ideology building, that person is deemed an outsider. Its like some kind zombie virus you see in American movies, its not enough that they themselves are infected, they must bite everyone they see, with the end goal being to plunge China into chaos.
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The world is not so quiet, and for dozens of years, and in particular in recent years, the West has been doing everything in its power to infiltrate us. The more successful and developed we come, the more worried they are, and the more desperate they become. But many people are completely devoid of any sense of the need to be on guard.
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People have built up a strong fence, but then we go and throw the gate wide open, because anything that is Western must be good. Just look at NetEase's "Open Classroom" as a random example. It takes foreign university classes and move them online into its own website. Internationalizing is not something bad, but it cannot be done with no sense of guardedness whatsoever, and at the very least there needs to be a line of caution, and not simply blindly studying. There are many similar examples, while we continue to internationalize ourselves, we should learn how to absorb what is nourishing, but be watchful against any kind of shrewd infiltration. Under no circumstances allow some bizarre genetic mutation whereby we become transformed into zombies spreading the virus of Western value systems. 
前天,网易公司被国家和北京互联网信息办公室约谈,一时成为业界新闻,并且各种解读颇多,说其中有什么重大“信号”。
没错,这的确是“信号”,是放给互联网行业和全社会的信号。消息说,网易被约谈,首要原因,是因为其存在严重导向问题。导向问题,就是在坚持党的领导、坚持社会主义道路、弘扬社会主义核心价值观、传播正能量等方面存在问题,或者是不够积极,或者是反其道而行之。有关部门因此约谈网易,是给其他的网站看,也是在摆明“导向第一”、“意识形态第一”的态度。
眼下,类似的信号频发。一些人有意见,说什么意识形态在收紧,言论越来越不自由了,倒退,等等,吧啦吧啦。他们的这种反应很正常,是一贯的,在意料之中。不正常的是,一些从事这方面工作的人,也跟自己理亏似的,遮遮掩掩,不敢明说,仿佛在做多大不光彩的事。
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敌人已经进攻很久,占了我们大半拉阵地,许多人不仅没有还手,甚至连防守招架都觉得不好意思,就差鞠躬“请君上座”了。
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在意识形态战场,高校与互联网,一个是最前沿,一个是主阵地。所以,中央加强高校宣传思想工作,国家和北京网信办约谈网易,都是要加强思想建设的信号,也是冲锋号。
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有些人已经被麻痹,甚至有意无意已经成为敌人的帮手——谁提正能量,谁就被攻击;谁提加强意识形态建设,谁就被视为异类。这就像美国大片里的僵尸病毒,自己被感染了还不算,还见谁咬谁,最终目的是让中国大乱。
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世界不那么平静,几十年来,尤其是近些年,西方千方百计对我们进行各种渗透,我们越发展越靠近成功,他们越着急,越不择手段,但很多人连防范的意识都没有。
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人家筑牢了篱笆,我们则敞开大门,凡是西方的就是好的。随便举个例子,譬如网易的公开课,把外国的大学课堂搬到了自家的互联网上。国际化不是坏事但不能毫无戒备之心,起码心里应该有根警惕的弦,不能傻学。类似的事情还有很多,我们在努力让自己国际化,但进程中既要学会吸收营养,也要警惕各种老谋深算的渗透,绝不能被莫名其妙地转了基因,转而成为传播西方政治价值病毒的僵尸。

Translation: Xu Zhiyong's Statement in His Own Defense

 Source: https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/694913.html China Digital Times: On April 10, 2023, Xu Zhiyong, a well-known human rights de...