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Secret Codes of Political Propaganda: The Unknown System of Writing Teams

Part of: Gordon White Prize Winning Papers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2013

Wen-Hsuan Tsai  and
Peng-Hsiang Kao
Wen-Hsuan Tsai*
Affiliation:
Institute of Political Science, Academia Sinica, Taiwan.
Peng-Hsiang Kao
Affiliation:
China University of Science and Technology, Taiwan.
*
Email: whtsai@gate.sinica.edu.tw (corresponding author)
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Abstract

Within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), some Party units have established a largely unknown network of writing teams which propagate the policies or perspectives of a particular unit by publishing feature articles in Party journals. These writing teams often make use of a pseudonym in the form of a person's name, leading outsiders to believe that the work is written by a journalist. In fact, the pseudonyms of the Party unit writing teams function as a form of secret code. Through this code, inner Party members can recognize which unit's views an article reflects. In order to reveal exactly which units the codes represent, we have collated the names of over 20 writing teams. In addition, we provide an introduction to the functioning of the writing teams and the manner in which articles are produced. Finally, we propose that the CCP's mechanism of “propaganda codes” is gradually undergoing the process of institutionalization.

Keywords

People's DailyRen Zhongpingpropagandawriting teamsChina
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 214 , June 2013 , pp. 394 - 410
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2013 

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