BEIJING — The Central Committee and the State Council of China’s ruling Communist Party of China (PCP) has just issued a document outlining the country’s “moral policy,” including an exhortation to “avoid pornography” in the name of “doing a good job in the moral construction of cyberspace.”
The document, called “Outline for the Implementation of Citizen Moral Construction in the New Era,” has as its goal “casting the Soul for the realization of the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation.”
Last Sunday, the Chinese government released the new “Outline,” with specific instructions on how “to use the internet, raise children, celebrate public holidays and behave while traveling abroad,” according to reports.
“The guidelines from the Central Commission for Guiding Cultural and Ethical Progress calls for building ‘Chinese spirit, Chinese values, and Chinese power,” explained the Business Standard. “The texts urge citizens to avoid pornography and vulgarity online and follow correct etiquette when raising the flag or singing the national anthem.”
China has the second largest number of internet users worldwide, behind the United States, although they represent only a fraction of its massive population.
The Moral Construction of Cyberspace
The head of the Propaganda Department of the CPC gave further details to official Chinese media about this sweeping morality campaign, which will directly affect the lives of over 1.3 billion Chinese nationals.
“Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China [in November 2012], the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has attached great importance to the moral construction of citizens, established its roots to shape its soul, cleared its roots, made a series of important arrangements, and achieved remarkable results in promoting ideological and moral construction,” said the head of propaganda.
Using the state- and party-approved slogans of “Socialism with Chinese characteristics and Chinese Dream,” the CPC official declared that these notions “are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people” ansd that “the consciousness of practicing socialist core values and inheriting excellent Chinese traditional culture has been continuously enhanced.”
This week’s "Outline for the Implementation of Citizen Moral Construction" updated the previous version, issued in 2001.
“Great changes have taken place in the situation of the world and the situation of the Party,” said the official. “In particular, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. It puts forward new and higher requirements for the moral construction of citizens in the new era.”
“It is of great significance to promote the moral quality of the whole people and the degree of social civilization to a new height, to win the building of a well-off society in an all-round way,” the official added.
The 2019 “Outline” consists of seven parts, including sections on “deepening the guidance of moral education, promoting the cultivation of moral practice [and] doing a good job in the moral construction of cyberspace.”
A central focus for Xi Jinping’s government is “the moral construction of important groups and key areas, such as party members and leading cadres, young people and public figures.”
The language used by the CPC emphasizes an authority-based, top-down regulation of public and private behavior. “It is necessary to integrate socialist moral requirements into social governance,” said the propaganda official, in order to “explore the establishment of a major public policy moral hazard assessment mechanism, improve the rules and regulations of various industries, and improve citizen conventions, village rules and regulations, student codes, group articles of association, and so on. It is necessary to strengthen the special management of outstanding problems in the moral field and constantly purify the social and cultural environment.”
As for “the moral construction of cyberspace,” the CPC official stressed the need for strengthening “the network content construction project, the development of positive network culture, so that the correct moral orientation has become the mainstream of cyberspace.”
It is necessary, the official added, “to cultivate civilized and self-disciplined network behavior. We should establish and improve norms of network behavior, cultivate network ethics and network morality that conform to the law of the development of the Internet and embody the requirements of the construction of socialist spiritual civilization, advocate civilized running and civilized access to the Internet and promote the network literacy education of netizens.”
“Guide the broad masses of netizens to respect morality and abide by the law, civilized interaction, rational expression, and consciously maintain a good network order.”
“Third, it is necessary to enrich the moral practice on the internet. We will actively cultivate and guide Internet public welfare forces, strengthen network public welfare propaganda, expand the ‘internet + public welfare’ and 'internet + charity’ model, and extensively carry out various forms of network public welfare and network charity activities.”
“Fourth, it is necessary to create a good network moral environment. Strictly manage the network according to law, strengthen the comprehensive management of the network, establish and perfect the moral evaluation system of new technology and new application, and maintain the moral order of the network.”
“We will carry out special actions for network governance, step up efforts to rectify outstanding problems on the Internet, oppose cyber violence, punish cyber crimes in accordance with the law and promote cyberspace to become increasingly clear.”
The outline stresses that the need “to comprehensively implement policies, address both symptoms and root causes, and use various means, such as economy, law, technology, administrative and social management, and supervision by public opinion, to effectively punish immorality and defeat morality and break through the moral bottom line.”
“It is necessary to organize and carry out special management of outstanding problems in the field of morality and constantly purify the social and cultural environment.”
“In view of the bad words and deeds that slander and denigrate heroes and hurt national feelings, especially for foreigners who harm national dignity and betray national interests, they should be severely punished in accordance with the rules and regulations and play a warning and educational role.”
“It is necessary to rectify them one by one so that those who break the law will be punished and paid the price,” the CPC official warned. “Establish the normal mechanism of punishing immoral behavior, and form the social atmosphere of supporting the right and dispelling evil, punishing evil and promoting good.”