Xi Jingpin, the premier of China, visited The Netherlands for the first time last Monday. He met with the Dutch royal family and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte. This gave Dutch website Nu.nl (2018) a reason to take a closer look, specifically into the interesting ways how modern China creates enthusiasm for its current government (Nu.nl, 2018).
Applications, games and music are the hot new way to go when it comes to propaganda. The Chinese government released an application at the end of 2017, in which the goal is to clap as many times as you can for a speech of Jingpin. A clap would be counted, every time the screen was tapped. The game was played over a billion times before the start of 2018. The government also introduced a game show, in which players have to answer questions about the life of Xi Jingpin. The winner goes home only with the honor of winning. And finally, the government made a surprisingly catchy song about their 5-year plan for China (Nos.nl, 2017). The song has a corresponding videoclip and was made in English. I would recommend watching it, as it is quite bizarre but interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=67&v=EywgiSjkfkw
With the digitalizing trends, politicians will have to find more modern ways to influence their audience, in particular if they want to reach a younger audience. Than apparently even go as far as a way of propaganda. I was amazed at how far this goes and how creative governments can be. I am both disturbed and intrigued by the idea that this trend will further develop in the future.
https://www.nu.nl/250667/video/apps-games-en-muziek-zo-voert-china-propaganda.html
https://nos.nl/artikel/2199436-raps-apps-en-spelletjes-chinese-propaganda-wordt-steeds-slimmer.html
Hi Karim, thanks for talking about this funny, yet scary topic.
I’ve watched the video you mentioned (it really is catchy), but couldn’t stop thinking this is the most blatant piece of propaganda I have ever come across. But what might seem obvious to people from “western”, industrialized countries and from a third-person perspective might be received differently from within the country. While we feel appalled by it, Chinese have played this particular game over 1 billion times and either don’t reflect on who made the game and what it is about or they don’t mind because propaganda is just such a big part of everyday life that this game is not a surprise. Either way, the impact it has on the subconsciousness of players cannot be denied and will increase the rising nationalism even further, stabilizing the Chinese government, but potentially destabilizing a whole region.
But can we learn anything from this? Xi and his “party” have undeniably understood what it takes to unify citizens in the 21st century while western societies are increasingly divided. The Chinese way might not be great for bystanders, but the medium used should be part of direct communication with governments, everyday politics and a democratic way of opinion-forming in all countries.
Bonus: You can find some “western” digital politics at http://trumpdonald.org
Hi there Karim, very interesting topic this one!
I’m the first one to defend that technology should and must be used in every aspect of the human lives, but if and only if it’s proved that improves our living quality and actually does something good for us. The use of technology by the political machine that is installed in China is highly dangerous and unadvisable in my point of view. We are all aware of the authoritarian and totalitarian regime that is in place in China so imagine this powerful tools on the Communist Party of China hands reaching billions of people with these kind of populist and narrow minding propaganda…
Nowadays more and more people are interconnected in China, around 60% of the population has a smartphone, and this numbers have been growing at around 4% a year, if chinese government continues to use this kind of propaganda I think we’ll see some adverse consequences since it will instigate even more the continued development of the dictatorship regime that is in place. Games like this one you just presented will shape the younger generation that will be leading the country by “tomorrow”.
Even though I have this very personal perspective towards the use of this tools by the chinese government, I see great potential of using information technologies on the political world if used on a proper and democratic way. The biggest advantage in my opinion will be in sharing more information with the electorate, fundamental information for the population of a sovereign country to be educated about in which party to vote and why. We are actually already seeing in some countries political campaigns using chatbots to clarify and elucidate its electorate.
Thanks again for your post 🙂
Hi Karim!
Thank you writing such an interesting article. It’s actually quite interesting to think that information can be malleable in such a way that you are exposed to propaganda while playing a clapping game! We live in a time where we think we have enough access to information to be well-informed and aware of the exposure of propaganda. But your article shows that this is definitely not the case!
Do you think this is ethical? Would this be legal in Europe? Do you think our politicians are making use of similar tactics to convey information on their political plans?
Actually, a small political party from my state in Spain (Galicia), has done something similar! You can check this article (sadly, it is only available in Spanish, but the automatic translator of Google always helps 😉 )
https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/elecciones2016/2015/05/16/consigue-votos-ritual-electoral-clasico-pura-innovacion/00031431764621137385290.htm
Cheers!