Party propagandists impose 'China Dream' on skeptical public

Calum MacLeod | USA TODAY

BEIJING — Piano music plays in the background as Yu Mengwen, a hospital worker, tells uplifting stories about achieving the "China Dream."

But the 40 waitresses and cooks ordered by their employer to attend the government-orchestrated presentation show little interest in the motivational speakers before them. Some play with cellphones, others sneak in a nap.

The "China Dream" is a campaign by recently installed Chinese President Xi Jinping to reinforce the Communist Party's narrative that it remains the only guarantor of future prosperity and national rejuvenation.

"To achieve the China Dream we must follow China's own path, which is the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics," reads one propaganda piece.

But putting a Communist spin on the "American Dream," which holds that anyone can succeed in the USA if they work hard and play by the rules, may not inspire the masses in a country subjected to six decades of slogans and often vicious political movements, say experts.

The Chinese public remains wary of self-serving campaigns from leaders who rule without their consent. And as the American Dream glorifies the effort of the individual, Xi's version suggests that the Chinese aspire to a more national, collective goal.

Russell Moses, dean of the Beijing Center for Chinese Studies, says the propaganda blitz feels familiar as the bureaucracy "defaults into what has worked before." But the China Dream boasts new elements, he says.

"It's part of a general rethink about how the party is going to supervise a more outspoken and dynamic society," he says. "There's not a lot of traction for slogans anymore, so there has to be a strategy that reaches out to people."

FAR FROM THE AMERICAN DREAM?

Xi Jinping first spoke of his China Dream in November after he was handed power by the party elite in a secret session that ordinary Chinese have no say in. Commenting on it in a meeting last month in the USA with President Obama, he said it, "is connected to the American Dream," and means China seeks "economic prosperity, national rejuvenation and people's well-being."

After months of pushing the China Dream in state-run media, the nation's vast propaganda machinery now spins in full motion, holding speaker sessions, galas and competitions nationwide, setting up publicity "walls" and preparing an online and cellphone barrage.

Even in jail, there's no escape. State media have shown prisoners receiving lectures on "China Dream, prison dream, my dream."

School officials in eastern Zhenjiang City have told kids on summer break to perform "realizing China Dream" activities such as visiting Communist Party memorials and helping the old and disabled.

When school restarts, students from elementary on up may find new textbooks published after Liu Yunshan, the party's propaganda chief, ordered in April that "China Dream propaganda education" must "enter the classroom, and enter students' brains."

The campaign is "an apt response to growing disappointment in the system," as Chinese worry about education, the environment and the economy, Moses says. "There's a sense among many people that to have a future you need to emigrate."

GET REAL, SOME CHINESE SAY

In eastern Beijing, housewife Jiang Hua says her China Dream is two-fold: cheaper house prices in Beijing, and better air quality in the notoriously smoggy capital.

"I wish something could change under this new slogan, and it's not just meaningless," says Jiang, 35.

But it's "too early for radical political reform," she says."If the Communist Party can help everybody achieve our dreams, the people will support them."

And there lies the party's prime objective, believes Zhang Ming, a political scientist at People's University in Beijing.

"If party leaders can achieve their China Dream of a stronger, richer China, it shows the leaders are correct and so there's no need to have elections to show, 'We are approved by the Chinese people,'" Zhang says.

Believers in American exceptionalism say the secret to America's success is that it allows individuals vast freedom to pursue personal goals that in the end benefit all of society. Yu, 28, the hospital worker who is part of the promotional effort, says the Chinese do not want to achieve success merely for themselves or their families.

"Even more, we want to work together to achieve the dream of a more powerful China," Yu says after her third such speech in two weeks.

"The China Dream boosts the people's cohesion and patriotism. They will be more confident and will love the party more," says Yu, who hopes to be approved as a full Communist Party member next summer.

But Zhang says the campaign is tailored toward a China that no longer exists.

"Party officials still feel if you repeat something 100 times, and people hear it every day, it will be accepted, but society is different now," he says.

And they will hear it everywhere.

This week, the party's "spiritual civilization" commission, a ministry-level body, teamed up with China's state-run telecom firms to launch an advertising campaign — "Realize My China Dream, Spread Positive Energy" — online, on cellphones and public LED screens.

The digital drive recognizes that many young Chinese never look at the newspapers and television that the party most directly controls. Beijinger Wu Yue, 24, who shoots ads for a private firm, doubts it will work.

"The China Dream has nothing to do with me," he says. "There are new campaigns every year, but what benefit do ordinary people derive?"

Skepticism is rife online, where micro-blog users share jokes that the real Chinese Dream is to secure a green card in the USA.

After Yu's speech to the waitresses and cooks, another speaker, Liu Jing, says she hopes her "little dream" of getting people to be more kindhearted, loving and honest will help China achieve its "great dream."

Liu, an ambulance dispatcher, laments China's lack of Good Samaritans, referring to a 2011 incident when 18 people walked past a badly injured toddler in the street.

"They either didn't dare to help or were cold-blooded," says Liu, 25. "Through our wholehearted work, we will move people to help."

Contributing: Sunny Yang