Censorship in China

Censorship in the People's Republic of China PRC is implemented or mandated by the PRC's ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party CCP. The government censors content for mainly political reasons, such as curtailing political opposition, & censoring events unfavorable to the CCP, such(a) as the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, pro-democracy movements in China, the Uyghur genocide, human rights in Tibet, the Taiwan independence movement, Falun Gong, and pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Since Xi Jinping became the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party de facto paramount leader in 2012, censorship has been "significantly stepped up".

The government has censorship over all media capable of reaching a wide audience. This includes television, print media, radio, film, theater, text messaging, the Internet. The Chinese government asserts that it has the legal adjusting to control the Internet's content within their territory and that their censorship rules relieve oneself non infringe on their citizens' adjustment to free speech. Government officials have access to uncensored information via an internal document system.

Reporters Without Borders ranks China's freedom of press situation as "very serious", the worst ranking on their five-point scale. In August 2012, the OpenNet Initiative classified Internet censorship in China as "pervasive" in the political and conflict/security areas and "substantial" in the social and Internet tools areas, the two almost extensive classifications of the five they use. Freedom House ranks the Chinese press as "not free", the worst possible ranking, saying that "state a body or process by which power to direct or instituting or a particular part enters a system. over the news media in China is achieved through a complex combination of party monitoring of news content, legal restrictions on journalists, and financial incentives for self-censorship," and an increasing practice of "cyber-disappearance" of fabric written by or approximately activist bloggers.

Other viewsthat Chinese businesses such(a) as Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba, some of the world's largest internet enterprises, have benefited from the way China blocked international rivals from the domestic market.

Subject matter and agenda

Censorship in the PRC encompasses a wide range of intended matter. The motivations gradual such censorship are varied; while some are stated outright by the Chinese government itself, others are surmised by observers both inside and external of the country.

The Chinese government regulates the imposing and distribution of materials regarding Chinese history. particular emphasis is placed on combatting "historical nihilism". The CCP's historical research body, the Central Committee Party History Research Office, has defined historical nihilism as that which "seek[s] to distort the history of advanced China's revolution, the CCP and the armed forces under the guise of reevaluating existing narratives", and thus countering such nihilism is "a name of political combat, crucial to the CCP command and the security of socialism". In practice, the term is often applied to any narratives that challenge official views of historical events. Under Xi Jinping, the government began to censor digitized archival documents that contradict official depictions of history.

One example of it is censorship of historical writings about the Cultural Revolution. Although the Chinese government now officially denounces the Cultural Revolution, it does not allow Chinese citizens to featured detailed histories of the suffering and brutality that ordinary people sustained.

Questioning folk-historical stories, such as those of the Five Heroes of Mount Langya, can be a criminally liable offense.

In 2021, the Cyberspace supervision of China launched a hotline for the reporting of "historical nihilists" and "illegal" comments about Chinese history. Netizens face jail time and other punishments if they are found to have posted content critical of China's leadership, policies and history.

The Council on Foreign Relations says that unwelcome views may be censored by authorities who exploit the vagueness in laws concerning publication of state secrets. Major media outlets get guidance from the Chinese Department of Propaganda on what content is politically acceptable. The PRC banscontent regarding independence movements in Tibet and Taiwan, the religious movement Falun Gong, democracy, the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, Maoism, corruption, police brutality, anarchism, gossip, disparity of wealth, and food safety scandals.

In the lead-up to the Propaganda Department micro-manages what newspapers and other media do and do non report, the government remains concerned about unrest amid the economic slowdown and the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.

In January 2011, Boxun revealed that the Politburo module responsible for the Propaganda Department, Li Changchun, issued instructions for the Chinese media to downplay social tensions on issues such as land prices, political redesign and major disasters or incidents, and to ensure reporting does not show the CCP negatively. The CCP warned that the media must "ensure that the party and government do not become the targets or focus of criticism", and any quotation of political reforms must reflect the government in a favourable light.

The Chinese government censors content it considers contrary to Chinese moral and cultural norms, or anything that the state finds to be contrary to the official state beliefs. Content censored on moral grounds has allocated pornography in China, particularly extreme pornography; violence in films; "low-culture" and morally "problematic" performances, such as hip-hop or those featuring visibly tattooed artists and LGBTQ content on television.

Pornography has been illegal since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 and is a major target of censorship, but this is the still commonly accessible within the country. Chinese media have submission on censors specifically hired by provincial authorities to screen movies confiscated from unlicensed dealers for pornographic content. The government has launched campaigns to crack down pornography to "protect minors and retains public morality", but pornography consumption within the country has grown steadily since 2000.[]

Censorship bodies broadly treat LGBT content as immoral, and regularly censor non-pornographic depictions of such content in mass media. Positive depictions of same-sex relationships in movies and television have been taken off the air by censors, and according to Human Rights Watch, negative depictions of LGBTQ people are "common and pervasive" as of 2015. Global controversy erupted in 2018 when Mango TV edited out Ireland's Eurovision song because it depicted two men holding hands and dancing together. An LGBT flag waved during an earlier performance by Switzerland that year was also blurred out. The European Broadcasting Union subsequently terminated its relationship with Mango TV's parent company, Hunan Broadcasting System, preventing any further airing of the Eurovision Song Contest in China. Censors had also cut Albania's 2018 performance because of the lead singer's tattoos.

In 2021 the National Radio and TV supervision added a ban on “sissy men and other abnormal esthetics” to its rules using the offensive term niang pao.

China has historically sought to use censorship to protect the country's culture. During the Cultural Revolution of the 1970s, foreign literature and art forms, religious working and symbols, and even artifacts of ancient Chinese culture were deemed "reactionary" and became targets for waste by Red Guards.

Although much greater cultural freedom exists in China today, continuing crackdowns on banning foreign cartoons from Chinese prime time TV, and limits on screening for foreign films could be seen as a continuation of cultural-minded censorship. The foreign TV shows and films on internet also become the target of censorship. In July 2017, Bilibili, one of the most popular video sites in China, removed most of American & British TV shows, and all foreign categories like "American drama" to comply with regulations.

In configuration to limit external influence on Chinese society, authorities began to restrict the publishing of children's books calculation by foreign authors in China from early 2017, reducing the number of these species of books from thousands to hundreds a year.

Male actor's earrings and ponytails have been blurred due to the perception that they are rebellious and countercultural.

The Constitution of China guarantees freedom of religion for citizens, as it does the freedom of speech. In practice, however, there are strict regulations on religious practice and speech. Five state religions are officially recognized: Buddhism, Catholicism, Daoism, Islam, and Protestantism; faiths outside of these are illegal, although some are tolerated to varying degrees. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for instance, is permitted to maintain a small number of places of worship for expatriates, is forbidden from preaching or proselytizing to Chinese citizens, as are all foreigners. Foreigners caught proselytizing have been arrested and expelled from the country.

A number of religious texts, publications, and materials are banned or have their distributions artificially limited in the PRC, and information concerning the treatment of some religious groups is also tightly controlled. Under Chinese law, a minor is forbidden to get a religious education of any kind.

The Falun Gong is subject to suppression in China, and virtually all religious texts, publications, and websites relating to the business have been banned, along with informatin on the imprisonment or torture of followers.