Document Number Nine
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Document Number Nine (or Document No. 9), more properly the Communiqué on the Current State of the Ideological Sphere (also translated as the Briefing on the Current Situation in the Ideological Realm), is a confidential internal document widely circulated within the
Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
(CCP) in 2013 by the
General Office A General Office (also known as "administrative office") is an important administrative political organ in the communist party organizations and communist countries (such as China, Laos and Vietnam for instance). Generally speaking, the General Offi ...
of the CCP. The document was first circulated in July 2012. The document warns of seven dangerous Western values, allegedly including media freedom and judicial independence. Teaching on any of the seven topics is forbidden. There is an emphasis on controlling and preventing communication using the internet of ideas subversive to one party rule. The document was issued in the context of planned economic reforms and increased calls for political reform."China Warns Officials Against ‘Dangerous’ Western Values"
article by Chris Buckley in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' 13 May 2013
It has been described as a critique of the "liberal ways of thinking". The document was not made available to public by the Communist Party or any branches of the Chinese government, but in July 2013 was allegedly leaked by Chinese dissident journalist Gao Yu, who was in turn sentenced to a seven-year imprisonment for "leaking state secrets". It is unclear whether this document is official Chinese policy or just a faction within the party. However, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' suggests that it "bears the unmistakable imprimatur of
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...
". It is thought that Document No. 9 was issued by the General Office of the
Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...
, and would have required the approval of
CCP General Secretary The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the Party leader, head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secr ...
Xi Jinping and other top leaders.


Name

The document has been described as a
communiqué A press release is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public release. Press releases are also considere ...
or
circular Circular may refer to: * The shape of a circle * ''Circular'' (album), a 2006 album by Spanish singer Vega * Circular letter (disambiguation) ** Flyer (pamphlet), a form of advertisement * Circular reasoning, a type of logical fallacy * Circula ...
. The name of the document (''Document Number Nine''), as it came to be commonly referred in Western English-language press, comes from the fact that it was the ninth such document issued that year in China.


Contents

The document is highly critical of what can be broadly described as " Western values" (the document itself uses terms such as "Western values", "Western principles", "Western standards", "Western ideas", and more precisely, "Western constitutional democracy" and "Western-style theories of governance", as well as making references to "Western anti-China forces"). The document is critical of "extremely malicious" ideals spreading in the
Chinese society Chinese culture () is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia and is extremely diverse and varying, with customs and traditions varying grea ...
, such as ideas of (Western)
constitutional democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into diff ...
,
civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.universal values A value is a universal value if it has the same value or worth for all, or almost all, people. Spheres of human value encompass morality, aesthetic preference, human traits, human endeavour, and social order. Whether universal values exist is ...
(
freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...
, democracy, and human rights),
neo-liberalism Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
, and
freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic News media, media, especially publication, published materials, should be conside ...
(described as the "Western news values"). The document warns that such subjects undermine the CCP's control over Chinese society. The document also promotes ways of dealing with these problems, which include "Unwavering adherence to the principle of the Party's control of media."


Prelude

The prelude to this document references a previous article of 2012 and raises six challenges faced by China in asserting control over its ideology, while also identifying various routes by which Western hostile forces might subvert Chinese ideology. # The cultural penetration of Western hostile forces threatens the security of our ideology. There are three main ways of cultural penetration: #* The first is direct cultural propaganda, that is, the use of modern media for long-term ideological penetration. #* The second is to use cultural commodities as a carrier to infiltrate the various values of the West into the public. ''(Cultural commodities refers to movies, novels, commercial goods, and other commodities which might be subverted by Western hostile forces.)'' #* The third is to infiltrate Western values into social elites such as high-level scholars and intellectuals under the cover of educational and academic exchanges. # Various social thoughts aim to hinder or subvert the authoritative identification of China's mainstream ideology. # The collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of communism in Eastern Europe have undermined belief in China's mainstream ideology. # The theme of development and the goal of modernization have played down the opposition between ideologies. (i.e. opposition between the Western system of liberal democracy and the Chinese system of "socialism with Chinese characteristics", which by implication are irrevocably opposed.) # Diverse value orientations have a negative impact on China's mainstream ideology. # Information networking poses a challenge to the control of our ideology.


The Seven Noteworthy Problems

The document specifically addresses the following issues that were seen as problems. These are the terms used in the document itself: # Promoting Western Constitutional Democracy: An attempt to undermine the current leadership and the "socialism with Chinese characteristics" system of governance. (Including ''the separation of powers, the multi-party system, general elections, and independent judiciaries''.) # Promoting “universal values” in an attempt to weaken the theoretical foundations of the Party's leadership. (That ''“the West’s values are the prevailing norm for all human civilization”'', that ''“only when China accepts Western values will it have a future”''.) # Promoting civil society in an attempt to dismantle the ruling party's social foundation. (i.e. that ''individual rights are paramount and ought to be immune to obstruction by the state''.) # Promoting
neoliberalism Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
, attempting to change China's basic economic system. (i.e. "unrestrained economic liberalization, complete privatization, and total marketization".) # Promoting the West's idea of journalism, challenging China's principle that the media and publishing system should be subject to Party discipline. # Promoting
historical nihilism Historical nihilism ( zh, s=历史虚无主义, p=Lìshǐ xūwú zhǔyì) is a term used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and some scholars in China to describe research, discussions, or viewpoints that contradict its official version of histor ...
, trying to undermine the history of the CPC and of New China. (For example ''to deny the scientific and guiding value of Mao Zedong thought''.) # Questioning Reform and Opening and the socialist nature of socialism with Chinese characteristics. (For example, saying ''“We have deviated from our Socialist orientation.”'')


Leak

The contents of the memo became known when accounts of presenting it to cadre in the
Liaoyuan Liaoyuan () is a prefecture-level city in Jilin province, People's Republic of China. It is bounded on the west and south by Tieling of Liaoning province, west and north by Siping, and east by Tonghua and Jilin City. Liaoyuan lies some south of C ...
municipal government were published in the local paper. In May 2013, cadre at the
Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...
Party Committee for Urban and Rural Construction studied the material, as did cadre in
Anyang Anyang (; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively. It had a ...
. However, there were no explicit mentions of the seven Western values above. In April 2015, the ''Wall Street Journal's'' Josh Chin reported a 71-year-old Chinese journalist was convicted for releasing Document 9. Journalist Gao Yu was sentenced to seven years in prison by Beijing's Third Intermediate People's Court after being found guilty in a closed trial of leaking state secrets to foreign media. Ms Gao was accused by the court of leaking an internal Communist Party directive to an overseas Chinese news site in 2013, according to her lawyer, Mo Shaoping. Historically, it is rare for Chinese authorities to detain or jail elderly critics, who were traditionally given quiet warnings when they crossed political red lines. The article suggests that the charge is a pretext for aggressive action against political dissent and cites other examples of elderly publishers and journalists being prosecuted.


Analysis

According to news analysis by a reporter at ''The New York Times'', the emphasis on political discipline is intended to forestall leftist, or Maoist, opposition to needed economic reforms avoiding the split which resulted in the Soviet Union during Gorbachev's reform efforts when media freedom resulted in publishing of a great deal of critical historical material and alienation of the mass of party workers.


See also

* ''
Silent Contest Silent Contest () is a Chinese communist military propaganda film produced by the People's Liberation Army's National Defense University Information Management Center, purporting to expose and explain the secret battle, or conspiracy, the United ...
''


References


External links

* {{Xi Jinping 2013 in China 2013 documents Classified documents Xi Jinping Chinese Communist Party Censorship in China