The State Council Information Office (SCIO; ) is the chief information office of the

State Council of the People's Republic of China The State Council, constitutionally synonymous with the Central People's Government since 1954 (particularly in relation to local governments), is the chief administrative authority of the People's Republic of China. It is chaired by the p ...

. In 2014, SCIO was absorbed into the

Central Propaganda Department The Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, also known as the Propaganda Department or Central Propaganda Department, is an internal division of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in charge of spreading C ...

of 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).

History

The SCIO was formed in 1991 when the CCP

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 ...

made the External Propaganda Leading Group of the

Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party The Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, also known as the Propaganda Department or Central Propaganda Department, is an internal division of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in charge of spreading C ...

its own office. The office was created with the goal of improving the Chinese government's international image following the

1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

. According to scholar

Anne-Marie Brady Anne-Marie Sharon Brady (born 1966) is a New Zealand academic and Professor of Political Science at the University of Canterbury. She specialises in Chinese domestic and foreign politics, Antarctic and Arctic politics, Pacific politics, and ...

, the SCIO became a separate unit from the CCP Central Propaganda Department but still connected to it and was the "public face of this new direction in foreign propaganda work." The office formerly had responsibility for internet censorship in China. The SCIO's Internet Affairs Bureau dealt with internet censorship and repressed "disruptive" (anti-Chinese government) activity on the web in mainland China. However, in May 2011, the SCIO transferred the offices which regulated the internet to a new subordinate agency, the

Cyberspace Administration of China The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC; ) is the central internet regulator, censor, oversight, and control agency for the People's Republic of China. The office also holds the administrative title of the party's Office of the Central C ...

. In 2014, the SCIO was absorbed into the CCP's Central Propaganda Department. In November 2020, the director of the SCIO,

Xu Lin Xu or XU may refer to: People and characters * Xu (surname), one of two Chinese surnames ( or /), transliterated as Xu in English * ǃXu, a name for the ǃKung group of Bushmen; may also refer to the ǃKung language or the ǃKung people * ǃXu ...

, gave a speech in which he emphasized the need to "resolutely guard against digitalisation diluting the party’s leadership, resolutely prevent the risk of capital manipulating public opinion."

List of directors

Zhu Muzhi Zhu Muzhi (; 25 December 1916 – 23 October 2015) was a Chinese politician. Zhu was a member of the 10th, 11th and 12th Central Committees of the Chinese Communist Party. Zhu served as president of the Xinhua News Agency, deputy head of the Pro ...

, 1991–1992 #

Zeng Jianhui Zeng (, ) is a Chinese family name. In Cantonese, it is Tsang; In Wade-Giles, such as those in Taiwan, Tseng or Tzeng; in Malaysia and Singapore, Chen or Cheng; in the Philippines, Chan; in Indonesia, Tjan; in Vietnam, Tăng. The surname Zeng is ...

(), 1992–1998 #

Zhao Qizheng Zhao Qizheng (; born January 1940) is a retired Chinese engineer and politician. Previously he served as director of the State Council Information Office and director of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese Peopl ...

(), 1998–2005 #

Cai Wu Cai Wu (; born October 1949) is a retired Chinese politician and a former Minister of Culture of the People's Republic of China. Biography Cai Wu was born in Gansu Province. During the Cultural Revolution, Cai was forced to leave his home in th ...

, 2005–2008 # Wang Chen, 2008–2013 #

Cai Mingzhao Cai Mingzhao (; born 16 June 1955) is a Chinese politician and journalist. He was appointed President of the Xinhua News Agency in December 2014, succeeding Li Congjun, who had retired. Cai formerly served as deputy director of the State Counci ...

, March 2013 – December 2014 # Jiang Jianguo, January 2015 – August 2018 #

, August 2018 – incumbent

References

External links

* {{Authority control State Council of the People's Republic of China Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Chinese propaganda organisations