An interesting window into the Chinese state was opened earlier today by the smallest of gestures - the offering of a coat. The fact that this small gesture has gained outsized importance is undoubtably due the fact that it was done by so large a figure - both in terms of physique and infamy - as Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin, who is widely liked in China for his willingness to defy the West and his recent gas trade deal with China, may have hurt relations with the gesture which was made all the worse because it was done in the presence Chinese President Xi Jinping who was wrapped up in conversation with President Obama. Most revealing of all though was the Chinese medias reaction to the move. On Weibo, Chinas twitter, the hashtag Putin Gives Peng Liyuan His Coat exploded within minutes and was soon followed by major news outlets posting the video. This, in turn, was followed by… silence: Chinas censors quickly scrubbed any mention of the incident altogether. Infidelity, in China, is often considered to be connected with corruption, something Jinping has pledged to eradicate as part of his reformation of the Chinese state. Thus we see that the China that Jinping wishes to build bears all the hallmarks of the totalitarian state; an emphasis on traditional family structure as the recipe to cure social ills, a tightly controlled media, expansionist military and repression of dissidents. In Jinpings political game of chess he, clearly, doesnt want to allow any hint that the Chinese family is not stable, that he is not complete master of his own wife and that he will go to any length to control the Chinese medias presentation of any event - no matter how small.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 00:53:59 +0000
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