While China targets Jack Ma’s media empire, President Rabbit Prospera

Photographer: Qilai Shen / Bloomberg

As China moves to pull media out of Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., officials are allowing several new patriots to flourish in one of the most restrictive media spaces in the world.

One of the main voices is President Rabbit – the social media nickname for Harvard University-educated Prince Ren Yi, whose popularity stems in part from Chinese citizens tired of what they consider to be a constant criticism from China in the US. Western media. Former assistant to the famous sinologist Ezra Vogel, President Rabbit built a following more than two million fans on the social media platforms Weibo and WeChat.

The media needs to have “social responsibility” and think about public sentiment, Ren said in a telephone interview. He added that China is still trying to strike a balance between allowing different points of view and, at the same time, ensuring that the public does not lose confidence in political institutions.

Ren’s success helps to show where the permissible line of speech lies under President Xi Jinping, who has further restricted the space for divergent and critical voices since he came to power in 2012. In addition to expelling some foreign journalists and now Pressuring Ma to sell properties like the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, China also often moves to overturn new media platforms that are not under its control.

Last month, authorities quickly blocked the Clubhouse after it emerged as a place where Internet users, including those from China, gathered to discuss the treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang and the independence of Taiwan – topics considered too sensitive for an open discussion on the Chinese internet. At the same time, social media users and bloggers were forced to obtain a license to post about current events, making it virtually impossible for anyone to operate outside of China’s censorship system.

But some of those who embrace the restrictions are finding large audiences among Chinese citizens who are skeptical of both Western narratives and state spokesmen like the People’s Daily or China’s Central Television. Ren’s writing skyrocketed during the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, when he won over well-mannered readers who were not entirely persuaded by the reports presented by the mainstream Chinese media.

Ren argued that the protesters were driven by identity policies and would never support authorities on the continent, regardless of the economic incentives offered. He compared young people in Hong Kong wearing black T-shirts to the Ku Klux Klan, while saying that financial center leaders were infiltrated by the “deep state” and needed to be scrutinized for their political views – a notion that Xi implemented this year with rules that only “patriots ”can rule the city.

China’s need for a positive narrative beyond official sources – including aggressive diplomats called “Wolf Warriors ”in the West – became even more evident after criticism of how he handled the Covid-19 pandemic. In the past year, Beijing has been increasingly defensive in the face of widespread criticism of how it treats ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang and defenders of democracy in Hong Kong.

‘They will demonize you’

Xi has long asked Chinese media professionals and academics to do a better job of “telling China’s stories to the world.” Some were sent to study with Zhang Weiwei at the Chunqiu Institute of Fudan University, according to two people who participated in the sessions. Zhang, a staunch and vocal advocate of how China’s governance model is superior to Western democracies, is considered one of Xi’s favorite scholars, according to one person.

Chinese scholars are also trying to find ways to explain China in a way that is understandable to the West. Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University and a former Chinese diplomat, said the dissociation was the result of the United States not being able to annihilate or assimilate China.

“The United States has a very religious way of thinking – they want to bring it into their sphere,” said Wang, who is working on a book he says is China’s counter-argument to “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” ”By Max Weber. “And if they can’t, they will demonize you and try to destroy you.”

Wang Zichen was so dismayed at how Western journalists cover China that he decided to publish his own newsletter. Almost a year later, “Pekingnology ”quickly won over 1,600 subscribers – including diplomats in Beijing, journalists and investors – with in-depth analysis on everything from who really owns it Huawei Technologies Co. for the most confusing elements of Chinese politics, such as the “Spirit of the Fifth Plenary”.

“It shows to tell a Chinese story from a Chinese perspective, deeply rooted in Chinese practice, it is of great value and can be appreciated by the West,” said Wang Zichen.

Like President Rabbit, Wang Zichen presents himself as an independent voice, although he works during the day as a reporter in state media Xinhua News Agency. He said his bosses gave a tacit nod of approval to proceed with his side project, but insists he is acting alone. “It’s a one-man store,” he said. “There is no outside help, intervention or guidance.”

Wang Zichen relies on prominent China observer Bill Bishop as an inspiration, especially to show that experts in China can be financially profitable. Pekingnology is published on the Substack platform, in which Bishop is an investor. Wang Zichen also admires Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Global Times newspaper, supported by the Communist Party, for being one of the first to defend China on Twitter.

“I love my country deeply,” said Wang Zichen. “I think getting people to understand China more in its own original intended meaning – that’s the purpose of people in my profession.”

– With the help of Colum Murphy, Jing Li and Lucille Liu