On this episode of China Uncensored,
the Chinese Communist Party may be atheist,
but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to be worshipped.
Hi, welcome to China Uncensored,
I’m your host Chris Chappell.
Do you feel it, brothers and sisters?
Do you feel the spirit move within you?
The spirit of...
socialism with Chinese characteristics?
You see,
there’s a new preacher in town,
and his name is Xi Jinping.
And he’s leading the Great China Revival,
or as he calls it,
national rejuvenation.
“Advance the new project of party building
as well as striving for Socialism with Chinese Characteristics
for the New Era and realizing
the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation."
Praise be to Xi!
It’s a new era.
So get rid of your pictures of Jesus—
he’s not gonna save you—
and put up this photo of Xi Jinping.
No, seriously.
Take down your pictures of Jesus
and put up one of Xi
or else lose your social services.
That’s what Chinese Christians are being told
in some really poor parts of China.
Yes, local Communist officials in southeastern China
say they’ve been “melting the hard ice
in the hearts of religious believers”
and “helping turn them into believers in the party.”
Just look at them go.
One local official said,
“Many rural people are ignorant.
They think God is their savior.
After our cadres’ work,
they’ll realize their mistakes and think:
We should no longer rely on Jesus,
but on the party for help.”
Who needs spiritual beliefs when you can
always turn to your loving totalitarian government?
Seriously, who needs spiritual beliefs?
Write down their names and report them.
And really, who wouldn’t want
this wonderfully flattering portrait of Xi Jinping
on their wall?
I didn’t know that Xi was a fan of Meitu.
In fact, that airbrushing is so good
I should really get my own version.
Ok, so there’s no way to know whether or not
this is sanctioned by Xi Jinping
or if it’s just some overzealous local officials
trying to curry favor.
But morality is coming back to China.
And it will be guided by the most moral body of all:
The Communist Party.
Kind of like when your elephant sanctuary
is run by Ivory Dealers R Us.
I hear they’re starting one
for white rhinos on the side.
Ok, so learning morality from an authoritarian regime
that’s killed tens of millions of your people
and almost completely destroyed
the moral and spiritual underpinnings of your culture
might seem a little dicey.
But the idea that China needs a moral revival
is not new.
According to this survey
by research firm Ipsos,
a shocking 47% of Chinese people
rank moral decline
as one of China’s top three problems.
More than in any other country.
But worry not, my good Christian...
I mean, my good communist brothers and sisters.
Because the Chinese Communist Party has released,
not just 10 commandments,
but 68 commandments.
As part of China’s great moral revival,
over the summer,
China’s online entertainment industry
was sent a new censorship directive.
They banned 68 different topics.
Including things like underage drinking,
gambling, extreme violence,
scantily clad people,
and satirizing spiritual figures and beliefs.
But this kind of thing has been happening all year.
An update to the official state run media style guide
banned a bunch of new words,
along with crude language and online slang.
But along with crude online slang,
media are banned from using terms like
“Taiwan government” or “Taiwan presidential elections.”
Nope, those are “leader elections in the region of Taiwan.”
Just rolls off the tongue.
In addition, textbooks have been purged of immoral values.
As in, Western values.
And celebrity gossip blogs have also been shut down.
But before you start thinking that,
“Maybe the CCP is on the right track
with banning celebrity gossip,”
just remember that it comes as part of the overall
no-one-gets-free-speech package.
I mean, this is the same CCP that in 1999,
started killing people who practiced Falun Gong mediation because—
as state-run Xinhua put it—
“The so-called ‘truth, kindness and tolerance’ principle
preached by [Falun Gong founder] Li Hongzhi
has nothing in common with the socialist ethical
and cultural progress we are striving to achieve.”
And while other spiritual believers are also getting in trouble...
You’d better not believe in anything if you’re a Party member.
Other than the Party, I mean.
So the church of the Communist Party
will be light on kindness,
and heavy on Xi Jinping Thought.
And the truth is,
there’s not going to be a lot of tolerance
unless you start putting up those posters.
So what do you think of China’s moral revival
at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party?
Leave your comments below.
Thanks for watching this episode of China Uncensored.
Once again I’m your host Chris Chappell.
See you next time.
Don’t take Xi Jinping’s name in vain!
Head over to ChinaUncensored.tv
where you can learn way more about
all he’s done to save your soul.
Once again that’s ChinaUncensored.tv.