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China’s top nationalist influencer Hu Xijin silenced for over a month, but very few miss him

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Globalvoices.org 

Many believe that Hu overstepped by critiquing government policy

Originally published on Global Voices

Screen capture from Hu Xijin's YouTube channel. Fair use.

Hu Xijin, the former chief editor of the Chinese state-funded nationalist tabloid Global Times, one of China's most notorious social commentators, has been quiet on social media for over one month since July 27, 2024. 

As China’s top nationalist commentator, Hu usually posts a dozen nationalistic comments daily on social media platforms, including Weibo, WeChat, and X (formerly Twitter). His sudden and unexplained silence has triggered some speculation, but very few feel pity for him. 

Soon after Hu’s social media disappearance, both overseas and domestic analysts concluded that he was sanctioned for violating the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) party line after “arguing against the Central government” (妄議中央) in his opinion piece published on WeChat on July 22, commenting on a resolution endorsed by the CCP’s third plenum. 

The now-deleted post that Hu wrote highlights the importance of the private sector in the Chinese economy:

在新的《决定》中，非公有制经济与公有制经济实现了真正的平等，不再区分谁是主体地位，谁才能发挥主导作用。另外，本次《决定》还明确宣示，要“完善产权制度，依法平等长久保护各种所有制经济产权”，“对侵犯各种所有制经济产权和合法利益的行为实行同责同罪同罚”。为了进一步保护好民营经济，本次三中全会还要求制定民营经济促进法。全会布置的所有改革任务都需在2029年完成，这意味着民营经济促进法也要在那之前面世。所有制问题在中国长期被视为政治问题，“大是大非”，民营经济也因此在公有制面前“低人一等”。无论重要项目招标还是银行放贷，民营企业通常都会被排到国有企业后面，有不少领域则是民营企业的“禁区”。本次三中全会带来的是根本改变。就在不是很久以前，有人公开唱衰民营经济，称“私营经济已经初步完成了协助公有经济实现跨越式发展的重大阶段性历史重任”，并劝民营经济“应逐渐离场”，那些声音今天看起来是多么可笑。

In the new resolution, the non-publicly owned and publicly owned economies have achieved true equality, and there is no longer any distinction between which is the primary sector and which plays the dominant role. In addition, the resolution also explicitly declares that it is necessary to ‘improve the property rights system, protect the property rights of all types of economic ownership equally and permanently as per the law’, and ‘implement the same responsibility, the same set of law, and the same punishment for infringement of the property rights and lawful interests of all types of economic ownership’.

To further protect the private economy, the Third Plenum also called to enact a law to promote the private economy. All the reform tasks laid out by the plenum need to be completed by 2029, which means that the law on promoting the private economy will also have to come out before then. The issue of ownership in China has long been seen as a political issue, a matter of ‘right and wrong’, and the private economy is therefore ‘inferior’ to the public sector. Private enterprises are usually ranked behind state-owned enterprises in project bidding or bank lending, and many areas are ‘off-limits’ to private enterprises. The Third Plenum brings a fundamental change. Not so long ago, some people openly belittled the private economy, saying that ‘the private economy has initially completed its historical responsibility in assisting the public economy to achieve leapfrog development’ and advised the private economy to ‘gradually leave the field’. How ridiculous those voices seem today.

With 7.7 million followers, Weibo influencer Wei-yue-qin-yu 巍岳钦禹 conjectured Hu’s silence:

胡锡进的账号并没有标识禁言，不过他目前应该是自我反省状态，不排除还要向组织交一份深刻的检查。老胡作为资深的宣传老干部，在解读政策上出现失误。以公有制为主体的经济体制是上了宪法的，是基础是根本是底线，怎么可能随意改变。老胡同志有流量有影响力，对政策的错误解读所产生的影响是恶劣的。希望老胡同志这次认真反省反省，不能因为自己粉丝多就飘了，别的事活活稀泥也就算了，在政策上不能妄议。

Hu Xijin's account was not labelled as ‘banned’, but he should be in a state of self-reflection. He probably has to submit a profound self-examination to the Party. Old Hu, as a veteran propaganda cadre, has made a mistake in interpreting policy. The economic system with public ownership as the main body is written in the constitution. It is the foundation and the bottom line [of the CCP]. How can he tweak that at will? Comrade Old Hu has traffic and influence, and his wrong policy interpretation will bring adverse effects. I hope this time, old Hu could have deep self-reflection. He should not feel elated because of his many followers and fans. It is okay for him to smooth things over on other matters but not meddle in policy issues.

This is not the first time Hu Xijin has taken down his opinion on social media. Former Google legal director William Farris highlighted two other occasions that Hu was censored in the past: 

However, having muted for over one month indicates a harsher disciplinary measure. Yet, across different political spectrums inside or outside China, very few feel pity for him, and many express antipathy.

On X / Twitter, political cartoonist Badiucao mocked his disappearance:

Hu Xijin is nicknamed “Frisbee-catcher” on Chinese social media as he is attentive to the CCP, always reacts, and consistently follows the party line. Badiucao’s cartoon jokes that this time, the frisbee killed the frisbee catcher. 

Although Hu has nearly 25 million followers on Weibo, most of the platform's comments are harsh and unsympathetic, as his positive comments have misled many over the years. For example, he has encouraged his followers to buy A-stock in the Chinese stock market since mid-2023 and shared his investment tips and updates on social media. Even though he had lost more than 13 percent of his investment in six months by early 2024, he remained positive in his analysis. By the time he disappeared, he had lost over 20 percent of his stock worth. No one patted his back. Instead, some stock-buyers who had fallen victim to his suggestions asked him to rescue the market by jumping out of a building to alert the government. 

Upon the confirmation of Hu’s social disappearance, many spiteful comments came from the investment sector. A finance blogger Lu Xiao-zhou, for example, said:

胡锡进可能再也不会回到社交媒体了。大家发现没有，没有胡锡进的日子，无论多大的舆论其实都不是什么大事…胡锡进才是舆论本身最大的问题，没有他，舆论清静多了，所以，他也就没有必要回来了。

It seems to me that Hu Xijin will not reappear on social media. Don’t you see that Hu Xijin’s disappearance has little impact? No major online incident has erupted… Hu Xijin is the major problem. Without him, public opinion is less loud. Hence, he should not return.

Another finance blogger, Lei Ge, invited his followers to comment on the online public sphere without Hu Xijin, and here are some of the typical responses:

世界终于清静了

The world is finally quiet.

千万别再放出来了，谢谢领导

Please don’t let him out. Thank you, leaders.

Kong Qing-dong, a Peking University professor and a nationalist, is a rare voice who expressed sympathy for Hu's disappearance:

今天8月17日周六，是胡哥的三七。胡哥这么多天不露面，那么多胡椒粉，居然不见一滴泪，只有和尚默默为他祈祷。

Today is August 17, a Saturday, marking Brother Hu's third week of disappearance [from the public sphere]. Having been silent for so many days and having so many fans, but not a single drop of tears. Only one monk [referring to Kong himself] silently prayed for him.

Although Hu is not missed, veteran journalist Jia Jia pointed out that his forced silence marks the diminishing space for the market-oriented nationalism model, represented by the Global Times’ populist and nationalistic appeal:

在官方红线不断收紧、中国民间民族主义盛行的当下，纵然是胡锡进也不得不遭到某种“自食其果的反噬”。而与他在职业生涯上紧密相连的《环球时报》，其中文版和英文版都获得了默许的比国内媒体更大的尺度及更强大的议题设置能力，实现了不同面向的“新闻导向”，但近年来《环球时报》以及胡锡进本人的遭遇，说明了“商业民族主义”媒体模式已经逐渐陷入困境。

At a time when official red lines are being tightened and nationalism is prevalent throughout the country, even Hu Xijin has to suffer a sort of ‘self-inflicted backlash’. The Global Times, with which he has been closely associated throughout his career, has been given tacit permission to have more flexibility and power in agenda setting compared to other domestic media outlets, and hence becomes more successful in ‘opinion channelling through news report’. Yet, what has happened to the Global Times and Hu himself in recent years shows that their ‘commercial nationalist’ media model has gradually fallen into disrepute.

As pointed out by @BingLiu34173809, the fact that Hu is muted indicates that patriots can not act spontaneously; they have to strictly follow the official party line:

Hu Xijin is banned from speaking out. Little Pinks on Twitter [also known as X] have to watch out; incorrect patriotic gestures are not allowed. 

Written by Oiwan Lam