What Kind Of Communist Party Member Is Chen Hua?
The following references give the background to an Internet essay about Deputy Directory Chen Hua of the Internet Management Department of the Beijing Internet Propaganda Management Office:
A full translation of the Internet essay appears below. This essay is more likely a fake than not, because it contains too many small grammatical mistakes for something that is calling out for serious attention. A professional journalist would not have written this and expect it to be published as is. There are also some very simple thing that can be stated in support of the case. For example, Chen Hua allegedly said that his car is better than those of his supervisors. So what kind of car does he drive? If it was correctly indicated that he drives something like an Alfa Romeo, then the case is sold already. But nothing here. Also, what kind of Xinhua reporter goes to work overseas for nine months but is still not a regular user of the Internet? Finally, this essay completely opens up the author and his daughter for libel charges. All Chen Hua has to do is think about the dinners with a 23-year-old girl looking for a job at a major portal along with another 23-year-old female friend.
Nevertheless, the essay is translated in full here so that people can appreciate what the hubbub is about.
(Secretly Listening To Enemy Radio blog) Xinhua reporter Zhang Tao: What kind of Communist Party Member is Chen Hua of the Internet Management Department? January 22, 2009.
[in translation]
Maybe I am too old or maybe I have been too busy writing for Xinhua, I am not a regular user of the Internet. I only know that the controls on the Internet media are looser. I have read some Internet essays, which I found to be more open and unrestricted. If I weren't so old and if I didn't think computers are awkward to use, I might have moved over to the Internet department. But even though I did not move over to the Internet department, I hold great hopes for the Internet. Of course, the Internet is complicated as well as wide open so that good things happen along with bad things. Thus, it makes sense to have a good management system in place.
I had just returned to Beijing after working nine months overseas for Xinhua. By this time, I have concluded that it is impossible not to have the Internet. The overseas print media which were my principal sources of information over the past nine months are not available in China, so I have to get onto the Internet to read them. When my daughter heard me say that I wanted to get on the Internet, she came over to help. She upgraded my computer and she connected me with the latest broadband service. Since I had to access overseas websites, she even installed a proxy server for me. She explained that this will bypass the Internet firewall. Although it is somewhat slow, I can read the newspapers that I cannot otherwise see in China.
During dinner last evening, my daughter and I talked about Internet management in China. She mentioned that she met a leader of the Internet News Management Department of the Beijing Internet Propaganda Management Office named Chen Hua at a dinner last month. When she mentioned this person, her eyes lit up. At first, I was disinterested. But after listening to my daughter speak for a few minutes, I put down my chopsticks to listen to her. My daughter became hesitant. Finally, I promised that I would not write a Xinhua internal reference report and she continued.
My daughter said that this 40-something-year-old man Chen Hua is probably an official with the Internet News Management Department of the Beijing Internet Propaganda Management Office. He is courting a good friend of my daughter. This friend is 23 years old, the same age as my daughter. Not only is Chen Hua married, but he already has several other 'shady' girlfriends. He also flirts with recent female university graduates at his office. This was what he boasted about at the dinner. The friend of my daughter did not accept Chen's proposal for other reasons. In any case, young people like to have fun and they don't mind as long as you have money.
By the time that I heard that, I got curious. I asked, "Where does a minor official at the Internet News Management Department get the money?" My daughter responded with an exasperated look, "You don't know about this sort of thing." The friend of my daughter said that this 40-something-year-old Chen Hua is willing to chase after young women by taking them to the most expensive restaurants and spend lavishly. During that dinner, Chen Hua revealed that not only does he have money, he also wields a lot of power. The friend of my daughter obviously harbored doubts. Yet, there is no question that Chen Hua is driving an upscale car. Chen Hua said during the dinner: "My car is better than the leaders of the Beijing Internet Propaganda Management Office and the Internet News Management Department. You tell me if I could afford to buy a car like this just from the job alone?"
My daughter said that Chen Hua said more than once that he is wealthy and has no problem with keeping a few young women. However, he wanted to keep only those who he truly likes. At one meeting, Chen said even though the economy is bad in China, public servants do not get affected. In fact, the worst the economy gets, the girls coming from outside Beijing will set lower prices. He also said, "This is the market economy. This is why I support the market economy. However, I don't support capitalism because an Internet manager like myself would be unemployed."
So this is Chen Hua. When he saw that his courtship of the friend of my daughter was not moving along, he said that he has accounts at all the banks in Beijing, his wife will be agreeable and he has two apartments from which even the rental payments will be enough to pay for her living. But the friend of my daughter said, "You are just an Internet management worker. Unless you change jobs, how can you have money to keep me?" Chen Hua, "You have no idea how powerful I am. If the websites that I oversee want to expand and develop, they must have my approval or else they are dead. You know the websites that I oversee." He also said, "Communist Party members have to eat too. Socialism cannot feed us, but we can still rely on socialism to make money. How so? I find some faults with Internet companies and I let them feel my power." He said, "I want to tell the websites that I oversee that anyone who is not on good terms with me is going to find out that I can make them suffer." He also said, "I want to let those netizens realize their their little bit of freedom of speech was given to them by me, Chen Hua!"
When I heard that, I did not find it credible. I cannot believe that a Communist Party member would say such things to young women of my daughter's age. My daughter heard me and said, "You don't believe my friend because you don't know what my friend does and what their relationship is. This 23-year-old friend worked at Zhongguanchuan for a year but is leaving because of the recession. She wants to go through Chen Hua to get a job at a big website such as Sina.com. The request went through a friend and Chen Hua originally agreed. But when he saw how pretty this young woman was, he changed his mind and kept asking her out. Then he stated explicitly that he wanted to be 'friends.' He wanted to go to bed with this 23-year-old girl. He even said, 'The work over at the website is pathetic. You don't even have to go there to work. I'll just tell them to pay you.' He also said, 'You can even work at home. I oversee many websites.'"
My daughter said, "You don't know have to believe my friend because she did not accept Chen Hua's proposal and she did not go to work at Sina.com. As a result, she may have some misgivings. But you ought to believe me." She said that she and her friend went out to eat twice with Chen Hua. This Chen Hua person was overbearing. When he mentioned the websites that he oversees, he sounded as if he was talking about a dog that he is rearing at home. "What directives from above? How important is Hu Jintao with respect to Internet management? Wen Jiabao is even lesser. As far as Internet management goes, only our words mean anything." He said that as far as some websites are concerned, he is the Secretary-General and the netizens are worth less than a fart. "Both Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao are just farts, because they don't even use the Internet. You shouldn't believe in the propaganda from above."
After a few drinks, Chen Hua said that the Internet used to be controlled strictly because of the fear of trouble. Nowadays, the Internet is strictly controlled because he does not want the netizens to get carried away. He will demand the deletion of every Internet post that is critical of public servants. He also said that since he is his 40's, he understands that it is alright to eat, drink, frolic and gamble as long as he makes no political mistakes. He said that he is dissatisfied with the present leaders. He said that if there is another Cultural Revolution, he will be the first to lead the people to smash the Government Information Office and the Propaganda Department. He said that all the leaders are rightists and they don't control the Internet strictly enough. He said that one day he will become the king of Internet management. But on another occasion, he told a friend, "I will support you if you want to start a website. Furthermore, I am the only one who can give support to you. I can make sure that all your competitors will be placed under tight control so that you can develop." On that occasion, he also accepted a red envelop which was supposed to be for Xmas presents for his child.
After listening to what my daughter said, I was agitated fro a long while. I have been in the journalism field for a long time. I know that we have some problems. Some of these problems can be fixed and some of them are hard to change. Yet, this is the first time that I ever heard what my daughter said a current Beijing Internet Management public servant had said. My daughter told me other things about Chen Hua, but I did not have the heart to listen anymore. I promised my daughter that I won't write a Xinhua internet reference report. But I did not promise her not to write something and publish it overseas using a pseudonym. Chen Hua does not seem to be able to control overseas websites.
As a news worker who has been with the Communist Party for 32 years, I have written quite a few news reports that pained my conscience. But I have never see such a shameless News Management worker. My daughter told me many other concrete things. Some of them are too specific and therefore they must be verified. Right now, I am using the pseudonym of Zhang Tao to expose this person. His main criminal deeds are:
1. He takes bribes because of his job position. He has large amounts of money of unknown origin. Apart from his three personal bank accounts and his wife's account, a relative holds one more account for him. I earnestly ask the Beijing law enforcement units to investigate immediately before he transfers his money. At the suitable time, I will organize those people that I know to testify in court. I ask the supervisory unit of Chen Hua and the public security bureau to go to the banks and the land registry to obtain the information.
2. This person ignores the laws and regulations for his work, and makes personal revenge against others as well as works with others to make money from Internet management. As a public servant of the state, he frequently criticizes Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao. He said that they are rightists who will be ousted sooner or later while he becomes the new chief of the Propaganda Department and the Government Information Office. At that time, he will ship all the current leaders to the Qincheng Prison. The leaders need to investigate and decide whether such a person is suitable for Internet Management work.
3. This person is a womanizer. By virtue of his work, he is dating women at various website and bedding them in the name of the Communist Party. This seriously damages the good name of the Communist Party.
There are more items for which I am currently collecting information on. In order to give him a chance to turn himself in, we will not publish his ID number. But in order to get the attention of the relevant departments as well as not hurt anyone who has the same name, we are now publishing his mobile number: Chen Hua, 1392407****.
On one hand, I ask the government not to let this kind of bad element roam free. On the other hand, this veteran journalist is calling out to netizens who may not know me to begin a nationwide "human flesh search" on this bad element. The contents of the search should include the bank accounts, the flow of the money, credit cars, room rentals at all the hotels, the unknown sources for his apartments and car and the various misdeeds by which he profited from Internet Management and took young women to bed. Instead of publishing the information immediately, please send them over to me. I will write a Xinhua internal reference at the suitable moment. If some leader should come and protect him, I swear on the revolutionary spirit of a veteran Communist Party member and a veteran journalist that I will exposed him as well. I will write directly to Hu and Wen to expose their corruptoin.
For the sake of purity on the Internet, let us proceed individually. Every day that this type of bad element works at the Internet Management Office means another bad day for the Chinese people.
Xinhua veteran journalist/party member Zhang Tao