Plastered on city walls and billboards in Chinese cities these days are posters depicting the words “Democracy” and “Freedom.”
Not from a dissident underground, the posters are part of a government campaign. Through billboards, rhymes, pop quizzes and newly penned songs, the effort aims to promote what the ruling Communist Party calls “core socialist values.” A dozen in all, the values include rule of law, patriotism, honesty and justice as well as democracy and freedom. Schools in particular are a focus of the push.
While it might seem incongruous for a government that recently detained scores of human rights lawyers and ranks 6.5 for freedom on the 7-point human rights index (7 is the worst) maintained by the nonprofit Freedom House, the campaign is part of a broader quest to diminish the attraction of Western values and revitalize party ideology by melding traditional Chinese culture with communist principles.