Xi Jinping handshake has bloggers thrust into the mainstream

Zhou Xiaoping, a 33-year-old blogger, went from the media margins to the mainstream in almost an instant with a handshake from President Xi Jinping.

Zhou was invited along with prominent authors, actors, scriptwriters and dancers to gathering in Beijing on October 15 where Xi called on the arts and cultural communities to serve the Communist Party.

Zhou and another blogger, Hua Qianfang, 36, were both invited as representatives of "outstanding internet writers", although it's not clear who invited them, or whether Xi actually knew them or was familiar with their work. But in Chinese dynastic practice, an audience with the emperor often means an imperial endorsement of their output - and in this case it seems to be political.

Neither is known for their depth or style but both are strongly nationalistic, and highly critical of the West. Zhou, in particular, has made a name for himself with a number of blog entries harshly critical of the US and for expressing boundless optimism in China's potential for development. "China's oriental culture will ultimately defeat Western hegemony", is typical of his entries.

Mainland media have gone into bat for the pair to reap the political and financial benefits of promoting them. A day after the meeting, several state outlets reprinted three of Zhou's blog entries - "Broken Dreams in America," "Fly, Chinese Dreams," and "Their Dreams and our Flags", in a strong show of support for his ideas.

State-run argued in successive editorials after the forum that "no matter how much the 'liberal school' ignores, disdains, or even abuses" people like Zhou, they "can't erase his voice from public opinion". On October 18, the website of flagship party newspaper carried a lengthy interview with Zhou, headlined: "We Must Uphold Our Own Cultural Values".

Zhou and Hua have also been bombarded with interview requests from domestic and foreign journalists. But although the apparent endorsement from Xi brought instant fame, it also drew the ire of many web users, some of whom pointed out scores of errors in Zhou's posts. Fang Zhouzi , a blogger known for exposing academic fraud, posted an article on the numerous factual flaws in Zhou's "broken dreams" post.

The row triggered a swirl of controversy. Party censors ordered sites to delete Fang's essay, and shut down his Tencent and Sina accounts.

Since taking over as party chief in late 2012, Xi has pushed for more "positive energy" on the internet. He has even chaired a central internet security and information leading group in a push to fend off foreign influence on netizens.

Party officials are aware that writers such as Zhou may be more helpful in promoting the party line than traditional propaganda. Xi has singled out Zhou and Hua as the flag-bearers of "positive energy", indicating they have just the kind of voice that the party needs to defend its legitimacy and promote its agenda.

And yet tensions continue between traditional media and the more freewheeling new media. The new normal is for the government to crack down on dissent and fill the official media with propaganda-style jargon, while the internet roils with plain speaking from people who reject party orthodoxy and are critical of government policy.

Even though the party censors many topics considered politically sensitive, the internet remains a place of lively discussion about problems such as industrial and food safety scandals, forced home demolitions and corrupt officials. Such subjects might be labelled as "negative rather than positive energy" but are constantly among the top 10 topics on Sina's microblogging service Weibo. Weibo and other social media has created an online sphere of freewheeling debate that is incubating social change as traditional media outlets remain severely constrained.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Xi handshake that thrust bloggers into the mainstream

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