MCLC: Liberation Daily ridiculed for China Dream piece

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Liberation Daily ridiculed for China Dream piece
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Source: SCMP (5/23/13):
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1244065/cosmic-truth-out-there-pla-m
outhpiece-ridiculed-over-chinese-dream-piece

The cosmic truth is out there: PLA mouthpiece ridiculed over Chinese Dream
piece
By Patrick Boehler

The People's Liberation Daily, the publication of China's armed forces, is
well known for its patriotic stance. But on Wednesday it went way beyond
its usual zeal - drawing ridicule from a less patriotic public.

The Chinese Dream "is like seeing a ship's mast in the sea, like seeing
the radiant sun rise in the east," the mouthpiece of the world's largest
armed forces read on its front page [1]. It is "the dogma of my belief,
the cosmic truth."

Chinese Dream is a catchphrase coined by President Xi Jinping shortly
after he assumed the leadership of the Communist Party. The dream is "more
important than anything," the army paper read. "Belief is like water that
carries the ship; belief is like wind that sustains the wings."

The article appeared the same day as the populist daily Global Times and a
day after the Communist Party's Red Flag magazine issued scathing rebukes
against calls for constitutional rule in China, calling them contrary to
China's traditional development.

For many netizens the three articles reflected a more assertive
authoritarianism under the leadership of Xi Jinping. The more lighthearted
comments ridiculed the "cosmic truth" comments with references to air
pollution and North Korea's dogmatism.

"Do they want to rename us 'West Korea'?" one person quipped [2].

Another netizen [3], who calls himself "China's number one traitor" dug up
[4] an earlier reference to "cosmic truths" in a People's Daily article
from a decade ago. It ranks high in a list of 10 characteristics of
so-called "evil cults" banned in the country.

The party's main newspaper did not help by publishing an article, also on
Wednesday, which argued [5] that the party's spirit was "not spiritually
inferior to Christians swearing allegiance to God."

More on this: 
Conservatives counter demands for constitutional rule in China [6]

Links:

[1] http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2013-05/22/c_124744959.htm
[2] http://weibo.com/2537943522/zxViDBVKm
[3] http://weibo.com/2384338290/zy0LjygkX
[4] http://www.people.com.cn/GB/guoji/24/20010329/428117.html
[5] http://opinion.people.com.cn/n/2013/0522/c1003-21565450.html
[6] 
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1243391/conservatives-counter-demand
s-constitutional-rule-china