The Beijing Olympics as a Campaign of Mass Distraction

TLDR

The Chinese media from 2006 to 2008 focused on Olympic preparations, including stadium construction and a public etiquette campaign to “civilize” citizens, ostensibly to be good hosts for the 2008 Games. This article analyzes China’s Olympic propaganda as part of the modernizing Chinese Communist Party propaganda system, exploring how these changes mirror shifts in political control. The 2006–08 Olympic‑centric coverage and public morals campaign functioned as a mass‑distraction propaganda effort, mobilizing the population while diverting attention from inflation, unemployment, corruption, and environmental degradation.

Abstract

Abstract From 2006 to 2008 the predominant theme in the Chinese media was preparations for the 2008 Olympics. These preparations were not merely about putting up new sports stadiums; China also underwent a massive public etiquette campaign, aimed at “civilizing” Chinese citizens. This was nominally so they could be good hosts during the Beijing Olympics. The 2006–08 emphasis on Olympic-related news coverage and the ongoing public morals campaign was what I have called a campaign of mass distraction: a propaganda campaign designed to mobilize the population around a common goal, and distract them from more troubling issues such as inflation, unemployment, political corruption and environmental degradation. This article discusses China's Olympics propaganda within the context of the modernization of the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda system – which has included incorporating practices originating in modern democratic states – and considers in what way changes in the propaganda system reflect changes in China's system of political control.