“Treat Insiders and Outsiders Differently”: The Use and Control of Foreigners in the PRC

China Quarterly

Volumn 164, Issue , 2000, Pages 943-964

  Brady, Anne Marie ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS; FOREIGN POLICY; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS;

CHINA;

EID: 0034484710     PISSN: 03057410     EISSN: 14682648     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S030574100001924X     Document Type: Article

References (101)

1. See for example, Zhao Pitao, Waishi gaishuo (Outline of Foreign Affairs) (Shanghai: Shanghai shehui kexue chubanshe, 1995), p. 19.
2. The phrase neijin wai song is sometimes used in a negative sense, when it comes to security matters. In this case waishi cadres are told they should follow the principle of wai jin nei song, meaning that certain information should not be given to “outsiders,” in other words foreigners. See Zhan Yincai, Shewai mishuxue (An Introduction to International Secretarial Studies) (Hangzhou: Hangzhou daxue chubanshe, 1993), p. 317.
3. The Commercial Press Chinese English Dictionary (1979) translates waishi as “foreign affairs; external affairs”; both terms express the broadness of the Chinese meaning. I have chosen to translate it as foreign affairs, since I feel this best captures the ambiguity of the term. However, because the waishi system is unique, I have mostly chosen to use the Chinese term rather than the English. It should be noted that in Chinese texts the term waishi is also used interchangeably with the phrase shewai, which the Commercial Press Chinese English Dictionary translates as “concerning foreign affairs or foreign nationals.” For the relationship between waishi and shewai see Zhao Pitao, Foreign Affairs, p. 2
4. Foreign Affairs, p. 1.
5. For an understanding of how xitong fit into the Chinese bureaucracy, see Kenneth G. Lieberthal, Governing China: From Revolution to Reform (New York: W.W. Norton, 1995), pp. 192–208.
6. Carol Lee Hamrin has provided a provisional outline of some of the structure of the waishi xitong in “The party leadership system,” in Kenneth G. Lieberthal and David M. Lampton (eds.), Bureaucracy, Politics, and Decisionmaking in Post-Mao China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992), pp. 95–124
7. see also Doak A. Barnett, The Making of Foreign Policy in China: Structure and Process (Boulder, CO: Westview Press; and the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Foreign Policy Institute: SAIS Papers in International Affairs, 1985).
8. Liaowang (ed.), Guowuyuan jigou gaige gailan (An Overview of Reforms in the Organizations of the State Council) (Beijing: Xinhua chubanshe, 1998), p. 262.
9. The two foreign affairs offices maintain separate nameplates, but are one and the same body, see Zhao Pitao, Foreign Affairs, p. 5.
10. See Zhan Yincai, International Secretarial Studies, p. 316.
11. One of the primary duties of the CCP's earliest formal foreign ministry, established in 1934, was to manage relations with foreigners in the Chinese Soviet Republic. See Michael H. Hunt, The Genesis of Chinese Communist Foreign Policy (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), p. 227.
12. See Shao Zhixiang (ed.), Shewai gongan zhishi wenda (Foreign Affairs Public Security Knowledge: Questions and Answers) (Beijing: Zhongguo fangzheng chubanshe, 1994), pp. 28–29
13. Zhonggong Guangzhou shiwei duiwai xuanchuan xiaozu bangongshi, Shewai renyuan shouce (Foreign Affairs Worker's Handbook) (Guangzhou: Xinhua shudian, 1985), pp. 67–69.
14. David Caute, The Fellow Travellers: A Postscript to the Enlightenment (London: Wiedenfeld and Nicholson, 1974)
15. Paul Hollander, Political Pilgrims: Travels of Western Intellectuals to the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981)
16. Herbert Passin, China's Cultural Diplomacy (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1963).
17. Simon Leys, Chinese Shadows (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1978)
18. Jacques Marcuse, The Peking Papers (London: Arthur Baker, 1968)
19. Orville Schell, In The People's Republic (New York: Vintage, 1978)
20. Watch Out for the Foreign Guests! (New York: Pantheon, 1980)
21. Ross Terrill, China In Our Time: The epic saga of the People's Republic of China from the Communist Victory to Tiananmen Square and beyond (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993).
22. Beverley Hooper, China Stands Up: Ending the Western Presence 1948–1950 (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1986).
23. This article forms part of my doctoral thesis on China's waishi “Making the foreign serve China: managing foreigners in the People's Republic of China,” Australian National University, 2000.
24. I first began researching the topic of China's foreign friends in 1990, focusing on the New Zealander Rewi Alley. See my forthcoming book, Anne-Marie Brady, Friend of China - The Myth of Rewi Alley (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 2001). My current research is based on nine years' scouring of libraries and bookshops (most of the Chinese language material is neibu, or restricted access material) and numerous interviews in seven different countries. I can only indicate a marginal amount of these sources in this article and I cannot always reveal their provenance.
25. “Tan yinjin zhili” (“Discussing importing intellect”), Duiwai xuanchuan cankao (Foreign Propaganda Reference Material), No. 12 (1994), pp. 6–8.
26. “Foreign experts awarded,” China Daily, 30 September 1997.
27. Qi Huaiyuan, “Deng Xiaoping de minjian waijiao sixiang yu shixian (”Deng Xiaoping's people's diplomacy, theory and practice”), in Wang Taiping (ed.), Deng Xiaoping waijiao sixiang yanjiu wenji (Collected Research on Deng Xiaoping's Diplomatic Thought) (Beijing: Shijie zhishi chubanshe, 1993), p. 180
28. Zhu Muzhi, “Guanyu duiwai xuanchuan de jige wenti” (“Some points regarding foreign propaganda”), 10 September 1981, Zhu Muzhi lun duiwai xuanchuan (Zhu Muzhi Discusses Foreign Propaganda) (Beijing: Wuzhou chuanbo chubanshe, 1995), hereafter ZMZ, p. 23.
29. Interview with former waishi cadre, December 1998.
30. Zhu Muzhi, “Duiwai baodao yao wei shehuizhuyi xiandaihua jianshe fuwu” (“Foreign broadcasts should serve socialist modernization”), 12 April 1978, in ZMZ, pp. 1–13.
31. For a consideration of some of the debates involved see Ann Anagnost, National Past-times: Narrative, Representation, and Power in Modern China (Durham & London: Duke University Press, 1997).
32. “Zhonggong zhongyang guanyu jianli duiwai xuanchuan xiaozu jiaqiang duiwai xuanchuan gongzuo de tongzhi” (“CCP Central Committee directive regarding setting up a foreign propaganda group and strengthening foreign propaganda work”), 16 September 1980, Zhongyang xuanchuanbu bangongting. Dang de xuanchuan gongzuo wenjian plan 1949–1993 (Party Policy Documents 1949–1993), Vol. 1–4, hereafter DDXC (Beijing: Zhonggong zhongyang dangxiao chubanshe, 1994), Vol. 2, p. 714.
33. See for example Duiwai maoyijingji hezuobu jiaojishi (ed.), Shewai liyi ABC (Foreign Etiquette ABC) (Beijing: Zhongguo renmin chubanshe, 1997), p. 8
34. Zhao Pitao, Foreign Affairs, p. 136
35. Zhonghua renmin gongheguo gonganbu waishi ju (ed.), Libin gongzuo shouce (Protocol Work Handbook) (Beijing: Jingguan Jiaoyu chubanshe, 1997), p.9.
36. As part of these efforts to make Chinese citizens keep a distance between themselves and foreigners rather ironically, a handbook for senior cadres warns of foreigners offering “friendship.” See Susan V. Lawrence, “Even paranoids have enemies,” U.S. News & World Report, Vol. 112, No. 21 (1 June 1992), p. 14.
37. Zhu Muzhi, “Guanyu duiwai xuanchuan de ji ge wenti” (“A few points on foreign propaganda”), ZMZ, 10 September 1981, p. 30
38. Zhu Muzhi, “Ba duiwai zuanchuan gongzuo tigao yibu” (“Make some improvements in foreign propaganda work), ZMZ, 22 June 1986, p. 74.
39. These Dengera handbooks were virtually identical to those of the Mao era in their strategies and approach, if not their policies; see Quanguo renmin daibiao dahui changweiyuanhui dianliju, Jiedai waibin xuzhi (Points for Hosting Foreign Guests) (Beijing, 1956).
40. Many non-official books on how to deal with foreigners have been appearing in recent years; see for example Li Xinshi (ed.), Ruhe yu waiguoren zuo shengyi (How to Do Business with Foreigners) (Beijing: Dizhen chubanshe, 1993). Li Xinshi informs his readers the basic rule in doing business with foreigners is not to forget that they themselves are the foreigner (P. 1).
41. Wang Rihua (ed.), Shiyong shewai changshi shouce (Beijing: Renmin Zhongguo chubanshe, 1993), pp. 51 and 50.
42. See also Zhao Pitao, Foreign Affairs
43. Zhonggong Guangzhou shiwei duiwai xuanchuan xiaozu bangongshi. Handbook.
44. Wang Rihua, p. 48.
45. Hao Meitian (ed.), Shiyong libinxue (Shantou: Shantou daxue chubanshe, 1996), pp. 77–85.
46. In the mid-1980s the journal's name was changed to Duiwai xuanchuan cankao (Foreign Propaganda Reference Material), hereafter cited as DWXCCK (Beijing: Xinhuashe duìwaì xìnwen bianji bu, 1981-).
47. “Qian tan neiwai you bie” (“An elementary introduction to insiders and outsiders are different”), DWXCCK, No. 9 (1985), p. 14.
48. See Niu Jun, Cong Yan ‘an zou xiang shijie - Zhongguo gongchandang duiwai guanxi de qiyuan (From Yan ’an to the World - the Origins of CCP Foreign Relations) (Fuzhou: Fujian renmin chubanshe, 1992).
49. Zhu Muzhi, “Zai quan guo duiwai xuanchuan gongzuo huiyi shang de jianghua” (“Talk at the national conference on foreign propaganda”), 13 October 1990, in ZMZ, p. 266.
50. Zhu Muzhi, “Fahui neizai dongli, zuohao duiwai xuanchuan” (“Do effective foreign propaganda and give free rein to internal forces”), 29 August 1986, ZMZ, p. 82.
51. Duiwai bianji jiagongde ABC” (“The foreign propaganda editor's ABC”), DWBDCK, No. 2 (1983), p. 29.
52. Sifabu Zou Yu fubuzhang tan zhengzhi gongzuode duiwai xuanchuan” (“Vice-Director Zou Yu of the Ministry of Justice discusses foreign propaganda political work”), DWBDCK, No. 8 (1983), pp. 2–4.
53. “Zhu Muzhi tan duiwai wenhua jiaoliu he xuanchuan gongzuo” (“Zhu Muzhi discusses cultural exchanges and foreign propaganda work), DWBDCK, No. 9 (1983).
54. Kaizhan you Zhongguo tese de duiwai xuanchuan” (“Develop Chinese-style foreign propaganda”), DWBDCK, No. 14 (1983), pp. 4–6.
55. Zhu Muzhi, “Zai quan guo duiwai xuanchuan gongzuo huiyi shang de jianghua” (“Talk at the national conference on foreign propaganda”), ZMZ, 26 November 1986, pp. 121–23.
56. “Zhongyang xuanchuanbu zhuanfa ‘guanyu gaijin feimaoyi duiwai wenzi xuanchuan-pin chuban faxing gongzuo de yijian’ de tongzhi” (“CCP Central Committee Propaganda Department forwarded directive ‘Regarding Suggestions for Improving the Work of Publishing of Non-Trade Related Foreign Propaganda Materials'”), 22 February 1990 DDXC, Vol. 4, p. 1956.
57. See footage of the tour in Chuntian de gushi (Spring Story), CCTV, January 1998, the 12-part series that charts Deng's personal Party history.
58. See Deng Xiaoping, “Gist of speeches made in Wuchang, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shanghai,” Beijing Review, 7–20 February 1994, pp. 9–20.
59. Waishi cadres, interview, December 1997.
60. On the impact of technology and China's propaganda system see “President calls for further propaganda work to enhance China's image abroad,” Reuters, 28 February 1999. The main PRC website for internet propaganda is http://www.china.org.cn.
61. “Guanyu liyong waili wei wo xuanchuan” (“On using foreign strength to propagandize China”) DWXCCK, No. 23 (1985), p.4.
62. See fore xample Duan Liancheng, Duiwai chuanboxue (literally, Foreign Propagandizing, official English title How to Help Foreigners Know China), Chinese-English bilingual edition (Beijing: Zhongguo jianshe chubanshe, 1988)
63. “Guanyu liyong waili wei wo xuanchuan” (“On using foreign strength to propagandize China”), DWXCCK, No. 23 (1985)
64. Zhu Muzhi, “Talk at the national conference” (1986), p. 124.
65. The latest project to be promoted of such Sino-foreign collaborations is a film by director Xie Jun (best known for his big budget epic Opium War) based on the diaries of John Rabe, who witnessed the 1937 Nanjing massacre. See “Nanjing diaries to be film,” South China Morning Post (hereafter SCMP) Internet edition, 12 January 1999
66. Zhu Linyong, “Rabe's diary hits big screen,” China Daily, 15 January 1999.
67. Norman Bethune (1890–1939) was a Canadian doctor and Communist Party member who worked in China in the 1930s with the Red Army and died there. Mao immortalized him in the famous article “In memory of Norman Bethune,” 21 December 1939, Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1965). Rewi Alley (1897–1987) arrived in Shanghai in 1927 and gradually became involved in “progressive” causes. After 1949, he stayed on in China and became one of the PRC's most prolific foreign propagandists.
68. Zhao Pitao, Foreign Affairs, pp. 166–67.
69. “Zhong gong zhongyang guanyu jiaqiang xuanchuan, sixiang gongzuo de tongzhi” (“CCP Central Committee directive on strengthening propaganda and ideological work”), 28 July 1989, DDXC, Vol. 4, pp. 1812–13.
70. On Soviet assistance in setting up the PRC foreign affairs system see Andrei Ledovsky, “The Moscow visit of a delegation of the Communist Party of China in June to August 1949,” Far Eastern Affairs, No. 5 (1996), pp. 92–95.
71. “The foreign propaganda editor's ABC,” p. 29.
72. “The foreign propaganda editor's ABC,”
73. On the subject of the importance of guanxi and ganqing in Chinese society see Mayfair Mei-hui Yang, Gifts, Favors, and Banquets: The Art of Social Relationships in China, and Andrew Kipnis, Producing Guanxi: Sentiment, Self, and Subculture in a Northern China Village (Durham: Duke University Press, 1997). Here I draw both on my understanding of Yang and Kipnis' work and on instructional material for waishi cadres.
74. Wang Yonghua, “Zhou Enlai de waijiao yishu” (“Zhou Enlai's diplomatic art”), DWXCCK, No. 7 (1994), pp. 5–8.
75. “Jin yi bu gaige waishi baodao” (“Further reform in external affairs broadcasts”), DWBDCK, No. 7 (1983), p. 3.
76. Guest ritual formed an important aspect of China's historical foreign relations. In the imperial court “guest” had a different meaning from the usual sense in English. Guests were not invited; they had to request permission to visit the Chinese empire. The guest was not equal with the emperor, nor was the emperor a “host.” For more on the topic of binli see James L. Hevia, Cherishing Men From Afar: Qing Guest Ritual and the Macartney Embassy (Durham: Duke University Press, 1995), p. 117.
77. See Wang Rihua, Shiyong shewai changshi shouce, pp. 100 and 40
78. Zhonggong Guangzhou shiwei duiwai xuanchuan xiaozu bangongshi, Handbook, pp. 5–7.
79. “Extensive contact with foreigners” was one of the accusations made against a founding member of the China Democratic Party, Xu Wenli. See “China defends dissident arrest,” SCMP, Internet edition, 3 December 1998.
80. In 1999, a Hebei worker was sentenced to three years imprisonment for writing to the U.S. news service Voice of America; “241 ‘still paying’ for Tiananmen,” SCMP, Internet edition, 29 April 1999. Chinese dissidents are warned by police not to contact foreign journalists or organizations, if caught, those who ignored such warnings tended to face much harsher sentencing
81. Agence France Presse, “Drop meeting plan, activists told,” 15 February 1999
82. also “China defends dissident arrest,” SCMP, Internet edition, 3 December 1998.
83. Interview with waishi cadres, December 1997.
84. Pei Xiannong, Zhou Enlai de waijiaoxue, p. 272
85. interview with waishi cadres, December 1997.
86. Interview with waishi cadres, December 1997.
87. Interviews with waishi officials, March 1997.
88. “Ba chuanghu dakai nanmian hui you cangying wenzi pao jinlai,” Deng Xiaoping, October 1983.
89. Zhonggong Guangzhou shiwei duiwai xuanchuan xiaozu bangongshi, Handbook, p. 100.
90. Shao Zhenxiang, Shewai gongan zhishi wenda (Questions and Answers on Foreign Affairs Public Security Matters) (Beijing: Zhongguo fangzheng chubanshe, 1994), p. 209.
91. Shewai gongan zhishi wenda (Questions and Answers on Foreign Affairs Public Security Matters), p. 104.
92. “Bu guli shewai hunyin” (“Don't encourage Sino-foreign marriages”), Waishi tiandi, No.2 (1994), p. 18.
93. Zhonggong Guangzhou shiwei duiwai xuanchuan xiaozu bangongshi, Handbook, p. 101.
94. Handbook.
95. Fang Qi, “Zenmeyang jiedai waiguo jizhe” (“How to treat foreign journalists”), DWXCCK, No. 14 (1985), pp. 6–7.
96. See for example, “Purged aide silenced after talk with media,” SCMP, Internet edition, 5 June 1998.
97. Zhonggong Guangzhou shiwei duiwai xuanchuan xiaozu bangongshi, Handbook, p. 100.
98. This slogan appears prominently in locations frequented by foreigners in China, such as the lobby of the Beijing Hotel. It originates from Mao Zedong's speech to the first meeting of the Chinese People's Consultative Conference on 21 September 1949, published in Renmin ribao the following day. The full version of this quotation is “Our revolution has already gained the sympathy and acclaim of all the people in the world, we have friends all over the world.” Excerpted in Zui gao zhishi (Important Instructions) (Beijing, n.p., 1969), p. 286.
99. Mao Tse-tung, “The role of the Chinese Communist Party in the national war,” Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, Vol. 2 (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1961), p. 196.
100. “Sinuo furen shuo keneng cong Beida yizou zhangfu guhui” (“Mrs Snow says she might move her husband's ashes from Beijing University”), Chinesenewsnet.com, 5 April 2000.
101. Zhongxue weiti, Xixue weiyong.” For the Mao quotation see “Talk on Music Workers,” translated in Stuart Schram, Mao Tse-tung Unrehearsed (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974), p. 87.