Hu Liren: Xinhua News Agency's Article Reveals the Truth, Xi Jinping Will Strictly Control Freedom of Speech, Mao-style Media Purge is Back.

In this video, Hu Liren analyzes the continuous promotion of the "Four Great Teams" of Xinhua News Agency by Xinhua, arguing that Xi Jinping's revisiting of the history of the "Four Great Teams," the predecessor of Xinhua News Agency, is not merely nostalgic propaganda, but a signal that he is about to rectify the propaganda department and purge the media system. Hu Liren points out that Xinhua News Agency has been Mao Zedong's mouthpiece since the Yan'an period, and the so-called "unfading loyalty of the Four Great Teams" is essentially a demand for the media to return to the Mao era model of obeying only the highest leader. Further combining his father's experiences working at the Northwest People's Radio Station, Gansu Station, and Shaoxing Television Station, the video explains that in the eyes of the CCP, the media is never a news organization, but a political organization; Xi Jinping's current strengthening of loyalty in the propaganda department likely means that traditional media, the internet, books, magazines, films, television, and overseas speech archives will enter a period of stricter control.

Good morning, everyone.

I want to talk about a topic. In the last couple of days, Xinhua News Agency has been publishing articles and acting strangely. What topic are they discussing?

They are talking about the "Four Great Teams" that existed in Yan'an in the past. The Four Great Teams were in charge of news.

At that time, in Yan'an, Mao had his own independent set of teams, including people in security and politics, with a total of four great teams serving him. These four great teams totaled about 800 people, specifically serving Mao and firmly controlled by him. This included his security, political staff, and military sections, as well as the media.

There were four great teams in total, and the fourth great team was the predecessor of Xinhua News Agency—it was Xinhua News Agency. Therefore, Xinhua News Agency was always controlled by Mao.

At that time, the Fourth Great Team always followed him. The Fourth Great Team was his mouthpiece; whatever Mao said, it broadcasted. At that time, there were many media outlets, in both Chinese and English, and it even released English information to the world.

As a result, many people with communist ideas went to Yan'an, including many media professionals, influenced by Mao's Four Great Teams at the time.

Therefore, this Four Great Teams is actually notorious. Today's Xinhua News Agency still tells lies, doing whatever Xi Jinping says.

Why is Xi Jinping now bringing up the story of the Four Great Teams for promotion?

One person from the Four Great Teams is over 100 years old, named Zhang Liansheng. He originally worked in the Yan'an teams, and at that time he was quite young, perhaps very small.

People in the Four Great Teams were often educated people, with many intellectuals. Therefore, within the Chinese Communist Party, there are many old intellectuals who previously followed the Communist Party.

I have mentioned these people before. My father worked at the Northwest People's Radio Station in Xi'an. This team did not belong to the Four Great Teams, nor did it belong to Mao's branch of forces.

Originally, Mao had his own specific mouthpiece, which was Xinhua News Agency. However, in Yan'an, there were various other newspapers, such as the "Border Region Masses Newspaper," and various other mass newspapers.

Because at the time, the Communist Party promoted "press freedom," you see. They said the Kuomintang was controlling the news, while they were free with the news.

So at that time, in the entire Yan'an region, there were about 200,000 people, and there was press freedom in the entire Yan'an region, meaning people could start newspapers in Yan'an. However, these newspapers were often controlled by the CCP. But the Four Great Teams was a very independent entity; it was Mao's mouthpiece.

The year before last, my father, who was then in the Northwest, told me many of these stories.

I have mentioned that he had a supervisor, the first director of the Northwest People's Radio Station. The person who went to set up the radio station was named Jin Zhao, a Shanghainese. He studied in Shanghai, and after finishing his studies, he ran to Yan'an. At the time, he was misled by the Communist Party's delusions, the delusions of leftist thought, and went to Yan'an.

After arriving in Yan'an, his rank was very high. He started a newspaper called the "Yan'an Border Region Newspaper," and he was the editor-in-chief. Later, he went to the Northwest and established the Northwest People's Radio Station. My father was in charge of technology, and he was the general manager; my father worked under him.

Of course, at that time in the Northwest station, he wasn't the only one; he had many people. This person had a very good relationship with Xi Zhongxun, because Xi Zhongxun was in the Northwest Bureau. Starting from 1945, he managed the Northwest, serving as the head of the Political Bureau of the Northwest Bureau, and the entire Northwest was under his control.

Originally, the Northwest was not managed by him; from 1941 to 1945, it was managed by Gao Gang. Gao Gang was like a bandit in the Northwest. Because Gao Gang became a local emperor there, to divide Gao Gang, he was suddenly transferred to the Northeast, where he was with Lin Biao. Later in 1945, he went to the Northeast, and later Gao Gang had an incident. Gao Gang feared nothing, and was later killed. The Gao Gang incident is very famous.

Then Xi Zhongxun was in charge of the Northwest.

My father told me that the purges within the media were very severe. At that time, the Communist Party was like this: as soon as there was a movement, the media was the first to be operated on, and a group of people had to be purged. Then, any content in the articles you had written previously that might not align with the Communist Party would get you removed.

Why is Xi Jinping now starting to continuously promote the "achievements" of the Four Great Teams at that time?

Actually, I think there are two reasons, which I will analyze for you.

First, it's possible that in the area of media propaganda, someone has started to touch his cheese. Because Xi Jinping now always controls the media, someone is touching his cheese, meaning they are not letting you brag anymore, and you brag every day in Xinhua News Agency.

So now he has brought up the story of the Four Great Teams in Yan'an. Otherwise, he wouldn't have brought it up. He feels that someone has started to challenge him.

Who is currently in charge of the CCP's control over the media? It is still Cai Qi. Therefore, Cai Qi's tentacles are very deep. Xi Jinping currently only works with Cai Qi. This is why I have always said Cai Qi is very dangerous.

Cai Qi and Xi Jinping are both targets of common hatred. If, for example, Cai Qi were to rebel, then Xi Jinping would be completely finished. Because Cai Qi knows everything Xi Jinping has done, even the color of the underwear Xi Jinping wears, he knows. Cai Qi and Xi Jinping are such a pair of characters.

Under these circumstances, Xi Jinping suddenly published articles, and I've seen them for about three days now, talking about Zhang Liansheng. Zhang Liansheng wrote a letter to Xi Jinping, and Xi Jinping replied to Zhang Liansheng, and then Xinhua News Agency continuously published things about the Four Great Teams.

Look, today it came out again: "Searching for the unfading loyalty of the Four Great Teams."

When his loyalty is challenged, Xi Jinping starts to administer medicine again.

Like a doctor, when he takes the medicine out, you know this person is sick. For example, if you see him take out stomach medicine, and he says this stomach medicine is good, you know his stomach is already sick; if his bones have problems, and he says I need calcium supplements, you know this person might have osteoporosis.

Now Xi Jinping, I think it's very likely that he has faced a major challenge in the media and propaganda department, which is why he is continuously publishing. And it's very likely that some media professionals have started to rebel.

Look, "Searching for the unfading loyalty of the Four Great Teams," he has been emphasizing this for the last couple of days.

That's the first reason.

Second, if this situation occurs, what will he do? He will purge the media personnel.

Because the media has come from the old era. Now, what is Xi Jinping's so-called old era? It is the Deng era.

Deng Xiaoping was very open about freedom of speech for a period of time, from the early 80s to the mid-80s. Strict control really began after June Fourth. Control began to get severe during the Jiang Zemin era. But the Jiang era was still relatively loose in terms of control.

Why do I say this? When we ate together in China, we often laughed and talked about Jiang Zemin's mistresses, this was public knowledge. If you now talk about Xi Jinping's mistresses in China, try it and see, you'll be arrested immediately.

In other words, it has become stricter and stricter since Xi Jinping took power.

Now, Xi Jinping is doing one thing, and I think he is sending a signal. By talking about the Four Great Teams and Xinhua News Agency, he is sending a signal: I am going to start rectifying the entire news, the entire media, and all speech, including traditional media and the internet.

He wants to make the entire line clear and distinct, and ultimately, what does he want it to become? He still wants it to become the Mao era. Just one voice.

He is searching for unfading loyalty. What is the effect he wants? That the entire country has only his voice, and it's impossible for anyone else to speak, including within the Party.

Therefore, he is treating the symptoms rather than the cause.

Xi Jinping should have faced a major challenge in the media, so he is now starting to purge the media, and many people may be purged.

Purging the media is common for the Communist Party. I always use some personal experiences to tell you.

My father once worked in Shaoxing. At that time, Shaoxing had no radio station, and the current Shaoxing Television Station was established by my father. He even took me to that place to see the first television station's transmission tower.

He was transferred back to Shanghai from Shaoxing in the late 70s or early 80s. Before being transferred back to Shanghai, he finalized this project, which was to establish a television station in Shaoxing. Where is this television station? When you drive on the Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway, there is a place with a mountain, called Cucumber Mountain. In Huang

A TV tower was built on Guashan, how high it was. I saw this map back in the late 70s.

My father was a journalist, and he had a political leader named Jiang Xiangnian. What kind of person was he? He was someone who was purged at the time. He was the earliest editor-in-chief of the Zhejiang Daily. This person's rank was actually very high. Think about it, in the 50s, 51, 52, he was the president of the Zhejiang Daily; how high was that rank?

But later he was purged, and he was also purged during the Cultural Revolution. He had been purged even before the Cultural Revolution.

My father once told me about this history. Later I asked my father, I said, why weren't you purged?

He said I handle the technical side, so first, I didn't join the Communist Party, and second, I didn't participate in any of those written materials; I didn't get involved. So, politically, I was clean, and I protected myself. Second, I firmly controlled the technology.

So it used to be like this: my father was once arrested. At that time, people were sent to May Seventh Cadre Schools, which were essentially farms.

After being arrested, my father generally had good interpersonal relationships. Later, when the work team arrived, Old Hu was arrested, the station director was arrested. People said: you should just let him go.

They asked, what's wrong with this man?

They said, this man is the one who manages all the equipment in our station, he's the one who set it all up. Suppose the highest instruction comes down and our equipment suddenly has a problem, and there's no one to fix it or manage it, and the highest instruction cannot be delivered—what will you do?

Later, no one could afford to take that responsibility. At the time, the work team and the rebels were also afraid. Fine, they immediately released my father.

My father said, I wasn't detained there for long before they suddenly released me. He said there were two reasons: the first reason was that the people in our unit were protecting me.

Because my father's writing was quite good. He was a science and engineering student, but his writing was excellent. To what extent? To the extent that his memory was very good.

In their former unit—I once studied in Shaoxing for a year and lived in the same dormitory as my father—people often asked him to edit drafts.

What does editing drafts mean? Because back then, what editors feared most when writing was making political mistakes. That is, while writing an article, if you used the wrong words in a few spots, your thinking was wrong, or the line might have been incorrect.

At that time, although those editors worked in the industry, they were also afraid. Once it was uncovered in the future that you had written this article, and the content you wrote deviated from the highest instructions at the time, you would be sent straight to prison.

My father specialized in helping people edit drafts. When a very important draft came in, people would say: Old Hu, can you help me edit this and take a look, help me vet it?

My father was very skilled at this. He was a veteran media person who had worked in the media from 1949 until Mao's end. So, after taking these things, he would help people edit drafts at night.

I asked, what are you doing?

He said I'm editing drafts, helping them vet things.

Do you know how my father vetted them? My father had a great mind and a great memory. After reading the Selected Works of Mao, he used the Selected Works of Mao to deal with those who wanted to target him. He memorized everything in the Selected Works of Mao.

After memorizing them, when editing drafts, all the spiritual content was based on the Selected Works of Mao. If someone came to review the article, he could match the expressions in the article with the Selected Works of Mao. If the match was successful, then he was safe. Because the expressions written above were words spoken by Chairman Mao.

So he was very good at quoting these things. The people in the former editorial group, previously called the editing and broadcasting group, had an incredibly good relationship with him and often gave my father yellow wine.

When he got older, I would joke and chat with him—he had retired by then. At that time, when he was a bit confused, I would often sit and chat with him. When taking him traveling, I would often joke with him and talk about topics he liked and was familiar with. That's how elderly people are. He would tell me these things.

So he told me that at that time, the media was the place where the purging was most severe. The media is a political organ, do you understand? It is not a news unit; it is a political organ. In the eyes of the Communist Party, the media is a political organ.

So a while ago I was telling everyone that during the Great Famine, my father was at the Gansu People's Radio Station. The Gansu People's Radio Station was something my father helped establish.

At that time, there was a woman at the Gansu station; she was also an old cadre, similar to those female writers of the past, seemingly from Hubei. My father told me about her and showed me a photo; she wore those old-style celluloid transparent-frame glasses.

To what extent was the media important back then? During the Great Famine in Gansu, when a large number of people were starving to death, the Gansu station provided them with white flour steamed buns every day. Second, the entire station was defended by the army. At that time, people were looting things.

In Gansu at that time, when my father first went to the Northwest, it hadn't been liberated yet; the Communist Party hadn't taken Xinjiang. He said that in their station, relations with the Hui people were very tense. In that place, they agreed in meetings: if you have to go to a Hui area, or if a journalist goes to investigate, you absolutely cannot go alone.

He said to what extent did it get? Communist Party members would often suddenly be killed in Hui areas.

At that time, the Hui people were very repulsed by the Communist Party. Everyone might not know this part of history. In the early 50s, Xinjiang had not yet undergone the so-called liberation by the Communist Party; Xinjiang was suppressed. At that time, the Hui people were very repulsed by the Communist Party; some people were thrown directly into wells, killed and not even buried. Those abandoned dry wells—they'd throw you in and then throw stones on top. Wells in the Northwest are very deep because it's a water-scarce area, so the wells dug are very deep old wells. After throwing you in, they'd throw stones in.

So, everyone now knows the things I just mentioned. Media, news media, and speech—the propaganda department is the most important organ of the CCP.

From now on, Xi Jinping may start to take action, to start rectifying and purging the media.

Because you see, there is currently a lot of content on the internet, and actually, there is quite a bit of anti-communist content. So, in what form are they controlling these articles now? Through low traffic. That is, they don't allocate traffic to you, they let your traffic decrease, and they make your reach smaller.

As long as you praise the Communist Party, they give you a lot of traffic—100,000, 200,000, 300,000, 400,000, or even millions or tens of millions of views. But as long as you talk about the overall society or the dark side of society, they give you very little traffic.

So it seems like speech is free, as if you can still post, but in reality, you have been shadow-banned.

It is very possible that from now on, even these mild means of traffic limitation will be gone. If you write this article, it might be deleted directly, or they might come to have a talk with you directly.

Therefore, freedom of speech is being controlled very strictly starting now; everyone must be careful. This is what the Communist Party is currently putting all its effort into promoting: the propaganda department must be tight. This includes many books, journals, newspapers, film and television products, etc., which will all enter the scope of strict control.

Now Xi Jinping is continuously developing in the direction of Mao. To what extent was it during Mao's time? As long as you said Mao was bad, it was almost a capital offense. For example, if Mao issued a highest instruction and you wrote an article with a different line, he would finish you.

That's how it was during Mao's time. There were too many victims—Lin Zhao, Yu Luo Ke, these people were all victims of that time. There were many in Shanghai too. As long as you said one sentence that had a satirical meaning toward Mao at the time, or used an article to refute his remarks, you didn't even need to mention Mao; as long as he discovered it, it was almost a capital offense.

So Xi Jinping's control over speech is becoming stricter and stricter; this is a signal being sent.

Stories about the Fourth Detachment were published for about three consecutive days on the front page of Xinhua News Agency, and they were front-page headlines for three days, talking about the Fourth Detachment. Talking about how the Fourth Detachment, the predecessor of Xinhua News Agency, closely followed Mao during the Yan'an period.

Alright, I'll leave the topic here with everyone.

Everyone can go check the articles published by Xinhua News Agency in the last couple of days. This is very important for everyone. Especially for those abroad, it doesn't matter much—writing and posting things is fine. But we keep watching.

If you still intend to return to China, when you enter the border, they are now using AI to search your information. So I say, even if a person is overseas, it is very likely that a political file has been established for them. I have done many episodes about the establishment of political files.

Look at this time, an anti-government figure from Myanmar went to Kunming and was arrested by the Communist Party two days ago. This person is an American; he acquired American citizenship. You see, the Communist Party controls even Americans; they know what he did and what he did overseas. The Communist Party arrested him and then sent him directly to the Myanmar government, just like giving a gift.

It is very powerful now, so everyone must be careful. Especially if you are going back to China, try your best not to go back. If you have some remarks overseas that might represent dissatisfaction with the Communist Party, it is very likely you will be caught.

Now the entire country has entered an increasingly dark stage.

Alright, thank you all.

Watch, see you in our next program.