Corruption gets a cartoon rap: Chinese propaganda spins lyrics on Xi Jinping’s reforms
Video is the latest effort from Beijing to reach out to the smartphone generation
First it was a cartoon featuring top Communist Party leaders, then it was a music video about the five-year plan and now China’s propagandists have released a cartoon rap song about reform.
State-run CCTV released the cartoon rap on Saturday to mark the second anniversary of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms, a high-powered committee founded and headed by President Xi Jinping.
The cartoon extolled the group’s long list of achievements, ranging from market-oriented reforms and the anti-graft campaign to the yuan’s acceptance as an International Monetary Fund special drawing rights currency and efforts to fight smog.
“The group is two years old; it has done quite a lot. Tigers, flies, big foxes, CATCH CATCH CATCH CATCH!” the song goes.
The line is followed by a sound bite from Xi urging: “All corruption must be punished. Every corrupt official must be prosecuted.”
The leading group has spearheaded Xi’s signature reform programme which has been the centrepiece of his first term as president and party general secretary.
The group defines policy on issues such as reform of the economy, legal system and state-owned enterprises and the anti-corruption campaign.
