China launches a campaign to keep Killjoys off the Internet

The Chinese government is striving for an emotion that has become too common on the Internet – Union.

This week, Chinese cyberspace administration has launched a two -month campaign to limit social media publications that “excessively exaggerate negative and pessimistic sentiment.” The aim, according to authorities, is to “correct negative emotions” and “create a more civilized and rational online environment.”

There are stories in the crossing such as “studying is useless” and “hard work is useless”, as well as stories that encourage “world tire”.

China is struggling with economic delay after a property crisis, high unemployment of youth and competition to reduce the throat for admission to colleges and jobs – all of them have generated a sense of disappointment among their younger generation.

Young people in China “have serious questions about future prospects for their lives” and “have to face the fact that their livelihoods are very likely to be more than the generation of their parents,” Singapore Sihang Luo, a social science assistant, told Singapore Technology.

And Beijing’s anxiety of the bubbling powerlessness was shown in a wave of sanctions, hitting the influential and social media platforms of the country.

Last week, the famous content creator Hu Chenfeng had been scattered his social media account from all publications. No one knows why, because Chinese employees do not explain. But it is widely believed to be in response to a viral comment that he recently made, classifying people and objects such as “Apple” or “Android” – with the latter used to describe things that are smaller than the former.

“Yours is a typical logic of Android, Android Person, Android Qualification,” he shook during life, which has since been widely shared online.

While the bluff was quickly adopted by many Chinese social media users, others accused Hu of sowing social divisions.

Such obvious jokes about inequality seem to have become a difficult territory – because they strengthen the sections that the Chinese Communist Party would prefer not to stop.

Censorship is not new to the Chinese Internet. Everything that suggests criticism of the party, its leaders, or touches controversial topics that have political consequences quickly disappears.

What is unusual in this campaign against pessimism is that it seems that it is aimed at a number of online behavior that can create or add a sense of negativity.

Gian Syffeng, a well -known online teacher known for his fiery rhetoric for education and social problems, sparked disputes earlier this month when he promised to donate at least 100 million Chinese yuan ($ 14 million; $ 10.4 million) if Beijing decided to invade Taiwan. But only this week he became the goal of Chinese censors.

His social media accounts – who have millions of followers – have been blocked by winning new followers, local media reported on Wednesday.

When asked about this, one of Mr. Gian’s employees told the state news about the news document that he was “thinking” on him.

It is again difficult to understand why he is reprimanded, but some wonder if this is the main message in his shows – in a unfair world you have to make only a practical choice. And many students and parents follow him because of his brutal honest advice – instead of telling young people to follow their dreams, he often told them that they should face the reality that their exam results and financial pressure dictated. It was a platform that may have been perfect for humiliation.

They are not just individuals. China wants social media platforms to play a role in their mass cleaning on the Internet.

This month, the cyberspace administration said it would pull out “strict penalties” against the applications of social media Xiaohonghu, Kuaishou and Weibo for failing to take advantage of “negative” content, such as personal updates of “sensational celebrities” and other “trivial information”.

“Clear and healthy cyberspace is in the interest of people,” said the Cyberspace Administration.

But any attempt to maintain cyberspace in China unnaturally sunny will certainly come at a price.

“The expression of pessimistic sentiment does not necessarily mean a fundamental rejection of participation in the labor market and society as a whole,” says Dr. Luo.

But to be deprived of “relief after venting these feelings,” he says that “he can make a worse for their collective mental status.”

Still, the pressure – those who push more Chinese young people to leave the race with rats, “lie flat” and get their disappointments online – remain. Many of them move back to the homes of their parents, unable to find a job or want a break from the exhausting jobs – this happens enough that they are called full -time children.

And Recent research shows that pessimism is really increasing about future prospects In China. Experts say the party is well aware of this, which is why it is trying to break into evidence. But will it work?

“If nothing else, modern Chinese history has repeatedly demonstrated that ideological campaigns from top to bottom can hardly eradicate the social roots of problems,” says Dr. Luo.

“Even with a powerful government like Chinese, it is difficult to arrest pessimist moods when the economy looks gloomy, the labor market is cruelly competitive and the birth rate hits the rock bottom.”