"Jiang was a great Marxist...an outstanding leader of our great cause...an incalculable loss"
"In accordance with China's practice, foreign governments, political parties and friendly personages will not be invited."
Xi Jinping (top of the list, large print) heads the honorary funeral committee. This section includes hundreds of names and goes on for a mind-numbing five minutes.
Fun fact: Hu Jintao ranks 36th in the titular hierarchy.
Sometimes CCTV wows its viewers with spectacular images.
Sometimes it bores people out of their minds.
(list truncated in interests of space and time)
What does the viewer get out of five minutes of this?
Then its back to the anchors who work a double shift on this historic day.
Every name on the screen was carefully announced.
"...express the incomparable esteem and profound mourning of the whole party, the entire military and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups for Comrade Jiang Zemin..."
It's so sad. But the show must go on.
In a now familiar sequence, a limo carrying a VIP visitor pulls up the the Great Hall to mount the steps for an audience with paramount leader Xi.
Xi greets Lao leader Thongloun.
The wives of both men are present and part of the ceremonial proceedings.
It's a sparkling occasion.
Then again, it's just another work day, with the usual pomp and circumstance, though the military trumpeteers are notably absent.
Xi expounds, Thongloun listens.
"The victorious 20th...new era...socialism with Chinese characteristics..."
Do I detect a note of panic in Xi's bearing as he glances at an exhibit of plain white paper?
Oh, no. Not at all. It's just the lighting
These are Sino-Lao friendship documents about turning Laos from a land-locked country to a land-linked country
There goes your independence!
And now to Russia for the latest update on Ukraine...
It's more of the usual pyrotechnic images from the Russian Ministry of Defense, almost entirely devoid of content or context...
But the heavy weaponry presumably makes Russia look invincible...
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov is not happy with NATO. It's stopping the good guys from winning. It's pathological.
Russia had no desire to invade Ukraine, the US and NATO made them do what they did in self-defense.
CCTV has been airing this line for months now
NATO is a "criminal entity" supporting "extremist regimes"
Whatever happened to the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty signed in 2010?
Russia's foreign ministry is not amused.
Meanwhile, unfair US sanctions are driving up the cost of energy in Europe, causing everyone to suffer but the US which selfishly benefits from the Ukraine conflict.
And that's the state-of-play in China and the rest of the world on the day of the "insurmountable loss" of Xi Jinping's predecessor, comrade Jiang Zemin.
CCTV FOLLIES 12.02 Jiang Zemin: burying with praise
The first minute of Xinwen Lianbo is promising as it's got some facts about Jiang's childhood and pretty stock pictures. As he gets older, the narration gets more turgid and laden with his increasingly lengthy titles.
He went to high school in Yangzhou and studied at Jiaotong University in Shanghai. He opposed the Japanese invasion and welcomed the CCP liberation of Shanghai. In the 1980's he promoted science and traveled.
The enunciation of slogans soon replaces any meaningful comment about the man's life
The whole "great glorious tribute" seems a power play to bury his memory.
Rote words replace story and it goes on and on
One gets the sinking feeling it will last exactly one hour, and it does
Gloomy mourning rites for Jiang Zemin (10 minutes)
-Things brighten up at a CCP museum exhibit personally inspired by Xi Jinping
(It's like the Wizard of Oz going from B&W to color.)
-Russian update on Ukraine
-US stealing oil
The camera starts with Xi and his wife and then turns its hierarchy-sensitive gaze to the rest of the masked politburo. What? Xi wearing a mask? Outside in the fresh air?
Symbolism.
He's at one with the mourning elite today.
The Nightly News recounts the drama of Jiang Zemin's body being flown into Beijing.
Dark attire is first indication that something happened.
It did.
Jiang Zemin is dead.
CCTV can make the protests go away with a magic wand, they can make Jiang's successor and Xi's predecessor disappear from the stage in real time,
but how long can they deny this story? Perhaps a short delay in the announcement of Jiang's passing to conjure up a narrative favorable to Xi, but they can't hide it for long.
Here he is. A man who helped Xi in his unexpected rise but got no gratitude. Banished like a Buddha on a shelf.
-Ten year's of success under Xi
-No corner of China untouched by the Xi "touch"
-Covid prevention now even more correct than before
-Xi congratulates Russia-China on energy ties
-Putin does too
-Russia bombs Ukrainian tanks
Another big news day at CCTV, which starts out with an 8-minute segment of scenic canned footage. Some of the footage is stunning, but it's all in service to the party line.
CCTV takes us to a far-away, but not forgotten corner of China where the roads are narrow and winding.
CCTV FOLLIES 11.28 China's clarion call to the world
News opens at Tiananmen. It features scenes of mass gatherings, enthusiastic youth and heroic accomplishments. It will tell a fairy tale about a nation that has rejuvenated itself under the firm guidance of a very wise man.
Today, the big news:
-Xi welcomes the Mongolian president
-Xi has a meeting with the Mongolian president
-The legendary story of how China rejuvenated under Xi
-Russia strikes military targets in Kherson
The audience is about to begin. Mongolia's president is taken to Tiananmen Square. He treads the VIP red carpet to mount the steps into the Great Hall of the People.
When the going gets hot, CCTV plays it cool.
As protests proliferate in China's cities, CCTV talks about the weather. Let it snow!
-China economy good
-Snow in north China
-Fewer fairy lights on high streets of England this year.
From Shanghai to Beijing, new businesses are doing well
Foreign Minister Wang Yi warmly welcomes the new Russian ambassador to Beijing.