On June 16, 2016 in Pudong, Shanghai, the Walt Disney Company opened its largest theme park ever. In his dedication speech, CEO Bob Iger described the $5.5 billion, 943-acre Shanghai Disneyland Park and Resort as a “happy place . . . created for everyone,” a world “of fantasy, romance and adventure,” a land of “magical dreams,” and “a source of joy, inspiration, and memories for generations to come.”
I don’t know about you, but after living in the United States these past few years, I could see spending a couple of weeks in a place like that.
There’s only one hitch. Of the park’s 11,000 full-time employees, 300 are active members of the Communist Party. They adorn their work sites with hammer-and-sickle insignia and spend several hours a week attending lectures and study sessions in the park’s “party activity center.” Not only that, but in the wake of the 19th Party Congress, these employees are now under added pressure to bring their colleagues into line with “Xi Jinping Thought.”
In the same speech, Iger characterized Shanghai Disneyland Park and Resort as “authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese.”
Social media also enabled China to exert controls on their people.
And this Chinese influence extends to American movie companies adjusting their movies to make China happy--even movies that run here.
I've noted that China has successfully gotten a form of extraterritoriality here to shape perceptions of a successful and nice China in movies and in other areas.
In a globalized world, the Chinese see their Great Firewall as the last line of defense to keep their people from seeing free information.
And it shapes our views, too. But Russia!
That's just great, eh?
As a side note, "Xi Jinping Thought" would make a great punk rock band name.
Tip to Instapundit.
