THE CHINESE WORDS up there, on the left, next to the hammer and sickle? Jiandang Weiye: "The Great Achievement of Founding the Party."* And on the right is Cadillac, an American icon.
The Washington Times picked up the 8 month old news today (from China Auto Web) and we re-present it here: General Motors' Chinese business is sponsoring the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) latest propaganda extravaganza, glorifying a regime that has killed 80 million Chinese and continues to torture, disappear, and execute writers, artists, and religious believers.
GM's China division is called Shanghai GM. It is a joint venture between GM and the Chinese government-owned Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation.
The film is the second part in a propaganda series about how great the Communist Party is. It will be aired on June 15, two weeks before July 1, the official date of the founding of the Party.
So this post is not pure recycling, I tracked down the original post on the Shanghai GM website and translated a few sentences from it here:
在这星光熠熠的晚会上，伴随着凯迪拉克全系家族的震撼登场，凯迪拉克品牌与中国电影集团公司隆重宣布双方战略合作进一步升级，其中包括凯迪拉克全程支持《建党大业》大片拍摄，并启动“青年导演计划”等一系列战略合作项目。这也预示着凯迪拉克与中影集团的合作将更为深入和多元。
… [skip the first bit] Cadillac and the China Film Group grandly announced an elevation in their joint cooperation strategy, part of which includes Cadillac's complete support for "The Great Achievement of Founding the Party" blockbuster film. They also began the "Young Director Program" cooperative strategy series. This indicates that Cadillac and China Film Group will deepen and diversify their cooperation into the future."
The film sponsored by China's GM division is only one part of the bundle. Propaganda authorities in China have actually been preparing for this date (July 1) for a long time. Four months ago I remember seeing part of a drama series on CCTV about a communist cell in Old Shanghai that had infiltrated, and proceeded to destroy, the Nationalist Party's intelligence division. Called "Before Dawn" (黎明之前–not sure of official translation) It was shot well and even a bit compelling, but the fact that it presaged a sinister 60 years of rule was never far from my mind.
Final thought: part of the marketing material about the sponsorship of the film on Shanghai GM's website included this picture:
This, to me, is more troubling than the film sponsorship, but both go in the same direction. I have no proof, but my suspicion is that GM in China is marketing this line of luxury vehicles to CCP cadres. These are powerful men with a lot of disposable income, all wrought from taking wealth from the public and putting it into private pockets–i.e. embezzlement and corruption. The key activities in the lives of many Party officials include finding ways to disgorge these funds: women, gambling, alcohol, and luxury cars are central to the lifestyle.
And what if the Cadillac brand wanted to become a mainstream part of this club? The vehicle of choice for the underworld mob that runs China? Well, a good way to start would probably be to publicly sponsor a movie about the "great achievements" of the founding of the Party, wouldn't it?
*The more common English translation appears to be "Birth of a Party," but this is clearly the marketing cooked up by the English-speaking spin doctors. No, we'll stick with the slightly awkward but direct translation, thanks.
