CCTV FOLLIES 6.20 TO CHARM CHINESE SCHOOLGIRLS AND TAME TIBETAN MONKS
Asymmetrical power on stark display as China's paramount leader wows powerless citizens compelled to receive him with rapt enthusiasm -Xi tightens grip on PLA -Red Submarine studies Xi -US burns!
Xi’s visit to Qinghai is introduced with usual aerial establishing shot.
The paramount leader hits the ground and starts pointing at things right away.
And not surprisingly, he’s the star of the show. Nowhere is this more evident than when he is introduced to Chinese schoolgirls for whom study about and reverence for the core leader of the CCP is compulsory.
Captivating a captive audience who learn Xi Jinping Thought in school.
Here China’s extremely popular leader is seen dispensing sage advice on how to color in pictures of yaks and national minorities in the name of national rejuvenation in the New Era with Chinese characteristics guided by Xi Jinping Thought.
It needs more red…
Much of the adulation is familiar from Xi’s “informal visits” to other site visits, what with the sustained applause, the rapt attention, the careful spacing and invisible lines of control.
But today’s program broke new ground with rock star style scenarios of screaming schoolgirls who are brought to tears and stifled sobs at the sight of their hero.
Wiping eyes and waving hands…
The “rush”— A hallmark of Xi appearances in the latter part of the New Era in which the carefully controlled crowd surges forward, following the leader under whose spell they have fallen as he prepares to take leave.
Goodbye dear leader!
We miss you already!
The much-loved, much-adored paramount one pauses to wave goodbye to the star-struck schoolgirls before boarding his custom-designed Xi-mobile.
In other news, Xi is not only in the news, he is the news, even at a Tibetan Buddhist temple.
Sure, China bashers like Nancy Pelosi can meet the Dalai Lama in Dharmasala and pose for the camera, but who can compare with this?
Xi is treated as if he is the real Lama of China, if not the Dalai. For atheistic viewers of this CCTV footage, Xi might as well be the incarnation of Buddha himself, here being bowed to by prostrate monks full of reverence (and perhaps fear)
Although Xi’s farewell at the temple is subdued compared to the schoolgirl frenzy, there’s a gentle rush forward, heads bent, abject subordination fully on display, as the august emmissary from the holy land of Yanan is seen to his VIP conveyance, the inimitable Xi-mobile.
The monk is probably relieved to know his temple won’t be torn down anytime soon.
Just when you thought there couldn’t possibly be any more news about Xi, the great historic personage headlines the next story.
When Xi talks, nobody walks, but they do take copious notes.
In other news, FOUR MORE STORIES about Xi!
For those of you who didn’t get enough juice from Xi’s magnificent tour of the CCP holy land of Yanan, CCTV offers more than just re-runs, but fresh accolades as well!
Xi Jinping Thought binds and guides the military in the struggles of the New Era.
Xi, Xi, Xi. It’s practically all anyone in uniform can talk about
(camouflaged table under the red flag is a nice touch)
Even underwater, there is no shortage of red personnel citing Xi Jinping’s brilliance.
Here a red submarine crew is seen discussing the finer points of Xi Jinping Thought.
Apparently the paramount leader’s inspiration is applicable even to navigation
(which goes a long way to explaining why a Chinese submarine mysteriously surfaced, lost and confused, near some fishing boats in the South China Sea earlier this week)
Wherever the PLA is, Xi Jinping Thought is sure to follow…
As Xi himself has said, the wily US is trying to trick China into invading Taiwan!
It’s so unfair! And tricky, too.
In other politburo news, Premier Li Qiang is visiting Malaysia. He met the king.
There’s not much time for domestic news, but there are serious floods in South China. CCTV rises to the occasion by keeping the focus tight on CCP-choreographed rescue efforts while playing down the actual devastation.
Foreign news is truncated today, with only a few shots from Gaza and the Lebanon border.
The usual Kremlin-curated updates on Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine are not included in the news today. Nor is there anything on Putin’s spectacularly vivid visit to North Korea, which is a shame in a way because there were some really amazing shots coming out of Pyongyang in the day’s news cycle.
The fascist love-fest declaring ironclad friendship between Russia and North Korea was so stunning, over-the-top and colorful that it perhaps threatens to make CCTV’s subtle and artfully understated Xi’s personality cult propaganda look rather milquetoast in comparison.
Not surprisingly, CCTV didn’t have time for that, but it did provide three begrudging shots of the peripatetic Putin arriving in Vietnam the same day.
The bulk of the reduced foreign news slot was reserved for this stunning photo essay direct from the USA which services Xi’s notion that America is hopeless and in permanently decline. CCTV editors do a seamless job of linking this week’s wildfires in New Mexico to last year’s toxic train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio for a cumulative effect known as a “double-lucky” to seasoned propaganda buffs.