Openness doesn't come naturally to China's Communist Party. After all, China is an authoritarian state where people have little right to know how they are governed. But Communist Party schools have been trying to change that over the years by teaching officials how to deal with the news media.
Earlier this month, Qin Chang, a host at Shanghai People's Radio, taught a class on the art of the press conference at China Executive Leadership Academy in Shanghai's sprawling Pudong district and I was invited to watch.
The students, dressed in dark jackets and windbreakers, worked for state-owned companies. Qin began by talking about a recent benzene spill in Western China. The first lesson for officials in that case, she said: don't wait for nearly a day to tell citizens their water is too dangerous to drink.
"Because they didn't handle the situation properly right off the bat, the first public news conference ran into huge problems," said Qin. "Within 24 hours, all kinds of discussion, opinions, rumors and even public distrust permeated the city."
The 'New' Communist Party
The leadership academy doesn't look like what you might expect of a Communist Party school. Instead of the sort of hulking, Soviet-style buildings the party has sometimes favored in the past, the main building here is a French-designed mix of angled glass and steel with a giant, patriotic red awning flanked by a long reflecting pool.
Qin's class this morning also includes a mock press conference.
"I don't want you to become props," says Qin, standing in a sleek conference room with ceiling cameras and flat-screen TVs. "I don't want you to just go along with the ideas of the government spokesperson. I especially hope that you guys can question, criticize and focus on the negative things."
But the first negative thing they focus on is me. I'm the only Western face in the room and I'm holding a long microphone.
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