The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) isn’t as cuddly an organization as it sounds. The government agency is, among other things, in charge of censoring the country’s Internet. Perhaps sensing that some of the good, honest censorship work it’s doing isn’t quite getting through to the people, someone over at the CAC decided a rousing anthem to censorship might get folks in the redacting mood. The song’s titled: “The Mind and Spirit of Cyberspace Security.” NBD.
Thus, last week, as Paul Mozur of the New York Times reports “[d]uring the talent show portion of a Lunar New Year celebration held on Tuesday by the Beijing Internet Association and attended by many of the country’s leading media figures and Internet executives, the Cyberspace Administration debuted what can only be described as a semiofficial anthem.”
While a Beijing Internet Association party is surely pretty dope in its own right, the anthem still managed to steal the show. “For all the pride of the Cyberspace Administration, and the effort that went into what is undeniably a rousing ballad, many videos of the performance were quickly deleted after they were posted on the Internet,” the Times writes. Sometimes even the censors need to be censored.
Here’s a translation from Pro Publica:
With loyalty and devotion, we watch over our domain day and night,
to serve our mission as the sun rises in the east.
Creating each day with innovation, embracing its brightness,
just like a beam of integrity that moves your heart.
Unifying the strength of all living things,
contributing to the global village, evolving it into its most beautiful form.
Chorus
An Internet power — Where there is Internet, there are glory and dreams.
An Internet power — From the distant cosmos to the homes that we miss.
An Internet power — Telling the world that the Chinese Dream is lifting up China.
An Internet power — Each individual represents the whole nation.
In this universe, as all rivers loyally search for the sea,
they carry China’s great culture and measure China’s greatness.
Five thousand years of history condensed to illuminate innovation.
Integrity ripples only from a clear and pure nation.
We are unified in the center of the universe.
Our faith and devotion flow far and wide, like the everlong Yellow River and Yangtze.
Repeat Chorus
Repeat Chorus
