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The rapid increase in China's outward digital presence on western social media platforms highlights China's priorities for promoting pro-Chinese narratives and stories in recent years. Simultaneously, China has increasingly been accused of launching information operations using bot activity, puppet accounts, and other inauthentic activity to amplify its messaging. This paper provides a comprehensive network analysis characterization of the hashtag influence campaign China promoted against the US-hosted Summit on Democracy in December 2021, in addition to methods to identify different types of actors within this type of influence campaign. China uses layers of state-sponsored accounts, bots, and non-bot accounts to promote its messaging. Lastly, we describe how China uses localized campaigns under a more extensive umbrella campaign for information diffusion toward targeted audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the extent to which victimization narratives in state information campaigns are an effective way to influence targeted external audiences. It focuses on two prolific users of information operations in opposition to the West, namely Russia and the People's Republic of China. In order to test whether the use of a victimization narrative increases the effectiveness of messaging in disinformation campaigns, the authors conducted dual experimental simulations on two samples of proxy target audiences. The experiment did not reveal any clear advantages in the use of a victimization narrative; rather there were indications (some of them statistically significant), that a victimization narrative could backfire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Appropriate malaria treatment-seeking behaviour (TSB) is critical for timely detecting malaria, prompt treatment, and prevention of onward transmission of the disease in a community. This study aimed to compare treatment-seeking behaviours between malaria patients and non-malaria febrile patients, and to analyse the factors associated with appropriate TSB along the China-Myanmar border. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out to investigate the appropriate TSB of microscopy-confirmed malaria patients versus non-malaria febrile (NMF) patients. An unconditional logistic regression analysis (LRA) was used to identify factors associated with appropriate TSB. Results: Among 223 malaria patients and 446 NMF patients, 129 (57.8%) of the malaria patients versus 163 (36.5%) of the NMF patients firstly sought treatment in health facilities without laboratory testing for malaria (P < 0.0001). A total of 85(38.1%) of the malaria patients versus 278 (62.3%) of the NMF patients had appropriate TSB, namely, seeking treatment in health facilities with laboratory testing for malaria within 48 h (P < 0.0001). Multivariate LRA identified that the malaria patients with Chinese nationality had less appropriate TSB compared to those with other nationalities (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 0.21, 95% confidence interval CI 0.07–0.68, P = 0.0097), and malaria patients residing in urban areas had more appropriate TSB compared to those living in rural areas (AOR: 2.16, 95%CI 1.06–4.39, P = 0.0337). Conclusions: TSB was not appropriate in malaria patients. Chinese citizenship and rural residence were two independent factors associated with inappropriate malaria TSB. It is urgently necessary to improve appropriate malaria TSB through effective campaigns of information, education, and communication for malaria control in Myanmar and preventing reestablishment of malaria transmission in Yunnan, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Besides increasing knowledge, there is another potential mechanism at work when information is delivered to a treatment group: increasing the salience of existing knowledge. We use data from a randomized controlled trial of a health information campaign to explore the relative importance of this additional mechanism in a real-world environment. The health information campaign addressed the benefits of wearing eyeglasses and provided information meant to address the common misconceptions that contribute to low adoption rates of eyeglasses. In total, our study sample included 931 students with poor vision (mostly myopia), their parents, and their homeroom teachers in 84 primary schools in rural China. We find that the health information campaign was able to successfully increase student ownership and wearing of eyeglasses, relative to a control group. We demonstrate that the campaign had a larger impact when levels of preexisting information among certain subgroups of participants—namely, parents of students—were higher while we simultaneously provided new information to others. This suggests that the interaction between directed attention (i.e., salience) and baseline knowledge is important. We do not, however, find similar increases among teachers or the students themselves and additionally find no impacts on academic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Filial piety is a basic value in Chinese culture and has been a prominent theme in China's televised public service advertisements (PSAs). This study takes a multimodal discourse analysis approach to study such PSAs promoting filial piety. We consider filial values as represented through characters' emotions and attributes, which are realized by linguistic and visual resources on the one hand and shaped by the broader sociocultural context on the other. An explicit framework based on the attitude schema is developed to systemically describe the realization of social values in multimodal discourse. Analysis shows that filial values are mainly realized through verbal and visual representation of reciprocal love between the parent and the son/daughter, as well as filial behaviors of the latter. Our contextual analysis conceptualizes the filial piety PSAs as a form of discursive governance and finds that PSAs resort to two main persuasive strategies, namely emotionalization and moralization, which are results of media marketization and internationalization. We find that promoting filial piety serves China's governance by addressing two needs of the authority: the practical need of supporting the elderly and the spiritual need of moral reconstruction and reinforcing cultural identity in contemporary China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While information campaigns have been widely recognized as a pillar of public health crisis management and heightened by the current COVID‐19 pandemic, an insufficient number of studies have investigated the impact of information disclosure on influencing citizen cooperation crucial for emergency management. Focusing on generic information disclosure practices during the recovery period from January 19, 2020, to February 29, 2020, in China and by employing a difference‐in‐difference method, this study finds that information disclosure significantly enhanced citizen coproduction as measured by aggregated search queries of COVID‐19‐related information, and earlier disclosure yielded greater effect more quickly. Moreover, government capacity and citizens' trust in government at the local level significantly moderate the positive impact of information disclosure. This study uncovers the novel relationship between information disclosure and citizen coproduction during emergencies in the Chinese context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In rural China, children's vision problems are very common, with many who would benefit from refractive correction not getting the care they need. This study examines whether a health information campaign that involves vision health education and a free trial of health product with free eyeglasses is effective at raising students' awareness of myopia and promoting students' eyeglasses usage. Methods: We conducted an in-the-field randomized controlled experiment of a program providing vision health education and subsidized free eyeglasses to myopic children from 168 primary schools in rural Northwestern China in 2012. Results: A total of 2189 students, mean age 10.5 years (49.3% male), participated in the baseline survey. At the baseline, the average correct response rate for visual knowledge among the sample students was 30.1%, and only 15% who needed eyeglasses used them. Seven months after intervention, the average correct response rate for vision knowledge were 48.5% and 48.3% in the education group and the education plus free eyeglasses group respectively, significantly higher than that of the control group. The rate of eyeglasses usage was 36% and 43% in the free eyeglasses group and the education plus free eyeglasses group respectively, significantly higher than that of the control group. The rate of eyeglasses compliance in the free eyeglasses group and the education plus free eyeglasses group was 19% and 26%, which also were significantly higher than the control group. Conclusion: The information campaign combined with subsidized eyeglasses had a better effect both on vision knowledge and eyeglasses usage. The information campaign improved knowledge by providing the right information, and free eyeglasses changed the perceived utility and experience by the students using the product and getting benefits. Information and the free eyeglasses (subsidized) are complements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article examines environmental public service announcements, or eco-PSAs, as increasingly crucial yet under-investigated tools for environmental communication in mainland China. Following an overview of existing gaps in the literature on both visual and localized forms of environmental communication, it evaluates the birth, development and new trends of Chinese eco-PSAs. It then explains the process of data collection and the methodology employed, which is visual semiotic analysis. The corpus consists of seven print eco-PSAs, sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), that employ "Chinese elements" as the main creative strategy. Findings show that these eco-PSAs use a range of culturally loaded elements (from folk art and idioms to inanimate objects, from Chinese characters to animal symbols) as intertextual references or visual metaphors to promote awareness of animal protection, ecological protection and resource saving, as well as reinforcing national culture. This contribution opens up new directions in researching visual environmental communication in a global context and presents new empirical findings demonstrating that, in Chinese eco-PSAs, local culture still matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slogans advocating water conservation appear on all kinds of media. However, it is often not clear if and how much these campaigns can boost water-conserving behaviors, especially in developing countries. The current study tries to address this issue with a field randomized control trial (RCT) experiment in China. According to the longitudinal water consumption data, we found that 1) residents who received water conserving tips significantly reduced the subsequent water consumption relative to the residents who did not receive; 2) adding (vs. not adding) quantitative information into tips made the residents reduce water consumption; 3) adding (vs. not adding) norm information into tips failed to make the residents reduce water consumption. To our knowledge, this is the first study that quantitatively investigates the effect of water conservation campaigns on actual water consumption in developing countries. Our findings thus offer valuable insights on water efficiency information campaigns and policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Chinese perspectives of, and support for propaganda, relying on television public service advertisements as a means of tapping into citizens’ beliefs. Through the analysis of data from focus groups conducted in Beijing and public opinion survey data from 30 cities, this study argues that Chinese people are generally supportive of state efforts to guide public attitudes through television advertisements, although levels of support vary by age, education and gender. The study suggests that considerable popular support for state propaganda contributes to the regime’s capacity to guide public opinion and helps to explain the persistence of popular support for authoritarian rule. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study analyses the ideological meanings of select visual images in Hong Kong’s national anthem TV announcements in the public interest (API) series ‘One Home and One Country’, which aimed to promote patriotism and enhance nationalism among Hong Kong people after 1997. Using semiology, the author decodes all the visual content and technical aspects of the four series that were broadcast between 2004 and 2007. Through content analysis, he examines the embedded messages by counting and analysing the frequency of the signified meanings of the visual elements, which are highly selective and depoliticised to reinforce re-sinicisation. The series intentionally displayed the visual spectacles of a modernised China, traditional values and culture, and national achievement. By minimising the presence of political elements, the Hong Kong SAR government branded and built a positive image of the People’s Republic of China and encouraged Hong Kong people to unconsciously accept their national identity and pride. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cost-effectiveness of policies providing subsidized health goods is often compromised by limited use of the goods provided. Through a randomized trial involving 251 primary schools in western China, we tested two approaches to improve the cost-effectiveness of a program distributing free eyeglasses to myopic children. Relative to delivery of free eyeglasses to schools, we find that providing vouchers redeemable in local optical shops modestly improved the targeting of eyeglasses to those who would use them without reducing effective coverage. Information provided through a health education campaign increased eyeglass use when eyeglasses were delivered to schools, but had no effect when requiring voucher redemption or when families were only given a prescription for eyeglasses to be purchased on the market. Though most expensive, free delivery to schools with a health education campaign was the most socially cost-effective approach tested and increased effective coverage of eyeglasses by 18.5 percentage points after seven months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Can we construct transnational or international public service advertising to counterbalance the proliferation of transnational commercial advertising? As an important first step in exploring the possibility of such an application of shared media public diplomacy among nations, this paper describes a complete survey of commercial and public service advertisements collected from the public spaces of subway systems in American and Chinese cities in 2010 – New York, Washington, DC, Shanghai and Beijing – to reveal the range of themes of commercial and public service ads in these spaces. The study reveals first that analogous commercial and public service ads are ubiquitous in the public spaces of both Chinese and American cities. Second, many of the themes that might appear in international or transnational public service ads are already being portrayed in ads created by local or national governments or NGOs, although these themes are portrayed in ads created by different sets of actors in China and in the US: government actors and a few international NGOs in Chinese cities, and governments, corporations and non-profit organizations in the case of American cities. Finally, the survey reveals that in all four cities there are many commercial advertisements that appeal to the identity of a transnational consumer, but that there are almost no public service ads that appeal to the identity of a transnational citizen: merely local or national ones who can solve such public problems as global warming, education, and health issues. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article examines a major change in campaigning through the means of mass media during the reform era. As the media commercialized and partially privatized, the state has tried increasingly to involve societal actors in the production of public service advertisements (PSAs) on television. Today, PSA campaigns are initiated by state and Party units, but their funding, production and broadcasting is made possible by a collaborative effort between broadcasters, advertising companies and commercial enterprises who voluntarily support their further development. I conducted 27 in-depth interviews with officials, broadcasters and producers in Beijing to tap into the policy rationale behind the use of public service advertisements in campaigning and the incentive structure facilitating collaboration between companies and state units. Interviews with judges of PSA competitions and content analysis of price-winning advertisements reveal the standards of the central government to employ public service advertising as a means of campaigning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Over the past three decades, Chinese media have moved away from the tight controls under which they were kept since 1949. This forced those responsible for popular education to reconsider how their messages can be presented best to the public. Written propaganda, as published in newspapers, reached less and less people and was seen as boring and ineffective; the propaganda posters of the past could not compete with the many moving images and the glossy commercial messages that entered China. Television was seen as the most effective medium to present a modernized type of propaganda. As a result, the Party became a producer of 'public service advertising' (PSA, gongyi guanggao). Commercial advertising has inspired contents and forms of these PSA in major ways. Despite their important function in the wider framework of thought work, the production of PSA is hampered by three partially interrelated problems: financing, production and broadcasting. In the run-up to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the number and intensity of PSA increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including policy and practice of broadband delivery, strategic public infrastructure project of China and digital public service channel for children.

The article discusses how the history of medicine and the politics of public health are depicted in public-health posters in China. The author explains that the role of the posters developed out of mass media campaigns in the mid-19th-century to sell products, announce performances, and serve as propaganda. Promotion of healthy behaviours is discussed. The author comments that the Maoist propaganda health posters have subsided but still have a role in modern China. The influence of the Mao era in the campaign against severe acute respiratory syndrome is discussed.

The article discusses research on the use and persuasiveness of public service advertisements, particularly those that incorporate messages of health threats that may incite fear, in health communication. An Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) is discussed for its use in studying preventative and screening health behavior. Examples include safe sex and early cancer detection. Public service advertising used by the Hong Kong government is discussed.

Focuses on the AIDS/HIV epidemic in China. Willingness of Chinese leaders to discuss the taboo topic; The public-awareness campaign sponsored by the government on World AIDS day; Comment of China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao; The government concern about the social and economic consequences of the diseases; Discussion of the lack of accurate data on AIDS and HIV-infection cases; Outlook for China to expand its policy of free testing, antiretroviral drugs, care for HIV-infected mothers, and education for AIDS orphans; Mention of a poll on public awareness of the disease; Indication that the government is willing to accept international help.