‘Hey, you guys heard what’s going on in China?’ Beijing propaganda machine’s animated video promotes five-year plan
'It’s a huge deal,' says the mainland government's video and song promoting the plan dubbed the 'shi-san-wu'. 'Like how huge? Huge! Like China huge? Yeah, China huge. Wow, that’s really big!'
China’s propaganda machine is trying a new tack this week to publicise its economic and social plans by using an animated hipster pop music video – complete with a guitar-strummed song performed in American accents by four cartoon characters as they stand on top of a retro Volkswagen van.
The aim of the video, produced by a mainland animation studio that often works on state propaganda, is to tell English-speaking foreigners about the nation’s latest five-year social and economic plan that is being discussed behind closed doors by the Communist Party this week.
“Every five years in China, man. They make a new development plan. The time has come for number 13, shi-san-wu [13-5], that’s what it means! ...
“Wanna know what China’s gonna do? Best pay attention to the shi-san-wu!”
The video features one of the four cartoon characters with a lightning bolt across his face, just like singer David Bowie's Aladdin Sane persona, plus a cameo appearance by scientist Albert Einstein.