Document Number Nine

Document Number Nine (or Document No. 9), more properly the Communiqué on the Current State of the Ideological Sphere (also translated as the Briefing on the Current Situation in the Ideological Realm), is a confidential internal document widely circulated within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2013 by the General Office of the CCP Central Committee. The document was first circulated in July 2012. The document warns of seven dangerous Western values, including media freedom and judicial independence. Teaching on any of the seven topics is forbidden. There is an emphasis on controlling and preventing communication using the internet of ideas subversive to one party rule. The document was issued in the context of planned economic reforms and increased calls for political reform. It has been described as a critique of the "liberal ways of thinking". "Document 9," as it would come to be called, heralded the tone of the administration of new CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping. It laid bare many major themes of Xi's tenure: a disdain for genuine, grassroots civil society; a reassertion of CCP control over any and all media messaging; and an insistence that the CCP alone can describe and interpret history. The document was not made available to public by the CCP or any branches of the Chinese government, but in July 2013 was allegedly leaked by Chinese dissident journalist Gao Yu, who in turn was sentenced to a seven-year imprisonment for "leaking state secrets". It is unclear whether this document is official Chinese policy or just a faction within the party. However, The New York Times suggests that it "bears the unmistakable imprimatur of Xi Jinping". It is thought that Document No. 9 was issued by the General Office of the Central Committee, and would have required the approval of Xi Jinping and...