Mu Qing - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

**Mu Qing**

Hanyu Pinyin	Mù Qīng
Simplified Chinese	穆青
Traditional Chinese	穆青
Date of Birth:	March 15, 1921
Place of Birth:	Bengbu (蚌埠), Anhui (安徽), China China Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
Date of Death:	October 11, 2003

Mù Qīng (穆青) (March 15, 1921 - October 11, 2003) was a journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

, author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

and photographer. He was well-known for his contributions to Chinese journalism in the 20th century. He has been a reporter at Xinhua News Agency

Xinhua News Agency

The Xinhua News Agency is the official press agency of the government of the People's Republic of China and the biggest center for collecting information and press conferences in the PRC. It is the largest news agency in the PRC, ahead of the China News Service...

for years. He was promoted to be the Chief President of Xinhua. Most of his works were published in journalism textbooks and have been used widely throughout China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

Youth

Mu was born in Bengbu

Bengbu

Bengbu , formerly known as P'engpu and Peng-pu, is a prefecture-level city with a population of 3,164,467 at the last census in northern Anhui Province, People's Republic of China...

, Anhui

Anhui

Anhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny...

in 1921. After attending secondary school

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

in Henan

Henan

Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...

he joined the Eighth Route Army

Eighth Route Army

The Eighth Route Army was the larger of the two major Chinese communist forces that formed a unit of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China which fought the Japanese from 1937 to 1945. In contrast to most of the National Revolutionary Army, it was controlled by the Communist...

, and in 1937, at the age of 16, he was responsible for a number of propaganda

Propaganda

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....

works. He joined the Communist Party of China

Communist Party of China

The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...

in 1939 and entered the Lu Xun Academy of Art (鲁迅艺术学院) a year later.

War Correspondent

Mu commenced his career in journalism as a war correspondent

War correspondent

A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...

in Jiefang Daily

Jiefang Daily

Jiefang Daily is the daily newspaper of the Shanghai Committee of Communist Party of China. Its daily circulation is about 700,000 copies now.-History:Jiefang Daily was first published on May 28 1949 in Shanghai...

(解放日报) in the year 1942. Early in his career, he engaged in covering news stories on war, including the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and the Chinese Civil War

Chinese Civil War

The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...

. After Japan had surrendered in 1945, Mu was sent to the North-eastern China and established Dongfang Daily (东方日报).

Career in Xinhua

After the founding of the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

(PRC) in 1949, Mu was promoted to a senior level in the Xinhua News Agency. In 1951, Mu was given the title of Vice President for the Xinhua Headquarters in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

. Later in 1955, he moved from the Headquarters to the Xinhua News Agency main office in Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

, where he was President for the next 3 years.

On 1982, Mu became the Chief President of Xinhua until his retirement in 1992. On October 11, 2003 he died from lung cancer

Lung cancer

Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...

in Beijing

Beijing

Concern for the poor

Mu was known for his interest in reporting on the circumstances of Chinese peasants. He visited different parts of China frequently and interviewed the poverty stricken communities about their daily experiences. His goal was to make the central government aware of the needs of those who are underprivileged.

Mu wrote stories about Communist Party

Communist party

A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...

and local government officials he saw as role models. The most famous of these is "Jiao Yulu - A Good Example of the Secretaries of the County Committee of the Communist Party" (县委书记的榜样——焦裕禄), in which Mu recorded the work done by Jiao Yulu in helping the peasants during a time of natural disaster

Natural disaster

A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard . It leads to financial, environmental or human losses...

Mu's Principles of Journalism

Throughout Mu's career in journalism, there are several principles which he has upheld.

Importance of Investigation

Mu believed that Investigative journalism

Investigative journalism

Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...

is a journalist's responsibility to the readers. He thought that investigation is essential in ensuring that the facts reported are accurate. Journalists must be constantly alert and insist on investigation so that the news reported would be honest and truthful.

Mu believed that investigation is so important that it sustains the life of a journalist as a journalist. He also thought that without investigation, news would lose its energy, orientation and meaning. On the other hand, Mu resisted making reports with people and stories which were fictional.

Importance of Raising Questions

Mu believed that in order to have accurate news reporting, journalists have to be constantly ready to challenge the information collected. Instead of merely reporting facts in a narrative way, journalists are to reveal to the readers the significance and meaning behind the news reports.

Mu thought that raising questions enable journalists to think more, investigate more, and discover more; only by doing these things, can journalists reach closer to the truth.

Importance of Reporting Up-to-date Social Problems

Mu believed that journalists should discover more up-to-date social problems

Social problems

Social problems are problems and difficulties that people often face in society. These include:*crime*corruption*poverty*homelessness*hunger*disease*drug addiction*alcoholism*schizophrenia*depression*pollution...

instead of reporting old problems. This could draw people's attention and motivate them to search for solutions. These reports could eventually help remove the obstacles to social development.

Mu stated that journalists should actively report social issues and policies which aroused great public concern. Transparency in major social issues enabled the public to get hold of more information and hence could react correspondingly. Consensus between the people and the government could be easily reached if the public understood the rationale behind each policy implemented by the government.

Resisting Threats and Criticisms

Apart from news writing, Mu was also famous for his directorship of the Xinhua News Agency. He helped defend independence of journalism during a period when biased news reporting was prevalent. When the Anti-Rightist Movement

Anti-Rightist Movement

The Anti-Rightist Movement of the People's Republic of China in the 1950s and early 1960s consisted of a series of campaigns to purge alleged "rightists" within the Communist Party of China and abroad...

started in 1957, the Shanghai

Shanghai

Office of Xinhua, under the leadership of Mu, was the only branch that did not engage in criticising the rightists.

Although Mu was under severe criticism during the Cultural Revolution

Cultural Revolution

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...

, he upheld the principles. In 1975, Mu reported to Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...

about opposition of Jiang Qing

Jiang Qing

Jiang Qing was the pseudonym that was used by Chinese leader Mao Zedong's last wife and major Communist Party of China power figure. She went by the stage name Lan Ping during her acting career, and was known by various other names during her life...

, leader of Gang of Four, towards Zhou Enlai

Zhou Enlai

Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976...

and Deng Xiaoping

Deng Xiaoping

Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...

once he got hold of the information from his reporters, ignoring the potential consequences that might have caused him.

Political Role of Xinhua

Mu claimed that the Xinhua News Agency was a tool for Communist Party of China

Communist Party of China

The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...

's (CPC) propaganda. It represented the Party and the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

(PRC), and was also a medium for the promotion of Marxism

Marxism

Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...

and the CPC's orientation, direction and policies. He required all journalists of the Xinhua News Agency to work in conformity with the principles of the Party and the Central Government.

Claiming to be at the side of the proletariat

Proletariat

The proletariat is a term used to identify a lower social class, usually the working class; a member of such a class is proletarian...

, Mu heavily criticized the appearance of capitalism

Capitalism

Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...

in Chinese journalism. Mu believed that the thoughts of liberation advocated by capitalism would lead to a denial of the CPC leadership. He constantly reminded the journalists in Xinhua to maintain absolute obedience towards the CPC.

Mu's strong stance helped preserve the political orientation of the whole of Xinhua News Agency.

Leading Xinhua to the World

Mu's contribution to Xinhua's development had been widely recognized. He envisioned that for Xinhua would become an international news agency, it had to be more accurate and efficient in its news reporting, as well as to acquire a wider coverage on the news of developing countries.

Under the leadership of Mu, Xinhua endeavoured to give the world a Chinese voice, by developing its own perspective. Aiming at this goal, Mu introduced new strategies to the agency and improved on the standard of news reporting. He placed emphasis on the training of young reporters, and advocated the idea of searching for truth by reaching out to the lower class of society.

Early Encounter with Literature

When Mu was young, he was more interested in becoming a writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

than a journalist. While he was studying in Lu Xun Academy of Art, his writing skills were honed as he spent a lot of effort on them. He learned theories of literature

Literature

Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...

from many famous writers of modern China, e.g. Mao Dun

Mao Dun

Mao Dun was the pen name of Shen Dehong , a 20th century Chinese novelist, cultural critic, and journalist. He was also the Minister of Culture of China from 1949 to 1965. He is currently renowned as one of the best realist novelists in the history of modern China...

and Zhou Yang, president of the Academy at that time. This essentially led to his literary style of news writing in his later career.

Relationship Between Journalism and Literature

Mu's greatest contribution was his news writing and literature. He disagreed with people at that time who did not regard literary reportage (报告文学) as a kind of literature and he insisted that literary reportage should be based on real people and real life situations, rather than fiction.

His work, particularly about people, had incorporated various techniques of literature into news writing and had profound impacts on the development of literary reportage in China. His article "For Premier Zhou's Exhortation" (为了周总理的嘱讬) was once selected as the Outstanding Literary Reportage in China and this proved the literary value of his journalistic works.

First Encounter with Photography

Mu had written many correspondences during the “war era”, however he did not have the chance to take any photographs reflecting the real world he was writing about. In the 80s, with the advancement of technology, Mu started to take pictures during his journeys in different places.

"Realistic Correspondences"

Mu liked to present his stories through his camera in a realistic way. He resisted reporting with second hand information. His photographs went with this principle as well.

Famous Quotes by Mu Qing

"As a Communist Party member, a journalist of our people, I cannot conceal the truth." - self-criticism for doing something wrong in the past. (作为一个共产党员,一个人民的记者,不能不说实话) - 忆起放“卫星” 的稿子而深刻自省

"I am a journalist, I am willing to have a look for myself" - when others prepare the interview material for him, he says. 我是记者,我愿意自己去看看。) - 每次采访,面对别人准备好的材料、汇报,他总会说

"Never forget the people" (勿忘人民)

"We can write news reports like prose" (用散文的笔法写新闻), "the future development of news article writing should be based on the style of prose writing with a preservation of its flexibility and a usage of lively words......" (我们的新闻报道的形式和结构也应该向自由的活泼的散文式的方向发展)

"Whether an event should be reported or not, when to report, how to report, first of all, we need to consider the overall situation." - a conclusion based on many past bitter lessons (一件事情应不应该报道,什么时候报道,采取什么方法报道,首先要看大局) - 以历史的惨痛教训总结出来

Correspondences

An Unfinished News Report (一篇沒有寫完的報道)
For Premier Zhou's Exhortation (為了周總理的囑託——記農民科學家吳吉昌)
Jiao Yulu - A Good Example of the Secretaries of the County Committee of the Communist Party (縣委書記的榜樣——焦裕祿)
Judgement of history (歷史的審判)
Last Supper (最後的晚餐)
Revolution has begun again!(革命又回來了！ )
Save Africa(救救非洲)
Wang Jinxi the Iron Man(鐵人王進喜)
Under the Leaning Tower (在斜塔下)

Books

Ding ci yi shu (《定瓷藝術》) (2002)
Hsin wen san lun (《新聞散論》) (Talking about News) (1996)
Jiao yu lu (《焦裕祿》) (1980)
Ming dai min yao qing hua (《明代民窯青花》) (With Tang Weijian) (2000)
Mu Qing san wen xuan (《穆青散文選》) (1984)
Shi ge gong chan dang yuan (《十個共產黨員》) (10 Communists)
Weiyena di xuan lü (《維也納的旋律》) (The Melody of Vienna) (1983)
Xiang zhong de hong qi (《湘中的紅旗》)(1950)
Xin wen gong zuo san lun (《新聞工作散論》) (1983)
Zhongguo xin wen yi da xi, 1937-1949. Bao gao wen xue ji (《中國新文藝大系, 1937-1949. 報告文學集》) (Edited by Mu Qing) (1996)
Zhongguo xin wen yi da xi, 1949-1966. Bao gao wen xue ji (《中國新文藝大系, 1949-1966. 報告文學集》) (Edited by Mu Qing) (1987)

Photographic Work

Selected photographic works of Mu Qing (穆青攝影選)

Calligraphy

Selected calligraphies of Mu Qing (穆青書法作品選)

Comments about Mu Qing

A Comprehensive Interview with Mu(走近穆青)
A Famous and Kindhearted Journalist - Mu Qing(在新聞界無人不知真情老頭兒穆青)
A Memorable Journalist--Mu Qing(馮健:人民之子穆青)
An Interview with Mu{用快門記錄史實–––訪穆青)
Death of Mu Qing (趙德潤：人民的穆青常青)
Demoforum: Learn How to Make Friends from Mu Qing(人民論壇：學學穆青交友)
Mu Behind the Public (知情者眼中的穆青)
What Kind of Journalist does Mu Qing Belong to?(穆青是什麼型記者？)

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.