A frosted propaganda star is born
Chinese government turns boy’s plight into a rallying cry for a robust, resilient nation
“The invitation to Beijing essentially fuses this narrative of personal struggle with the ruling party’s narrative of national struggle.” DAVID BANDURSKI CO-DIRECTOR, CHINA MEDIA PROJECT
His frazzled face, rosy cheeks and icy hair lit up the internet. Now, Wang Fuman, the 8-year-old Chinese student known as Frost Boy, is taking on a new role: propaganda star.
Fuman was thrust into the spotlight this month when a teacher at his school in southern China shared a photo showing him covered in frost, the result of a 4.5-kilometre trek to school on a frigid day.
The picture provoked a national conversation about the tens of millions of children who live without adequate food, clothing and shelter in the Chinese countryside.
Now, the government is turning Fuman’s story into a rallying cry for a robust, resilient China.
ACommunist Party website invited Fuman to the capital over the weekend and celebrated him as a patriotic hero. He waved a Chinese flag in Tiananmen Square, tried on riot gear at a public security bureau and swore an oath to be loyal to China and the ruling Communist Party.
“I’ll leave the mountains for sure,” he said during one appearance, according to news reports. “I’ll study hard and become a police officer.”
An official report said Fuman’s dream was to see Chairman Mao in Tiananmen Square, where his portrait still hangs.
Social media users circulated memes showing Fuman dressed as a police officer and holding a rifle. Some drew comparisons between the young boy and soldiers who endure harsh conditions protecting China’s border.
China has a long tradition of lionizing figures who have suffered hardship but kept faith in their country and the Communist Party.
Many people were critical of the rush to idolize the boy, though, saying officials were using Fuman as a prop and neglecting the broader issue of rural poverty.
“A salute under the national flag is not going to solve anything,” wrote Zhishang Suping, the pen name of one commentator.
Others were concerned about the effect of the media hype on Fuman’s well-being.
“In this age of consumerism and amusing ourselves to death,” said a commentary published by China News Service, “it seems everything can be hyped — fortune, family, charity and even misery.”
David Bandurski, co-director of the China Media Project, said the government was using Fuman as an “antidote” to criticism of its treatment of impoverished citizens. He noted that Fuman’s struggle was depicted as one against the harshness of winter, rather than the “social and political roots of his condition.”
“The invitation to Beijing essential- ly fuses this narrative of personal struggle with the ruling party’s narrative of national struggle,” Bandurski wrote in an email.
The focus on Fuman’s story helped the authorities “temporarily avoid painful policy discussions and potential public blame,” said Haifeng Huang, an associate professor of political science at the University of California, Merced.
“A worthy story has been trivialized,” Huang added.
Fuman returned to his hometown on Monday. The family has received about $1,200 (U.S.) in donations, according to news reports, and local youth charities have gotten hundreds of thousands more.
In response to Fuman’s story, Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba, recently vowed to help finance boarding schools for children who live in isolated rural areas.
During his visit to Beijing, Fuman spoke about missing his mother, who left the family two years ago, and wanting to help catch thieves. At times, he seemed tired of the attention. “My name is Wang Fuman,” he said during one appearance, “not ‘Frost Boy.’ ”