China’s latest propaganda video is a trippy bid for online viral fame

“Five-year plans” may sound like rusty Communist lingo – but in China, at least among the powerful law-making elite, they are matters of real importance. The plans set a direction for the country’s economy, social development targets, and – judging from this year’s iteration – online video view count.

China’s five-year plans are typically heralded by a series of glowing articles in state media. But this is 2015, and times are changing. That means the latest plan – the specifics of which are currently being decided upon by the powers that be in Beijing – has been accompanied by this completely bonkers English-language video posted first to Twitter.

Wanna know what China's gonna do? Best pay attention to the 十三五! See why it matters https://t.co/SgBls5S35A

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) October 27, 2015

Twitter is blocked in China, so putting the video on that platform implies that it is specifically meant for those outside of the country.

The response from the China-watchers on Twitter has ranged from mocking to… well, it’s mostly mocking.

As @fryan notes: some1 appears to have spiked the water at Beijing propaganda dept with LSD https://t.co/ecmseTj0tx pic.twitter.com/FcBJobD2kw

— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) October 27, 2015

Viral propaganda