View source for State Council Information Office

{{Short description|External name of the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party}}
{{Infobox government agency
| name            = State Council Information Office
| native_name     = {{lang|zh-Hans|国务院新闻办公室}}
| type            = Information office
| seal_caption    = 
| image           = State Council Information Office of China (20230318142604).jpg
| image_caption   = Headquarters
| formed          = {{start date|1980|04|08}}
| preceding1      = 
| preceding2      = <!-- up to |preceding6= -->
| dissolved       = 
| superseding1    = 
| superseding2    = <!-- up to |superseding6= -->
| agency_type     = 
| jurisdiction    = [[Government of China]]
| status          = {{ indented plainlist |
*[[One institution with two names|External name]] of the [[Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party]]
*Administrative office of the [[State Council of the People's Republic of China|State Council]]
}}
| headquarters    = Beijing Telegraph Building, 11 West Chang’an Avenue, [[Xicheng District, Beijing]]
| coordinates     = {{coord|39.931293|N|116.426952|E|format=dms|type:landmark_region:China|display=it}}
| motto           = 
| employees       = 
| budget          = 
| minister_type   = Director
| minister1_name  = [[Mo Gaoyi]]
| minister1_pfo   = 
| minister2_name  = 
| minister2_pfo   = <!-- up to |minister8_name= -->
| deputyminister_type = 
| deputyminister1_name = 
| deputyminister1_pfo = 
| deputyminister2_name = 
| deputyminister2_pfo = <!-- up to |deputyminister8_name= -->
| chief1_name     = 
| chief1_position = 
| chief2_name     = 
| chief2_position = <!-- up to |chief9_name= -->
| parent_department = 
| parent_agency   = 
| parent_agency_type = <!-- defaults to |type if left blank -->
| child1_agency   = [[China Internet Information Center]]
| child2_agency   = [[China Society for Human Rights Studies]]
| keydocument1    = <!-- up to |keydocument6= -->
| website         = {{Official URL}}
| agency_id       = 
| map             = 
| map_size        = 
| map_caption     = 
| map_alt         = 
| footnotes       = 
| embed           = {{Infobox Chinese|child=yes|order=st
| s  = 国务院新闻办公室
| t  = 國務院新聞辦公室
| p  = Guówùyuàn Xīnwén Bàngōngshì
| l  = State Council News Office
}}
}}
{{Politics of China|expanded = Publicity}}
The '''State Council Information Office''' ('''SCIO''') is the chief information office of the [[State Council of the People's Republic of China]] and  an [[One institution with two names|external name]] of the [[Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party|Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party]].

Historically, SCIO was the external name of the Office of External Propaganda (OEP) of the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP) under an arrangement termed "[[one institution with two names]]." In 2014, OEP was absorbed into the Central Propaganda Department, turning SCIO into an external nameplate.

== History ==
{{Further|Propaganda in China|Chinese information operations and information warfare|Internet censorship in China}}The SCIO was formed in 1991 when the CCP [[Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|Central Committee]] decided that the External Propaganda Leading Group ({{lang|zh|中央对外宣传小组}}) of the CCP Central Committee should have the name of State Council Information Office externally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brady |first=Anne-Marie |author-link=Anne-Marie Brady |date=October 26, 2015 |title=China's Foreign Propaganda Machine |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/chinas-foreign-propaganda-machine |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918175816/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/chinas-foreign-propaganda-machine |archive-date=2020-09-18 |access-date=2020-09-23 |website=[[Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars]] |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Brady|first=Anne-Marie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uj-1sxeO99kC|title=Marketing Dictatorship: Propaganda and Thought Work in Contemporary China|date=2008|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7425-4057-6|pages=23, 156|language=en|oclc=968245349|author-link=Anne-Marie Brady|access-date=2021-05-03|archive-date=2021-01-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109071355/https://books.google.com/books?id=uj-1sxeO99kC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bandurski |first=David |date=February 17, 2023 |title=Co-Producing with the CCP |work=China Media Project |url=https://chinamediaproject.org/2023/02/17/co-producing-with-the-ccp/ |access-date=April 21, 2023 |archive-date=February 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230220013229/https://chinamediaproject.org/2023/02/17/co-producing-with-the-ccp/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The External Propaganda Leading Group was transformed into the Office of External Propaganda (OEP, {{lang|zh|中央对外宣传办公室}}), officially called in English as the International Communications Office.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Lulu|first=Jichang|last2=Jirouš|first2=Filip|last3=Lee|first3=Rachel|date=2021-01-25|title=Xi's centralisation of external propaganda: SCIO and the Central Propaganda Department|url=https://sinopsis.cz/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/scio.pdf|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-20|website=Sinopsis|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-11-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120213638/https://sinopsis.cz/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/scio.pdf}}</ref> The office was created with the goal of improving the Chinese government's international image following the [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre]].<ref name=":0" /> According to scholar [[Anne-Marie Brady]], the SCIO became a separate unit from the CCP Central Propaganda Department but still connected to it and was the "public face of this new direction in foreign propaganda work."<ref name=":0" />

In May 2014, the OEP was formally abolished, with its functions absorbed into the CCP's Central Propaganda Department. The SCIO turned into an external nameplate for the Propaganda Department, used primarily for activities of one of its bureaus.<ref name=":1" /> In September 2018, the Press Conference Hall of the SCIO from 225 Chaoyangmennei Street, [[Dongcheng, Beijing|Dongcheng District]] to the Beijing Telegraph Building in 11 West Chang’an Avenue, [[Xicheng, Beijing|Xicheng District]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 September 2018 |title=国新办新闻发布厅迁新址 首场发布会介绍乡村振兴战略规划 |trans-title=The press conference hall of the State Council Information Office moved to a new location and the first press conference introduced the rural revitalization strategic plan. |url=https://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/shipin/cns/2018/09-29/news787518.shtml |access-date=11 July 2024 |work=[[China News Service]]}}</ref>

== Structure ==
Before its absorption to the Propaganda Department, the OEP had nine functional bureaus, with corresponding ones in the SCIO, as well as supervised organs. It oversaw the [[China International Communications Group|China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration]], while its seventh bureau oversaw the [[China Society for Human Rights Studies]] (CSHRS), a front group established in 1993 dealing with human rights-related narratives towards China.<ref name=":1" />

The SCIO oversees the [[China Internet Information Center]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |last=Colville |first=Alex |date=2024-10-31 |title=Cloaking What China Says |url=https://chinamediaproject.org/2024/10/31/cloaking-what-china-says/ |access-date=2024-11-01 |website=China Media Project |language=en-US}}</ref> The SCIO formerly had responsibility for [[internet censorship in China]], with its Internet Affairs Bureau overseeing internet censorship and the suppression of "disruptive" activity on the web in mainland China.<ref>{{cite news |date=2006-01-15 |title=China defends internet regulation |work=[[BBC News]] |publisher= |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4715044.stm |url-status=live |access-date=2009-01-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090103190018/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4715044.stm |archive-date=2009-01-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Ang |first=Audra |date=2009-01-23 |title=China closes 1,250 sites in online porn crackdown |publisher=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/China-closes-1250-sites-in-apf-14135471.html |access-date=2009-01-23}}</ref> In May 2011, the SCIO transferred the offices, namely its fifth and ninth bureaus, which regulated the internet to a new subordinate agency, the State Internet Information Office (SIIO).<ref>{{cite news |last=Wines |first=Michael |date=May 4, 2011 |title=China Creates New Agency for Patrolling the Internet |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/world/asia/05china.html |url-status=live |access-date=May 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110507163832/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/world/asia/05china.html |archive-date=May 7, 2011}}</ref> In May 2014, with the abolishment of the OEP, the SIIO (renamed in English as the [[Cyberspace Administration of China]]) was absorbed into the newly established [[Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission|Central Leading Group for Cybersecurity and Informatization]].<ref name=":1" />

Since the 2014 merger SCIO's nine bureaus are now controlled by the Central Propaganda Department, sometimes used by the department's bureaus as external nameplates.<ref name=":1" /> 

== List of directors ==
Every SCIO director except [[Zhao Qizheng]] have also served as deputy heads of the Central Propaganda Department.<ref name=":1" />
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Chinese name
!Took office
!Left office
!{{Ref.}}
|-
|[[Zhu Muzhi]]
|{{lang|zh-Hans|朱穆之}}
|1991
|November 1992
|
|-
|[[Zeng Jianhui]]
|{{lang|zh-Hans|曾建徽}}
|November 1992
|April 1998
|
|-
|[[Zhao Qizheng]]
|{{lang|zh-Hans|趙啟正}}
|April 1998
|6 August 2005
|
|-
|[[Cai Wu]]
|{{lang|zh-Hans|蔡武}}
|6 August 2005
|30 March 2008
|
|-
|[[Wang Chen (politician)|Wang Chen]]
|{{lang|zh-Hans|王晨}}
|30 March 2008
|26 April 2013
|
|-
|[[Cai Mingzhao]]
|{{lang|zh-Hans|蔡名照}}
|26 April 2013
|9 January 2015
|
|-
|[[Jiang Jianguo]]
|{{lang|zh-Hans|蒋建国}}
|9 January 2015
|25 July 2018
|
|-
|[[Xu Lin (born 1963)|Xu Lin]]
|{{lang|zh-Hans|徐麟}}
|21 August 2018
|9 June 2022
|
|-
|[[Sun Yeli]]
|{{lang|zh-Hans|孙业礼}}
|17 January 2023
|11 April 2024
|<ref>{{Cite news |date=17 January 2023 |title=State Council appoints officials |url=https://english.news.cn/20230117/618aabd76c62425ca09f45c22d1e16be/c.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117070924/https://english.news.cn/20230117/618aabd76c62425ca09f45c22d1e16be/c.html |archive-date=17 January 2023 |access-date=17 January 2023 |work=[[Xinhua News Agency]]}}</ref>
|-
|[[Mo Gaoyi]]
|{{lang|zh-Hans|莫高义}}
|11 April 2024
|''Incumbent''
|<ref>{{Cite news |date=11 April 2024 |title=China's State Council appoints new officials |url=https://english.news.cn/20240411/8e3a67fd7e6c44bbbba790d2f795323c/c.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240411085210/https://english.news.cn/20240411/8e3a67fd7e6c44bbbba790d2f795323c/c.html |archive-date=11 April 2024 |access-date=11 April 2024 |work=[[Xinhua News Agency]]}}</ref>
|}

== See also ==

* [[China International Communications Group]]
* [[International communication center]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Portal|China}}
* {{Official website}}

{{Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party}}
{{State Council of the People's Republic of China}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:State Council of China]]
[[Category:Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Chinese propaganda organisations]]
[[Category:One institution with two names]]