Who draws the party line?

THE nondescript glazed-brick building at 5 West Chang’an Avenue, near Tiananmen Square, gives no hint of what happens inside. No brass plaque proclaims its purpose. In an office around the corner, a dog-eared card says the reception of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party will be open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays between 8am and 12pm. The staff deals only with party officials; armed guards politely shoo other visitors away.

In English, the Propaganda Department calls itself the Publicity Department (it adopted this translation in the 1990s, realising how bad the literal one sounded). It is both secretive and vast. It is now at the centre of attempts by Xi Jinping, China’s president, to increase his control over the party, media and universities. It is also at the heart of factional infighting involving Mr Xi, his anti-corruption chief and allies of his two predecessors as president.