China's army declares war on 'historic nihilism'

In the latest eruption of sensitivity over China's Communist heritage, a mysterious barbecue restaurant chain is under fire from the military over an advertising campaign launched two years ago that mocked a hero of the Korean war who was burnt to death by napalm.

"The war has already begun," declared a sombre Wednesday headline in the Peoples Liberation Army Daily, the army's official mouthpiece. "At present, historical nihilism is spreading from the academic realm into online culture, and capricious ideas are warping historical thoughts and leading discourse astray" read the editorial below. "We must be on our guard."

The barbecue restaurant's 2013 ads still appear to touch a nerve among the military and Communist party loyalists, amid recent private outpourings of ridicule directed against the myths and martyrs of a previous age.

Earlier this month, for example, Bi Fujian, a prominent presenter of China Central Television's talent show Avenue of the Stars, was briefly suspended and forced to apologise for making light of Mao Zedong. Mr Bi had been filmed by dinner guests, apparently in the company of foreign diplomats, singing a political opera from the 1960s in which he laced the lyrics with sarcastic jibes aimed at Mao - at one point calling him a "son of bitch".

Aside from an apology, Mr Bi has not commented on his future, amid rumours he may be replaced as presenter on the show. He could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

The PLA waded into the barbecue ads affair after the two-year-old scandal re-erupted this month when a tea company, apparently by mistake, gave 10,000 cans of tea to the restaurant chain - whose primary evidence of existence at present consists of its 8m followers on Weibo, China's version of Twitter. The restaurant's account mostly posts barbecue-related humour and off-colour internet memes.

But the joke about Qiu Shaoyun, a communist revolutionary hero, went a step too far.

Mr Qiu volunteered for duty during the Korean war and is lionised in official history after being killed by an air strike in the battle for Hill 391 south of Pyongyang. Rather than run after being struck by napalm, and thereby betray his comrades' ambush position, Mr Qiu stayed hidden and burnt to death.

"Because Qiu Shaoyun kept so still in the fire, customers refuse to pay for half-cooked meat" said a post on the restaurant's Weibo feed, known as "Exercise Book", in 2013. The post was later removed, though no apology or contrition appeared to be forthcoming. Exercise Book could not be reached for comment.

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Following a public outcry, JDB posted an apology on the internet, took back the offer of tea and said the gift to the apparently phantom restaurant was part of a marketing campaign aimed at "expressing gratitude to our consumers", and that it had not known about the black-humoured ad.

Ten descendants of Mr Qiu have announced they will sue JDB. An anonymous spokesman of JDB, quoted in Communist party mouthpiece the Global Times, said they had only offered the tea because Exercise Book was known online for its barbecue.

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