China Herald: Government advertorials change old style propaganda

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Selling local projects
Getty Images via DaylifeThe Economic Observer points at an interesting trend where local governments increasingly turn to professional writers for advertorials and purchase space for advertorials in local newspapers. While that practice is pretty common outside China, although the government entities often still own their own media and can use official propaganda tools to steer those media, the pr climate is becoming more professional.
The Economic Observer tells the story of Yu Menghong, a former journalist, who has now become a propaganda "hitman" for the Xi'an provincial government. The target is different though:

Rather than target most readers of the papers, officials use his services both to garner recognition by higher-level politicians and to draw in investment to development zones, which they often have financial interests in through real estate.

Just like elsewhere exaggeration and even outright lies are not uncommon in this kind of paid propaganda. Different government departments spend between five and ten million Renminbi per year on these advertorials.

According to a section chief at Huashang Newspaper, the local paper holding the highest market share in advertisements, the paper provided a 25% discount for business' advertisements, but 30% for local authorities.
Sometimes it could be as low as 35%. The EO learned that the paper set up a special department for exploring regional projects, which focused on local authorities' advertisements.

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