Commentary
The July floods in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of Henan Province in central China, provide a classic example of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) crisis management model, which is made up of three elements: concealing facts, information blackouts, and spinning official narratives.
Concealing Facts
There was no doubt that Zhengzhou experienced an exceptionally intense torrential downpour. The city’s meteorological bureau registered a 1-hour rainfall of 201.9 millimeters (8 inches) from 4 to 5 p.m. on July 20—equivalent to nearly one-third of the annual rainfall of 640 millimeters (25 inches) the city receives in a normal year. Understandably, this would cause serious citywide flooding.
