Commentary July 23 marked the third day of major flooding in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou in Henan Province. Based on my observations on how the Chinese regime handles natural disasters, authorities would use the first three days to gather data before releasing an official statement. However, top officials would censor information and create their own propaganda narrative in the name of “maintaining social stability.” This model of official response, along with the media propaganda, will continue to exist in the communist regime. Beijing’s Propaganda Routines on Floods The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) propaganda focuses on three points: to emphasize the severity of natural disasters; to publicize the regime’s initiative in emergency rescues; and to underestimate the death toll. Disasters have occurred frequently in various parts of China in recent years, and the first thing that local governments do is to attribute the disasters to nature. Flood disasters have been publicized …