One of the events being promoted by the Shenzhen Bureau of Taxation is citizen participation in the 3rd National Tax Collection Text Message Publicity Contest (第三届全国税收宣传短信大赛). I hadn’t realized that the first and second contests had come and gone, but the current contest is open until June 30, 2009. The particularly ambitious can also compete in the ring-tone competition and the multi-media message competition (basically flash for phone), examples here and here, respectively.

I have translated the call because it’s all juicy – from the legalize to justify a text message and jingle competition through a starting date on April Fool’s Day to assurances that the lottery for voting participation will be strictly overseen and that the prize money includes taxes… The assumptions written into this competition, the reasons it is necessary, and the form it has taken are themselves exquisite, interesting, and humorous expressions of applied anthropology at its best.

I am also impressed by the ongoing efforts of the Chinese State to modernize its efforts to stay in contact with the Chinese people. However, I do wonder how these messages will be circulated. Will the State pay to send messages to every cell phone in China? Will it target lists of people a la credit card companies? Or will it simply put the winning messages and ring-tones on line, confident that the artistic merit of the winning entries will result in these messages being downloaded and subsequently circulated among circles of friends?

Below, the contest call.

为向纳税人传递税收信息和宣传税收政策，继2007年、2008年成功举办第一届、第二届全国税收宣传短信大赛基础上，国家税务总局办公厅与中国税务报社今年决定联合举办“第三届全国税收宣传短信大赛” 　　(In order to transmit information about tax collection and policy to tax payers, on the foundation laid by successfully oganizing the first and second National Tax Collection Text Message Publicity Contests in 2007 and 2008, the General Office of the State Administration of Taxation and the National Tax Publishing House today agreed to co-organize the “Third National Tax Collection Text Message Publicity Contest”.)

一、比赛时间2009年4月1日~2009年9月30日。 　(Contest dates: April 1, 2009 through September 30, 2009.)

二、比赛形式第三届全国税收宣传短信大赛包括手机短信、彩信、彩铃3种形式。(Contests will be held in text message, multi-media, and ring-tone publicity.)

三、比赛内容手机短信参赛作品题材不限，需与税收相关，要求在70个汉字以内，具有短小（字数少而工整）、精致（有一定表达创造性）、诙谐（有趣味性，易于传播）等手机短信属性。 (There are no restrictions on the subject matter of competition text messages, they should be related to tax collection,  have less than 70 characters, and share the defining features of a text message, such as brevity (few characters and carefully done), exquisitness (with definate expressive creativity), and humor (interesting and easy to disseminate).

四、参赛步骤及办法参赛者将创作的文字短信，用手机发送，移动用户发送至106575020906，联通用户发送至106550105216，电信用户发送至1065901020000，彩信、彩铃作品发送至taxnews@163.com。( To submit your text messages, use your cell phone. China Mobile customers send to 106 575 020 906, Liantong clients send to 106 550 105 216, CITIC clients send to 106 590 102 000. Multi-media messages and ring tones can be sent to taxnews@163.com)

主办单位将定期在中国税网（www.ctaxnews.com.cn）“第三届全国税收宣传短信大赛”站点上发布参赛候选作品，供公众通过发送手机短信在候选短信中进行投票选出上榜短信，最后由大赛评委会通过对短信得票数、创作水平、趣味性和幽默性等方面的综合评比，确定最终获奖作品。(The oganizers will publish contest entries on the “Third National Tax Collection Text Message Publicity Contest” page of the China Tax News website, where the public can vote for their favorite message. Contest judges will decide the winning entries based on the number of votes, creativity, how interesting it is, and humor.)

公众无论发送信息参加作品比赛，还是发送信息参加投票评选，除正常通信费用（手机短信每条0.1元）不另加收任何费用。(Whether members of the public send text messages to enter the contest or to vote on entries, they will only be charged the standard rate for sending a text messege (.1 yuan per message)).

五、评选和奖励办法 　　1.短信作品奖：一等奖3名，奖金各3000元；二等奖15名，奖金各2000元；三等奖30名，奖金各1000元；纪念奖100名，每名颁发纪念品一份（价值300元）。 　　2.公众投票参与奖：在公证机关的监督下，评委会从参加投票的公众手机号中抽取公众投票参与奖，其中一等奖1名，奖金2000元；二等奖10名，奖金各1000元；三等奖20名，奖金各500元；纪念奖50名，颁发纪念品一份（价值200元）。(Selection and awards  1. text message prizes: 3 first prizes, each 3,000 yuan; 15 second prizes, each 2,000 yuan; 30 third prizes, each 1,000 yuan; 100 honorable mentions, each a prize worth 300 yuan. 2. public participation awards: under the supervision of an authorized agent, the award committee will draw names out of the telephone numbers of people who participated in the voting.  Among the lottery winners, there will be one first prize, for 2,000 yuan; ten second prizes, each for 1,000 yuan; twenty third prizes, each for 500 yuan; and 50 commemorative awards, each worth 200 yuan.)

以上奖励不能重复获得；奖金和奖品均含税，主办单位工作人员及其家属不得参加竞赛活动。(The prizes cannot be repeated; prize money and awards includes tax; family members and employees of the sponsoring bureaus cannot participate in the competition.)