The "Fifty Cent Party" (Wu Mao Dang in Chinese) refers to the amount of money some web commenters receive from the Chinese government for posting pro-government propaganda on domestic Chinese websites. No other country in the world has developed such an extensive and well-organized government-run system for influencing public opinion on the Internet. These propaganda workers--both full-time State employees and free-lance propaganda workers--receive a base salary of 600 yuan (approximately US$56), and then are paid an additional amount per posting. This amount was initially set at five mao (fifty Chinese cents), hence the name "Fifty Cent Party."

Beginning in October 2004, the Hunan Province, Changsha Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Office sent up daily recommendations to the party committee and municipal government leaders in a forum entitled "Changsha Public Opinion Bulletin." Through this exercise, they were able to keep the Changsha officials informed of online developments and what kind of public opinion was forming around important local, provincial and national events. Subsequently, an extensive system under the aegis of the Provincial Propaganda Department developed to actively influence, alter and control public opinion. Propaganda workers would focus on specific websites including: China Spiritual Civilization Network (Zhongguo Jingshen Wenming Wang), Peoples Net (Renmin Wang), Xinhua Net (Xinhua Wang) and actively seek to influence, alter, and control public opinion by removing critical articles and comments and replacing them with pro-government articles and opinions. In this way an extensive network of pro-government propaganda workers began to be active online.

Based on Hunan Province's experience, in 2006 a national Public Opinion and Information Bureau was set up, with subsidiary departments in every province and municipality. It is truly a testament to the Chinese Communist Party's faith in and ability to act on the power of propaganda to create such an extensive and formal nationwide network to influence, alter, and control public opinion.
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2008/07/200807151504.shtml