Five times more conservatives than liberals in China, says survey
Posted: May 6, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, Chinese politics, conservative, cynical, equalitarianism, Maoism, pragmatic, Zhang Mingshu Leave a comment »
Village residents cast their vote during elections in Wukan, southern Guangdong province on March 4, 2012. Photo: AFP
Reblog of Patrick Boehler’s blog at SCMP
Research by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has surprised even the study’s author
Chinese urban residents have become more conservative, cynical and pragmatic in their attitudes towards politics in the last quarter of century, a study has found.
Research by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, published last week, has surprised even the study’s author.
Some 38.1 per cent of those surveyed held more conservative values, were more critical of overall individualism and leaned towards the “left”, a term that commonly refers to those more patriotic, according to the study by scholar Zhang Mingshu, director of the political culture research centre at the academy.
Only 8 per cent leaned to the “right”, supporting more individual freedoms and a smaller government, and were more critical towards the Communist Party’s legacy. The rest of those polled were categorised as centrists, neither left nor right.
“I was surprised,” Zhang told the Guangzhou-based liberal newspaper Southern Weekly. “But if you calmly look around you – not only among intellectuals, but also in your hometown, if you go on the streets – you’ll see that this ratio is fundamentally accurate.”
Zhang surveyed 1,750 adult urban residents across the nation on their political views, their attitudes towards participating in politics and their knowledge about politics.
The study, titled “What kind of democracy do Chinese people want”, follows up on an April 1989 survey conducted by Zhang in the wake of the Tiananmen uprising, which saw hopes for further political reforms squashed by the People’s Liberation Army’s barrels and tanks.
Zhang said the survey, based on answers he collected in 2011, was more cautious in its scope than his last. As political debate has remained a sensitive topic, he said he had made an “effort not to cross the line”.
For Zhang, scholars have become less idealistic, spearheading a trend in today’s society.
“If you want to use one word to describe the situation of China’s mainstream intellectuals, it’s cynicism,” he said. “As soon as they transgress, they vested interests will suffer and they can only modestly bow to the system.”
“The survey shows that Chinese citizens are basing their political judgments and political behaviours less on ethics and idealism, and more on safeguarding their personal interests,” Zhang said.
For 15.3 per cent of those surveyed, the idea of democracy meant regular elections and selecting national leaders through multiparty competition. About 67 per cent said they had a positive attitude towards participating in politics.
People beyond their 40s and 50s tended to lean more to the left than younger people, who tended to be at the centre and the right. More educated people also tended to be more at the centre and the right.
Joseph Cheng Yu-shek, a political scientist at City University of Hong Kong, said the poll accurately reflected the changing attitudes on the mainland towards politics.
“Leftists are not necessarily Marxists,” he said. “They want to see a more equitable distribution of income.”
But “people have become more cynical. They are less inclined to take an active part politically and tend to concentrate on improving living standards”, said Cheng. “If you are extremely unhappy, you just try to emigrate.”
Source: SCMP “Five times more conservatives than liberals in China, says survey”
In my post “China’s Inner Circle, the Three Black Boxes” on March 4, I described various major factions in the Chinese Communist Party and said that the conservatives were the largest faction in the Party; while in Chapter 10 of my book “Tiananmen’s Tremendous Achievements”, I describe how popular Maoism is In China.
Danger of second Cultural Revolution as migrant workers in China are alienated
Posted: March 3, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, class struggle, Cultural Revolution, despot+mobs=chaos, egalitarianism, Maoism, migrant workers, migrant workers alienated Leave a comment »
Despite spending years working in mainland cities, migrant workers still feel like outsiders. Photo: Xinhua
In its report titled “Migrant workers feel like outsiders in mainland cities, says survey”, SCMP says, “Many workers who flock to mainland cities feel alienated and have low self-esteem, says survey
“Despite spending years working in mainland cities, migrant workers still feel like outsiders and say their only sense of happiness comes from their families, a Renmin University survey has found.
“They also see themselves as the bottom of society and feel alienated because they have no influence on their lives or society in general, the survey found, with young migrant workers even gloomier about their prospects.”
In Chapter 10 of my book “Tiananmen’s Tremendous Achievements”, I pointed out in late 2010 that China may collapse soon due to the danger of Maoism.
In 2011, the popularity of Bo Xilai’s sing-red campaign, the restoration of Maoism brought about by him and his despotism seemed to make what I fear soon become a reality. Fortunately, in March 2012, Bo fell into disgrace.
I personally experienced the disasters of the Great Famine and Cultural Revolution caused by Maoism. I was at a mature enough age and regarded myself as having seen much of the Chinese society and people when the Cultural Revolution began. Still I was amazed to see the power of Maoism in turning educated youngsters and even students at prestigious colleges, into mad mobs overnight.
I was puzzled that a nation with 4,000 years of civilization was turned overnight into a self-destructive nation that negated all its culture and past.
I studied Chinese history and philosophy and conducted deep soul searching. I found there were quite some such self-destructive periods in Chinese history when mobs led by despots brought chaos to the Chinese nation.
Usually some wise leaders assisted by talented scholars emerged in the periods, rescued the Chinese nation from chaos and soon brought prosperity to China. What the despots rallied mobs around them was egalitarianism that has been deeply rooted in Chinese culture for thousands of years.
I sum up such major facts in Chinese history into two formulae:
despot + mobs = chaos
and
wise leader + talented scholars = superpower
The Cultural Revolution was a quite extreme case of the first formula where the despot was a charismatic, well educated and talented one and had developed China’s popular egalitarianism into a popular theory–Maoism.
I point out in my book that due to the yawning rich-poor gap, Maoism remains influential in China and may be the cause of another cultural revolution. I said in my book:
“Most rural people the majority of the Chinese population, have received no or little education. About 200 million of them are now migrant workers in Chinese cities. They are paid much lower wages than native urban workers and they are not provided with the subsidized housing and other welfare that native urban people enjoy, but cannot afford urban housing without subsidy.
“Their children cannot compete with native urban people for education opportunities because they are mostly left behind in rural areas without their parents to take care of them. Rural education facilities are inferior to urban ones. A few of the children live in cities with their parents. There are few schools for them in the cities and those schools are not as well equipped or staffed as the schools for native urban people.
“Migrant workers are looked down by native urban people. In fact, they are now second-class citizens in Chinese cities. However, in the past, the inequality was mostly economic. The social status of peasants in China was always high. Now in addition to the widening rich-poor gap, there is the inequality in social status, which hurts migrant workers’ dignity most.”
The uneducated underdogs may be turned into mobs overnight if a charismatic, well-educated and talented despot like Mao emerges. Bo is such a despot and almost succeeded in rallying Maoists around him to cause trouble.
CCP leaders know well the danger and are carrying out a 5-year plan to build 37 million units of subsidized housing for urban and migrant workers. Some cities including Shanghai are making efforts to allow migrant workers’ children to not only receive education there but also take part in the matriculation examinations there so as to allow them to enjoy the greater opportunities to enter prestigious universities and colleges.
However, according to the survey reported by SCMP, “Compared with a similar survey last year, migrant workers’ living standards had improved but their sense of happiness from social involvement and social standing had dipped.” The danger of despot + mobs = chaos remains though the charismatic, well educated and talented despot Bo Xilai has fallen into disgrace.
For details of SCMP report, please visit its website at:
Fight Corruption, Top Public Message to 18th Congress
Posted: November 6, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: censorship, China, Chinese politics, cntv.cn, corruption, Maoism, official net collecting public opinions, people.com, xinhuanet.com Leave a comment »Ming Pao says in its exclusive report:
Three official nets have been soliciting public messages to the 18th Congress.
Corruption the greatest concern
Mao worship does not lack support.
In the report it says, “Three major Chinese official nets have set their columns of messages to the 18th Congress to collect public opinions. ‘Fighting corruption’ becomes a topic of greatest concern.”
Net users vied with one another to ask the central authorities to punish corruption severely, order officials to make public their assets. They directed their attack at the top leadership.
The message “holding high the banner of Mao Zedong” has won support from quite a few people. Under stringent censorship, the messages displayed on the nets have all been screened. Analysts believe the authorities have publicized those opinions intentionally.
“There Must Be the Courage to Apply Dog-head Guillotine to Politburo Standing Committee Member”
The “Messages to the 18th Congress” column opened in xinhuanet.com on October 12 and had got 2,149 messages by yesterday evening, of which 153 concerned the fight against corruption. Some of which directly addressed to the highest leadership and said that in fighting corruption, there must be the courage to apply Dog-head Guillotine to Politburo Standing Committee member.
Note: In feudal China, death penalty required approval from the emperor. In Chinese legend, the Dog-head Guillotine was the guillotine an emperor of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) granted legendary corruption-bust official Bao Zheng to execute corrupt officials without requesting approval from the emperor.
On October 19, Central TV’s cntv.cn set up a special “Rejuvenation Forum” to attract posts to allow net users to “speak their minds in their messages to the 18th congress”. Net users may leave messages or hit icons to show their support to other people’s messages. The message “expect intensification of the fight against corruption” has got 1,703 supports, ranking the first and exceeding by far the 723 supports “happy life’ the second ranking message has got. “Owning one’s own residence” ranks the third with 455 supports.
People.com, the first net that set up such a column has been most popular. Zaidao, a net user from Jinan, Shandong, left a message “declaration of officials’ assets to the public” got support from over 6,000 people, ranking the first and the number of his supporters has kept on rising. That is quite strange as Zaidao did not post his message until 11.00am yesterday. The second-ranking message showing concern on inequality in retirement and pension welfare has got only 4,000-odd supporters though it was posted as early as October 22.
What is worth noticing is that both the messages on the political structural reform and “Mao Zedong Banner” have their respective supporters on the three official nets. A net user who calls himself “an old communist party member”, hopes that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) holds high the banner of Mao Zedong to resolve the problems related to people’s livelihood and raise the Party’s and government’s sense of responsibility. He has got third-ranking support on people.com.
Messages Have Been Screened by Sensors and “Redressing June 4” Has Been Removed
The messages displayed on the three nets have all undergone censorship. Messages of “redressing June 4”, “rehabilitating Zhao Ziyang”, etc. are not displayed. The last serial number of the messages on xinhuanet.com was 2,938, but only 2,149 messages have been displayed. It means about 800 messages have been blocked by censors.
Current affairs commentator Liu Ruishao says that similar “investigation” on official nets is routine activity. All the messages have been screened and the messages allowed to be made public are those the authorities published intentionally. He believes that at present, corruption is structural in China and officials shield one another. The CCP has no transparency nor complies with the rule of law in its fight against corruption. That is why corruption has become increasingly rampant.
Academic: Bo Xilai’s Case Has Made Public Indignation Culminate
Beijing historian Zhang Lifan says that Bo Xilai and his family members’ corruption has become a hot topic among the general public and caused them to pay attention to CCP top-level corruption. They all will perhaps think that since Bo was able to commit corruption to such an extent even when he was not promoted into the Politburo Standing Committee, “what if he has been promoted into it?”
Accumulated public indignation against corruption has therefore culminated this year. He believes that Wen Jiabao shall exploit the opportunity offered by New York Times’ report on his family’s wealth to promote the sunshine law.
The day before yesterday, the Central Discipline Inspection Commission published its report, stressing “development of the Party’s advanced nature and purity” and perfection of the system to punish and prevent corruption. Xinhau’s Op-Ed article also says, “if we fail to tackle corruption effectively, we will lose people’s trust and support and there will be danger for the party and state to perish.”
China paves way for prosecuting disgraced politician Bo Xilai
Posted: October 26, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bo Xilai, China, Chinese politics, conservatives, Maoism, power struggle, reformists Leave a comment »Reuters reports from Beijing: “China’s largely rubber stamp parliament has expelled disgraced former senior politician Bo Xilai, state news agency Xinhua said on Friday, paving the way for formal criminal charges to be laid against him.
“The expulsion removes Bo’s immunity from prosecution as a member of parliament. Xinhua said the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament, ‘announced the termination of Bo Xilai’s post’ as the deputy to the parliament.
“The announcement comes a fortnight before the Communist Party holds a key congress, which opens on Nov. 8, that will unveil the country’s new central leadership.”
For details, please visit Reuter website at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/26/china-politics-bo-idUSL3E8LQ12K20121026
Mao Thought Conspicuously Missing in Xinhua Report, Is It Dumped?
Posted: October 25, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bo Xilai, China, Chinese politics, Mao Zedong, Mao Zedong Thought, Maoism, power struggle Leave a comment »Mao Zedong Thought Conspicuously Missing
SCMP says, “The omission of Mao Zedong’s name from a recent Xinhua statement has triggered speculation as to whether the Communist Party’s 18th congress, which begins on November 8, will make a historic decision about how much emphasis to accord one of the party’s founding fathers, as the practical impact of Mao’s legacy on the party wanes.
“The statement, issued after the party’s 24-member Politburo met on Monday, made references to President Hu Jintao, his predecessor Jiang Zemin, and Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China’s transformational ‘reform and opening up’ policy, but did not mention Mao. The statement also said the congress would revise the party constitution to incorporate ‘significant’ theories.”
What was the exact wording in the statement where Mao Thought was missing?
The statement says, “The whole Party shall unswervingly uphold the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, further implement the Scientific Outlook on Development under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of Three Represents…” in which Mao Zedong Thought is conspicuously missing.
Mao Thought Has Long Been Omitted in CPC Jargon
However, this wording became conspicuous long ago when Hu Jintao said that in his 2010 New Year’s message on New Year Eve. His exact wording was, “In the upcoming new year, we will unswervingly uphold the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, further implement the Scientific Outlook on Development under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of Three Represents,…”
Note that the underlined parts of the statement and Hu’s speech are identical.
In the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)’s and China’s constitutions, the guiding ideologies are Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of Three Represents. However, in Hu’s message, Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought are conspicuously missing.
Such omission was repeated in Hu’s speech at the tea party of the CPPCC National Committee the next day. Interestingly, it was soon repeated with identical wording in Politburo Standing Committee member Li Changchun’s speech at an important meeting of CCP’s propaganda leaders on January 4, 2010 and in the Communiqué of the 5th plenary session of the 17th CCP Central Discipline Inspection Commission on January 13, 2010. In Hu’s speech at the fifth symposium on work in Tibet on January 22, he also repeated what he said and regarded it as the guiding ideology in doing work in Tibet then and in the future.
The wording has been so frequently repeated by high officials and in CCP documents that it has already become a CCP jargon.
However, does such omission mean that the CCP is really going to dump Mao Zedong Thought?
It does not seem so, Chinese media, books, movies, TV series have remained filled with praises of Mao since then.
In fact, three months before Hu’s New Year message in mid September 2009, the slogan “Persist in regarding as our guidance Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of Three Represents and further, thoroughly implement the Scientific Outlook on Development” was the 5th of the 50 slogans for the 60th National Day celebration given by CCP and State Council authorities to the media.
SCMP says, “Analysts are divided on whether the omission was an indication that the party leadership had reached a consensus on Mao’s controversial theories.”
However it also says, “The party announced yesterday the planned naming of four halls in the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong in Tiananmen Square after revolutionary places related to Mao.
“The places are Jinggangshan and Yanan, which were Red Army headquarters; Shaoshan, Mao’s birthplace; and Zunyi, where Mao was appointed top leader of the Red Army.”
Other founders of the People’s Republic may have a share in the names “Jinggangshan” and “Yanan”, but “Shaoshan” and “Zunyi” exclusively belong to Mao.
That obviously gave us the message, that the Party will not dump Mao.
Why Such Omission then?
Most people outside China now believe that China is pursuing capitalism and that if the CCP wants continuity in China’s development, it has to give up Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong thought. But the CCP insists that it is pursuing socialism with Chinese characteristics though there is in China now nearly everything that is regarded by traditional Marxists and Leninists and Maoists as capitalist: private enterprises, share markets, etc.
The CCP now attaches great importance to harmony. In the 50 60th National Day slogans, the word “harmony” appears 5 times. However, can Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought give the CCP guidance in harmony with Deng Xiaoping Theory and Three Represents?
Mao Zedong Thought Harmful to Reform and Had to Be Omitted
Mao Zedong Thought advocates class struggle, egalitarianism, cultural revolutions against capitalist-roaders, thorough denunciation of Confucianism, etc. and is, therefore, diametrically opposed to the CCP’s Scientific Outlook on Development that pursues capitalism and Confucianist harmony. For a long time, conservatives in the CCP have used Mao Zedong Thought to oppose reform and opening up. How can CCP leaders justify the implementation of their Scientific Outlook on Development and pursuit of harmony if Mao Zedong Thought remains their guiding ideology?
The CCP has to discard Mao Zedong Thought but cannot do so because it believes that discarding Mao Zedong Thought will deprive it of the legitimacy of its monopoly of political power. What it can do now is but to omit it. Omission of Mao Zedong Thought in many of Hu’s speeches clearly indicates CCP’s intention to discard it by omission. It would be awkward if Marxism-Leninism remains. People will suspect that Hu had some problems with Mao Zedong Thought which after all has not been removed from the CCP’s and state’s constitutions. As a result, Hu has to omit Marxism-Leninism along with Mao Zedong Thought.
Mao Zedong Thought, if not removed from CCP’s and state’s constitutions, will remain a lurking peril for China and the world. It may be exploited by enemies of the reform to oppose the reform and bring chaos like the Cultural Revolution to the country. It may cause a Maoist CCP leader to be engaged in a cold or even world war against the West.
What about Marxism? Is It Also a Threat?
Marxism is the basis of the CCP’s ideology. Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and Three Represents are all derived from Marxism. If the CCP has discarded Marxism, it can no longer call itself a communist party. The CCP still faithfully advocates Marxism now. In its media, it repeatedly urges its members to study Marxism.
Marx called on the proletariat (the working class) to carry out a revolution to overthrow capitalism and establish communism. Is this not a threat to the capitalist West? It is also a threat to the CCP’s current actual pursuit of capitalism. However, this is not a problem for the CCP or the West now.
Three Represents Makes Marxism Compatible with Capitalism
The first Represent that the CCP represents the requirements of the development of the advanced productive force touches the basic of the basics of the Marxist theory. According to Marxist economics, the most important factors are the productive force and production relations. The productive force keeps on developing and requires the production relations to suit it. If the production relations do not suit the requirements, it will hinder the development of the advanced productive force and shall be replaced by more advanced production relations that suit the requirements.
The most fundamental Marxist principle for communists is, therefore, that communists shall represent the requirements of the development of the advanced productive force. According to Marx, they, therefore, shall carry out a revolution to put all means of production (enterprises) under public ownership as required by the development of the advanced productive force so that the state can plan the production in accordance with the needs of the society.
However, Marx could not foresee that public ownership and planned economy were proved inefficient by the practice in the Soviet Union, China and other countries. and that in China the development of the advanced productive force requires China to dump communism and pursue capitalism now.
The new theory of the Three Represents enables the CCP to dump communism and pursue capitalism while remaining a Marxist party. As there is no definition of the requirements of the development of the advanced productive force, when capitalism is to be dumped in the future and creativism or supermodernism or whatever is required, the CCP can immediately dump capitalism so as to represent the new requirements. By so doing, the CCP will be able to maintain its rule forever!?
Mao Zedong Thought Remains CCP’s Achilles’ Heel
Mao Zedong Thought is in diametrical conflict with Deng Xiaoping Theory and the Three Represents. It upholds the rule by workers and peasants and neglects academic education. It believes that three months’ medical training is enough for a doctor. The poor management of China’s economy by uneducated people in 1976 after Zhou Enlai’s death and Deng Xiaoping’s fall brought Chinese economy to the verge of collapse. Deng Xiaoping Theory and the Three Represents, however, advocate that CCP leaders should be well educated and place great emphasis on academic education. If Mao Zedong thought is still regarded as the guiding ideology in CCP’s and China’s Constitutions and if Mao’s portrait still looks down on Tiananmen Square, certainly people who have not been sufficiently benefited by the reform may use Mao Zedong Thought to oppose reform, opening-up and the thought of Three Represents.
Worship of Mao Hot at Present
Mao has now been deified among quite a few workers and peasants. Over the past few years, sacrificial alters for worship of Mao become conspicuous in quite a few families. According to a survey in 2008, in 40 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan, families who had Mao’s statutes or portraits for worship accounted for 11.5% of the total number of families there, exceeding by far those who worshiped Buddha, God of Wealth or local god of the land. For those who are indignant against the widening rich-poor gap and the uncertainty caused by the reform and opening-up in their lives, Mao comes back as a symbol in their minds that embodies justice, fairness, and equality between the rich and the poor. When corruption is rampant, people are especially indignant that rich people got much of their wealth by foul instead of fair means.
Bo Xilai exploited the surge of Maoism to launch his sing-red campaign and gained great popularity, but reformists regard it as a great threat. The power struggle that brought down the powerful conservatives represented by Bo was full of tricks and intrigues that I will write a book about.
People who think that China can maintain its tremendous growth rate and finally surpass the United States, shall not forget that Maoism as an insurmountable obstacle to reform and opening up may stop China’s growth at any time in the future if the CCP does not discard Mao Zedong Thought. The omission of Mao Zedong Thought is only the beginning.
However, I doubt whether Mao Though will be removed from CCP Constitution this time as Xinhua statement only said “the congress would revise the party constitution to incorporate ‘significant’ theories” instead of removing something.
Certainly, we hope Mao Thought will be removed, but I do not think that the reformists are strong enough to do so now.
China leftists urge parliament not to expel Bo Xilai
Posted: October 23, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bo Xilai, China, Chinese politics, Mao Zedong, Maoism, power struggle, Red China, sing-red campaign Leave a comment »Reuters report from Beijing: “A group of Chinese leftists has issued a public letter calling on the country’s largely rubber stamp parliament not to expel disgraced former top leader Bo Xilai from its ranks, saying the move is legally questionable and politically motivated.
“Stripping membership from Bo – the one-time Communist Party chief of Chongqing who is accused of abusing power, taking huge bribes and other crimes – also removes his immunity from prosecution, and paves the way for formal charges against him.
“Bo’s ouster has exposed deep rifts in the party between his leftist backers, who are nostalgic for the revolutionary era of Mao Zedong, and reformers, who advocate for faster political and economic reforms.
“The letter, carried on the far-left Chinese-language website ‘Red China’ and addressed to the parliament’s standing committee, says the party is fuelling doubts about the accusations against Bo by refusing to discuss them publicly.”
“‘Red China’, which has issued a torrent of commentary defending Bo, is blocked to the many Chinese users who do not know how to evade censorship barriers, and the letter is likely to fall on deaf ears in any case.
“Parliament’s standing committee, its top decision making body, meets for four days from Tuesday and is expected to throw Bo out of parliament, removing another hurdle for the smooth handling of a generational leadership transfer kicking off at a key party congress next month.”
For details, please visit Reuters at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/22/us-china-politics-bo-idUSBRE89L03320121022
Mao Zedong Thought Missing in Key Party Document
Posted: October 23, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, Chinese politics, conflict between Mao Thought and reform, Mao Zedong Thought, Maoism, Politburo meeting Leave a comment »In its report titled “Document outlining China’s future reportedly excludes ‘Mao thought’” SCMP says, “A document outlining the way ahead is said to be missing references to the former leader’s ideology in a bid to embrace modern themes”
“A crucial document setting the Communist Party’s direction for the next five years came to light yesterday after general secretary Hu Jintao convened a meeting of the elite Politburo.
“The meeting by the 24-strong body will finalise the draft of a report to be submitted for approval by the central committee of the Communist Party, to be held on November 1, which will be the final preparation before the convening of the 18th party congress on November 8.
“A dispatch from the meeting by Xinhua said the final report from the party’s 17th national congress would make ‘plans and strategies on our country’s reform and development from an all-round perspective’.
“While highlighting several guiding tenets of party doctrines by President Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin and Deng Xiaoping, one key term missing from the Xinhua report was ‘Mao Zedong thought’, an absence that led some China watchers to wonder whether the party might be moving to play down the philosophy of its late patriarch in the 18th national party congress.
“The ideas associated with the loosely defined term – such as class struggle, commune living and continuous revolution – seem ever more remote in modern China and party leaders have been under pressure to diminish them in the party constitution.
“But the term retains significance as a founding party doctrine and Mao continues to be revered by many, a fact demonstrated by disgraced Chongqing party boss Bo Xilai’s controversial campaign to revive ‘red’ songs and culture.”
“At its meeting in Beijing yesterday, the Politburo proposed amending the party constitution based on ‘important strategic ideas’ that have arisen since the last party congress five years ago.”
For details, please visit SCMP website at:
Deeper political reasons behind Bo’s harsh penalty
Posted: October 1, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bo Xilai, China, Chinese politics, Mao Zedong, Maoism, red culture, sing-red Leave a comment »SCMP says, “As a joke circulating among Beijing’s elite suggests, Vice-President Xi Jinping, who is slated to take over power in November, owes much thanks to a now-infamous face slap early this year that changed history.”
It seemed that the slap led to Wang’s defect that caused Bo’s downfall.
“Before the January confrontation, Bo, the flag bearer of the mainland’s leftist movement, was an odds-on favourite to join the Politburo Standing Committee”.
“Some within the party reportedly sought leniency for Bo, suggesting he be disciplined internally rather than face criminal charges.”
However, the party has now decided to punish Bo harshly.
SCMP says, “In fact, there are deeper reasons for Bo’s harsh punishment. As a charismatic leader, Bo’s populist policies and open embrace of Mao Zedong’s egalitarian era had won him strong support among the country’s leftists, who have been unhappy about official corruption and the nation’s rising income gap between the rich and the poor.
“Harsh punishment of Bo serves also to help curb his support group, particularly after recent waves of anti-Japan demonstrations saw some protesters holding up pictures of Mao – an action seen by many as a show of support for Bo.”
For details please visit SCMP website at:
China: Bo Xilai’s supporters take to blogs to show their support for him
Posted: October 1, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bo Xilai, China, Chinese politics, leftists mourn Bo’s downfall, Maoism, red culture, sing-red Leave a comment »SCMP says, “New Leftist bloggers rally behind their fallen idol, saying he was toppled on trumped-up charges because fellow party leaders feared his influence.”
“The downfall of former Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai, who was famous across the nation for his promotion of “red culture” and communist ideology, has stirred cries of distress from his so-called New Leftist supporters.”
“Since Friday’s report, many of Bo’s supporters have posted comments supporting him on the ‘Red China’ website. The far-left Chinese-language portal replaced Utopia – a website popular among leftists and nationalists that was shut down in April after Bo’s downfall.”
“The Red China website is blocked on the mainland unless internet users find ways to circumvent censorship.
“However, at the weekend, the mainland’s microblogs, or weibo, were teeming with debate about Bo’s dramatic downfall.”
For details, please visit SCMP website at:
Suicidal Attack to Claim Privilege of Job Inheritance
Posted: August 28, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bo Xilai, China, Mao Zedong Thought, Maoism, princeling, privilege of inheritance, sing-red campaign Leave a comment »People whether outside or within China regard the privilege enjoyed by princelings as disgusting, but inheritance has been China’s thousands years of tradition.
Marxism-Leninism advocates elimination of such feudal tradition so that the tradition was eliminated in the Soviet Union.
However, Mao “creatively developed” Marxism-Leninism by appointing his wife and nephew high official posts and thus creatively developed China’s traditional malpractice of inheritance. In addition, he stipulated that the entity where a worker had retired, should provide one of the worker’s children a job in the entity.
That must be the cream of Mao Zedong Thought; therefore, Bo Xilai, the princeling benefited by inheriting his father’s influence, launched a nationwide sing-red campaign to restore Maoism.
Common people shall also enjoy such privilege of inheritance since Maoism advocates egalitarianism. However, as Mao defied laws both human and divine, he certainly did not make such privilege an institutionalized one while the current leaders who uphold the rule of law do not think that it will be acceptable for Chinese people to write such privilege into law.
How shall common people protect their privilege of inheritance then? A woman in Shaoyang, Hunan adopted a tragic approach:
In its report “Three killed in attack over son’s job refusal”, SCMP says: “Woman in Hunan poured petrol on officials then lit it, after only one of her sons was employed
“At least three officials were killed and three were injured when a retired worker carrying bottles of petrol ran into a conference room at a water supply company in Hunan province yesterday and set fire to a group of Communist Party officials.”
“Shaoyang’s propaganda authorities said retired worker Shi Yanfei, furious after the company failed to give one of her sons a job, burst into the conference room, spilled petrol on the party officials and ignited it. Shi then jumped from the building and died later in hospital.”
“China News Service quoted Shaoyang propaganda officials as saying the retired worker was angry because the water company had only given one of her two sons a job.”
She “suspected the company’s party officials had given the other position to an acquaintance rather than her son. At state-owned companies on the mainland, it is still common for children to inherit their parents’ positions when they retire.”
“Some workers in Shaoyang said that positions inherited from parents enabled young workers to unfairly enjoy higher salaries and more favourable pension schemes than those recruited publicly.”
via SCMP.com – Three killed in attack over son’s job refusal.
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