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A day for celebration? Today, on July 1, the Communist Party of China celebrates its centennial. It has thus lasted longer than any comparable organization; the Communist Party of the Soviet Union survived only 79 years. The Chinese Communist Party has thus proven that socialist systems can also be long-lived and not just cause hardship but also, in the best of cases, are capable of bringing prosperity and cosmopolitanism to the world.
But these 100 years are of course not the shining history that today’s propaganda campaign wants you to believe. From its rise to power in 1949 to the reform era starting in 1978, it has rarely made people’s lives better but more often than not changed it for the worse. Other countries, which also have been battered by war, had already reached their economic miracles during this period. The CCP’s rule, on the other hand, began not only with lost years but even with human and economic regressions.
Our first article on this great anniversary is dedicated to the period of China’s gradual opening to the world since the early 1980s. Frank Sieren sheds light on another topic of great tension which defines Chinese politics today: A struggle between opening and surveillance. Modern China allows its citizens to freely travel and invites investors into the country – a crucial difference from the Soviet Union. But the resulting contrasts are all the more perplexing. A free market, but unfree citizens. Socialism, but rampant egoism and high innovation without an open society.
And we conclude today’s briefing with a portrayal of a person who warns against this mixture of influences: Cai Xia, once a leader of the Communist Party’s inner circle. A staunch communist who has now defected to the USA. Cai observes the increasing totalitarianism and a fundamentally aggressive stance in Chinese politics with great concern. She believes that her homeland is no longer on the right path.
All this reveals how many issues the CCP is actually currently facing. Behind the beautiful facade of the celebrations, those in power are fully aware of these predicaments and are working on solutions, as we have pointed out in our articles on the CCP anniversary. On Thursday, we’ll tell you about the splendor the Party has displayed for its anniversary. And, of course, we’ll continue to keep you updated on the latest political developments.
Finn Mayer-Kuckuk
Feature
A new daily dilemma: a country between openness and surveillance
Chinese people think in long historical dimensions, dynasties to be precise. The Chinese are also traditionally convinced that dynasties come and go in waves. After 160 years of bankruptcies, misfortunes, and mishaps between 1820 and 1980, a new period of prosperity is dawning. Now that China has largely completed its catch-up to modernization and they are able to manufacture top-quality cars and smartphones themselves, they have begun to return to the old innovative times. After all, China – a nation since around 200 BC – looks back at a long history of great innovative periods.
China’s Communist Party (CCP), founded 100 years ago, is seen as the driving force of the current dynasty, based on an ideology that was imported from the West in times of need and which always causes problems when it comes to keeping up with reality.
However, this reality shows every day because the CCP, unlike the Soviet Union at the time, allows its citizens to travel. This lets you compare for yourself which system is functioning better. The second difference: China’s CP cadres have understood perfectly well in their attempts that despite different ideological starting dispositions, the market economy is a central element and prosperity is necessary to guarantee the survival of the party. And the third difference: Competition between the West and China – some are already talking about a new Cold War – is also taking place within the country. Western companies also produce in China for the Chinese market and Chinese companies feel this pressure every day. After all, customers have the freedom of choice of which product to buy. Even Chinese citizens who don’t travel – and they still make up the majority – notice these differences. Back in the day, this would have been unthinkable in the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc countries.
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