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China news tagged with: 1949 60 years (59)

• Qian Gang: How the Next Ten Years Will Decide China’s Future

  

  On China Media Project, Qian Gang looks ahead to the 70th anniversary of the PRC in 2019:

  If I may be allowed a bit of simple prognosticating, let me say that the next ten years will decide China’s future.

  2012 is the year that Hu Jintao will pass power to the next generation of leaders. While the CCP’s statutes do not place limits on the tenure of the general secretary, provisional rules on term limits issued in 2006 (党政领导幹部职务任期暂行规定) specify that party leaders should hold office for no more than two terms.

  If during the coming ten years China’s political climate continues at its present tempo, if there are no dramatic political bumps, we can be fairly certain that the leader who takes the reins at the 18th Party Congress in 2012 will remain as China’s national leader when the 70th anniversary rolls around in 2019.

  China cannot be allowed to slide into chaos. This is something all Chinese can basically agree on. But if the CCP continues to drag its feet on political reform, we should all be deeply concerned.

  » Read more
  • October 29, 2009 10:43 AM

• Qian Gang: In Modern China, No Place for Totalitarian Anthems

  

  On China Media Project, Qian Gang analyzes the four anthems that were sung during the festivities for the 60th National Day celebrations:

  Mao, Deng, Jiang and Hu were all represented together during the festivities. And in fact, the ceremonies included two anthems symbolic of Hu Jintao’s leadership.

  “Oh, Lovely Land,” which accompanied the massive portrait of Hu, is perhaps not an anthem in praise of him personally, but praises him indirectly as a leader who “governs for the people”:

  The ordinary people are the earth;
  The ordinary people are the sky.

  “On the Sunny Road,” which Peng Liyuan (彭丽媛) sang over the grandiose fireworks display, was a clear and conscientious choice:

  On the sunny road,
  In the air the banners soar.
  Scientific development and harmony,
  Guide China to brighter shores.

  “Scientific development” and the “harmonious society” are of course markers of Hu Jintao. They are his political banners.

  These four songs — or five — all fall into China’s tradition of what can be called “song politics,” or gequ zhengzhi (歌曲政治). They mark the intersection of high-level power plays and political slogans with the realm of culture and popular entertainment.

  They are also relics of the totalitarian era.

  Watch Peng Liyuan perform “On the Sunny Road”:
  

  » Read more
  • October 26, 2009 9:56 PM

• National Day Parade in 360 Degrees

  

  Xinhua has posted an amazing 360 degree image of the October 1 National Day parade. Drag your mouse to navigate through the whole image, which can be seen here.

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  • October 24, 2009 5:28 PM

• Perry Link: China at 60: Who Owns the Guns

  

  On the New York Review of Books new blog, Perry Link reviews the October 1 military parade and looks back at 60 years of CCP rule:

  Last summer, at the opening of the Beijing Olympics, a similar extravaganza led viewers through 4000 years of Chinese history and then—in a telling silence—skipped the years 1949 to 1979. Those Mao years are hard to look at, and a lot of flash is needed to cover what actually happened. A man-made famine killed at least 30 million people; ideological campaigns and labor camps killed millions more, traumatized the entire society, undermined a nation’s idealism, and turned public political language into a cynical game of intimidation and word-manipulation. (And this leaves out the initial violence that brought the communists to power.) These are the major facts of those years, and it is a trick to celebrate them.

  Defenders of the Communist Party’s record argue that “the second thirty years” are very different from the first. “Reform and opening” has brought economic growth, higher living standards, integration with the world, and greater flexibility in daily life. These indeed are important advances over the Mao period, but to “credit” them to China’s ruling elite, rather than to the billion or so people who are ruled, is a bit perverse. Imagine things from the point of view of an ordinary Chinese worker: a brutal regime has its foot on your neck for years; then it relents, but says “now you may make money, but only that—no politics, no wayward religion, no trouble-making.” So you take the one category of freedom you are offered and pour everything into it.

  Hundreds of millions of Chinese have taken this deal, and have worked long and hard, for low wages, often in sweatshops, with no unions, no medical insurance, no workers’ compensation, no recourse to independent courts—and have made money, at least more than they had before. About a quarter of the population still lives in dire poverty, while the ruling elite, now leaders of a large political-economic interest group, has been catapulted to wealth and even to gaudy opulence. Economic polarization is now greater in China than in the U.S. (where it has been growing). The Communist Party credits itself with “lifting millions from poverty,” but it is more accurate to say that the millions have lifted the Party.

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  • October 10, 2009 8:19 PM

• The Red and the Black

  

  From The Economist:

  Shortly before the 60th anniversary of communist China’s founding on October 1st, police in the south-western city of Chongqing opened an unusual exhibition. On display, to invited guests only, were 65 luxury cars formerly owned by the bosses of the city’s crime gangs as well as an assortment of jewellery, guns and drugs. Chongqing, the wartime capital of China, had been a hub of organised crime in pre-communist days. Now the gangs are back, with roots in the party that almost wiped them out six decades ago.

  In Beijing the huge military parade on October 1st, China’s first in ten years, was intended to show off a modern, powerful face. The country’s leaders had reason to flaunt their stuff this year. Not only has China made enormous economic and technological strides since 1999, but it has also weathered the global financial crisis with remarkable resilience. Officials had worried that widespread lay-offs in export businesses could lead to social unrest. But, apart from bloody rioting in the far-western region of Xinjiang in July, fuelled mainly by ethnic rivalry, the past few months have seen no obvious increase in the number or scale of protests.

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  • October 10, 2009 8:09 PM

• The Founding of a Republic! Propaganda, or a Commercial Success With Some Irony?

  

  Robert Woo from Global Voices takes a look at people’s feedback on the film The Founding of a Republic. The following translated thoughts from Han Han are excerpted from the post:

  I am highly suspicious that the director is employing irony in his method. Take for example that scene when those founding generals uproariously sang L’Internationale, and when Mao Zedong said, we should be forever united. (At that moment) I sensed this movie’s real potential to become a true classic: if it did not end in 1949, but rather in 1976! In 1949, the sincere people sincerely embraced the sincere Mao Zedong and the sincere New China. Yet, after 60 years, the people still do not own even a single meter of their own land. We are all no more than tenants. Before, our ‘old society’ was composed of many classes. Now it is much simpler, there are only four: the poor, the housing slave, the rich and the obscenely rich.

  In another sense, The Founding of a Republic is like a love story. It artistically recounts the story of an impoverished boy who was pursuing a rich family’s daughter. The Communist Party was the poor boy, the New China is the daughter waiting to be married, the KMT is the fiancé and all those democratic parties and independents are the daughter’s friends. The boy’s secret to success is to have dreams, brag about future, relentlessly network and make many empty promises. Of course, being unafraid to fight is the most important of all. At last, he successfully married the New China. Apparently, the life after this marriage is not much different than the life after your marriage.

  Have you met your promises you made when you were dating?

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  • October 10, 2009 4:05 PM

• Alex Pasternack: The Great Wall Parade

  

  Alex Pasternack writes for China Beat about watching the National Day parade while being sequestered in a foreigners’ compound in Beijing:

  My house arrest in the compound would be temporary and voluntary, and merely a side effect of Beijing’s careful preparations for a parade, which allowed for no unauthorized bystanders along its route. But there was something more threatening about these particular rules. A collection of dismal concrete high-rises surrounded by big walls and guards, the compound always had the feeling of a refuge and a kind of prison. To hammer the point home, the parade, I had heard, would be first and foremost a show of China’s military might.

  Most of these walls aren’t that hard to climb over. The Manchus invaded. These days, a piece of software, a virtual private network, can let your eyes wander outside China’s nanny internet, to such risque enclaves as Twitter or Youtube.

  But there are bigger walls, harder to surmount. The house arrest, the real kind, is a favorite pastime of the Beijing police. They’re always likely to send grim looking men to camp out outside your apartment building if you’re an outspoken AIDS activist or a human rights lawyer, especially when US congressmen are in town, or a sensitive anniversary is approaching.

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  • October 8, 2009 2:55 PM

• Rights Group Says China’s Prisoners Saw Some Leniency On Anniversary Of Communist Rule

  

  From The Canadian Press:

  Thousands of prisoners in China benefited from last week’s celebrations to mark 60 years of communist rule, with sentences reduced and parole granted by provincial authorities, a human rights group said Thursday.

  China’s leaders did not issue any special pardon for the holiday, which saw a carefully choreographed military parade attended by Communist Party chiefs, the San Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation said. Instead, the actions were taken by authorities in three provinces, it said, citing state media reports.

  It was not clear if any of the inmates were political prisoners, such as those arrested for taking part in the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement or prosecuted under China’s broad state security laws.

  Prison authorities normally announce sentence reductions and paroles ahead of traditional festivals such as Chinese New Year but not for political celebrations like last Thursday’s National Day celebrations, the human rights group said.

  » Read more
  • October 8, 2009 12:50 AM

• Tweets During the National Holidays (Updated)

  

  Chinese twitterers were busy during the National Day holiday, offering their opinions about the military parade and celebrations. Below are some examples from more politically-minded tweets:

  @wenshiyi:  The order of the three slogans yelled by Hu Jintao was very interesting.  Long Live the Great Chinese Communist Party! Long Live the Great People’s Republic of China! Long Live the Great Chinese People!  To use Mencius’s language: the ruler ranks the highest, the state comes next, and the people count the least.  [Mencius's original quote was "The people rank the highest, the state comes next, and the ruler counts the least."]

  胡錦濤喊的三個萬歲的次序很有意思：偉大的中國共產黨萬歲！偉大的中華人民共和國萬歲！偉大的中國人民萬歲！套用亞聖的名句，就是君為貴、社稷次之，民為輕。

  @ Gongminyaoyao: I only have one thing to say about the military parade: the government can drive tanks on the street to show off the nuclear missiles,  but ordinary citizens could not get kitchen knives in the supermarket.

  阅兵只有一点点看法，政府可以开着坦克在街上炫耀核导弹，老百姓在超市里菜刀都买不到。。。。

  @ anonymous: [Internet censorship instructions to website editors]：The following type of information is strictly forbidden to appear on all websites. If you see it, immediately delete it and report the posting IP  [to Internet police]
  1. Eulogy for sixty year anniversary of the Chinese nation. 中华六十年祭
  2.The Great Motherland is much older than sixty years. 伟大的祖国母亲岂止六十岁
  3.Demonstrate in black on October 1st. 十一黑衣游行
  4. Demonstration in Wuxi over illegal evictions. 无锡非法拆迁游行示威
  5. The explosion in the Xinjiang restaurant in Beijing is a deliberate human action. 北京新疆餐厅爆炸属于人为
  6.  Xi Jinping failed to be promoted to the vice-chairmanship of the Central Military Committee Xi接任军委副主席未遂
  7. The Rights Protection Group of Hong Kong Investors going up to Beijing to petition again.  港商内地投资权益维护小组再次上京请愿

  @hansenguy : If Lu Xun lived today: most people would say they have never heard of him, and a very small group of people would have heard of him after they climbed over the Great Firewall. And a tiny tiny group of people, exiled overseas, would protest in front of the PRC embassy, demanding his release. 

  鲁迅要是在今天：大大部分人会说不知道这个人，小小部分人翻墙有所耳闻，小小小部分流浪海外的在大使馆前举牌要求释放鲁迅。

  @wangpei: Han Han wrote: in our country, citizens have the freedom to publish, but the government also has the freedom to not let you publish, and the latter has the right to interpret [the Constitution].

  韩寒：在我们国家，公民虽然拥有出版的自由，但政府也拥有不让你出版的自由，并且后者拥有解释权。

  @try2feel: I asked two venture capitalists after a couple drinks during a banquet: Why do you guys care so much about politics? One said: to understand the CCP is my professional need.  The other said: therefore opposing the CCP became my personal hobby. 

  借着酒劲问俩做风投的：你们干吗这么关心政治？一个说：因为了解TG是出于工作需要。另一个接着话茬说：所以反对TG成了个人爱好。

  Twitterers are often not just tweeting short texts, they also share photo links in their networks as well. Here are some photos from the parade:
  
  
  

  And a cartoon: The Qin Shi Huang block in the parade 生果報馬龍漫畫：嬴政方陣 http://twitpic.com/kbutg

  

  The above comments and images represent one line of thinking that was apparent on Twitter in recent days. However, because Twitter is blocked in China, those who still using the service from China tend to be those netizens who make the effort to “jump over” the Great Firewall. Therefore, Chinese tweets tend to be more political and more critical of the government that other online forums. If readers surf Chinese BBS (online forums), they are far more likely to find more celebratory comments about the military parade during National Day. Here is a very popular music video, made by two Tsinghua graduates who are currently living in North America, which expresses such feelings:

  » Read more
  • October 6, 2009 10:00 PM

• Sun Jiaye (孙嘉业): The Interpretation of the Slogans for China’s National Day

  

  From Hong Kong’s Ming Pao, translated by CDT:

  China is a country of slogans. And during significant festivals or celebrations, official slogans are often promoted. Last weekend, the general office of the CPC and the State Council released a list of slogans for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the PRC. The official media’s explanation is that the word “harmony” (和谐) –which is not well-received outside the party– appeared five times; netizens in China found the phrase “persist” (坚持) appeared 15 times. Thirteen slogans begin with “persist,” and 14 slogans contain “persist”.

  Yet compared with the official slogans during the 50th anniversary 10 years ago in Jiang Zemin’s era—which also created 50 slogans at the time—some more interesting points can be found. Except for some slogans with specific historical background like “Lay Emphasis on Theoretical Study, Political Awareness and Good Conduct” that disappeared, “Wholeheartedly Rely on the Working Class”, “Take Economic Construction as the Central Task, and Stick to the Four Fundamental Principles”, and “Be Self-reliant, Work Hard and Build the Country through Diligence and Thrift”, etc. have also been left out.

  “Seize the Strategic Opportunities, Concentrate on Construction, Focus on Development”, and “Persist in Putting People First (以人为本), to Well Implement, Well Maintain, and Well Develop the Fundamental Interests of the Overwhelming Majority of People” were added. The slogan “Respect Knowledge, Respect Talent, Develop the Country Through Science and Education” 10 years ago has been replaced by “Enhance the Ability of Innovation, Build An Innovation-Oriented Country”, which shows a subtle adjustment in policy.

  No Mentioning of Political Reform:

  The replacement of the slogan “Advance Political System Reform” (“推进政治体制改革”) with “Persist with the Organic Unity of the Party’s Leadership, With People as the Masters of the Country, Ruling the Country by Law!” (“坚持党的领导、人民当家作主、依法治国有机统一”) would disappoint those who hope to facilitate political reform in mainland China. Among the slogans of “Long live…”, the one “Long Live the Great Unity of the People of the World” was missing. Instead, “Long Live the Great Chinese People” was added, which fairly fit China’s pride in its power. It looks like the “Great Chinese People” who have ascended to the throne as a savior don’t need to “unify with the people of the world”.

  “Rally Closely Around the CPC Central Committee with Hu Jintao as the General Secretary” was listed as the 3rd slogan, while 10 years ago the counterpart that “Rally Closely Around the CPC Central Committee with Jiang Zemin as the General Secretary” was only listed as 40th. This fully demonstrates that the position of Hu Jintao now is at least not beneath that of Jiang Zemin ten years ago.

  For more, read an interview with Jefffrey Wasserstrom on NPR in which he translates and analyzes the 60th anniversary slogans (read article here; listen to interview here.)

  » Read more
  • October 4, 2009 9:32 PM

• Photos of Chinese Leaders Watching National Day Celebrations（Updated)

  

  Former Premier Zhu Rongji kept a low profile in all black and shades during the National Day parade in Beijing on Thursday. The photo below, one of the only ones that has emerged of Zhu from that day, has generated discussion among Chinese netizens and is reportedly being deleted from Chinese sites.

  

  In contrast, former President Jiang Zemin’s presence has been prominently highlighted in Chinese media reports of the festivities, with his face appearing in broadcasts almost as frequently as President Hu Jintao’s.
  [President Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin watch the parade from the Tiananmen rostrum, via Xinhua]

  Hu Jintao, meanwhile, mostly kept a straight face throughout the 2.5 hour parade, but came to life as the mini-skirted female militia marched by, as both Danwei and Evan Osnos point out.
  

  [China's leaders watch the parade from the Tiananmen rostrum, via Xinhua]

  Update: More photos from Hu Tianyi’s independent blog:
  
  
  
  
  [In this screenshot of CCTV's online survey about the audences' satisfaction for CCTV's "live broadcast" job, 85% participants voted "very poor."]

  » Read more
  • October 3, 2009 9:58 PM

• China’s Economy: 60 Years of Progress

  

  Prominent Chinese economist Wu Jinglian, covered in this recent CDT post, has written an analysis China’s economy since 1949 in this weekend’s edition of Caijing.

  From the piece’s introduction, by Caijing editors:

  During most of the 60 years of modern China’s development, much time has been spent on carrying out various economic reforms. From original struggles to system reform to developing a market system while maintaining the system of public ownership and a planned economy, and then on to a complete transformation to a market economy, the direction has been clear for a long time, and the end goals have gradually become more apparent. Property rights reform, market (pricing) reform, enterprise reform, and reform of the political system, working together, have to a great extent unleashed vitality in the national economy and led to an average growth rate of close to 10 percent per year for the past 30 years. The rapid pace of development has allowed China to become the world’s third-largest economy.

  Still, the going is toughest toward the end of any journey. The road to reform for China’s economy is far from complete: Reform on property rights still has a long way to go, and many key decisions such as energy prices, interest rates and exchange rates are still tightly controlled by the central government. Reforms for state-owned enterprises in certain monopolized industries such as energy, telecoms and banking are even harder to push forward. Government and government-owned entities still control a major part of the national economy’s resources. Incomplete reforms are one root cause of social problems such as corruption, social inequalities, economic imbalance and environmental deterioration.

  Despite China’s phenomenal success over the past 60 years, problems will accumulate unless national economic reforms are thoroughly implemented. It could be hard to avoid falling short of success during the last big push despite great accomplishments during the 31-year period of reform and opening up. If this happens, China’s economy will lose a dependable foundation.

  » Read more
  • October 3, 2009 9:39 PM

• A Little Reflection on Patriotism

  

  ChinaGeeks translates an essay on National Day proceedings from Fenqing.net, a web portal for ‘angry youth’:

  In real life and on the internet, one can often see and hear people loudly complaining about the injustices of life and the dark aspects of society. Speaking with righteous anger, if they aren’t talking about corruption they’re discussing the impotence of the government, mocking and complaining, blaming everyone but themselves. They speak as though some incidents [such as the] corruption of officials occurred right in front of their eyes instead of behind closed doors. This kind of person is quite common, and I look down on them. I used to argue with them, but now I just laugh at them. Towards the nation and the government, I feel more supportive and eagerly anticipating, encouraging and grateful. I think this is also a kind of patriotism! But people [feel] they must discuss present-day evils.

  Indeed, it’s undeniable that there are irrational and unjust things in society. China still hasn’t eliminated corruption. But why do people always want to focus on this and refuse to let go of it? Society has developed, life has improved, the nation has become prosperous and strong. No one can deny this, so why aren’t there more people paying attention? Treasure a positive attitude, rebuild through one’s own efforts, take care of yourself and live well, this is what is most important.

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  • October 2, 2009 3:42 PM

• China’s 60th Anniversary, By the Numbers

  

  Fast Company created a graphic delineating the statistical differences in a number of areas between China in 1949 and in 2009:

  
  

  See the full version here.

  » Read more
  • October 2, 2009 2:14 PM

• China Is Wordless on Traumas of Communists’ Rise

  

  The New York Times looks at the lives lost in the CCP’s march to power 60 years ago:

  In what China’s history books hail as one of the war’s decisive victories, Mao’s troops starved out the formidable Nationalist garrison that occupied Changchun with nary a shot fired. What the official story line does not reveal is that at least 160,000 civilians also died during the siege of the northeastern city, which lasted from June to October of 1948.

  The People’s Republic of China basked in its 60th anniversary on Thursday with jaw-dropping pageantry, but there were no solemn pauses for the lives lost during the Communist Party’s rise to power — not for the estimated tens of millions who died during the civil war, nor the millions of landlords, Nationalist sympathizers and other perceived enemies who were eradicated during Mao’s drive to consolidate power.

  “Changchun was like Hiroshima,” wrote Zhang Zhenglu, a lieutenant colonel in the People’s Liberation Army who documented the siege in “White Snow, Red Blood,” a book that was immediately banned after publication in 1989. “The casualties were about the same. Hiroshima took nine seconds; Changchun took five months.”

  » Read more
  • October 2, 2009 9:59 AM

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