China’s ruling Communist Party turned 84 on Friday, trumpeting an increase in young new members and calling itself the world’s largest political party in terms of membership.
The party, which has monopolised politics in the world’s most populous nation since 1949, added 2.4 million new members to its ranks last year, bringing its total numbers up to 69.6 million, the online edition of Xinhua news agency said…
Higher education students were one source of growth for the party in 2004, with 195,000 joining, Xinhua said.
“Entering the party has become a mainstream value among today’s university students, and institutions of education are becoming a new ‘red cradle’ for the Communist Party,” Sang Yucheng, a professor at the prestigious Fudan University, was quoted as saying.
After more than two decades of market-oriented reforms, communism is not the calling it used to be in China and there are few true believers in China. But party membership is still seen as key to promotion in China’s civil service and military, analysts say.
