-
A Nation on the Edge
May 20, 2013 | 5 comments
-
April in Paris
April 11, 2013 | 11 comments
-
France Meets Ugly American
April 4, 2013 | 23 comments
-
Kerry Chéri
March 16, 2013 | 0 comments
-
Sarko Redux
March 11, 2013 | 4 comments
Buy the Book
Party Animals
How does the Chinese Communist Party retain its implacable rule over one-fifth of humanity? Richard McGregor explains.
(Page 2 of 2)
Newspaper editors and TV producers also get frequent calls, even if they don’t have red machines on the desk. It will be from the Central Propaganda Department giving the angle on the day’s news. Here again, the Party now uses a soft sell, relying on the media’s “self-discipline.” Chinese newsmen don’t really need to be told how to play a story, one editor explained to McGregor. “There is a red line in their head.”
Americans will soon be getting more of the Party’s perspective on current affairs as an increasingly media-savvy Propaganda Department develops Chinese news media overseas. The Xinhua agency recently announced plans to open a prominent newsroom in New York’s Times Square, with Reuters, News Corp., and the New York Times as neighbors. It will provide a Chinese-slanted news feed to CNC World, the agency’s new 24-hour channel. This is part of the Party’s decision to spend billions of dollars to create a global media empire to offset what it considers biased coverage of China.
Having banned it, the Party clearly considers McGregor’s masterful study to be biased coverage indeed. All the more reason to buy it, in order to learn what the Party would rather we did not know about how it really runs the country and how its hybrid Leninist capitalism works. The book also should be required reading as an antidote to the coming wave of 90th-anniversary CCP hoopla next year. The Party already has thousands of researchers working up a propaganda barrage of its official history since its creation in 1921. The world is about to hear more than it wants to about how the Party “successfully united and led the Chinese people to achieve miracles,” as Central Committee Vice President Xi Jinping recently put it.
When will the Party be over? On that inevitable, probably bloody, day when Chinese citizens decide that it’s not enough in life to get rich, if they don’t have the right to live free under a democratically elected government. They may already be partway there, having manifestly lost their communist faith. As a professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing told McGregor, “Party leaders realize that they don’t have a dominant ideology they can use to run the country any more. The sole ideology shared by the government and the people is money worship.”
About the Author
Joseph A. Harriss is The American Spectator’s Paris correspondent. His latest book, An American Spectator in Paris, was released this fall.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (33) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Joseph A. Harriss
More Articles From Buy the Book
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/10/12/party-animals
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
David W| 10.12.10 @ 7:45AM
After watching the behaviour of the current adminstration (as well as some past Republicans) you wonder how long it will be before this become us. some would say it is already happening.
Alan Brooks| 10.12.10 @ 10:53PM
Finally, a good article in AS; you have to wait a week until another one comes along.
Melvin| 10.12.10 @ 7:59AM
Whatta ya mean, the Chinese are still Communists? No way, because they showed the world during the Olympics, during the opening and closing ceremonies that they weren't Communists anymore, because they have embraced the West's free market principles so therefore that makes they're Communism null and void.
Mao, was a great leader like Castro, Lenin, Stalin, and oops I almost forgot, Che Guevara. "Mom! Where is my Che T-shirt? I want to wear it at the Student Union rally, we're showing our solidarity with the Palestinian Liberation Organization against the Zionist Pigs." "It's in your desk drawer next to some little red book written by a guy named Mao...Dear what is a Zionist pig" "It's complicated mom you wouldn't understand, I'm taking the car see you later."
"My god, he's forty years old and a professor at the college and he still lives at home. !Honey, when are you going to have that talk, with junior and ask him when he is going to go out on his own?"
This is why the Chinese...are Chinese. As long as the Chinese Communists convince the world that they are the victim of the Imperialist West, they will continue to get sympathy, from the apathetic West, who feel that China was and still is a victim, and somehow deserving in a little leeway in dealing with billions of it's citizens or should I say, Slaves?
Alan Brooks| 10.27.10 @ 12:21AM
One can do fine in China as long as one keeps one's mouth shut.
But if you get out of line, they don't have to arrest you, they can merely lock you out of your abode and confiscate everything of yours.
My cousin taught English in Guangzhou, and married a Chinese woman. When he decided to go back to America, he found his passport was missing from his room.
He had to sneak out of China by way of Taiwan, leaving his wife in China-- until she died.
Steve A| 10.12.10 @ 8:50AM
I am dead serious when I ask this question. How is it that, if the Chinese Communist model is such an opressive, corrupt, morally bankrupt set of values, that these are the guys who are bankrolling our debt?? I mean, why & how do they have the resources to finance us??
Mel Torme| 10.12.10 @ 9:43AM
Steve, it's because the Chinese Han people are hard-working, they lack diversity, which is pretty cool, they save money instead of blowing it, the government encourages exports, discourages imports like the plague, and they have had their money, RMB, pegged at the same exchange rate to the dollar for so long (encourages imports, but keeps cost of consumer goods still relatively high in China).
The government there isn't stupid when it comes to protecting the financial health of the country. Unfortunately, the average Chinese "middle class" city person or the poor rural people (almost by definition, if you live in out in the country there, you are poor) doesn't really get their fair share of the wealth produced. This is due to a huge amount of corruption by people in all levels of government. Many of the government people, be they Beijing rulers or local county gov't people, send their bribe money back to the US to keep it safe, or in the form of college tuition for their kids in California.
Steve A| 10.12.10 @ 9:48AM
Thanks for the info. Mel.
Tim| 10.12.10 @ 9:28AM
A peaceful and prosperous China is one of the greatest success stories of the last twenty years. It could have been otherwise-just look at North Korea.
For all the warts, the Chinese Communist Party chose to join the rest of the world and that's a good thing.
PJ| 10.12.10 @ 9:37AM
Come again?
The Communist Party of mainland China is destroying China's most precious resource: its people. You may think its prosperous now but if China doesn't change its attitude about its people, it's economy will surely collapse!
Tim| 10.12.10 @ 9:44AM
Easy PJ, All I'm saying is that I'm glad that we no longer face a Maoist China, isolated and on a hair trigger for nuclear war.
2010 could have been a world where CHina has 50,000 warheads aimed at us and the south China sea is the new Fulda Gap.
George True| 10.12.10 @ 11:26AM
The South China Sea IS the new Fulda Gap. Just as the expansionist Japanese government claimed all of Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific as their "economic co-prosperity sphere" prior to WWII, so is China doing likewise today. China is gearing up militarily to challenge and defeat the US Navy in the Western Pacific. Just as Russia is now claiming the "near abroad" as their own and brooking no foreign intervention there, so is China essentially claiming all of Asia and the Western Pacific as their own.
Don't for a moment think that communist China is not as great a threat as they have ever been. The still are and always will be as long as they are communist.
Mel Torme| 10.12.10 @ 12:49PM
George, I disagree. I don't see the parallel that you do between the expansive of Chinese power to that of the spread of Communism during the cold war. I'm not arguing against maintaining a strong Navy and Air Force for defense, BTW. I'm saying it's time we quit being the world's police.
Yes, the goverment of China is communist, but I don't think their goal in life is to "spread communism throughout the world", as was the Soviet's (and 1950's-60's China) idea. The leadership in China may be evil, but they are not stupid (I guess you could call them "smart democrats"). The only reason they have a serious amount of power is due to the enormous economic progress made only via free enterprise, especially in the southeast provinces. It is real free enterprise when you get past the bribery and crap, and small business there puts small business in the US to shame (not any fault of our small businesses here, but due to our overbearing regulation and taxes). People in the central government over there, being not as stupid (but equally evil) as their counterparts here, do not want to do any more political "programs" to kill business.
The Chinese really like to do business, and they are good at it. Somehow, it did not get brainwashed out of them during the hard-core Commie days. The spread of Chinese people around the world is not the same as the spread of Communism. There are Chinese ventures in Africa, for instance. Yeah, that gives China a leg up there, but so what? Let them colonize the place for all I care. The continent could not get any worse anyway. Let another power get blamed for all the world's problems instead of the US, and, previously, the UK.
The US had a good reason, I think, to project power around the world when the Soviets were trying to make the whole world go to the dark side. There was a reason Americans fought in Korea and Vietnam. However, I don't see the Chinese expansion as the same thing.
The US can't remain an empire any longer if we are to survive. It is time to worry about our own defense and our own problems. It's not like we have a big surplus of funds over here, right?
Metl Torme| 10.12.10 @ 12:51PM
"The only reason they have a serious amount of power ..." oops, that may not have been clear.
I meant "power in the world", not "power over their own people". The first requires a decent economy, while the 2nd just requires that you keep all the guns in the government.
George True| 10.12.10 @ 2:09PM
Mel: I agree with much of what you say. ANd I don't necessarily believe that the current evolution of the ChiCom government has a goal of "spreading communism" worldwide. But the do have a goal of challenging and ending US hegemony in the Pacific and elsewhere.
They absolutely plan to and intend to take Taiwan by force. It is not a matter of if they will attempt to do so, but only a matter of when.
They also plan to keep the US Navy at least 200 miles away from the entire 11,200 mile coastline of China, as well as denying the US Navy access to the East China Sea and the South China Sea. That encompasses almost all of Southeast Asia.
Within the next year, their new Dongfeng DF-21 carrier-killer missile will become operational. This is the weapon they will deploy if we try to intervene when they go for Taiwan. It is a weapon designed to defeat our ability to project power with our carrier battle groups.
So no, their purpose is not to "spread communism". But is is, in my humble opinion, most definitely their purpose to end US global hegemony and establish their own hegemony. And while not spreading communism per se, their endgame is to remain in power, as communists, and make sure that that power is never seriously challenged. And that requires that they eliminate our ability to dictate terms and replace it with their ability to dictate terms to us instead.
I agree that the Chinese are great entrepreneurs and businessmen. But that does not mean that their government has any benign intentions, either for us or for their own people. They (the government of China, not the people) are dangerous, and will remain so as long as they believe they have the right to subjugate their own people.
Since the day they invaded and occupied Taiwan in the 1950's nothing has really changed with their outlook. Sure, they have gotten smarter, very much evidenced by their decision to integrate free enterprise into their version of communism. But in the end, they still believe than might makes right, and that they can do whatever they want to simply because they want to. That means they will always be dangerous in the same way that all communists are, and that they can never really be trusted.
George True| 10.12.10 @ 2:12PM
Sorry, meant to say since the day they invaded and occupied TIBET, not Taiwan. Reminder to self: next time proofread before posting.
George True| 10.12.10 @ 2:12PM
Sorry, meant to say since the day they invaded and occupied TIBET, not Taiwan. Reminder to self: next time proofread before posting.
Mel Torme| 10.13.10 @ 8:09AM
George, sorry for the late reply (if you are reading this at all). I agree with most of what you say.
China does indeed want to take Taiwan, and they don't like hearing of it as anything but another province. However, I see only one reason that we should defend that island, which is that our government made promises to defend it. Of course, our government has made a lot of promises that it can't keep, many to US citizens. We'd all be better off if everyone inside and outside the US knew not to trust the Fed. Gov't (example, the fools who are buying up the treasury bonds, which will be defaulted on or inflated away to nothing).
As for Taiwan again, we shouldn't feel any moral obligation to fight for them. Keep in mind, the guy that moved the nationalists there in 1949 or so, Chang Kai Shek (American spelling) was not a the Chinese Ronald Reagan or something. He was highly corrupt and did not do enough to fight the Japs with American-sent materiel. They redistributed the American aid (meant for the war effort) among themselves. If the Nationalists had done a better job against the Japs, then the Commies may never have had the support they had to take over the country later. Anyhow, f__k em - again we can't be the world's police.
If we can't sail in the S. China sea, so what? I do understand the advantages of having bases all over the world such as in intelligence gathering and quick deployment. We've got to get over that. Bring the soldiers, sailors and airmen home from Okinawa (if we are still there?), S. Korea(and the old Garand rifles should be free to US citizens), Germany, and an hundred other places.
Lastly, I agree that the citizens cannot control the government, so the powers that be may decide to get warlike without the will of the people. For that matter, due to their strong control of the media, the government could find a way to rile up the people to where they want war. Oh, wait, am I writing about China or the US now?? It's getting really hard to tell now.
Have a good morning.
PJ| 10.12.10 @ 9:46AM
I swear if I didn't know better, I would think that Joseph Harriss was describing a book on various past Chinese dynasties.
The name may have changed, but the player remains the same.
Peter McGrath| 10.12.10 @ 9:48AM
The overthrow of the Chinese communist system would fundamentally transform the world economy. Such an event would spark of a renaissance of intellectual capital that boggles the mind with its implications.
PJ| 10.12.10 @ 9:52AM
I agree whole heartedly!!!!
fundamentalist| 10.12.10 @ 12:41PM
There is a branch of economics called the New Institutional School that explains the survival of the Party very well. The Party follows the traditional form of closed government identified by the NIS: the ruler grants power and privilege to an elite in exchange for loyalty. It's the oldest, most enduring and most common form of government. The elite are allowed to plunder the masses in exchange for loyalty, but they can't steal from each other.
Brian B| 10.12.10 @ 1:03PM
And flathead Tom Friedman thinks it's just the ticket for us too.
Melvin| 10.12.10 @ 1:30PM
People, my wife went attended a Chinese school. The one main thing that she remembers is that the faculty pushed the philosophy that the Dragon was going to crush the Eagle.
Last time I checked we're the Eagle.
sasob| 10.13.10 @ 12:33AM
Last time I checked eagles eat snakes like earlybirds eat earthworms.
Dave Williams| 10.12.10 @ 2:50PM
As usual, Monty Python nailed it:
"If Darwin is anything to shout about,
The Chinese will outlast us all, without any doubt."
kerry| 10.12.10 @ 2:59PM
So, the Chinese, a country with no bill of rights and a history of mass murder, is now going to spew it's propaganda in the USA with full support from the marxist media empire.
Perhaps our unbalanced, unfair trade agreements have benefited China and strengthened it economically far beyond what it would have been otherwise, is that the tradeoff for avoiding a prolonged cold war? Will it prevent a hot war? I think the economic success WE have brought the Chinese will make them even more aggressive in the years to come.
..meanwhile we have to buy Chinese crap that is literally killing us (google chinese drywall and sudden infant death syndrome), are losing all of our jobs to them, and now our tyrannical leaders have sold our souls to them with unsustainable debt and IOU's. God forbid they have to pay tariffs and buy something we make...
Redstateboy| 10.12.10 @ 5:27PM
One of the ironies of History.. If Mao came back to China today and began organizing the Peasants, preaching to the Proletariat Soviet equality... He'd find himself sitting in a Jail Cell while here in the United States of America we've got a Community Organizer preaching redistribution of Wealth..
Richard Baker| 10.12.10 @ 6:48PM
Regardless, they are STILL Communists. Look at the history since 1917 and only the names and propaganda methods have changed. I also understand that their Military Press have many correspondents who, in essence, want/advocate a brawl with us. Hope it doesn't come to that but I'm not sanguine.
PCP Smoker| 10.12.10 @ 6:54PM
No mystery here. They adopted free market principles, at least the important ones -- property rights, to do what communism can't do, pay for the inefficient state.
User72| 10.12.10 @ 10:11PM
I am a Chinese currently in China and I decided to verify if it is true that I can not search to book on amazon.com, and I COULD find the book without any problems.
When you lie, you loss all your credibility.
PCC| 10.13.10 @ 5:06AM
I live in Hong Kong. I checked, too. No problem getting Mcgregor's book on Amazon.