China General Discussion

[Simfan34]

50 people were killed in Xinjiang the other day- as per state news!

[Beet]

Normally, I don't credit the Epoch Times with much of anything (as I don't take Falun Gong very seriously), however this article seems to be somewhat interesting. The last bit about China's foreign policy seems like wishful thinking, however there is more danger to this Hong Kong situation than is just in Hong Kong.

The students protesters in Hong Kong are right to protest, as it is good to show that Hong Kongers do care about more than just economics. However, it is important that they do not back the CPC into a corner, and perhaps be aware of the larger issues at stake. I am not sure if Zhang Dejiang (No. 3 in the Standing Committee of the Politburo) is really looking for another 1989; I am not sure he needs it. The incident that comes to mind is actually 1986. At that time, Fang Lizhi returned from the U.S. intoxicated with Western values and started touring universities opening his big mouth. Student protests put Hu Yaobang into a corner, and that is how Li Peng's ascent to the top happened to start with. There are certainly people (most likely Jiang faction) who would benefit if enough trouble got stirred up in Hong Kong that it caused the anti-corruption drive to grind to a halt.

[Beet]

Jiang Zemin has made an appearance seated next to Xi Jinping at a concert. It is extremely rare for him to come out. He is supposed to be retired since 2004, but he still clearly not. Sitting to the other side of him was Zhang Dejiang, head of the National People's Congress with jurisdiction over the Hong Kong issue. Other members of the hardline Jiang faction were around, including Li Peng (who declared martial law as Premier in 1989) and Zeng Qinghong, a close Jiang ally and Politburo Standing Committee member during the Hu administration. Who was absent? Hu Jintao himself, as well as Wen Jiabao, plus reformist-leaning former Premier Zhu Rongji.

Meanwhile, the People's Daily published an opinion piece stating that, "In today's China, engaging in an election system of one-man-one-vote is bound to quickly lead to turmoil, unrest and even a situation of civil war." Which normally would not be much, except its author is the head of the Internal Affairs committee of the NPC, Li Shenming. And who is this Li Shenming? He 2011 he argued "for the continued relevance of the 'Stalinist model,' and sa[id] that the critical reason for the collapse of both the Soviet Communist Party and the Soviet Union was not the failure of Marxism or socialism, but the betrayal of these values and systems by Khrushchev and Gorbachev."

[Nhoj]

Jiang Zemin has made an appearance seated next to Xi Jinping at a concert. It is extremely rare for him to come out. He is supposed to be retired since 2004, but he still clearly not. Sitting to the other side of him was Zhang Dejiang, head of the National People's Congress with jurisdiction over the Hong Kong issue. Other members of the hardline Jiang faction were around, including Li Peng (who declared martial law as Premier in 1989) and Zeng Qinghong, a close Jiang ally and Politburo Standing Committee member during the Hu administration. Who was absent? Hu Jintao himself, as well as Wen Jiabao, plus reformist-leaning former Premier Zhu Rongji.

Meanwhile, the People's Daily published an opinion piece stating that, "In today's China, engaging in an election system of one-man-one-vote is bound to quickly lead to turmoil, unrest and even a situation of civil war." Which normally would not be much, except its author is the head of the Internal Affairs committee of the NPC, Li Shenming. And who is this Li Shenming? He 2011 he argued "for the continued relevance of the 'Stalinist model,' and sa[id] that the critical reason for the collapse of both the Soviet Communist Party and the Soviet Union was not the failure of Marxism or socialism, but the betrayal of these values and systems by Khrushchev and Gorbachev."

Interesting that Jiang has made an appearance with XI, considering a bunch of Jiang allies have been purged.

[Frodo]

Xi Jinping sees himself as a 21st century emperor, it seems like:

Leader Taps Into Chinese Classics in Seeking to Cement Power

By CHRIS BUCKLEY
OCT. 11, 2014

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[Simfan34]

[anvi]

That story about Xi Jinping quoting the classics in support of his policies is a good demonstration of how ideologically strange and contorted modern China's political leadership is with the culture's heritage.  Of course, it's not uncommon for leaders to superficially quote classics in support of their own agenda; that's done in every country.  Plus, the state subsidization of Confucian revivalism has been going on since the 80's.  But Xi's invocation of Legalists like Hanfeizi is a little chilling--Hanfei declared that in a "legalist" (fa jia) state, everyone should be subject to the law but the ruler himself.  It's also odd to laud both Legalist and Confucian principles given that they have virtually opposite attitudes towards resorting to law as a first solution to social problems.  The traditional political synthesis known as "inner Legalism and outer Confucianism" represented an inclination for rulers to socialize the common people with Confucian teachings but use harsh punishments inside the court to control mischievous ministers.  Of course, Xi may in a way be signaling to the more conservative Maoist actors in the leadership that he will be strict with Hong Kong by citing Legalists like Hanfei, since Mao himself was an overt admirer of Hanfei's political thought.  It's just that modern political and financial interests in China play fast and loose with their tradition, and that often results in lots of incoherent associations of tradition and modernity.

How surreal that play can get is very visible sometimes.  In the summer of 2010, I was invited to present a paper at a national and international conference of Daoism scholars in Zhengzhou.  The conference was not organized by an academic institution, but by a private entrepreneur who thought the promulgation of Daoist principles could be productive for business practices ().  The conference was held on the top level of a shopping mall complex the guy owned, and adjacent to the conference site on that level was a practice shooting range for commercial hunters.  When we went inside the facility where the conference was held, the walls were pasted from one end to the other with CCP political slogans about the virtues of communism ().  And up we went, one by one, to give our academic papers on various traditional Daoist texts, while our televised images were broadcast on big screens on the street in front of the building, so that everyone could see that this was where all the foreigners hung out in Zhengzhou.

I actually love to go to mainland China, but sometimes the place is just flippin' weird.  Xi Jinping walking around quoting Hanfeizi and Confucius in support of a supposedly coherent political agenda is just another example of that.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

And up we went, one by one, to give our academic papers on various traditional Daoist texts, while our televised images were broadcast on big screens on the street in front of the building, so that everyone could see that this was where all the foreigners hung out in Zhengzhou.

Scandinavia and the World - Office Pet

[dead0man]

China’s Aircraft Carrier Trouble—Spewing Steam and Losing Power

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[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Well, you can't blame Soviet-era engines for the problem.  Possibly Soviet-era engineering, but not Soviet engines.  The Chinese bought her as a hulk without any engines aboard and finally installed engines in 2009.

[politicus]

The one child policy may be changed to a two child policy due to "demographic time bomb".  

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/23/china-may-adopt-two-child-policy-this-year-as-demographic-timebomb-looms

"Experts warn that China’s 1.3 billion-strong population is ageing rapidly, while the labour pool is shrinking. The country will have nearly 440 million over-60s by 2050, according to UN estimates, placing a massive strain on government resources.

Meanwhile, the working-age population – those aged between 15 and 59 – fell by 3.71 million last year, a trend that is expected to continue"

[jaichind]

The one child policy may be changed to a two child policy due to "demographic time bomb".  

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/23/china-may-adopt-two-child-policy-this-year-as-demographic-timebomb-looms

"Experts warn that China’s 1.3 billion-strong population is ageing rapidly, while the labour pool is shrinking. The country will have nearly 440 million over-60s by 2050, according to UN estimates, placing a massive strain on government resources.

Meanwhile, the working-age population – those aged between 15 and 59 – fell by 3.71 million last year, a trend that is expected to continue"

While I am not challenging the fact that this is an issue. We should put this in context.  PRC's fertility rate are somewhat low given its level of economic development but not dramatically so.  They are somewhat below economies like Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey but only slightly below Vietnam (this is the one that is surprising given its level of development) and Brazil.  In fact they are higher than Romania, Thailand and Poland.  I am not even going to mention ROK and ROC and of course Japan which are in a different league in terms of development. 

[Frodo]

Now the citizens of Hong Kong get to elect their district council representatives the same way ordinary Chinese elect theirs on the mainland -you can vote for any member of any political party, so long as they belong to (or are aligned with) the Chinese Communist Party:

Hong Kong holds first council elections under new rules that shut out pro-democracy candidates