The 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China: Is Xi Jinping the 21st Century Mao Zedong-BBC News

Under the high-pressure anti-corruption campaign of “fighting tigers and flies,” Zhou Yongkang, secretary of the Central Political and Legal Committee, Sun Zhengcai, secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee, Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Ling Jihua, director of the General Office of the Central Committee, were dismissed.

Over the past nine years, the control of society has also been continuously strengthened: since July 2015, the Chinese authorities have arrested hundreds of lawyers and human rights activists in more than 20 provinces; in 2016, Xi Jinping proposed “party media surnamed party”, that is, the party and the government The sponsored media is the propaganda position of the party and the government, and must have the surname party; in July 2016, the liberal magazine “Yanhuang Chunqiu”, which published articles on the history of the Communist Party of China, was taken over by unknown persons.

In terms of social governance, Xi Jinping proposed in 2013 to uphold and develop the “Maple Bridge Experience” advocated by Mao Zedong.

More than 50 years ago, the cadres and the masses in Zhuji, Zhejiang created the “Fengqiao Experience” of “mobilizing and relying on the masses and insisting on not turning over contradictions”, and received instructions from Mao Zedong, which have since been promoted throughout the country. The main spirit of Fengqiao’s experience is that there are fewer people arrested, contradictions are not handed over, relying on the masses, and in the form of reasoning struggles to transform most of the “four types of elements” classified by the CCP, which are “landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries, and bad elements,” on the spot. Into a newcomer.

“The Fengqiao experience is to mobilize the masses and everyone to supervise each other. The final result is that the masses fight the masses and encourage the society to supervise, report and inform each other.” Independent political scholar Chen Daoyin pointed out to the BBC Chinese.

Analysts believe that the various actions taken by Xi Jinping have the same purpose as Mao Zedong’s continuous campaigns, they are all to eliminate dissidents and consolidate their own power.

Chen Daoyin pointed out that Mao Zedong established his absolute authority through three major campaigns after 1949, including suppressing counter-revolutionaries and sweeping away the old forces outside the party after 1949; “anti-rightist” in 1957 and clearing out intellectuals; 1966 The “Cultural Revolution” in 1970 cleared up the opposition forces within the party against those in power who took capitalism.

At the beginning of 2013, Xi Jinping proposed that “two cannot be denied”. “The historical period after reform and opening up cannot be used to deny the historical period before reform and opening up, and the historical period before reform and opening up cannot be used to deny the historical period after reform and opening up.”

The leader of China before reform and opening up was Mao Zedong, and after reform and opening up it was Deng Xiaoping. Chen Daoyin believes that Xi Jinping’s emphasis is not to deny the first 30 years, “(Xi) is to re-travel the roads that were not possible in the first 30 years, including public-private partnerships, People’s Communes, etc.; the direction has not changed, only the means, forms, and technical conditions have changed.”

American Sinologist Andrew Nathan, a professor of politics at Columbia University, told BBC Chinese that Xi Jinping, like Mao Zedong, emphasizes ideology and is hostile to independent thought and actions. “He believes that his ideology is correct and everyone is It must be accepted. And once Mao Zedong makes a policy decision, everyone must obey, and Xi Jinping is the same.”

“One difference is that Xi Jinping uses top-down power to force (people) to comply; Mao Zedong conducts social mobilization to make party members and citizens confront each other; Mao creates chaos and terror, while Xi creates suffocating order and unity. “Li Anyou said.

Born in 1953, Xi Jinping is the second son of China’s former Vice Premier of the State Council Xi Zhongxun. Xi Zhongxun has always been regarded as an enlightened faction within the Communist Party of China. When Xi Jinping came to power, many people had high hopes for him, expecting his son to be his father and lead China on the path of democratic reform.

American Sinologist Lin Peirui believes that when Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, he believed that “something must be done” but did not know how to do it, so he could only learn from Mao Zedong.

“He received very little education and had no knowledge of the modern world. The lack of knowledge left him without any creativity except to return to the Mao era. (He) added only technical monitoring, which was not in the Mao era. “Lin Peirui said.

Lin Peirui believes that Xi Jinping lacks the charm and wisdom of Mao Zedong, and that the current society to be governed is more active than during Mao’s period, and it is more difficult for Xi to control. “If his’Chinese Dream’ succeeds, it will be bad news for China. If it fails, it will also be bad news for China. So in the short term, I am not optimistic. But in the long run, I am about China. Be optimistic.”

Li Anyou believes that Xi Jinping has no intention of returning to the Mao Zedong era, when China was poor, isolated, and chaotic. But he did admire and respect what Mao did during that period and possess the resources Mao had. “So I won’t say that he is following Mao’s policy, but he wants to inherit Mao’s legacy and charm.”

China’s personal cult of Mao Zedong reached its peak during the Cultural Revolution. People wore Mao suits, Mao Zedong badges, and read “Quotations from Mao Zedong.” The slogan “Long live Chairman Mao” was an indelible memory in that era.

After Xi Jinping came to power, the propaganda intensity of China’s official media on Xi Jinping far exceeded that of former leaders of the Chinese Communist Party such as Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. Xi Jinping’s books have been translated into dozens of languages, portraits and posters can be seen everywhere on the streets, and radio drama documentary literature, songs, and various research topics emerge in endlessly. In the official media reports, Xi Jinping has “popular feelings and aristocratic temperament”. He is “the core of the party, the leader of the major powers on the international stage, and the chief designer of modernization in the new era.”

However, under such propaganda, scholars still believe that the personal cult of Xi Jinping cannot reach the height of Mao.

“In the era of globalization, the whole world no longer believes in the cult of personality, charismatic leaders, etc. Although democratization has encountered setbacks, the idea of ​​democratization and equal treatment are still very popular, so he must reach Mao’s influence , I think it’s a far cry.” Chen Daoyin said.

On a global scale, Li Anyou believes that Mao Zedong has a wide range of ideological influence, while Xi Jinping has real influence in many places because of projects such as the “Belt and Road” initiative.

“China under the leadership of Xi Jinping is rich, and money can have influence. China under Xi also has a very large and complex Ministry of Foreign Affairs and global propaganda agency, which Mao cannot afford.” Li Anyou said.

In discussions between the media and scholars, Xi Jinping is often compared with Mao Zedong. Compared with China’s two former leaders, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping’s abolition of the presidency’s term limit reminds people of the life tenure of the supreme leader in Mao’s period; he also prefers to quote Mao’s words in propaganda.

However, according to Chen Cheng, a political science professor at the State University of New York at Albany, today’s Chinese society is very different from that of Mao’s era. The people value tangible governance results more than the lofty but ethereal communist ideals. The full return of Maoism is impossible and undesirable in China today, and this is not the intention of the Xi government.

Chen Cheng pointed out that the Xi government’s emphasis on the foundation of the party was largely due to the realization that in the past “Jiang and Hu period,” the downplay of ideology and negligence in party building had caused serious negative effects on the CCP’s organization and discipline. as a result of.

“The big difference between Xi and Mao is that during Mao’s period, especially during the Cultural Revolution, Mao actually caused great damage to the party’s system, organization, and authority. And what Xi did was to consolidate personal power. On the one hand, many are to strengthen the party’s organization and authority so that the CCP can govern in a long-term and effective manner.” Chen Cheng said, “These measures include systematic anti-corruption, highlighting and strengthening the party’s control and leadership in various aspects such as the economic and legal system. Status, etc., have attracted a lot of criticism from society and abroad, who believe that it has largely suppressed economic and social freedom and cracked down on dissent. But for the CCP and the CCP regime itself, these measures are undoubtedly a booster. “

Professor Wu Guoguang of the Department of Political Science and History of the University of Victoria in Canada is not inclined to compare Xi Jinping with Mao Zedong. He told BBC Chinese that the two are very different in all aspects, including the path to power, the performance before ascending to the position of the highest leader, the power base within the party, the political ecology within the party they face, and the environment of the times. Wait, it’s all very different.

“Public opinion generally believes that Xi Jinping advocates Mao and Deng far away from Mao and Deng, and some people even think that Xi Jinping is implementing the anti-Deng Xiaoping line. My view is different. I think Xi Jinping is accomplishing Deng Xiaoping’s cause, that is, the one-party dictatorship Combine these two aspects with the integration of the market economy into the global economy.”

Wu Guoguang pointed out that because China’s national strength has been greatly enhanced in the past few decades, Xi Jinping’s “integration” into the global economy is no longer the eagerness of Western capital and technology to develop China’s economy as in the Deng era, but a desire to rely on China’s powerful national power. To dominate the global economy, diplomacy and even politics.

In 2022, the Chinese Communist Party will usher in its 20th National Congress. Xi Jinping’s term of office would have ended at that time and will be handed over to his successor. However, suitable candidates have not yet emerged.

Chen Cheng pointed out that there are many irrationals in treating Xi Jinping as Mao Zedong in the 21st century, but the excessive concentration of power in the Mao era has provided people with a wake-up call.

“How to smoothly transition power is still a challenge for the Chinese government. How to evaluate Xi’s era depends not only on Xi’s ruling achievements, but also on how Xi resolves future power transitions and how to accommodate society and the party. There are different constructive voices, and how to strengthen rather than undermine the institutionalization of the ruling party.” She said.