Image source,Getty Images
A seller in Yan’an sells portraits of Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping.
When U.S. President Joe Biden called for a coalition to contain China’s influence in a series of international conferences, U.S.-China relations seemed tense. But in China, the atmosphere is completely different. The CCP is intensively preparing for its centennial celebration.
Just like the soaring temperature in Beijing in recent days, the series of activities carefully prepared by the Communist Party of China for the centenary anniversary of the founding of the party on July 1 are also about to reach a climax. To ensure that a grand celebration held in Tiananmen on that day is foolproof, Beijing has carried out It took two days of drills. The authorities also require domestic birds such as pigeons in the urban area to stay at home and are forbidden to be released during the day.
The promotion of the CCP’s “great achievements” is not limited to this celebration. In the past few months, theaters in many places in China have been required to show patriotic films such as “King Kong River” and “Operation Red Sea”; red scenic spots such as Yan’an and Zunyi have been crowded by tour groups that come to carry out party building activities; public buses in some cities The car, from the compartment to the seats, is covered with the story of the red revolution.
As the CCP is preparing to celebrate its centenary birthday, it comes at a time when the ideological differences between China and the West are at their worst in decades.
Many Western countries accuse China of violating human rights in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and other places, and are “opaque” in the traceability of the new crown virus. US President Biden has stated many times that, in contrast to China’s authoritarianism, the United States will defend the values of democracy and freedom. China, on the other hand, accused the West of trying to hinder China’s rise, and said that the epidemic “tipped off the’new clothes of the king’ of American democracy.”
Political scholars believe that the CCP regards this anniversary as an important opportunity to prove the legitimacy of the regime. The ubiquitous propaganda offensive has sent the same message to the Chinese people: Only the party can bring the Chinese nation to rejuvenation.
Centennial of the Communist Party of China
In July 1921, more than ten young communist group members secretly convened the first meeting of the CCP in a bungalow in the French Concession in Shanghai. At that time, China was torn apart and had little influence on the international stage. But with the victory of the CCP in the civil war and the radical Mao Zedong era and the subsequent “reform and opening up”, China has become the world‘s second largest economy with nuclear weapons, and the CCP has more than 90 million party members. Super party.
Although there is no lack of criticism of Beijing’s increasing social control and suppression of freedom of speech, the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party claim that it has achieved the modernization and prosperity that the Chinese have dreamed of for more than a century, and the official media advertised this as the “Chinese road” or ” Chinese model”.
Image source,Reuters
The Tiananmen area in downtown Beijing has begun to install related equipment for the celebration.
As the culmination of the campaign, the CCP’s official celebration meeting will be held in Tiananmen Square on July 1. The authorities have not yet released the details of the conference. However, according to reports, unlike the event to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China in 2019, the conference will not hold a military parade, but Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, will deliver a speech.
Due to preparations for celebrations, many popular attractions in Beijing, including the Palace Museum, Tiananmen Square, Capital Museum, National Museum, Chaoyang Park, and Olympic Park, have been closed for many days. Several subway stations have also been temporarily closed.
In the previous weekend, Beijing had held celebrations and exercises for two consecutive days in the Tiananmen area and along the main road Chang’an Avenue. According to the authorities, more than 14,000 people participated in the drill and on-site support work. Traffic control has been implemented in many sections of Beijing’s city center, and pedestrians and vehicles are prohibited from entering.
The authorities have also strengthened security in an all-round way, with more than two security guards on each bus in Beijing’s main urban area. From June 13th, Beijing has banned flying pigeons and other birds in the main city during the day, and drones, kites, and radio communication tools have also been strictly banned. The Beijing Public Security Bureau reported on June 15 that a man had been administratively detained for launching a drone in an open space.
The Communist Party of China has been in power for nearly 72 years, and has surpassed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, becoming the Communist Party that has been in power for the longest time in history. Many scholars believe that the CCP attaches great importance to this anniversary, not only because it is an integer 100th anniversary, but also because this day provides an opportunity for Beijing to promote itself as a model of success outside the Western democratic system.
“In the past few years, China and the West have become more antagonistic. The Chinese Communist Party hopes to give the common people such an impression that without the leadership of the Communist Party, it is impossible to have the leadership of China now. This is the historical legitimacy of the party,” China Strategic Analysis Think tank researcher Deng Yuwen told the BBC.
Image source,Getty Images
The Communist Party of China will celebrate its 100th anniversary on July 1 this year.
everywhere
“From the beginning of the year, we have to participate in various party history classes, as well as essay competitions and knowledge contests. Everyone has to participate. There are various notices every day, and then we have to write weekly summary and weekly plans every week, and take photos Upload. Basically all the work now is carried out around the century of the founding of the party,” a civil servant working in the local government of Jiangsu told the BBC.
“These party history lessons are mainly for us to learn the ideals, beliefs and dedications of our ancestors, so that we must adhere to the beliefs in socialism and adhere to the road with confidence.
“It’s no problem to study party history, but now it’s formalism in many cases, which has changed,” the civil servant added.
In addition to civil servants and party members, Chinese officials hope that ordinary people, including non-party members, can also receive “red education.”
“With the theme of’follow the party forever’, organize and carry out mass-themed propaganda and education activities in various forms and rich in content, vigorously sing the era of good Communist Party, good socialism, good reform and opening up, great motherland good, and good people of all ethnic groups. The main theme,” the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee said in a notice issued to the whole country.
Image source,Getty Images
A group of tourists took a group photo in front of the site of the First Congress of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai.
Under the call, primary and secondary schools across China have launched the largest party history and patriotic education movement in recent years. In Fuzhou City in southeastern China, the city’s schools held about 24,000 speeches and essay competitions on the theme of “Party History from Primary School, Always Follow the Party”, and more than 2,200 activities with the theme of “Love the Party and Ode to the Party”. Sessions.
The authorities also hope that ordinary people can further understand that all aspects of life they are enjoying now stem from “the kindness of the party.” Especially under the leadership of Xi Jinping, China has made progress in eradicating extreme poverty and fighting corruption.
On June 10th, Qingdao City, Shandong Province hosted a collective wedding with the theme of “gratitude to the party and to follow the party”. 25 couples jointly issued “Heirlooms and new styles of family traditions, gratitude to the party and follow the party” at the wedding. “The initiative.
In the Jiangjin District of Chongqing City in the southwest, the local area specially upgraded the emergency broadcast system of the whole district. More than 4,000 speakers set up in the fields in rural areas played party history theories and revolutionary stories, so that “the voice of the party sounded in the fields.” .
Even monks from many Buddhist colleges were mobilized to participate in party history knowledge contests and learning activities.
Chinese media and cinemas are also occupied by a large number of red works. In Shanghai, a theater brought the Mao Zedong-era model play “Take the Tiger Mountain Out of Wisdom” back to the stage. The Shanghai International Film Festival in June this year used the gift film “1921” as the opening film.
The State Administration of Radio and Television of China stated that in 2021, a hundred TV series celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the party will be broadcast, forming a “100-year-old” creative production pattern.
“Now when I turn on the TV at night, dozens of TV stations are all TV dramas of revolutionary wars, either about liberation or anti-Japanese drama,” said a Beijing citizen. “You are building a party and a nation every day, do you have any other choices?”
The Chinese Communist Party once again ceremoniously promoted “Red Tourism” in a century
Anti-“historical nihilism” movement
In order to ensure a “good environment” for the centennial celebration, the authorities are stepping up efforts to suppress dissent. In May of this year, the State Cyberspace Administration of China organized and carried out a special action to “rectify online historical nihilism”, clearing out millions of “harmful messages” that deny Marxism and the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.
An editor working for a provincial official newspaper told the BBC that the newspaper received an order last month to limit the frequency of negative news for nearly a month. The editor of another mainstream news website also confirmed this statement. For security reasons, they all requested anonymity.
Observers believe that the centennial commemoration of the founding of the party is also vital to Xi Jinping’s personal reputation. As the most powerful leader of the CCP since Deng Xiaoping, the CCP wrote his thoughts into the party constitution in 2017 and lifted the term limit for the president of the country in 2018. At the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China next year, it is almost certain that he will start his third term.
“He believes that the relaxation of social thought control (in the past few years) has caused all kinds of voices denying the Communist Party to come out, which will damage the leadership of the party, which is also damage to his leadership, because he is now leading the CCP,” Deng Yuwen added.
The Chinese authorities released a new edition of “A Brief History of the Communist Party of China” this year. The content of Xi Jinping’s nine years in power has accounted for about a quarter of the entire book. In contrast, the new version of the party history deleted some negative descriptions of Mao Zedong and greatly reduced the space occupied by the Cultural Revolution.
Image source,CNS
Chinese tourists in Red Army costumes participate in the “Red Tour” in Chishui, Guizhou.
The Xi Jinping government also established the Chinese Academy of History in 2019. This research institution located in a magnificent antique building near the Beijing Olympic Park has increased its horsepower on the Internet to refute any history that may challenge the nationalist narrative. View.
In a post, the agency angrily refuted the claim that Mao Anying, the eldest son of Mao Zedong, was killed by a UN air strike during the Korean War because he exposed his position because of a fire and cooking. According to the author, this statement is deliberately “dwarfing the heroic image of Mao Anying’s heroic sacrifice” and “their heart is punishable.” However, in the article, the research institute did not mention that the source of this statement was a number of memoirs published by the Chinese Communist Party’s official and military publishing houses.
Another article of the Institute used a niche viewpoint to refute the claim that modern humans originated from Africa. According to the author, “the ancient humans and their culture in the land of China have evolved continuously and come down in one line. The ancient humans represented by the Peking Man are indeed the ancestors of the modern Chinese.”
Some well-known historians defended this repackaging of history. Professor Ge Jianxiong of Fudan University recently caused controversy when he claimed in a lecture that historical research should “emphasize the legitimacy of politics and serve the reality”, but he responded that there is no need to “make a fuss.”
“History is originally a conscious and selective record of the past by future generations.” Ge Jianxiong wrote.