In his speech commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party yesterday, President Hu Jintao (胡锦涛) spoke for a tensely scripted 72 minutes about the glories of the CCP [English here], its “historic” accomplishments and its “advanced” theoretical frameworks. Avoiding altogether the more sensitive episodes of the Party’s history, Hu’s speech traced China’s coming of age as a modern nation, from the humiliation of the Opium Wars to the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, and on through to the the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the onset of economic reforms.
Not surprisingly, there was plenty of talk of the advanced culture of socialism, but no mention of the Cultural Revolution. There was praise for the “building of the socialist market economy,” but no mention of the economic and political tragedies of the Maoist era, such as the Great Leap Forward, the Anti-rightist Movement and the Great Famine.
The Party’s legacy was described as an unqualified success, a faultless saga of national progress. “All of the accomplishments we have made over the past 90 years are the result of the tenacity and continued struggle of the Chinese Communist Party along with the people. The first generation of central Party leaders of which Mao Zedong was the core led the whole Party, the whole people and the various nationalities of the entire nation in achieving the great victory of the new-democratic revolution, building the basic system of socialism, and setting down the basic political conditions and institutional foundations for all development and progress in China today.”
While emphasizing that Hu Jintao’s speech yesterday can be seen as one of “his most important political declarations ahead of the 18th Party Congress [in 2012],” China Media Project Director Qian Gang (钱钢) said the speech was “completely stable and safe, even lethargic,” and gave every indication that Hu Jintao and China’s current crop of leaders have no intention of taking bolder action, particularly on political reform, to deal with problems currently facing China. Overall, Qian Gang said, the speech suggests that Hu Jintao is “in a situation where he doesn’t dare move forward but doesn’t dare move backward either.”
There is every suggestion in yesterday’s speech that Hu Jintao will maintain the status quo through the remainder of his term in office, and will have a hard time making any concerted move.
Perhaps the most notable thing about Hu’s speech is its overriding emphasis on stability, with stability-related terms buzzwords and phrases appearing with greater frequency than seen in the past three Party anniversary reports delivered by Jiang Zemin or Hu Jintao. Here are the four major anniversary reports we have had in the last two decades:
1991: Jiang Zemin’s report to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the CCP
2001: Jiang Zemin’s report to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the CCP
2006: Hu Jintao’s report to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the CCP
2011: Hu Jintao’s report to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the CCP
While the term “stability” appeared 5 times in the 70th anniversary report, 4 in the 80th, and 6 in the 85th, it appeared at least 10 times in yesterday’s speech. The language of stability, moreover, is more hardline than in Hu’s report to the 17th Party Congress, in which he said, “Social stability is the common wish of the people, and an important condition of reform and development.” In yesterday’s speech, Hu Jintao emphasized for the first time that: “Development is the fundamental principle, stability is the fundamental task; Without stability, nothing can be accomplished, and the gains we have already made will also be lost. This principle is something not only comrades throughout the Party must bear firmly in mind, but that the whole people must be induced to bear firmly in mind.” Hu Jintao even included his catchphrase “to not rock the boat,” or bu zheteng (不折腾), in the closing remarks of yesterday’s speech.
Also at issue here is the tug-of-war we have seen happening within the CCP over the past few years, which speaks to deep unease about where the country needs to go. China’s hardline left has clearly enjoyed greater prominence, and almost certainly has wielded greater influence, in recent months.
Keyword frequencies in Hu Jintao’s speech yesterday do seem to indicate something of a leftward shift.
In the political lexicon of the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedong Thought (毛泽东思想), Deng Xiaoping Theory (邓小平理论), the Three Represents (三个代表) and the Scientific View of Development (科学发展观) are terms representing the political ideas and gravitas of four generations of leaders — Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. The relative strength or weakness of these terms is closely tied to shifts in political power. And we can see significant changes in the use of these terms in the four major anniversary reports we have seen in the last two decades, based on Qian Gang’s analysis.
Jiang Zemin’s 1991 report followed on the heels of the Tiananmen Massacre, and economic reforms were stalled at the time, almost a year before Deng Xiaoping’s “southern tour” (南巡). Jiang’s speech that year mentioned “Mao Zedong Thought” 12 times, a clear nod to conservative leaders on the left. But the term declined in each of the successive reports in 2001 and 2006. The reigning terms during the 80th anniversary in 2001 were the “Three Represents,” Jiang Zemin’s signature theory, and “Deng Xiaoping Theory”. But in 2006, both of these terms took a backseat to Hu Jintao’s new buzzword, the “Scientific View of Development.”
In yesterday’s speech, however, we see a startling reshuffle of terms and their relative power. Hu Jintao’s “Scientific View of Development” has plunged, and Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin terminologies similarly show decline. By contrast, “Mao Zedong Thought” is resurgent. So the order of precedence has been flipped: Mao, Jiang-Deng, Hu.
Hu Jintao also mentioned “Scientific Development” (without the full term) several times in the speech, but even when all related instances are factored together they emerge only nine times in the speech, compared to 17 times for the full term in Hu’s 2006 speech to commemorate the Party’s 85th anniversary.
“Deng Xiaoping Theory” and the “Three Represents” have in the past been terms of political strength. But Hu Jintao spoke yesterday of just two “great theoretical achievements” of the Party. The first, he said, was “Mao Zedong Thought”, and the second was the “theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics” (中国特色社会主义理论体系) — which included “Deng Xiaoping Theory,” the “Three Represents” and the “Scientific View of Development.” This packing together of “theoretical achievements” after Mao in fact suggests a weakening of status of Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin. And, says Qian Gang: “Hu Jintao seems to have given up the ambition of [establishing] the ‘Scientific View of Development’ as his personal political trademark. This is a rather peculiar circumstance.”
Could this signal the fact that China’s top leaders have seen their power eroded ahead of next year’s 18th Party Congress, and that a tug-of-war is underway among the Party’s elite? Is there a new dominant political “theory” waiting in the wings? To what extent can we see the ascendance of “Mao Zedong Thought” in Hu’s speech as a sign of a further leftward shift in Chinese politics?
One of the most notable things about yesterday’s celebration was not just, as Hong Kong media quickly noted, the conspicuous absence of Jiang Zemin, who is rumored to be seriously ill, but the surprising presence of the 94-year-old Song Ping (宋平), a formidable figure who has been called the “king of the left” (左王). Song, long rumored himself to be seriously ill, was out yesterday with an air of return — and seated, it must be noted, at the center of the rostrum along with the former premier Zhu Rongji (朱镕基). Does this mean we can expect a shake-up in Chinese politics ahead of the 18th Party Congress?
These are all things we will have to watch closely.

[ABOVE: Song Ping (bottom left), sometimes called the “king” of China’s left, stands next to former premier Zhu Rongji in a position of prominence during yesterday’s celebrations.]
While yesterday’s speech does not differ greatly from Hu Jintao’s political report to the 17th Party Congress in 2007, there are a number of points that clearly mark a step back.
Qian Gang says: “He is unable to answer those questions which have received ever more urgent attention in China in recent years: rights defense, the fight against corruption and political reform. He has great praise for the Party’s achievements in the area of democratic politics, but as for the future there is no vision or promise.”
Qian Gang also notes that the formula of the “four rights,” which Hu spoke of in 2007 — namely, the right to know (知情权), right to participate (参与权), right to express (表达权) and right to monitor (监督权) — are completely absent in yesterday’s speech. Nor was there any mention of “supervision by public opinion,” or yulun jiandu (舆论监督), a term routinely appearing in political reports and past anniversary speeches and denoting the importance of the press and public opinion in monitoring power.
The only portion of Hu Jintao’s speech that was not self-congratulatory came in the 24th minute. Following his litany of praise for the historic victories of the Chinese Communist Party and the people of China, Hu said the Party now faces internal challenges that are “more strenuous and pressing than at any point in the past.” He stressed that the Party faces “four dangers” — lost vitality (精神懈怠), insufficient capacity (能力不足), alienation from the people (脱离群众) and rampant corruption (消极腐败).
But while Hu gave a nod to the problem of official corruption, which is now a source of broad public anger, no substantive action was mentioned. He did not, for example, raise the issue of declaration of assets by officials (官员财产申报).
In sum, Hu Jintao’s speech yesterday was cautious in the extreme, a further sign that the mood of glorious celebration in China is backgrounded by a deep unease.
Those professional Chinese media scrambling to take something positive away from the speech, or to use it to advance more liberal agendas, could only seize on that portion dealing with the “four dangers.” This was exactly what news editors at QQ.com did yesterday, playing down the atmosphere of celebration and self-congratulation. The bright red headline at the top reads: “Four dangers now urgently face us.”

Tomorrow marks the official 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, and celebrations are already underway across the country. Chongqing, where Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has led a resurgence of red culture in recent months, is of course in the lead. Photos of yesterday’s celebration in Chongqing, in which more than 100,000 people were brought together in a local stadium, are being shared across the web today (see below).
But yesterday, Guangdong’s top leader, Wang Yang (汪洋), delivered a speech to commemorate the 90th anniversary. And while Wang said Chinese were proud of the “glorious achievements” of the past 90 years and looked forward to the future “filled with confidence,” he emphasized that “searching for the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics” remained an “arduous task.”
Wang used the occasion of the anniversary as an opportunity to emphasize the seriousness of the challenges now facing China’s government, and to warn leaders against complacency and poor engagement with the public. He said many leaders “acted only in order to be officials” (为做官而做事) and harbored the arrogant idea that the ruling Party has created prosperity for the people, overlooking the importance of the people themselves as a force of historic progress.
Further, Wang Yang warned against losing sight of the real challenges facing China in a chorus of red songs and celebration.
“We must stay calm and maintain clear thinking,” said Wang Yang. “[We] must not allow fresh flowers and applause to drown the opinions of the people, must not let our numerical achievements disguise problems that exist, and must not allow development achievements to paralyze our consciousness.”
On its front page today, Guangzhou’s Southern Metropolis Daily gives big play to Wang Yang’s remarks on the 90th anniversary, using uncharacteristic bold red headlines to emphasize those sentiments in Wang’s speech that are arguably least “red.” The headline reads: “Do not let fresh flowers and applause drown the opinions of the people; do not let numerical achievements disguised existing problems.”

[ABOVE: The front page of today’s Southern Metropolis Daily, with bright red headlines at top taken from Wang Yang’s speech yesterday.]
Here are several photos of the Chongqing ceremony that have been shared across the internet.

A spokesperson from China’s General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP), the government body that handles the licensing of media and journalists, said yesterday that Chinese laws and regulations “have never permitted” government agencies or other organizations to maintain journalist “black lists.” The announcement came in response to a statement from China’s Ministry of Health (MOH) earlier this month that it would keep a black list of journalists responsible for false or misleading reports on health and food safety. The remarks from the MOH drew widespread anger inside China, and were also reported in the international press.
The GAPP spokesperson emphasized yesterday that China’s “Management Regulations for News Journalist Press Cards” (新闻记者证管理办法) state clearly that “news reporters holding press cards and conducting news reporting activities in accordance with the law are protected by the law,” and that “functional departments of people’s governments and their employees should provide the necessary conveniences and protections to lawful acts of news reporting.”
In response to the GAPP announcement, scholar Tao Duanfang (陶短房) said that while the statement was welcome, in practice Chinese journalists are routinely inhibited by local governments in the process of reporting stories. Tao asked: “If the creation of ‘black lists’ of journalists is has ‘never been permitted’, how is it that certain [government] departments and local governments have been able up to now to, openly or secretly, carry out policies [against the press] that are unreasonable, illegal and ‘not permitted’?”

[ABOVE: In this cartoon by artist Fu Yexing (付业兴), two big black arms labelled “journalist black list” come down to restrain a reporter whose valid press card sits on the ground.]

On June 24, a number of Chinese websites carried a story about how the city of Hefei (合肥), the capital of China’s Anhui province, has cloaked trees lining a two-kilometer stretch of road in the city with red cloth skirting and gold collars to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party. An editorial on People’s Daily Online called the practice wasteful, and rued the fact that many local officials still fail to understand the concerns of the people. The editorial asked how many school uniforms for poor children might have been made from the cloth now pointlessly garbing these trees. In this cartoon, posted by artist Kuang Biao (邝飚) to his QQ.com blog, a pedestrian walks with a look of astonishment past a tree dressed up in a red outfit with a gold collar.

Lately, the Chinese Communist Party’s official People’s Daily has kept us all on our toes, in one breath sternly cautioning Party officials to mind what they say, and in the next speaking up for China’s voiceless. We wrote last month that the language in the People’s Daily can never be read as a simple reflection of consensus at the top of the Party, and that differing agendas or views can be voiced in the paper, or even face off in its pages, particularly when divisions within the Party become more pronounced — and many would argue that that is exactly the case right now.
Over the weekend, we had another hawkish surprise on the front page of the People’s Daily, a piece framed as a lengthy history of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) called, “The Party Commands the Gun, A Fundamental Guarantee of Moving From Victory to Victory” (党指挥枪，从胜利走向胜利的根本保证).

[ABOVE: Saturday’s edition of the People’s Daily, with the article on Party leadership of the army right under the masthead at upper left.]
The piece covers a lot of territory, from the Nanchang Uprising of August 1, 1927, which marked the start of China’s civil war and the organization of the Red Army (later the PLA), to the Long March, and up to the present day and the PLA’s role, for example, in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. But the basic message of the piece is unmistakable: the Chinese Communist Party controls China’s military, and this is a fact that will never be compromised.
There are a couple of possible meanings, or readings, that can be gleaned from the People’s Daily piece as we approach the 90th anniversary of the CCP:
1. The Party is flaunting is military strength before the people, saying, essentially, “Look, the weapons are in our hands.” We will preserve stability, and we have the means.
2. Top Party leaders are sending a warning to military brass — we are your masters and you had better listen.
We won’t speculate any further as to the background of meaning number 2, but the reasons for 1 are clear enough, given successive incidents of violent social unrest in China, such as riots in Zengcheng earlier this month.
Given time constraints, we unfortunately cannot tackle a translation of the People’s Daily piece. But here are a couple of highlights emphasizing the Party’s leadership of the army.
“In September 2004, Hu Jintao emphasized during an important conference of the army that, ‘adhering to the absolute leadership of the army by the Party is the question of first importance in the building and development of the army. We must pay attention to this question throughout, grabbing it and not letting it go. At no time and under no condition can we blur or upset [this fact].”
“Mao Zedong pointed out profoundly: ‘Who made the Long March a victory? It was the Chinese Communist Party. Without the Chinese Communist Party, this sort of Long March would have been unimaginable.’ In his latter years [PLA general] Zhang Xueliang (张学良) was moved to say: ‘Only the Red Army led by the Chinese Communist Party could have created the miracle that was the Long March.'”

[Frontpage Photo: A painting depicting Mao Zedong at the Party Congress in December 1929, at which he emphasized that the Red Army must be under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.]

One of the biggest news stories in China today has to be record rainfall in Beijing, thunderstorms such as the capital city hasn’t seen in a century. But how do you play your front page choices when the big story propaganda leaders are pushing is the upcoming 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party?
Here’s a quick look at a few interesting front pages today. The first is from Beijing Youth Daily, published by the Beijing chapter of the Chinese Communist Youth League.

The bright red photo at center accompanies text announcing with great fanfare upcoming celebrations, to begin June 26, for the Party’s 90th anniversary. Below that is an article about a visit to a 90th anniversary commemorative exhibit of newspaper history by Liu Yunshan (刘云山), chief of the Central Propaganda Department.
News choices at one of Beijing’s leading commercial newspapers, The Beijing News, are markedly different. The tribute to the Party’s 90th anniversary is there, but it is boxed off on the left-hand side.

The top story in the tribute box is about recent remarks by a deputy propaganda minister saying that “red songs” are not ideologically linked to either the political left or the political right. The article is a response to concerns in recent weeks that leftist ideologies are in ascendence — particularly with the anniversary just around the corner.
But the front page at The Beijing News is clearly dominated by the news of Beijing’s unprecedented rainstorms. Readers are told that the storms have “crippled transportation in the city” and resulted in the closure of many subway lines. The arresting image is of rainwater coursing like a waterfall down the steps of a subway entrance.
Flooding in the capital was also the biggest front page story in Guangzhou’s Southern Metropolis Daily. A prominent white headline against a black background reads: “Rains submerge Beijing.”

The text at the bottom of the main photo, the same image as that in The Beijing News, reads: “This is a subway station in Beijing . . . ”
What else is different about the front page at Southern Metropolis Daily?
There’s no mention at all of the story topping the agenda in the eyes of Party propaganda leaders. Now what could that possibly be?

Earlier this week, Wang Dingmian (王丁棉), former vice-president of the Guangdong Provincial Dairy Association, said publicly that China’s milk industry had only itself to blame for the fact that China has the lowest quality standards in the world. Wang told Chinese media that such problems as high bacteria counts and insufficient protein counts resulted from poor investment by the dairy farmers supplying major milk companies, as the farmers were squeezed by low profit margins under low prices demanded by big dairy companies. Wang also said that the lowering of safety standards for China’s milk industry would only harm the industry. In 2010, less than two years after the poisonous milk scandal of 2008, China relaxed national milk quality standards, allowing higher levels of bacteria in unprocessed milk (China Daily report here). In this cartoon, posted by artist Shang Haichun (商海春) his his QQ.com blog, a smiling businessman labelled “milk industry” clears a hurdle that had been artificially lowered by a tethered brick labelled “lower quality standards.“

In June 2011, the New Express newspaper, a spin-off of Guangzhou’s Yangcheng Evening News, reported figures released by an enforcement division of China’s central bank showing that since the mid-1990s an estimated 16-18,000 Party, government, police and state-owned enterprise officials from China have disappeared overseas with approximately 800 billion yuan, or roughly 123.6 billion US dollars. The news, first reported by Beijing Youth Daily reporter Cheng Jie (程婕), in a piece re-posted widely across the internet [HERE too], was based on a document released on the internet by the Anti-Money Laundering Bureau (Security Bureau) of the People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank. In this cartoon, posted by the Kunming-based studio Yuan Jiao Man’s Space (圆觉漫时空) to QQ.com, corrupt government officials (identifiable by their imperial-era official hats) hurry through a series of underground tunnels, grinning and making off with bags full of riches.