The old men of the CCP are trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Imo, they think that they can reimpose traditional Communist rule after years of allowing access to a freer more open culture. I think they will fail and that they will encounter massive passive resistance.
I also had to make sure that this wasnt an Onion article.
The weird thing is that Communists seemingly embrace and hate traditionalism all at the same time. They smash old historical relics, destroy ancient things…but are almost always anti-LGBT and anti-feminist and now are the ones touting Confucianism. Not just China, but North Korea is apparently ultra-patriarchal and anti-LGBT and “traditionalist” while being super-commie. Weird…
Imo they embrace Confucianism because it buttresses their stranglehold on power. I also believe that a large segment, if not a majority, of Chinese would rather have a comfortable life for themselves and their families than ‘struggle’ against the West for dubious gain.
Yeah — the Cultural Revolution-era Maoists were fans of the Legalist School who could not discredit Confucius enough and abhorred adherence to ancient ways.
But run forward a few decades and in the 21st Century the Party ARE the establishment, who want to claim unto themselves the Mandate of Heaven in addition to that which flows from the barrel of their guns, and who will present themselves as protecting “Values” … including the “value” of submission to the higher authorities.
Mao’s “Little Red Book” was inherently Confucian in form. His Legalism only extended to destroying competing hierarchical and traditional structures.
I think that Xi has reached a similar peak of power and there is no one left in the CCP to challenge him as he pushes China into a war economy.
He has so many plates spinning that are massively expensive. The overall authoritarian surveillance state, the naval build up, the space program, the preparations for the invasion of Taiwan. He needed as much international trade as possible to pay for it all. Now that trade has been disrupted he wants to pay for his folly on the backs of the Chinese people.
This is getting into bizarro-land.
If you read between the lines, it’s clear that the CCP is very nervous about something. When China was growing economically and forever expanding their economy, they were very open with the West. They tolerated the growth of the internet, the domestic big tech industry, and even a burgeoning movie industry with critically-acclaimed films. But clearly that China is gone. They’re worried, and it’s not just because they’re trying to take Jack Ma down a peg.
After years of 9% (okay, probably more like 5-6%) growth, their expansion is beginning to fall in line with other major world economies, only the Chines government has done a lot of lending over the past 10 years. And there’s a major housing bubble. Worse for them, a substantial amount of household wealth is tied to home ownership. And then there’s this news about a major construction firm, Evergrande, that is tanking and will probably need a Chinese bank bailout (i.e. their version of AIG).
This isn’t China trying to become tougher; this is China trying to make sure that they assert control over their subjects before the seed gets planted in their heads that they can express anger if their economy really capsizes.
Xi is describing the struggle in nationalistic terms however.
Yeah, that’s indeed the pivot he seems to be making. China’s economic miracle lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty in the span of 30-40 years. A lot of Chinese have a good, middle class life, even if they aren’t wealthy. I think the Chinese middle class looked to the outside world and saw their comforts and sought to emulate that standard of living. A lot of the Chinese I’ve met over the years are quite nationalistic or patriotic, even culturally chauvinistic. But I think they also feel like they’ve worked hard to achieve the ‘Chinese dream’ and I don’t know if they’d like the idea of giving that up.
I’ve believed for a while that China’s ascendant was inevitable, but the apparent consolidation of power under Xi is potentially a step backward. I felt like China’s communist party structure actually was effective in terms of creating its own system of governance. It seemed to govern as a party, and not under one leader, but Xi seems to have changed the dynamic a bit.
Agree totally. We are indeed living in interesting times.
I sometimes wonder if the US and China might not in fact collapse at or around the same time.
What a shit show that would be, lol.
I would guess the government likes tradition when it espouses fealty to the state or helps bolster current ideas of nationalism and influence. However, history and cultural trends not supporting current goals would likely not be emphasized.
Black Pigeon Speaks talked about this several months ago:
That is, China claims that the trend was encouraged by the U.S. via Japan.
Heh. Does anybody imagine that warrior-type martial artists like Bruce Lee received even a fraction of the mating opportunities, to put it delicately, that famous Asian boyband singers get these days?
Historically and culturally, absent an actual war or other physical survival situation, the only real function of conventional “masculinity” is to attract chicks, to put it not so delicately. If “effeminate” men are doing just fine and dandy in the chick-attracting stakes, then is complaining about their “effeminacy” anything but plain old envy?
I’m strongly reminded of similar critiques in 18th-century Europe about “beaux” and “dandies” and “macaronis”, all of which likewise carry a strong whiff of non-pretty men being butthurt that pretty men are getting more dates than they are.
The difference I think is that the warrior types are fighting for the top of the food chain females while the boyband guys are playing to regular girls. A similar dynamic works the other way with the most desirable women getting the best guys while we normies fight over the more approachable ones.
In what imaginary universe is this happening? Yes, lots of “regular girls” like boyband singers, but lots of conventionally top-hottie girls like them as well.
The notion that top-hottie girls are necessarily more attracted to “warrior types” than to pretty men is an illusion sold to regular guys by makers of “warrior type” entertainment media whose target audience is regular guys.
One only needs to looks at the gfs of the warrior type males like athletes.
Uh, AFAICT there are quite a few boyband stars with hot girlfriends too.
I’m not saying that muscular rich male athletes can’t get hot girlfriends. I’m just saying that it’s unrealistic stereotype-thinking to imagine that “effeminate” goodlooking rich male pop stars can’t get hot girlfriends, because hot girlfriends are only attracted to “warrior types”.
I agree that they can get them. Definitely.
China has a buttload of challenges as Asashi has pointed out. Not least of which is the greying population.
The Party has always made the faustian bargain of “we let you get rich, and you don’t question the right of the Party to rule.” This worked just fine for the past few decades with stronger than normal growth, but now that is starting to fade.
There is a huge movement to go after tax cheats and the Chinese that managed to get money (mainly ill-gotten) out of the country years ago and buy residency visas. An awful lot of Chinese I know are scared they can’t go home again.
Thomas Friedman had a pretty insightful op-ed that the US pulling out of Afganistan makes it China’s worst nightmare. To wit, fundamental Islamists on the border with Xinjiang, US no longer providing security for China’s Belt and Road initiative that goes through Afganistan, etc.