Government/Politics - 108. page

A freshman college student recently posted on the Internet that, “I can’t love my country in my lifetime,” and asked, “Who the f**k loves his country after attending college?” After netizens reported his words to the authorities, the Hunan City University, where the student attended, subsequently expelled him from school.

On September 22, Hunan City University issued a “Notice on Cancellation of the Admission of Freshman Wang Dong from the School of Civil Engineering,” saying that netizens reported the student for spreading comments “insulting the country.”

The Notice stated that the student posted on his Weibo account, a twitter like Chinese microblogging service, that “Patriotism is impossible. I can’t love my country in my lifetime. Who the f**k loves his country after attending college? I think you are an idiot.”

The Notice also said that in view of Wang Dong’s dissemination of “extremely wrong speeches such as insulting the country, the impact is extremely bad.” The university’s office of the president decided to cancel Wang’s qualification for admission.

In the end, the Notice declared that the university will thoroughly implement the spirit of the National Education Conference, resolutely oppose the words and deeds of “damaging the reputation of the party and the country,” fully implement the party’s education policy, earnestly strengthen ideological and political work, and adhere to the principle of cultivating people’s moral standards. Faculty members and students should deepen the education of socialist core values, “guide the faculty members and students to . . . love the party, love the country, and love the people, and work hard to foster the new generation that will shoulder the mission of national rejuvenation.”

Source: Central News Agency, September 23, 2018
http://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201809230121-1.aspx

According to an article from Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch, in the last two or three years, the authorities launched a nationwide crackdown on Christianity in China. The locals were forced to take down crosses and the church pastors and believers were arrested. It is estimated that tens of millions of believers have been affected. In July and August 2018, the authorities in Henan and Anhui Provinces forced believers to abandon their beliefs, to promise not to hold on to their beliefs, and to pledge allegiance to the party. Recently, in Wenzhou City of Zhejiang Province, the authorities launched a “Religion Elimination Campaign” in schools and in hospitals. The students were asked to fill out forms giving their personal information, including about their parents and their religious beliefs. Teachers were also required to guide students to be careful in filling in whether their family members who are adults believe in a religion. This procedure was then used as one of the teachers’ annual performance assessment criteria. Members of the neighborhood watch committee were assigned the “political task” of printing the statement of their renouncing their religious beliefs and asking the individuals and their family members living in the assigned district to sign the form along with providing their finger prints. Then the party secretary of the local branch would sign the form and imprint it with official seal. The individual was also asked to take a photo or video when filling out the statement. All the records would be consolidated and filed with the local township. Meanwhile many Christian believers in Zhejiang Province reported that they were harassed and threatened. One individual from Ningpo disclosed that she was not allowed to attend Sunday family church gatherings and her job and family were used to threaten her. Another individual from Linghai said that there was an unusual power outage at one of the bible studies he went to. On a different occasion, someone left stinky garbage bags outside the home where the bible study was hosted so as to scare people away.

Source: Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch, September 21, 2018
http://msguancha.com/a/lanmu7/2018/0921/17979.html

China’s Ministry of Justice recently held a working meeting to promote the party’s development work among all lawyers across the nation, signaling a trend in which the Chinese Communist Party will play a more dominant role in the legal profession.

The national party development conference took place in Kunming on September 17. It emphasized the need to “adhere sincerely to the party’s all-around leadership in the lawyers’ profession” and demanded “the implementation of the tasks of party building work among lawyers.” The mandate was that, by the end of this year, the CCP organizations should achieve 100 percent coverage in the field of lawyers businesses.

In addition, on Tuesday, China’s Supreme People’s Court issued the “Work Plan for the Full Implementation of the Socialist Core Values in Judicial Interpretation (2018-2023),” which, for the next five years, is to serve as a guiding opinion for the judicial interpretation of the court. It seems that the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, also known as Xi Jinping Thought, is no longer propaganda, but is a major basis for the future of legal and judicial development.

Source: Radio Free Asia, September 18, 2018
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/hj-09182018103501.html

A recent official People’s Daily editorial re-emphasized the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership role in the education sector.

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered an “important speech at the National Education Conference.” “Starting from the overall development of the party and the state, he emphasized the importance of strengthening the party’s leadership in doing a good job in education and gave clear mandates on strengthening the party’s overall leadership in education.”

“To achieve the Party’s comprehensive leadership over education, ideological and political leadership is the number one issue. Marxism is the fundamental guiding ideology for the party and the country. We must always adhere to the guiding position of Marxism and carry out ideological and political work throughout the entire process of school education and administration, so that education becomes a strong battleground for upholding the party’s leadership.”

“To uphold the party’s leadership over the cause of education, the key is the details. Whether the party’s leadership can be effectively achieved depends on whether the party’s organizations in the education sector are sound and perfect and whether the Party’s development work is well done. Party organizations at all levels and schools must take the school’s party development work as a basic skill. The party’s education policy ought to be fully implemented in every aspect of school work.”

Source: People’s Daily, September 18, 2018
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2018-09/18/nw.D110000renmrb_20180918_2-02.htm

The City of Nanjing cancelled “An Enemy of the People,” an 1882 play that Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen wrote, which was originally scheduled to play on September 13 and 14. Instead Nanjing decided to host “The Legend of the Red Lantern” on October 4 and 5. It is one of the eight revolutionary operas created during the Cultural Revolution. The Central News Agency reported that the public questioned why the revolutionary opera was allowed but not Ibsen’s famous work and whether it was an indication of what the authorities wanted and what they are afraid of.

“The Legend of the Red Lantern” was created in the early 1960s. It is based on the period when China was fighting the Japanese invaders during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It describes the plot of three generations of anti-Japanese workers who are underground Chinese Communist Party members and it showcases the status of the party during the war. Many of the lines in the play such as “All have a bright heart,” “It is hard for the world to beat the Communists,” and “Blood debts and blood to pay” are familiar to many Chinese in the middle-aged and senior generations.

The official cancellation statement of “An Enemy of the People” cited technical issues, but, according to the New York Times, when the show was playing in Beijing, in one part, the cast asked the live audience to shout out their dissatisfaction. The exchange between the cast and the live audience included the audience members expressing their strong desire for free speech and their dissatisfaction with the government, with corruption, and with the financial scandals. The director of “An Enemy of the People” told the New York Times that he believed that the theater in Nanjing cancelled the show because they were afraid of a similar response and of potential liability.

Sources:
1. Central News Agency, September 15, 2018
http://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201809150127-1.aspx
2. New York Times, September 14, 2018
https://cn.nytimes.com/china/20180914/china-ibsen-play/zh-hant/