Government/Politics - 262. page

On November 28, 2011, Study Times, a journal of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, published an article analyzing what caused the collapse of the former Soviet Union. The writer, Prof. Zuo Fengrong of the Party School, responded to a question as to why neither the Soviet people nor the Soviet Communist Party members stood up to defend the Soviet Union. The professor stated, “The fundamental reason was that the Soviet Communist Party departed from Marxist principles and goals and failed to establish a political system that secured ordinary people’s (social) status.”

He concluded, “Since the people had no right to elect and monitor cadres, they were disconnected from state power. Cadres made all the decisions and the people were just cogs in the gigantic socialist machine. Although the USSR’s Constitution offered the right of citizenship to its citizens in the literal sense, the principle of the citizens’ rights was not implemented until Gorbachev began his reforms. However, the citizens of the Soviet Union did not have long-term training in democracy and did not know how to use their rights, so they became an important force in advancing the nation’s disintegration under Yeltsin’s propaganda.”

Source: Study Times, November 28, 2011
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2011/11/28/02/02_35.htm

The Sixth Plenary Session of the CCP 17th Central Committee set the establishment of a country with a powerful socialist culture as a strategic target. On November 28, 2011, Study Times, a journal of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, published an article stating that “such a long-term strategic plan reflects the Party Central Committee’s cultural awakening, its becoming more and more active in cultural development, and its increasing self-confidence.”

The article repeatedly emphasized the socialist core values. “We must effectively integrate the socialist core values into culture products and culture services. Thus we can expand the global influence of the Chinese culture around the world by taking advantage of the universal acceptance of cultural values and international communication methods.”

Source: Study Times, November 28, 2011
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2011/11/28/01/01_29.htm

Jinghua Daily, a newspaper under People’s Daily, recently reported that the 2012 Entry Exam for Central Government Civil Officials started on November 26, 2011. The exam takes two days. There are around 1.3 million people registered nationally for the exam. The total number of job openings is around 18,000. In Beijing City alone, 2,940 exam sites were established. This year is the first year for all sites in Beijing to be equipped with radio shielding devices. Branches of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also sent mobile radio activity monitoring vehicles to fight high-tech cheating techniques. Large construction sites have been closed temporarily during the exam.

Source: Jinghua Daily, November 26, 2011
http://edu.people.com.cn/GB/16399354.html

The Ministry of Culture recently issued a notice, “On System Reform Actions that State Owned Culture and Art Entities Must Complete.” It required all levels of entities within the ministry to further understand the importance and urgency of the requirements given at the 6th Plenary Session of the 17th National Congress and completely implement the system reforms by the end of the first half of 2012. The notice requested all levels of each entity to lay out the plans, requirements, and timeline and to identify the person in charge; to establish the relocation, coordination, and inspection process; to strictly follow the related requirements; and to systematically complete the work. It also required the understanding and support of the Party organization and government at the district levels so they can assist in the process.

Source: Xinhua, November 21, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-11/21/c_111184330.htm

Beijing News recently published a report on the “Made in China” commercial sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce. The commercial has run on CNN, the BBC, and other European and North American media since 2009. The Ministry did not release the cost officially, but it was estimated to be in the millions of dollars. A Hong Kong based researcher released a recent report that showed the commercial was “generally effective.” However, half of the viewers surveyed said that the commercial did not impact them at all. Compared to another “National Image” commercial that the same Ministry also sponsored, the “Made in China” one was much more successful. About seven percent of viewers had a positive view of the “National Image” commercial while the number of people having a negative view increased by 10% after seeing it. BBC research showed the same result.

Source: Beijing News, November 16, 2011
http://news.bjnews.com.cn/2011/1116/138896.shtml

Xinhua published an article that listed five guidelines for promoting reform of the culture system:

1) Stay firm in using Marxist theory as the guideline and be proficient in knowledge of the ideology that is based on socialist theory with Chinese characteristics in order to ensure that we are walking on the correct path.

2) Follow the advanced cultural character of socialism to serve the people and society and to promote an uplifting spirit and a healthy lifestyle.

3) Stay close to reality, life, and the people and encourage the people to play an active role in reforming the culture system.

4) Give the social effect a top priority. Culture products can educate people, provide social ideology with a guiding principal, and bring economic benefits. However when there are conflicts between social and economic effects, the social effect should prevail.

5) Be firm on the open door policy to promote Chinese culture to the world. Developing Chinese culture should strictly follow the right path particularly in establishing the Communist Party’s leadership, the government management body, social supervision, and the related laws.

Source: Xinhua, November 17, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-11/17/c_111173335.htm

People’s Daily published a commentary advocating that the Party do four things to improve its control of media and of public opinion. The first one is to strengthen the capability to lead public opinion. In doing so, the article stresses the importance of adhering to the Communist doctrine and the socialist banner. The second is to improve control of the Internet and of the new media. Specifically, the Party’s newspapers, news agencies, television stations, and radio stations must aggressively expand into the new media field. The third is to speed up the development of a modern media network. The priority is to upgrade the Party’s media, including newspapers, news agencies, radio, and TV. The fourth is to establish a large army of news staff members.

Source: People’s Daily, November 11, 2011
http://theory.people.com.cn/GB/16208892.html

In Beijing’s recent "election," many independent candidates ran to be nominated as representative to the People’s Congress; however, the Chinese authorities prevented their nomination. Many found their names had been eliminated from the final list of candidates. On November 8, when the election results for the nomination to the People’s Congress in Beijing came in, only the names the government authorities chose appeared. No independent candidates made the list.

Ms. Wu Qing, a professor from Beijing Foreign Language University, said that the election procedure violated the related laws. Wu told Voice of America (VOA), “They did not hold a pre-election but rather used the number of nomination votes each candidate received as the pre-election votes.” “Taking Beijing Foreign Language University as an example, some students were asked to sign a blank recommendation form and didn’t even know who they were recommending. The same thing happened at the China University of Political Science and Law. … Some employees who worked for State Owned Enterprises were fired because they didn’t recommend their company president.”

Wu also disclosed that university students received tremendous pressure from the university authorities. “There were security personnel, secret police, the regular police, and people from my neighborhood at the university. Many students felt unprecedented pressure… The hidden guidelines from the authorities insured that the candidates recommended by the grass roots masses would never make it to the final nomination list.” She said she has made the nomination list seven times in the past, but didn’t make it this time because she was considered “the most difficult People’s Representative to deal with.”

Source: VOA, November 9, 2011
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/20111109-BEIJING-ELECTION-133538593.html