MCLC: stirring essay by Murong Xuecun (2,3)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: jiwei xiao <jiweixiao at gmail.com>
Subject: stirring essay by Murong Xuecun (2)
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I don't think it is "over-rhetorical," as Costas said in his post. If you
live in China as an ordinary Chinese, you hear his stories all the time.
And I don't hear pessimism in his voice, at least in the original post. It
is an outcry that many in the country want to hear. China's problems are
not universal problems but they will become the world's problems one way
or the other.

 
Jiwei

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From: Bill Goldman <billgoldman at mac.com>
Subject: stirring essay by Murong Xuecun (3)

I found Costas Kouremenos's post interesting, but was pulled up by his
remark that China is "a police state, but not a totalitarian one". I agree
it is a police state, but am wondering by what definition of totalitarian
he excludes China from this label. After all, as we know, the ruling
Communist Party does not allow any competing parties to exist or stand in
elections, clamps down very severely on attempts to convince its citizens
that political change in the direction of freedom is desirable, and so on.
How, please, does this not constitute totalitarianism? Is it merely that
personal differences of and even of opinion are now tolerated provided
people do not attempt to persuade others that they are right and the CP is
wrong? If that is what Costas means, then what word would he consider
appropriate for describing China's political system?

Bill