MCLC: Party faithful toe the line

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Party faithful toe the line
***********************************************************

Source: The Guardian (11/9/12):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/09/china-communist-party-faithful-
congress

China's Communist party faithful toe the line at choreographed congress
The 2,268 delegates are a diverse bunch but disagreements are hard to find
and little has been left to chance
By Jonathan Kaiman in Beijing

Amid the ornate chandeliers and lush red carpets of Beijing's Great Hall
of the People, flocks of Communist party delegates gathered this week to
debate their country's future. Yet in these debates disagreements were
hard to find.

The 2,268 delegates from across China have convened in the capital to
participate in the 18th party congress, a once-in-a-decade leadership
transition, which began on Thursday morning. The delegates are a diverse
bunch: among them are provincial governors, generals, academics, migrant
workers and an Olympic swimming medallist.

Ostensibly they are responsible for selecting the country's new central
leadership and screening their superiors' work reports. Yet their true
function – to rubber-stamp top party bosses' decisions – is a stark
illustration of how carefully choreographed the congress truly is and how
little has been left to chance.

"In theory they're providing feedback – if there's anything wrong with a
report they'll point it out – but usually that's not the case," said Bo
Zhiyue, an expert on Chinese politics at the National University of
Singapore. "It's more of a celebration. They provide praise for the
political reports."

The leadership's reports were drafted and redrafted for months before
being revealed at the conference, Bo said. Xi Jinping was chosen as
President Hu Jintao's successor months ago.

Brief interviews with delegates showed how unwilling many were to stray
from the party line. "We must build a moderately prosperous society
according to the principles of scientific development," said Xiao Yeqing,
in words taken almost directly from Hu's speech on Thursday. Li Jiayang, a
delegate from the ministry of agriculture, opined that "it's important for
us to build a wonderful homeland by ensuring that China's wealth is fairly
distributed and its growth is sustainable".

Originally there were 2,270 delegates selected to attend; two died before
the congress began. According to Chinese media reports, 5% of delegates
are under 35, and the average age is 52. Women comprise 23%, a slight
increase from the last party congress in 2007. Ethnic minorities comprise
11%.

On Friday delegations held individual public discussions in rooms
scattered throughout the hall. At the Tibetan delegation's discussion, the
region's deputy governor, Lobsang Gyaltsen, blamed "external Tibetan
separatist forces and the Dalai clique" for a string of recent
self-immolations, according to Reuters apparently timed to coincide with
the conference.

The far-western Xinjiang autonomous region's delegation presented a series
of turgid speeches about their development strategy. During a brief
question and answer session afterwards, when a foreign reporter asked the
region's party secretary, Zhang Chunxian, whether his relationship with
the former president Jiang Zemin might affect his chances of promotion,
the politician laughed and chided the media for reading tea leaves.

Wang Yang, the party chief of Guangdong province, told reporters that
government officials may soon be obliged to make full public disclosure of
their assets, a sensitive issue after a string of stories in the
international media alleging that senior officials' families have amassed
enormous wealth.

Five delegates are on the Forbes rich list, with the wealthiest, Liang
Wengen, chairman of the construction equipment manufacturer Sany Group,
worth almost $6bn. According to the Beijing News, there are also 26
migrant worker delegates, marking the first time the 250 million-strong
demographic group has been represented at a party congress.

Most delegates hew to a conservative aesthetic: dyed black hair,
gold-frame glasses, white shirts and red ties for the men; trouser suits
for the women. Ethnic minority delegates wear tall hats and long,
traditional robes. Delegates from military and police units wear their
uniforms.

The youngest delegate is swimmer Jiao Liuyang, 22, who won a gold medal at
the London Olympics and was chosen to represent the People's Liberation
Army at the congress. "Before I joined the party I thought being a party
member was a title, but now I feel like being a party member is more like
a responsibility," she told the Beijing Times.

A handful of delegates were chosen for their model worker qualities, to
espouse the virtues of perseverance and loyalty. Chinese newspapers have
featured interviews with Zhu Lijun, a low-level worker at a boat-riding
attraction in a Beijing public park. Zhu frequently worked 16 hour days to
"ensure tourists' safety", according to the Beijing Times.

Shi Guangyin, 60, from Sidahao village, Shaanxi province, has been
planting trees since 1984 as part of a government initiative to stave off
desertification on China's arid northern frontier, according to the
Economic Times. He was the first person to be dubbed a "desert control
hero" by the National Forestry Bureau. "The sky in Beijing is getting
bluer and bluer," Shi told the newspaper. "Seeing this blue sky makes the
common people's hearts happy and raises their spirits."

China's official newswire Xinhua painted a glowing portrait of Ren
Xiaoyun, a migrant worker from Hebei province who has worked at a
"garbage, excrement and urine removal and transportation centre" in
Beijing for 16 years.

One underlying theme of the congress – that the party must maintain its
grip on power – echoed in delegates' statements to the media. "Faith and
loyalty to the party is the root through which the party can grow from
generation to generation," said Jiao Ruoyu, a 97-year-old delegate,
according to China Daily. "This spirit should be maintained whatever else
changes."