These students may well think these classes are dumb, but I can guarantee the majority of them agree with the overall premise taught by the classes: that the Chinese Communist Party is a critical and necessary component of China's national restoration following the Century of Humiliation.
The CCP has successfully convinced the vast majority of Chinese people (particularly Han Chinese) that the CCP is the only vessel for Chinese success. That is why you see tons of protests about local issues (bulldozing old houses for new apartments, wages in specific industrial zones, corrupt individuals within the government, etc.), but literally no protests against the political system as a whole.
4
"The CCP has successfully convinced the vast majority of Chinese people (particularly Han Chinese) that the CCP is the only vessel for Chinese success. That is why you see...literally no protests against the political system as a whole."
The first statement is a reasonably accurate assessment of things. The second statement needs qualification: the relative dearth of protests against the political system as a whole is not attributable entirely to the population's general acquiescence in the prevailing system, but also to the known consequences of such protests: charges of "incitement to subvert state power" or, worse, "subversion of state power" followed at an arbitrary interval by a sham trial, a guilty verdict and a jail sentence (or its more insidious alternative - RSDL) will inevitably ensue.
If you want to see what happens to people who protest against the system as whole, even when doing so entirely peacefully and lawfully, look into what happened to the signatories of the 零八宪章, otherwise known as Charter '08.
5
So are what we call Civics classes in the United States a "government-mandated regimen of ideological education?" What about our carefully edited history courses? I think civics is important, and of course society will teach the prevailing norms. They should teach civics in China. Hopefully, for the more curious students, that becomes the basis for studying other systems of society, economics, and governance, historical and present. Maybe even some ideas for future improvement.
7
One of the recipes that has made CPC come into power and stayed in rule is its successful propaganda strategies and tactics. Whether believe it or not, without its tight control on propaganda and flexible down to the earth publicity campaigns, CPC would not have been so influnential and powerful on this planet. CPC has clearly announced its media propaganda activities as a integral part of its pursuing cause, as american founders had took freedom of expression for grated. Howerver the principle of freedom of expression is becoming increasingly blurry and running its colour because of the disastrous predident Donald Trump. A case in point is a cartoonist was laid off because he drew too many sacarstic caricactures to dispice Trump.NYT has reported this example. believe it or not in western democracies, capitalist has more freedom of expression than ranks and files.
5
Why do we keep referring to China as Communist. They are anything but Communist. "From each according to his ability to each according to his need" . Does that sound like what's taking place. Rather it is "exploitation of the masses for the benefit of the corrupt". China is no more than a corrupt dictatorship designed to enrich the members of the politically connected. So please, let's stop calling this a Communist country. The only thing Communist about it is the term they have selected as their part name.
15
I remember in Catholic grammar school, every morning at 9 AM out came our Baltimore Catechism and our Dominican Nun would have us recite the answers to her questions. This would last about 45 minutes. We all chimed in with the same responses but for most of us it all went in one ear and out the other. In Cuba, my friends children who were in the Pioneer's would tell me about there daily propaganda classes, they listened and when asked gave all the party line responses the whole while all they wanted to do was go home and play baseball or volleyball. I hope the young Chinese see these classes for what they are.
6
Mr. Hernandez feels that Chinese teachers describing the "ruthless exploitation of the working people" smacks of a long gone, past era.
Perhaps, besides upper middle class university students, he should speak to some of the workers manufacturing Apple products in China, in conditions so horrendous that the employees there were committing suicide. Or he could try travelling to see Manchuria which is China's Rust Belt of industrial devastation.
Then--to be fair about it--he could report on working eight hours of super speed up labor in an Amazon warehouse in the USA . . . . Past era indeed!
6
This is what happens when journalists are tasked to report on complex social issues in a vastly different culturo-political context without receiving deep enough academic preparation. "Bureaucratic capitalism" is a specific historical term that refers to a politico-econmic ecology very different from capitalism in general, and the irony of polemicizing against bureaucratic capitalism in today's China is much less salient to a well-informed Chinese audience. Similar mistakes in other pieces include confusing "New China" (referring to the People's Republic in general) and Xi's "New Era," and frequently misrepresenting/misunderstanding the French concept of laïcité in pieces concerning French policy on its muslim community.
5
"Still, Mr. Feng’s lectures can have the feel of a different era. In describing Mao’s views on revolution, for example, he rails against imperialist forces and “bureaucratic capitalism” for “ruthlessly exploiting laboring people.”" Too bad Mr. Feng doesn't live in Trump's USA which is free of bureaucrats and working people are not exploited and are paid a living wage so that food stamps, housing assistance, unemployment insurance, and welfare are unnecessary.
7
I think we should ask American students in MIT or Harvard "Does democracy work in U.S.?". Giving the fact Hillary got close to 3 million more votes than Trump. Giving the fact now with the Supreme Court usurped by Republicans, and abortion may well be illegal in most states, not to mention gay rights, unions, voting rights, and economic inequality.
28
Chinese Communist propaganda defeated Chiang Kai-shek in 1949. Without propaganda Chinese communist party will disappear soon. Propaganda is the life line of Chinese communist government. I was in China from 1945 after WWII until April 1949. I witnessed the success of Mao's propagandas. Every one young and old were fooled by Mao's sweet talks: land reforms and a lot of empty promises. Xi Jinping has learned from Mao. I don't believe a single word from Beijing. NYT news also contaminated by some communist propagandas especially the Chinese version of NYT. I read both everyday. Washington Post becomes a local second class newspaper. Sad.
7
With China, "Communism" has been a red (as it were) herring for decades. It's all about the megacorp wallet grease.
xi's "anti-corruption" drive has the exact same motives and effect as Major Bovine Sewage's "anti-corruption" drive over in Arabia: it only ensures the king does all the corruption, pulls all the strings, and counts all the cronies 'round these parts.
xi's earned the coup that gets him. But he's clearly good at re-educating, scaring, and bribing people far, far away from pursuing that outcome.
3
All civics lessons are biased to promote the national quest of whatever flavor it be. At least China is teaching civics in schools.
The young adults I meet have little or no knowledge of US history, politics, the general trends of our society, or even that they should vote. China may be teaching Mao and Chinese culture, we teach our kids to be righteous consumers of excess.
22
You don't realize your freedoms until they are taken. That could be basic human rights, your physical freedom, or just the capability of freely reading something that may be censored. (physical or on the internet)
The Chinese people (overall) have reached a somewhat ''detente'' in regards to lifting themselves out of poverty (growing the massive middle class) in lieu of handing over some human rights. (that is of course they don't disappear into some jail)
There is the censorship, the classes and the restrictions (minimal or complete) to moving about, or leaving the country, but overall people are benign on thoughts of uprising. The west (us) buy up their goods, and transfer more and more of our jobs and manufacturing to them. We are complicit in it all too.
The dichotomy is that ask any one individual if they would take the same deal if it was not forced on them. and to a person they would say not in a million years.
You can find that survey on your phone manufactured in China.
9
I was watching WNET -13's series on the First WW. ....: Wilson announcing America's goal of making the world safe for Democracy. Somehow he failed to make the connection --- just as American ideology fails to make it-- about imprisoning Debs, for his Freedom of Speech and freedom of beliefs. The notion that the US is free of ideology and is truly free in thought is in itself a false and fabricated notion.
This society is as indoctrinated as any on earth.
16
I strongly recommend people who post positive comments towards Chinese communist propaganda and courses to actually take those courses.
I did - I had to, having gone to school and college in a communist country. It is the most ridiculous, idiotic, mind-numbing, useless and absolutely boring thing that you can do.
Please take these courses. If you’re not forced to, you’ll never be able to get to the end, because life is just too short for this kind of rubbish.
As to asking students Chinese students in China what they think about these courses and expecting any kind of sincere answer, that shows something worse than naïveté from the reporter.
48
I teach in an university in China now - a friend does as well. And it is news to us that Chinese students are "critical" and "defiant" by the time they reach college. A few of them may well be that way - but for the majority of them, the continuous nationalistic propaganda has had their desired effect. Critical and defiant are not words that any experienced teacher here will use to describe Chinese students.
42
Those terms are used in our press as part of our efforts towards wish fulfillment. Our mantra is "socialism doesn't work" "communism can't work" we are confused to see it working so its youth must be critical and defiant since they know it doesn't.
6
The few hundred million Chinese that rose to the middle class didn't get there because of communism. It was entering into the capitalist system and manipulating it the best they could that did it. China has one party dictatorial rule but it is not communist. Communism doesn't work.
1
Thank you for the article. There is a certain amount of cognative dissonance, I'd imagine, in Mao Zedong thought being taught in Xi Jinping's China.
Then, again, are US universities really teaching civics in a more important and less hypocritical manner?
And--perhaps--isn't the subject distribution important? The Chinese are producing lots of engineers, where the US is producing business majors. This suggests that the Chinese are getting more classes where ideology isn't the main point, and the US is producing ideologues.
10
Probably some video of walking through some urban slums in the U.S. might do just as well.
4
I’m so sick and tired of the AMERICAN propaganda of “democracy”. Show me some evidence please, for example, list a few countries that outperform China economically after transitioning to western democracy, eh?
8
Your question presents a false dichotomy. China reached this economic pre-eminence by exploiting hundreds of millions of impoverished Chinese in order for a 'chosen' few to gain affluence. Just wait until the majority of Chinese reach a middle class way of life, and then watch what happens.
6
The U.S. also "reached this economic pre-eminence by exploiting hundreds of millions of impoverished" immigrants "for a 'chosen' few to gain affluence." And don't look now but the Chinese are "eating our lunch." Brand new housing, brand new infrastructure, high speed rail and internet, a thriving economy, $1.2 Trilllion in US bonds. I would say democracy isn't working here either.
2
'China reached this economic pre-eminence by exploiting hundreds of millions of impoverished Chinese'?
Not really. We impoverished them with our invasion of China and 40 years embargoes. Their government has doubled their real wages every decade for the past 40 years and made 97% of poor Chinese home owners. That's hardly 'exploitation,' is it?
1