Modern Chinese Communism: Part 2 - Economy and Corruption

We've established the Communist Party of China is powerful. Really powerful. They've got the military to back them up, they control the government, and the whole of the country is doing their bidding. They're also super rich, but in all fairness that pretty well goes hand in hand.

The Economy:

Mao and his third wife. How cute. They're wearing
matching coats.

Prior to the 1970s (keep in mind before that decade was Mao's time at the top of the heap) China was communist to the bone. They invaded private lives, made everything centrally planned, controlled businesses, and had their red hands in everything. It had a bureaucracy that was even more controlling than communist Russia, who wanted to control everything but the individual local areas, whereas China was down for micromanaging those as well. When you're more communist than communist Russia, you're really communist. They then went through a cultural revolution in the '70s, and the economic and political landscape changed drastically and quickly. New leadership saw the loosening of the reigns on central planning, freeing up private business and taking themselves out of the private lives of already well-controlled citizens. This was a massive change from the time of Mao, and resulted in an absolutely massive increase in wealth. Unfortunately, it that money stayed pretty well near the top. You've heard of the 1% here? You should see China. "A recent survey by Peking University showed that 1% of China’s richest families owned more than 30% of the nation’ s total wealth in 2012, while the poorest 25% only possessed just 1%."

A propaganda poster about eliminating
the old world (there's a Buddha statue
and a crucifix in the pile). It was described as
"kind of a downer, even for '70s
communist China."

During this revolution the Party would take a look at free-market reforms, but at the same time tightening their grip on their political authority. Keep in mind, what's of utmost importance to the Party is maintaining control. If the private enterprises got too large and powerful, it might rival the Party's influence. The solution to this was for the Party to start taking subtle control of both state assets and private enterprises. Now when I say subtly, this is where it gets a little confusing, so bear with me. In regards to state controlled businesses (and remember the Party and the state are separate but closely linked, with the Party lording over them by and large) the Party maintained the ability to hire and fire and appoint their leaders. In regards to private business, they would demand a say in trade deals (especially deals with foreign countries) and the larger the business the more they would want to have a man in the upper levels. Essentially they would let them thrive to spur on a successful economy, but if they grew too large, they wanted a piece of the pie. A number of deals collapsed because the Party wanted a position high up in the company, but the foreign company in which they're dealing with wasn't on board with the idea. 

Where they stand presently is, somehow, even less clear.The private sector is an unknown and difficult to gauge size. Major Chinese businesses are technically private, but at the same time registered as collectives. The line between private and Party-owned is so blurred it's difficult to establish what's what. 

So in short, the Party is everywhere. They're also not really there at all. They're super rich, but can't really show it. They're immensely powerful, but rarely directly in charge. They don't own the businesses, but... they own the businesses. Oh boy.

Lastly, while China's economy has been absolutely booming in the last few decades, it might be in for a massive collapse. This is because it's a bubble economy. I don't really know what that means. I have read about it a number of times. I still don't get it. Sorry. But it's bad, and frightening, and has world-wide consequences, so watch out for it... whatever it might be.

Corruption:

China is almost comically corrupt. Bribes are so widespread that it's impossible to lock down; it's just a casual part of doing business. While there is a specific group dedicated to nailing corrupted officials in the Party and otherwise, they are darn near powerless; if they accuse a high ranking official of corruption, it goes to his supervisor to decide his fate. The supervisor is typically a guy who appointed the people below him and overall does their bidding - therefore one who is unlikely to send his underlings off to jail. The highest level ones are - inexplicably - supervising themselves, and unless they're severely bipolar or self-destructive, I don't see them being too harsh on their own wheelings and dealings. The highest leaders are essentially above the law.

One man was finally jailed for accepting bribes, but it became somewhat of a joke because of just how small the bribes were for. The general reaction of the populace was how could they send a man off to prison for taking such a paltry sum. The size of the bribes? It totalled to about $1,000,000. Incredible. If you don't utilize bribery in some way, you are either terribly poor (the Party and government jobs aren't particularly lucrative on their own) or not really getting anything done. It's a far too common part of everyday life.

Silencing the Truth:

"I immediately regret this decision."

You've probably heard of Tiananmen Square - not necessarily for what it is, but for one specific event. Adding on to that, probably one specific picture, that of the "Tank Man", an iconic symbol of government resistance. (My father hates the incorrect usage of the word "iconic", but this one surely is.) It's a lone man, standing in front of and blocking the path of a tank moving towards Tiananmen Square. The man's identity and fate have never been discovered, and he's since been known as "Tank Man." The backdrop for why this was happening is this; in 1989, a vast number of students protested against the oppression of the communist regime. The Party's response was to send in their military with not only guns but tanks to clear them out, killing roughly 700-1000 students. How they refer to it in their school's textbooks is the "Tiananmen Incident". An incident is when an elementary student is sent to the office for pushing another student at recess. This was a massacre - but the Party refuses to acknowledge it, as they wish to be seen as a body that can do no wrong.

The same is seen in their reverence for Mao, even now. His Great Leap Forward (the movement towards an industrialized China at the cost of farmland, in a nutshell) caused the starving deaths of thirty million of his citizens. The view for Mao is that he's been mostly a positive force, with a few slip ups.

Man. I'm so glad I live in Canada.

______________

The information for this blog series was taken from the book "The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers" by Richard McGregor.

Modern Chinese Communism: Part 1 - The Party and the Power

Communism in China is intensely confusing, and not only just for outsiders looking in. It's plagued with corruption, shrouded in secrecy, and so full of under-handed rules and politics that no one really understands it, but it just kind of works - at least for now. It's like the average episode of Game of Thrones, except with more violence and less nudity. You've probably heard there's an ominous sense of dread about what's in store for the Chinese economy, and if things go wrong it's bad for pretty well everyone across the globe. Right now I'm content with buying my affordable "Made in China" garbage, but if the bubble that is their economy bursts, that may not... well, actually I don't know what will happen. I'm not near smart enough to tell you that. What I can do is tell you how some of China's sectors function.

Basic History:

Mao and the Communist Party came to power in 1949. They went through the "Great Leap Forward" which industrialized China, but killed somewhere around thirty million people in the process between 1958 and 1961. A cultural revolution began in the 1970s, coming with the death of Mao, which changed the political and economic landscape greatly. Upset with the harsh rule of communism, in 1989 a large number of student protestors stood against the Party in Tiananmen Square, resulting in the military stepping in and slaughtering hundreds. That's the basics. Their history since Mao is bloody, corrupt, and nowadays just really hard to breath over there.

Say what you want about the communists, but they've got
a heck of a symbol.

The Leaders:
The heads of the Party, no longer having anyone as important as Mao, are as close to nameless and faceless as you can get. The public rarely sees them, and they deliberately feel distanced from the general populace. They're essentially devoid of character; their past is hidden, or pretty well rebuilt as to make it seem like they've been all about the party since they were born - shot out of the womb carrying a hammer and sickle or something.

So... are they actually the government? Well, it gets incredibly murky. The government is typically made up of Party members, but Party members are not necessarily a part of the government. The Party is a separate entity, but largely controls the government moves, as well as economic, military, and political choices, but they don't directly represent the government. It's actually so confusing that many Chinese don't entirely understand it either, and many of the backdoor deals and decision making tends to happen not entirely by the book. Keep in mind, "the book" is basically what the Party chooses to do in the moment.

But believe me - you want to be in the Party. It comes with power, prestige, and a good social standing, and these advantages are so strong that there's a black market for buying and selling positions in the Party. Basically, you bribe a Party member that's able to get you in, pay a massive lump sum, and hope the guy isn't scamming you. We'll dive more into corruption later, however - that's a section all on it's own.

Mao Zedong; voted "Best Dressed" in the
Politburo.

Military:
The military here, in the U.S., and pretty well all democratic countries fights for the whole of the country rather than a specific party. Not so in China - the military is the Party's military, fighting on their behalf. It helps to keep the Party in power, and maintaining that power is of critical importance to the Communist Party.

The role of the military has changed, however. Currently, the military is largely used to help protect the importing and control of oil reserves, and extra funding is helping to transform it into something considered world class. The payment for members of the military is a decent, livable wage, and their accommodations are fair. It's really not very exciting - but it hasn't always been this way.

In the 1950s China struck oil, allowing them to be self-sufficient in terms of their energy needs, so the military wasn't really needed to oversee things quite as much back then as it was within their own borders. The military was paid incredibly poorly, so they stuck their nose in big business. They would actually control a number of enterprises, and in turn, many of the top military men found tremendous wealth, driving around in fancy cars and living in extravagance - as far as nice cars and extravagance in 1950s China goes. Eventually they reformed it and they were sent "back to the barracks". Now it seems at least somewhat less corrupt, so... they have a leg up on pretty much everything else.

Chinese citizens celebrating Stalin's birthday. Mao and Stalin; the
original odd couple!

Don't forget that military forces also help to crush dissent. The media, the economy, the government, it's all controlled by the Party. The military helps to keep it that way.


So what you should have learned by now is the Communist Party of China is intensely powerful. They have control of everything, either directly or indirectly. But what about the economy? How's the whole central planning thing working out? If Putin had a fight with China over who is more corrupt, who wins? (The answer is they are both winning, and winning plenty.) All this and more in part two.