AFTER THE CONGRESS IS OVER (THE PARTY GOES ON)

DELEGATES MAKING THEIR WAY 

OUT OF THE AUDITORIUM 

OF THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE 

AT THE END OF THE 18TH CONGRESS 

of the Chinese Communist Party 

Beijing, China, November 2012 

THE POLITBURO STANDING COMMITTEE IS INTRODUCED: XI JINPING THE FIRST AMONG "EQUALS"

XI JINPING 

GIVES HIS FIRST ADDRESS 

AS GENERAL SECRETARY OF 

THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY 

习近平
EAST HALL 

GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE 

Beijing, November 15, 2012 

English text of the speech 
here 

TRUMPETING OUT THE 18TH PARTY CONGRESS IN BEIJING

WINDING UP THE 

18TH CONGRESS 

OF THE 

CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY 

TRUMPETS FOR THE LAST DAY 

Great Hall of the People, Beijing 

November 14, 2012 

HU JINTAO'S LAST HURRAH -- AT LEAST, AS GENERAL SECRETARY

HU JINTAO 

REPORTS 

TO THE 18TH PARTY CONGRESS 

HU'S SWAN SONG 

-- as General Secretary 

of the Communist Party of China, at least -- 

November 8, 2012 

On the first day of the 18th Congress of the Communist Party of China, Hu Jintao, the outgoing General Secretary, reads the Report ("FIRMLY MARCH ON THE PATH OF SOCIALISM WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS AND STRIVE TO COMPLETE THE BUILDING OF A MODERATELY PROSPEROUS SOCIETY IN ALL RESPECTS" -- their capitals, not mine) from the podium of the Assembly Hall of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, surrounded (as usual, in these events) by flowers.  No one has died; this is the first step, in this Congress, in a choreographed handover of power first officially telegraphed at the preceding (17th) Congress, five years earlier. 

Hu Jintao twenty years earlier, introduced as the most junior member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the 14th 

Congress of the Communist Party of China (1992), here 

Hu Jintao five years earlier, at the 17th Party Congress, here 

Hu Jintao escorting Jiang Zemin off the dais 

of the 17th Party Congress (2007), here 

PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN COMES TO BEIJING TO MEET WITH PRESIDENT HU JINTAO, 2002 & 2012

THE PAST IS

NEW AGAIN?

VLADIMIR PUTIN (l)

& HU JINTAO (r)

Great Hall of the People

Beijing 2002

In 2002 Vladimir Putin, then still in his first term as Russian president, was the first leader from a major power to meet with Hu Jintao, shortly after he had been officially selected as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party at the 17th Party Congress in November. (Hu would become president of China in March 2003.) Putin traveled to Beijing for the summit.

Today Putin and Hu were wrapping up another summit in Beijing, with the Russian president officially newly elected for a third term, and the Chinese president slotted to depart from his party leadership post this fall, and the presidency this coming spring.

RHP (RANK HATH PRIVILEGE): THE CHINESE RULING ELITE & THEIR CARS

THE ELITE FLEET

CARS AWAITING THEIR OFFICIALS

IN THE INTERIOR COURTYARD OF

THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE

DURING THE 17th CONGRESS OF

THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY

BEIJING, OCTOBER 2007

The Audi A6 is identified as the "semiofficial car of the Chinese Communist Party" by Barbara Demick of the Los Angeles Times this week (here). Above is a flock of Audis waiting for delegates to the 17th Congress of the CC to be disgorged from the Great Hall of the People in October 2007. Cars for the privileged in the People's Republic of China are not new, and popular anger against the abuses of this system has been noted before, for example, in a 2006 Edward Cody piece in the Washington Post (here). What is perhaps new is the posting of cellphone photographs of offending vehicles online, reported by Demick.

An earlier example of this well-worked-out system of RHP (Rank Hath Privilege) can be seen here, in a photograph taken three decades ago in Nanjing.

PRIVILEGED AIR: CHINA NOW

POLLUTION

FOR THE

PEOPLE

IN THE PEOPLE'S

REPUBLIC OF CHINA

NATURAL AIR FILTERS

IN THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE

BEIJING, CHINA

The news is out: "Creating clean, healthy air for our national leaders is a blessing to the people." So, according to the New York Times, says the Broad Group, which markets air-purifying machines to members of the Chinese political elite. Those machines are reported to be found in the Great Hall of the People (above, and here and here and here) and in that sanctum sanctorum, Zhongnanhai -- think White House or the Kremlin (see here and here).

Some of the laobaixing -- the common people, or at least those that "microblog" on Sina Weibo -- are revolting.

JIANG ZEMIN TURNS EIGHTY-FIVE

JIANG ZEMIN 

b. August 17, 1926 

PRESIDENT JIANG 

CHECKS HIS WATCH 

Great Hall of the People 

Beijing, November 2002 

The time of his last hurrah as 

General Secretary 

of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) 

A month and a half ago, Jiang Zemin was The Man Who Wasn't There for the celebrations of the ninetieth anniversary of the CCP (see here). 

For more on Jiang, click on the label JIANG ZEMIN, below. 

RIVERS GO, THOUGH JIANG ZEMIN DOES NOT (THEY SAY)

RUMORS 

SWIRL 

AROUND 

CHINESE EX-PRESIDENT 

JIANG ZEMIN 

FORMER CHINESE PRESIDENT 

& CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY 

GENERAL SECRETARY 

JIANG ZEMIN 

at the time of the 16th Party Congress 

November 2002 

the last one over which Jiang presided as 

General Secretary 

When he failed to appear for the celebration of the ninetieth anniversary of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), July 1 (see here), rumors that Jiang was dead or dying spread throughout the Chinese blogosphere, and the censors went to work.  "Jiang" disappeared as a search term; "jiang" happens to mean "river" or "rivers" as well as the former president's last name.  A contest began to invent ever more ingenious ways of circumventing the censorship; a formal announcement was made that the rumors were wrong. 

It was an interesting indication that either Jiang Zemin, installed as the official top leader after Tiananmen (with Deng Xiaoping still very much on the scene at the time), has meant more to at least a part of the populace then might have been guessed, or that a hunger exists to know more of what is happening to the rulers of their country. 

REFLECTIONS ON THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY'S 90TH (Founded July 1, 1921 )

AFTER THE PARTY 

FOR THE PARTY 

WAS OVER 

WU BANGGUO, HU JINTAO, 

& JIANG ZEMIN 

(left to right) 

Center stage at the 17th Congress 

of the Chinese Communist Party 

October 2007 

As the celebrations for the ninetieth anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party culminated in the grand set piece in the Great Hall of the People July 1, commentators (for examples, see here and here) quickly noticed who was missing:  Jiang Zemin. 

Jiang Zemin, who is only five years younger than the Party (born August 17, 1926), was not in the place of honor he has customarily occupied in these significant gatherings since he gave up the central place at the 16th Congress in November, 2002.  The photograph above, for example, shows him at the 17th Congress in October, 2007, at the left hand of General Secretary and President Hu Jintao.  Wu Bangguo, the head of the National People's Congress, ranked number two in the Party hierarchy, sits on Hu's right hand. 

On July 1 his successors proceeded without him, as can be seen from the official photographs.  Declining health seemed to be the favorite media speculation. 

 

For more on Jiang, see here, here, here, here, and here. 

"TIANANMEN" PLUS TWENTY-TWO: June 4, 2011

"TIANANMEN" 

(June 4, 1989) 

plus 

Twenty-Two 

LOOKING UP AT THE TOP 

OF THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE 

FACING TIANANMEN SQUARE 

Twenty-two years after June 3-4, 1989, twenty-seven days until the Chinese Communist Party celebrates the ninetieth anniversary of its founding, and in the season of Jasmine and the Arab Spring, the People's Republic of China expressed its displeasure with being asked to account for those "killed, detained or missing" in the crushing of the Tiananmen movement. 

Hong Kongers held their annual candlelight vigil on the anniversary, while the regime in Beijing marked it "by rounding up yet more of their critics...." 

JIANG ZEMIN BECOMES PRESIDENT OF CHINA, March 27, 1993

JIANG ZEMIN 

BECOMES 

PRESIDENT OF CHINA 

March 27, 1993 

JIANG ZEMIN 

CONDUCTS A PRESS CONFERENCE 

IN THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE, 

BEIJING, 

IN NOVEMBER 2002, 

NEAR THE END OF HIS PRESIDENCY 

Jiang Zemin was brought in from Shanghai in 1989 after the Tiananmen crackdown by Deng Xiaoping, China's "paramount leader." He was, according to Deng's plan, succeeded by Hu Jintao, first as Party General Secretary, and then as president. If the next succession goes as scheduled, Hu will be replaced as General Secretary in the fall of 2012, and then as president two years from now, in March 2013. The leader-in-waiting is Xi Jinping. 

Especially considering what happened under Mao Zedong, if this succession comes to pass, it will, for better or worse, be impressive. 

"HU JINTAO HELPS JIANG ZEMIN OFF THE STAGE," here 

"POWER HUG": JIANG ZEMIN & BORIS YELTSIN, here 

JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD! ELDER BROTHER IS DEFINITELY TRACKING * YOU *

TARGETING

THE

MESSENGER

THE MEDIA DISPERSE

AT THE CLOSE OF THE

17th CONGRESS OF THE

CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY

Beijing, October 2007

Outside the Great Hall of the People

Another Sunday. The third "jasmine" Sunday of a massive security presence and a ratcheting up of pressure on journalists. No report of beatings this time, but preemptive intimidation, some detentions, and a threat of expulsions.

So the messenger is not being shot, but is definitely being targeted, and tracked.

P.R. IN THE PRC: JIA QINGLIN ON PROMOTING CHINA

P.R. IN

THE PRC

JIA QINGLIN

in the Great Hall of the People

for the 17th Congress of

the Chinese Communist Party

October 2007

As the member of the nine-member Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party responsible for chairing the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Jia Qinglin is somewhat quaintly referred to by the authorities as a "political adviser." At the opening meeting of the annual CPPCC meeting in the Great Hall of the People yesterday, Jia said, according to McClatchy, that "We will strengthen our external publicity work so that the international community can learn more about our country's political system . . . so that we can win its understanding and support for China."

When the outside world learns "more about our country's political system," China will win "understanding and support." Right. I remember in 1992 when I covered the 14th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, my minder delighted in repeating in answer to my questions attempting to "learn more about" the political system of the People's Republic of China, that "In the Information Department we have no information."

Now the plan is said to be to spend billions "to expand the global reach of its main state media outlets, giving it the ability to beam pleasing news from China to a wider audience."

"Pleasing news," but real information, especially about the political system, is rather likely to be as lacking as before.

BACK TO THE GREAT HALL AGAIN: THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE, BEIJING

BACK TO

THE GREAT HALL

OF THE PEOPLE

AGAIN

DELEGATES TO THE

16TH CONGRESS OF THE

CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY

FORM UP TO HAVE THEIR

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN

IN FRONT OF THE GREAT HALL

OF THE PEOPLE, BEIJING, NOVEMBER 2002

DENG XIAOPING DIES, February 19, 1997

DENG XIAOPING 

August 22, 1904-February 19, 1997 

PAINTING OF THE LEADERSHIP OF 

THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 

BEING ACCLAIMED BY THE MASSES 

AS THE LEADERS ASCEND THE STEPS 

OF THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE 

IN BEIJING 

Mao Zedong is on the left

in a long tunic

Deng Xiaoping is on the right

the short figure in a short tunic

DENG WAS PARAMOUNT LEADER OF CHINA 

LATE 1978 UNTIL HIS DEATH 

Ultimately responsible for both 

Reforms and Opening Up 

and for "Tiananmen" (June 3-4, 1989) 

BBC material on Deng's death can be found here; 

the lengthy New York Times obituary, here 

"HERE BE GIANTS" 

"POWER HUG": THE FOUR-HUNDREDTH POST

"POWER HUG" 

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN & 

CHINESE PRESIDENT JIANG ZEMIN 

MEET & GREET 

IN THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE 

BEIJING, CHINA 

NOVEMBER 10, 1997 

"HERE BE GIANTS" 

AS THE POLITICAL ELITE IN CHINA GATHERS...

AS THE

POLITICAL ELITE

IN CHINA

GATHERS

INTERIOR OF

THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE

BEIJING, CHINA,

WITH BASKETBALL COURT

A quiet photograph of the big venue as the Central Committee meets in Beijing in unquiet times.

LOITERING WITH INTENT: OUTSIDE THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE, BEIJING

LOITERING WITH INTENT

OUTSIDE THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE

LOOKING TOWARDS TIANANMEN SQUARE

BEIJING, CHINA, OCTOBER 2007

AT THE TIME OF THE 17TH CONGRESS

OF THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY