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 

BO YIBO b. February 17, 1908

BO YIBO

February 17, 1908-January 15, 2007

BO YIBO

(2nd from right) at the 16th Congress

of the Chinese Communist Party, November 2002

The members of the Presidium of the 16th Congress pictured are (seated left to right), ZENG Qinghong, WAN Li, SONG Ping, BO Yibo, and SONG Jian.

The 16th Congress was the last one attended by Bo Yibo, a former Vice-Premier of the People's Republic of China and one of the Eight Immortals of the Chinese Communist Party. Bo was by this time ninety-four years old.

Also attending the Congress in a leadership position was his son, Bo Xilai, then the governor of Liaoning (see here and here) and now the Party Secretary of Chongqing. In recent years, Bo Xilai has been widely seen as campaigning for one of the (currently) nine seats on the Party's Politburo Standing Committee, the inner sanctum of power in the PRC. His campaign, as Reuters has detailed it, consists of "a high profile war on crime, economic policies to boost Chongqing and a nostalgic Communist revival to win over support from the conservative old guard."

Recently, his efforts seem in danger of being derailed. Some details here and here and here; more as the story unfolds in the run-up to the 18th Party Congress, due this fall.

WHO IS XI JINPING? SLOTTED TO BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF CHINA

XI COMES

TO WASHINGTON

XI JINPING

INTRODUCED

as the heir-apparent

at the 17th Congress

Another photograph and some information here

Some background and speculation ahead of Xi's meetings tomorrow with the U.S. president and vice-president, and stops at the State Department and the Pentagon, here and here and here and here

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.

ZHOU JI TURNS SIXTY-FIVE

ZHOU JI 

b. August 26, 1946 

PRESIDENT, CHINESE ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING 

Minister of Education, People's Republic of China (PRC) 

2003-2009 

Poster here 

Some discussion of the controversy over Zhou's 

losing his post as Minister of Education, here 

BEIJING CALLS FOR TRANSPARENCY. IN TOKYO. Tales of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant Crisis

BEIJING

CALLS FOR

TRANSPARENCY

IN TOKYO

The People's Republic of China has suddenly become the champion of transparency -- in Japan -- as the news of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant crisis has spread to the Chinese populace. "We hope that Japan reports details to the world in a timely and accurate manner," the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Jiang Yu, is recorded as having said.

ZHOU ENLAI, b. March 5, 1898

ZHOU ENLAI 

March 5, 1898-January 8, 1976 

ZHOU ENLAI DEPICTED WITH

ADORING CHILDREN & THEIR TEACHER

(Poster photographed 1981)

Zhou Enlai was the survivor, the Chinese leader apparently content to be always subordinate to Mao Zedong.  (to be continued)

MIND THE ENVIRONMENT? BEIJING TAKES NOTE

FOR A 

BETTER BALANCE, 

MIND THE 

ENVIRONMENT? 

NANCHANG, CHINA, 1981 

First the prime minister, Wen Jiabao, brought up the issue, and now the environment minister, Zhou Shengxian, is weighing in on the need to balance economic development and the environment. Okay, so we are talking about the environment minister, after all, but this is China, the People's Republic-Growth-Ueber-Alles-of, and foxes have been put in charge of henhouses before, even in the U.S. of A. 

As can be seen from the photograph above, now almost thirty years old, pollution, in particular industrial pollution, is hardly a new phenomenon in the PRC. 

WEN JIABAO, WEBCASTS, WHISTLES, & WASHOUTS: JASMINE SUNDAY #2

JASMINE 

SUNDAY 

#2 

CHINESE PREMIER  

WEN JIABAO 

(Photographed at Harvard) 

(A Beijing photograph is here) 

On Sunday, February 27, 2011, Wen Jiabao, "Grandpa Wen," the smiling face of the leadership of the People's Republic of China, went on line in a big way. On the eve of the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, Premier Wen took questions in a special webcast, and made news: Beijing would not push the economy quite so hard; he was mindful that rapid price rises hurt the people. 

Out on the street, the story was different. For the second Sunday in a row any whiff of jasmine was smothered; any possible protest was washed out -- literally, this time, by street cleaning machines and a water truck -- and whistled away -- by incessant police whistles. 

And journalists -- apparently especially photojournalists and videojournalists -- were harassed and detained and even physically assaulted. 

So there was no protest to speak of or to see -- China was not Tunisia or Egypt -- and the regime seems either prudent or paranoid -- someone in authority still thinking A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire? 

POLICING THE JASMINE: ZHOU YONGKANG WEIGHS IN

POLICING THE 

JASMINE 

ZHOU YONGKANG WEIGHS IN 

Over this past weekend, the ministers and provincial leaders of China were summoned to Beijing for a special "study session"; all nine top leaders (who make up the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party) were in attendance. On Saturday, Hu Jintao, who is General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party as well as president of the People's Republic of China, called for "raising our level of control over virtual society, and perfecting our mechanisms for the channeling of public opinion online.” 

Hu is Number One in the Chinese hierarchy. Sunday, Number Nine made his speech and won his turn in the spotlight. Zhou Yongkang (pictured above) is that Number Nine. Zhou's importance lies in his portfolio: domestic security. He basically called for nipping any potential social unrest problems in the bud. 

As they were preaching, the authorities were already moving to nip in the bud any possible "Jasmine Revolution" inspired by what was going on in the Arab world -- by preventive detentions and preemptive police presence Sunday in the locales specified in Chinese-language tweets. 

Bud nipped: so it would seem. 

Leaving behind an interesting quote or two: This "event," said one (participant observer?), "didn't have much organization, but it's a chance to meet each other. It's like preparing for the future." 

 

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" 

CHINA OVERTAKES JAPAN AS THE NUMBER TWO ECONOMY. OFFICIALLY.

CHINA 

OVERTAKES JAPAN 

AS 

NUMBER TWO 

ECONOMY. 

OFFICIALLY. 

THE FRONT GATE 

("NEW CHINA GATE") 

TO ZHONGNANHAI 

SEAT OF THE CHINESE AUTHORITIES 

BEIJING, CHINA 

Behind these traditional trappings, in what is essentially a continuation of the "Forbidden City," lies the command center for the thirty-plus years of "reform" and "opening up" which have led to the People's Republic of China overtaking its World War II enemy (which started in China as the Sino-Japanese War). The photograph was taken about halfway through this period; a view close up and head-on of the Zhongnanhai "New China Gate" can be seen here. 

HU JINTAO, b. December 21, 1942

HU JINTAO

b. December 21, 1942

PRESIDENT,

PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

GENERAL SECRETARY,

CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY

Shown here at the unveiling of the

Politburo Standing Committee

17th Party Congress, Beijing, October 2007

Due to pass on the torch at the 18th Party Congress in Autumn 2012

Due for a state visit in Washington, D.C., shortly

Stay Tuned

More Hu

THE SEATS OF POWER, CHINESE STYLE, III: LIAONING

THE SEATS OF POWER 

CHINESE STYLE 

One of a Series 

LIAONING PROVINCE

LEADERSHIP DELEGATES

TO THE 16th PARTY CONGRESS

BEIJING 2002

(Bo Xilai on the extreme right; more Bo here) 

RED STARS: MIKHAIL GORBACHEV & DENG XIAOPING

RED STARS

GORBACHEV & DENG XIAOPING

Twenty years ago today the Communist giants met, in Beijing, for the first time in three decades. Mikhail Gorbachev, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, made the trip to China for talks with Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader, and Zhao Ziyang, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. 

The leaders met in the Great Hall of the People. In the ceiling of its vast auditorium is the red star of communism (above, right). The Soviets were the seniors in revolution, the Bolsheviks having taken power in Russia in 1917; the People's Republic of China was not founded until 1949. As can been seen in the sample of a Soviet red star (left), the USSR placed special additional emphasis on its contribution to the victory over the Fascists/Nazis. 

Gorbachev was himself a star when he came to Beijing -- to the outside world, certainly, for the reforms he had undertaken back in the USSR -- perestroika and glasnost'. He also had admirers among the Chinese, including some of those demonstrating in Tiananmen Square, the heart of Beijing, when he arrived.

The story of the Sino-Soviet rapprochement brought the international media, and the Tiananmen demonstrations provided a dramatic story just waiting to be broadcast. The dénouement was the crackdown of June 3-4, 1989. 

Zhao Ziyang lost his post, and lived out his life under house arrest. His memoirs are just now being published. 

Mikhail Gorbachev went back to Moscow to continue his attempts to reform the USSR. The USSR dissolved into its constituent parts ("Republics") at the end of 1991. 

Jiang Zemin was brought from Shanghai to be the new General Secretary, and Deng Xiaoping remained the power behind the throne unto death. The People's Republic of China is due to celebrate its sixtieth anniversary on October 1, 2009.

Arguments raged about which path to reform was superior, the Soviet or the Chinese. Which was the brighter "Red Star," Gorbachev or Deng? 

MAO ZEDONG SLEPT HERE: THE YAN'AN CAVE HOUSE

MAO ZEDONG SLEPT HERE

THE BEDROOM IN MAO ZEDONG'S

CAVE RESIDENCE IN YAN'AN, CHINA

with a photograph of Chairman Mao on the wall

This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the final stage of which was a campaign fought north to south by the People's Liberation Army. This was a victory years in the making.

As we have seen with more recent guerrilla movements, weak governments which cannot control their peripheries can be threatened by rebel groups which seize power in the borderlands or "badlands."

So it was with the Chinese Communists, who escaped the "bandit extermination campaigns" waged by the KMT, or Nationalist, Generalissimo Chiang Kaishek by making the daring, desperate, Long March (1934-1935), which brought the remnants of Mao Zedong's forces to Yan'an, China.

There a residence could properly be a home in a cave carved into the hillside, and the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) leadership shared a compound of such cave houses.

More CAVE HOUSES here