The Communist Party of China (CPC) will celebrate its 102th birthday tomorrow. So, it is a good time to better understand what the CPC truly is …
Below is an excerpt from Wikipedia – Communist Party of China.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP),[2] officially the Communist Party of China (CPC),[3] is the founding and sole ruling party of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil War against the Kuomintang. In 1949, Mao proclaimed the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Since then, the CCP has governed China and has sole control over the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Each successive leader of the CCP has added their own theories to the party’s constitution, which outlines the ideology of the party, collectively referred to as socialism with Chinese characteristics. As of 2022, the CCP has more than 96 million members, making it the second largest political party by membership in the world after India‘s Bharatiya Janata Party.
The life of the CPC can be simply divided into three periods as follows:
- 1921–1935: Pre-Mao era.
- 1935–1949: Mao’s era to unify China.
- 1949–Present: People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Let me elaborate on each …
1. 1921–1935: Pre-Mao era
With its first congress being held in Shanghai on July 23, 1921, the CPC was born as a result of both domestic developments (e.g., May Fourth Movement) and international developments (e.g., Russia’s October Revolution).
Attended by only 13 members (shown below), it was such a non-event event that by the late 1930s, when the party became a political force significant enough to celebrate its founding, Mao had forgotten its exact date and then simply chose July 1st.
After more than one decade of hard struggle and a few rounds of leadership changes, the CPC, by 1935, had Mao Zedong as the party’s Politburo Standing Committee member and informal leader. The fortune of the CPC started to change for the better …
2. 1935–1949: Mao’s era to unify China
Mao was a very skilled politician and a brilliant military leader. For example, he let the Kuomintang (aka “Nationalist Party of China”) do most of the heavy fighting against Japan throughout WWII in China (1937-1945), while nurturing and growing the red army in the poor northwest.
For more, read What is the Chinese Communist Revolution, anyway?
3. 1949–Present: The People’s Republic of China
Over this period, the CPC history is the PRC history, and vice versa.
The life of the PRC can be simply divided into three periods:
- 1949–1976: Mao’s era. It was nearly a total disaster.
- 1978–2011: Deng’s era. China came back.
- 2012–Present: Xi’s era. China continues to come back, while facing an increasingly hostile America, thanks to America’s totally misguided foreign policy (A Deadly Contradiction: the Chinese Dreamers vs. the U.S. Hegemon).
For more, read The People’s Republic of China at 73.
4. Discussion
Three big questions:
- How can the CPC be best explained in American terms?
- Would China have come back so spectacularly without the CPC?
- What is the biggest and unique challenge facing the CPC?
Let me answer them one by one …
4.1 How can the CPC be best explained in American terms?
The image below offers a simple analogy.
Beyond this analogy, the CPC is like a private club – You must be good enough to join. It has a well-designed tiered system for a member to advance his/her career. For more, read Toward an ideal form of government.
Now, what about China’s one-party system?
It is better than America’s two-party system, however slightly.
4.2 Would China have come back so spectacularly without the CPC?
No!
Two simple logical deductions:
- There would have been no modern China, without the PRC.
- There would have been no PRC, without the CPC.
For more, read The People’s Republic of China at 73.
4.3 What is the unique challenge facing the CPC?
Developing a succession system, with a term limit, hopefully, for the CPC General Secretary (not the Chinese Presidency, as many in the West believe).
For more, read Will Xi become Mao?
5. What is so special about China’s system?
Meritocracy!
6. Government: America vs. China
Simply put, the Chinese government is not only extremely competent but also truly of/for the people. In contrast, the American government is not only extremely incompetent but also actually by/of/for the rich, as highlighted below.
The challenge for America?
Can the American government be peacefully transformed into a form that is truly of/by/for the people, without a bloody proletarian revolution first, like China did?
For more, read History 2.0 – China’s Comeback vs. America’s Decline.
7. Why is America so hostile to China?
Two main reasons:
- America hates China because China is better. For more, read Why does America hate China?
- America has become brainless, thanks to the brainwashing over the past 246 years, and counting!
For more, read Brainwashing and America.
Here is how a China hater in America (e.g., Newt Gingrich or Mike Pompeo) often expresses him/herself: Communism is bad; China is communism; Therefore, China is bad!
In short, if an American refers to China as “CCP” (or “CPC”), instead of PRC, he/she hates China!
8. Closing
Overall, the CPC not only has done a great job in China, with no end in sight, but also enjoys overwhelming support of the Chinese people (Vilified abroad, popular at home: China’s Communist Party at 100).
So, to America’s MPC (Media-Political Complex), stop attacking the CPC! If you do, you are attacking China, including most of the Chinese people, inside and outside of China!
Now, please sit back and enjoy the video below.
