[RadioFreeAsia] References to Marxism, Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, the thought of Deng Xiaoping and the ideologies of former presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao have all been deleted from the new edition of the document titled "Working Procedures for the State Council" that was published on official websites on March 18.
Previous references to "administration according to law, seeking truth from facts, democracy, openness, pragmatism and integrity" have gone, as have the requirement for the State Council "to correct illegal or inappropriate administrative actions," or to "guide and supervise" the bureaucracy
This is a return to the old imperial system which served China well for thousands of years. Surely it will fall like they all did but China is clearly in the "rise" phase and will continue for another few decades at least.
Dictator isn't really a useful description. The emperor can and has been overthrown by his own counselors before. Most recently by Empress Cixi who imprisoned the emperor and did all those disastrous treaties with western invaders. That's why Shanghai has a French Concession with all that beautiful architecture.
If you ever watched the movie "The Last Emperor" it starts with a scene of a courtier putting a marble in her mouth and when she does not spit it out he declares her deceased and Henry Puyi, the last emperor, takes the throne. Then he becomes a Japanese collaborator and ends up sweeping the street in front of his old residence, the Forbidden City.
| It’s an absolutely gorgeous film. I wouldn’t expect that the old mandarin system and training would return — the manners were much too elaborate and the education lacking in everything needed to compete in the modern world. But I wasn’t aware that they’d formally given up all that communism stuff, though informally they’d gone all in on a rapaciously mercantilist capitalist economy with totalitarian politics, ie straight up fascism. I shall have to modify my vocabulary to fit. |
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