In his dark suit, red tie and white shirt, Communist Party General Secretary Hu Jintao looked more like a conservative businessman than a communist revolutionary at the recent 17th National Congress. Indeed, the image of the party has changed greatly in the three decades since the death of Mao Zedong , who led the People's Republic from its birth in 1949. For one thing, Chinese leaders now wear business suits rather than Mao jackets and they never talk about class struggle or world revolution.
In fact, far from a party of workers, peasants and soldiers, the Communist Party today features entrepreneurs, intellectuals and members of the cultural elite. The 2,235 delegates at the congress elected a new Central Committee of 204 full members and 167 alternate members, over 92 per cent of whom have at least one university degree.
As for Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, the two men being groomed to succeed President Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao - both have doctoral degrees.
And yet, the party's followers in Hong Kong have not changed much in 30 years. The communist newspapers here are filled with articles that continue to use the vocabulary of the Cultural Revolution, darkly implying that members of the pan-democratic camp are being manipulated by the American and British governments, and occasionally using crude language.
The most recent wave of attacks started when Mr Hu, in his 21/2-hour address on October 15, spent a few moments dwelling on the need to ensure 'long-term prosperity and stability' in Hong Kong and Macau, and warned against 'attempts by any external force to interfere in their affairs'.
Within a few days, the communist newspapers in Hong Kong were all geared up to provide their support. Wen Wei Po warned of intervention in Hong Kong politics by external forces. Ta Kung Pao called for action against foreign interference. The Hong Kong Commercial Daily said the foreign forces were mainly American and British, and accused pan-democracy politicians of being closely associated with officials from the US Consulate. Soon, it became obvious that a major target was former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang, who was depicted as an instrument of foreign forces.