The China Dream is not so elusive
Andrew Leung says the China Dream, which carries the seeds of a model of society predicated on an engaged citizenry, is proving to be an inspiration to the nation, and is by no means unattainable
Last November, Communist Party secretary Xi Jinping evoked the "China Dream" during a visit to the National Museum of China's "Road Towards Renewal" exhibition in Beijing. The phrase went viral on China's weibo and drew a spate of emotional patriotic outpourings from overseas Chinese.
Since then, commentators have been trying to interpret Xi's vision, ranging from a mundane call for solving China's problems, to an image of a sublime renaissance comparable to China's ancient glories or Europe's Age of Enlightenment. In any case, Xi was speaking of a "China Dream" for the nation collectively, not a "Chinese Dream" in the sense of the good life of the "American Dream".
The yearning for epochal change is in the air among the top leadership. Since Xi became party secretary, he has launched a high-profile battle against official corruption and extravagance, calling for closer bonds between the party and the people, and efforts to uphold the rule of law and ideals enshrined in the constitution.
Cold water was poured on Xi's reformist rhetoric by some articles in the Western press. Xi's fight against corruption and inequalities is pitted against opposition from vested interests. His demand for constitutional checks is contrasted with his warning about the collapse of the former Soviet Union. His call for political liberalisation is cited with his approbation of Mao Zedong's revolutionary socialism.
The confusion is largely a product of binary thinking - either give up single party leadership or sclerosis; either Western democracy or risk of a "French Revolution"; either forward to the future or retreat to Maoism. In fact, the apparent contradictions are signs of a continuing quest for China's unique model of democracy. Indeed, in enlightened intellectual debate within the party, the original Paris Commune is considered a form of local democracy and Mao's revolutionary "mass line" as embracing the will of the "grass roots" against social injustice.
Not many in China believe the country's future lies in copying Western multiparty "confrontational" democracy, with all its recent fault lines. But how to make the party truly representative of and accountable to the people within a one-party state continues to test the ingenuity of the leadership.