https://www.scmp.com/rss/509669/feed On July 1, 2021, the Communist Party of China will mark 100 years since it was founded in Shanghai. The party, which has ruled China since 1949, now has more than 90 million members, making it one of the biggest in the world. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification. The US midterm elections on November 8 will be a referendum on former US president Donald Trump, whether traditional Republicans like it or not. In September, Trump and his allies launched a new... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3194952/us-midterm-elections-will-highlight-trump-effect?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3194952/us-midterm-elections-will-highlight-trump-effect?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Oct 2022 06:30:18 +0000 Last year saw the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, and the 30th year of the collapse of the USSR. The same communist ideology has yielded two dramatically different results. Why? First, it is because of the difference between Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The two men embarked on similar policies at around the same time. Deng started the reform and opening up policy in 1978, and Gorbachev initiated the perestroika... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3162103/why-communist-china-succeeded-soviet-union-failed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3162103/why-communist-china-succeeded-soviet-union-failed?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Jan 2022 16:30:22 +0000 The Soviet Union’s collapse at the end of 1991, has weighed heavily on the minds of China’s leaders over the past three decades as they seek to avoid a similar fate. Observers argue its transition from a planned to a market economy that began in the 1970s avoided the pains suffered by Russia and other Soviet states due to rapid privatisation and price liberalism, while the leadership has maintained tight political control. China’s leaders ‘must learn from Soviet Union’s fatal errors’ Andrei... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3161785/how-collapse-soviet-union-still-weighs-chinese-leaders-minds?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3161785/how-collapse-soviet-union-still-weighs-chinese-leaders-minds?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Jan 2022 12:00:31 +0000 China used cloud seeding to control rain and pollution in the capital ahead of a major political event in July, according to scientists at Tsinghua University. They said the government launched the large-scale operation – lacing clouds with chemicals to bring on rainfall – over suburban Beijing and some neighbouring areas hours before the Communist Party marked its centenary on July 1. In a research paper, they estimated the artificial rain that was created reduced the level of the air pollutant... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3158417/china-modified-weather-communist-party-marked-centenary-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3158417/china-modified-weather-communist-party-marked-centenary-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Dec 2021 09:32:09 +0000 JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said on Wednesday he regretted his remarks that the Wall Street bank would last longer than China’s Communist Party, moving quickly to avoid any longer-term fallout. Speaking at a Boston College series of CEO interviews on a day earlier, Dimon said: “I made a joke the other day that the Communist Party is celebrating its 100th year – so is JPMorgan. I’d make a bet that we last longer.” “I can’t say that in China. They are probably listening anyway,” he... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3157279/jpmorgan-ceo-jamie-dimon-regrets-joke-about-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3157279/jpmorgan-ceo-jamie-dimon-regrets-joke-about-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Nov 2021 17:33:28 +0000 On November 11, the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China concluded its sixth plenary session. The plenum, coinciding with the centenary of the founding of the party, is of historic significance to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Revisiting history helps to shed light on the future. At the plenum, a landmark resolution was passed: the Resolution on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century. By reviewing the feats in the Communist... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3156121/chinas-sixth-plenum-four-insights-communist-partys-100-years?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3156121/chinas-sixth-plenum-four-insights-communist-partys-100-years?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Nov 2021 06:30:13 +0000 China’s top Communist Party officials have started a landmark closed-door meeting where they are expected to adopt a monumental motion that reviews the party’s achievements in its 100-year history. Little had been revealed about the agenda for the sixth plenary session of the Central Committee, the party’s top governing body, as the four-day session got under way in Beijing on Monday. However, expectations are that delegates will consider and pass a “historical resolution” on the party’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3155333/chinas-communist-party-cusp-history-xi-jinping-sets-stage?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3155333/chinas-communist-party-cusp-history-xi-jinping-sets-stage?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Nov 2021 14:26:39 +0000 After paramount leader Mao Zedong’s death in 1976, China’s communist rulers spent years debating how to take the country forward from more than a decade of international isolation. A decision came in 1981. They would explain, to the Chinese people and the world, the mistakes of Mao and the Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution – 10 years of political and social upheaval that only ended when Mao died. It was done in a 30,000-word resolution, passed by the Central Committee, a statement... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3155062/chinas-communist-party-about-pass-new-resolution-heres-what?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3155062/chinas-communist-party-about-pass-new-resolution-heres-what?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Nov 2021 14:00:19 +0000 On Monday, top officials of China’s Communist Party will consider and likely adopt a “historical resolution” at the Central Committee’s most important meeting ahead of next year’s national congress. The “Resolution of the CCP Central Committee on the Major Achievements and Historical Experiences of the Party’s Centennial Struggle”, to be discussed at the sixth plenary session of the party’s highest governing body, is set to look back at key events in the party’s 100-year history and enshrine... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3154996/xi-jinpings-historical-resolution-what-it-and-why-it-important?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3154996/xi-jinpings-historical-resolution-what-it-and-why-it-important?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Nov 2021 01:00:23 +0000 China should resolutely resist “erosive” political Western influences such as multi-party elections and an independent judiciary and “tell the story of China’s democracy” well, the chairman of the country’s top legislative body said on Saturday. “We need to learn from the beneficial achievements of foreign political civilisations, but we must not abandon the fundamentals of China’s political system,” Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, said during a... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3153509/communist-party-number-3-hails-superiority-chinese-democracy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3153509/communist-party-number-3-hails-superiority-chinese-democracy?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Oct 2021 10:09:38 +0000 China’s top leaders will hold a key meeting in Beijing early next month, when they are expected to adopt a resolution on the Communist Party’s achievements over the past 100 years. The Politburo on Monday decided to hold the sixth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee from November 8 to 11, state news agency Xinhua reported. It said the leadership had sought feedback on the resolution on the party’s “major achievements and historical experience” and it would be reviewed during the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3152795/chinas-top-leaders-set-date-key-meeting-next-month?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3152795/chinas-top-leaders-set-date-key-meeting-next-month?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Oct 2021 21:00:18 +0000 China has had five major leaders since the founding of the People’s Republic, each of them distinctive and each with their own path to power. In his new book China’s Leaders: From Mao to Now , American political science professor and leading China scholar David Shambaugh not only charts the rise of each man but does it in a way that is accessible to the general reader. Here, Shambaugh talks about how he sees Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping – from their... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3151769/mao-now-david-shambaugh-compares-and-contrasts-chinas-leaders?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3151769/mao-now-david-shambaugh-compares-and-contrasts-chinas-leaders?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Oct 2021 01:30:15 +0000 President Xi Jinping said on Saturday that Beijing hoped Taiwan could be reunited peacefully with the Chinese mainland, warning that those who opposed this would be “judged by history”. “To achieve the reunification of the motherland by peaceful means is most in line with the overall interests of the Chinese nation, including our compatriots in Taiwan,” Xi told a meeting in Beijing commemorating the 110th anniversary of the 1911 revolution that established the first Chinese republic. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3151755/chinese-president-xi-jinping-says-peaceful-reunification-taiwan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3151755/chinese-president-xi-jinping-says-peaceful-reunification-taiwan?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Oct 2021 04:05:08 +0000 When Li Guangman, a little-known blogger in China, declared “a profound revolution” was under way against China’s big businesses, many in the country were reminded of the worst nightmares from the Mao Zedong era. Li used warlike language against China’s tech companies and misbehaving celebrities, as well as unspecified surrogates for the United States in the country, and then had his voice magnified by a handful of key state media websites, which carried a mildly toned-down version of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3150019/chinese-blogger-rails-against-party-enemies-and-rattles?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3150019/chinese-blogger-rails-against-party-enemies-and-rattles?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Oct 2021 06:14:57 +0000 Patriotic films will dominate China’s cinema screens during the National Day Holiday, which started on Friday, with three out of the 10 new releases marking the Communist Party’s centenary. Top on the list is The Battle at Lake Changjin, an epic praising the heroism of Chinese soldiers fighting against the Americans during the Korean war. The blockbuster, jointly directed by the mainland’s Chen Kaige and Hong Kong’s Hark Tsui and Dante Lam, attracted a record 1.3 billion yuan (US$210 million) in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3150923/korean-war-epic-leads-way-patriotic-themes-set-tone-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3150923/korean-war-epic-leads-way-patriotic-themes-set-tone-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Oct 2021 23:00:21 +0000 Nations around the world are looking to China to learn from its success, according to the Communist Party’s flagship mouthpiece People’s Daily. It called the country’s rise “unstoppable” and the decline of the West “irreversible” in a lengthy front-page commentary on Monday that observers said gave a glimpse of what will be in a party resolution expected to be adopted at a major meeting in November. “The world is experiencing changes unprecedented in a century. A salient feature of these changes... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3150324/communist-party-mouthpiece-touts-influence-chinas-governance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3150324/communist-party-mouthpiece-touts-influence-chinas-governance?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Sep 2021 13:08:59 +0000 For the most part, a series of articles in the main newspaper affiliated with the Communist Party’s top academy over the last three weeks read like the usual tributes to the country’s leader. Using interviews with former colleagues, Study Times, a publication from the Central Party School, tracked Chinese President Xi Jinping’s career, from his time in the provinces to the top party job. While the articles try to portray Xi in a favourable light in the lead-up to the expected endorsement of his... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3149583/who-xi-jinping-looking-new-clues-communist-party-tributes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3149583/who-xi-jinping-looking-new-clues-communist-party-tributes?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Sep 2021 12:30:17 +0000 President Xi Jinping began an inspection trip to Shaanxi province in northwestern China on Monday stressing the importance of environmental health and of maintaining the Communist Party’s revolutionary spirit, according to state media. State news agency Xinhua reported that Xi visited a clean-coal enterprise, a large-scale soil erosion rehabilitation project and a revolutionary site during his first stop in the city of Yulin. Xi is expected to attend the opening ceremony of the National Games in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3148721/xi-jinpings-visit-shaanxi-province-signals-chinas-strong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3148721/xi-jinpings-visit-shaanxi-province-signals-chinas-strong?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Sep 2021 10:57:11 +0000 China’s top Communist Party leaders will gather in Beijing in November for the most important meeting ahead of next year’s national congress, when a major leadership reshuffle is expected. The Politburo announced that the sixth – and final – plenary session of the 19th Central Committee will be held in November after their meeting on Tuesday, according to state broadcaster CCTV. An exact date was not given for the plenum, which is usually held in October. The plenum will focus on “the major... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3147072/landmark-gathering-chinas-communist-party-elite-set-november?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3147072/landmark-gathering-chinas-communist-party-elite-set-november?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 Aug 2021 13:09:34 +0000 On Tuesday, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported that President Xi Jinping had sent a letter to the Global Young Leaders Dialogue to congratulate it on its first forum to promote youth leadership and cooperation. There was nothing unusual about that – except that it was the first official report about Xi in two weeks. His public absence – along with most of the Communist Party’s top echelon – raised speculation that the secretive Beidaihe annual retreat for Chinese leaders may have... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3144798/xi-jinpings-new-rules-reshape-chinas-communist-party-decision?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3144798/xi-jinpings-new-rules-reshape-chinas-communist-party-decision?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Aug 2021 04:00:19 +0000 In its quest for certainty about China and whether it is a moral threat or merely a robust competitor, the American consensus now claims to have taken the measure of China and is not in doubt. It would be better if it was. The Western mind might be creating something that doesn’t really exist. It is wrong to be so sure of things, 18th-century Scottish philosopher David Hume said. The sun will probably rise over the horizon tomorrow morning – but only probably, so don’t be so certain. Even... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3144354/why-us-certainty-about-china-threat-danger-itself?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3144354/why-us-certainty-about-china-threat-danger-itself?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Aug 2021 17:30:19 +0000 Hong Kong’s justice chief has secured consent from mainland China’s top court for local lawyers interested in practising in Guangdong province to be offered training courses, a move that is likely to boost the city’s legal profession. The consensus on providing practical mainland legal training courses was reached on Wednesday after a meeting between Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah and Supreme People’s Court president Zhou Qiang in Beijing. Cheng is on a four-day visit to the capital... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3142923/hong-kong-justice-chief-secures-consent-mainland?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3142923/hong-kong-justice-chief-secures-consent-mainland?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Jul 2021 16:15:11 +0000 https://www.scmp.com/economy/article/3142491/what-make-xis-speech-communist-party-centenary?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/article/3142491/what-make-xis-speech-communist-party-centenary?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Jul 2021 12:00:00 +0000 https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3142197/video-exhibitions-and-history-lessons-china-prepares-mark-100-years?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3142197/video-exhibitions-and-history-lessons-china-prepares-mark-100-years?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Jul 2021 04:09:05 +0000 https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3142193/video-scmp-explains-how-does-chinese-communist-party-operate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3142193/video-scmp-explains-how-does-chinese-communist-party-operate?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Jul 2021 04:02:45 +0000 Time and again, predictions of the Communist Party’s impending doom have come to nothing as its form of political governance has not only endured but thrived. The party has created a system that has rewritten China’s economic and social record in a short period of time. While success of this formula is unique to China, it will not remain within China alone. The allure of its mode of political governance will be akin to the gravitational pull towards Chinese trade – whether Beijing likes it or... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3141937/why-chinas-governance-model-will-be-exported-whether-beijing-likes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3141937/why-chinas-governance-model-will-be-exported-whether-beijing-likes?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Jul 2021 01:15:16 +0000 China’s Communist Party demands that its members hang on every word of the party’s general secretary, President Xi Jinping, and submit their reflections to their superiors. But for those who lack the time or inclination to do so, the spirit of free enterprise could come to the rescue with a service that allows them to buy ready-made studies of Xi’s comments. One service being advertised on WeChat, the country’s most popular social media platform, offers studies for as little as 28 yuan... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3141553/chinese-communist-party-members-take-enterprising-short-cuts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3141553/chinese-communist-party-members-take-enterprising-short-cuts?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Jul 2021 08:00:20 +0000 The United States and China are both in the process of appointing new ambassadors to serve in each other’s capitals. In Beijing, the post has been vacant since US ambassador Terry Branstad stepped down last October. Meanwhile, Chinese ambassador Cui Tiankai is retiring after eight years in Washington. The vacancies come as Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping court allies amid tense US-China relations. Ongoing tensions and travel concerns during the pandemic have limited high-level exchanges of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3141078/us-china-relations-what-bidens-and-xis-picks-ambassador-could-mean?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3141078/us-china-relations-what-bidens-and-xis-picks-ambassador-could-mean?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Jul 2021 17:00:19 +0000 The Chinese Communist Party, which recently celebrated its centenary, has governed mainland China for 72 years. While it may seem like a long time, in the contexts of longer-lived imperial dynasties, such as the Han (which lasted 422 years), Tang (289 years), Song (319 years), Ming (276 years) and Qing (268 years), the first seven decades are considered the “early period” of each dynasty. What was state of the nation like in these early periods? The founding emperor of the Han dynasty... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/3140948/chinese-communist-party-has-governed-72-years-how-did?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/3140948/chinese-communist-party-has-governed-72-years-how-did?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Jul 2021 00:45:18 +0000 During a ceremony last week celebrating the centenary of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping delivered an important and inspiring speech to people at home and abroad. China, under the leadership of its Communist Party, has made remarkable achievements in the last 100 years. As President Xi rightly pointed out, the era of China being bullied is gone forever: “We have never bullied, oppressed, or subjugated the people of any other country, and we never will. By the same token, we... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3140339/why-china-will-continue-go-its-own-way-thats-road-national?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3140339/why-china-will-continue-go-its-own-way-thats-road-national?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Jul 2021 22:00:10 +0000 The geopolitical map of our time is unsettling. World politics is entering a new phase, and many politicians and intellectuals have not hesitated to proliferate visions of what it should be: a clash of civilisations, the end of history, the decline of the nation-state, and the return of traditional rivalries between nations. In US President Joe Biden’s world view, there exist only democracies and autocracies, all in competition with each other. A polarised political landscape in the US is united... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3140527/biden-and-us-hawks-must-understand-china-waving-democratic-torch?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3140527/biden-and-us-hawks-must-understand-china-waving-democratic-torch?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Jul 2021 16:30:13 +0000 To mark the hundredth birthday of the Communist Party of China, about 70 representatives of Hong Kong’s government, political parties, community organisations, business and professional sectors were invited to Beijing to join the celebrations. In addition to multiple coronavirus tests before and after arrival, invitees were quarantined in their hotel pending attendance in the mass cultural performance at the National Stadium in Beijing on June 28 and the grand gathering at Tiananmen Square on... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3140450/how-chinas-communist-party-centenary-celebrations-reflected?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3140450/how-chinas-communist-party-centenary-celebrations-reflected?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Jul 2021 23:00:14 +0000 One of the most widely reported comments during Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping’s speech last Thursday to mark its 100th anniversary was his pledge that China would not be bullied. Arguing that it had never oppressed or subjugated the people of any other country, and never would, Xi stated that China would never allow any foreign force to do likewise. “Anyone who would attempt to do so will find themselves on a collision course with a great wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3140297/was-xi-jinpings-choice-gory-and-controversial-idiom-message?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3140297/was-xi-jinpings-choice-gory-and-controversial-idiom-message?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Jul 2021 01:00:12 +0000 Young Communist Party cadres must be both loyal and politically competent to carry on the enterprising work of the century-old ruling party, People’s Daily has said in a commentary. The commentary, published last Wednesday, said young cadres must prepare themselves for “complicated and conflicting problems” and be capable risk-handlers in the new era. “In the peaceful age, young cadres no longer face the trials of wars and the test of life and death, but they will still encounter many... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3140380/communist-partys-next-generation-must-be-loyal-and-competent?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3140380/communist-partys-next-generation-must-be-loyal-and-competent?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Jul 2021 23:00:24 +0000 By most accounts, the Communist Party had a momentous first century as it transformed a war-torn, impoverished homeland into a secure, prosperous nation. In the next century, the party’s storyline is likely to take on an international trajectory as China’s destiny becomes increasingly intertwined with the wider world. This fact is not lost on President Xi Jinping, who has extolled his vision of a “community with a shared future for mankind”. To realise this, the party must guide a historically... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3140127/time-chinas-elite-embrace-zheng-he-spirit-and-open-wary-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3140127/time-chinas-elite-embrace-zheng-he-spirit-and-open-wary-world?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Jul 2021 17:00:11 +0000 Pro-establishment lawmakers have urged authorities to build a permanent museum in Hong Kong to showcase the Communist Party’s history, and to do more in educating the young about its achievements. But Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai said the Hong Kong Museum of History had already displayed exhibits showing the party’s relationship with the city, and could provide materials about the national emblem, anthem and flag for schools to educate pupils. Federation... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3140210/hong-kong-lawmakers-urge-government-build-museum-communist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3140210/hong-kong-lawmakers-urge-government-build-museum-communist?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Jul 2021 11:47:40 +0000 2/5 stars Exactly 10 years after dramatising the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in the star-studded epic Beginning of the Great Revival, director Huang Jianxin is called upon to perform the exact same task with 1921. Now celebrating 100 years since the party’s inception, Huang and co-director Zheng Dasheng turn their attentions away from Mao Zedong, whose courtship of second wife Yang Kaihui took up the bulk of the previous film, and instead follow the fortunes of Li Da, Chen Duxiu and... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3140018/1921-movie-review-historical-drama-celebrating-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3140018/1921-movie-review-historical-drama-celebrating-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Jul 2021 09:15:18 +0000 In a speech marking 100 years of the Communist Party on July 1, President Xi Jinping warned that hostile foreign powers would “have their heads cracked and bleeding”. The threatening words were ostensibly aimed at the United States and its allies, but also very much intended for the ears of the domestic audience. For many Chinese, Xi’s stern tone was a sign of China’s confidence, strength and resolve. But I doubt it went down well with people beyond China’s borders. And it certainly didn’t help... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3139964/china-gentle-giant-would-win-more-hearts-wolf-warrior-diplomacy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3139964/china-gentle-giant-would-win-more-hearts-wolf-warrior-diplomacy?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Jul 2021 16:30:13 +0000 Chinese President Xi Jinping told an international political summit on Tuesday that China’s modernisation had proven itself as a viable alternative to the Western system of governance and Beijing was willing to share its experiences with other countries. “History and practice have proven and will further demonstrate that this path [by China] is the right and correct one … and we will continue our journey on this bright avenue both for ourselves and for the benefit of the world,” Xi said at the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3140079/china-shows-world-alternative-path-modern-future-xi-jinping?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3140079/china-shows-world-alternative-path-modern-future-xi-jinping?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Jul 2021 15:06:54 +0000 Chinese President Xi Jinping’s vision for a new branch of economics is fast becoming a reality, with his party announcing the establishment of an economics research centre in his name. The decision follows discussions over such a centre that began a year ago, and analysts say the move is part of Xi’s strategy to further strengthen his rule. The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party – the party’s most authoritative body – on Monday gave the green light for a new “Xi Jinping Economic... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3140057/economic-thought-chinas-xi-jinping-be-immortalised-newly?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3140057/economic-thought-chinas-xi-jinping-be-immortalised-newly?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Jul 2021 12:03:49 +0000 The centenary of the Chinese Communist Party on July 1 was billed as a major national event for China and a personal milestone for President Xi Jinping. His speech deified the Communist Party for its contribution to enabling China to acquire comprehensive national power. The address, which lasted over an hour, was leavened with nationalism and an exhortation to the Chinese people to remain invested in the ideology of the Communist Party and its current leadership and work towards reclaiming... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3139844/what-xi-jinpings-speech-marking-communist-party-centenary-means?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3139844/what-xi-jinpings-speech-marking-communist-party-centenary-means?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Jul 2021 00:30:07 +0000 Taiwan’s former security chief Chiou I-jen has warned that declaring independence is not up to its people alone, saying that is the “cruel reality” of the situation facing the self-ruled island. Chiou, who was secretary general of Taiwan’s National Security Council and a vice-premier, made the remarks on a radio show hosted by former president Chen Shui-bian on Sunday. “Whether Taiwan can declare independence is not a decision which can be made by Taiwanese people. Rather, we need to consider... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3139911/cruel-reality-ex-security-chief-says-independence-not-people?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3139911/cruel-reality-ex-security-chief-says-independence-not-people?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Jul 2021 13:30:12 +0000 The Japanese Communist Party (JCP) has doubled down on its efforts to distance itself from its erstwhile ideological ally in Beijing, refusing to congratulate the Chinese Communist Party on the centenary of its founding on July 1. Instead, JCP chairman Kazuo Shii used the anniversary to lambast China’s government in a series of tweets. He cited Beijing’s “aggressive” territorial claims and described its treatment of Hong Kong and the Uygur Muslim minority in its westernmost province of Xinjiang... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3139887/japanese-communist-party-snubs-chinas-communist-party-centenary?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3139887/japanese-communist-party-snubs-chinas-communist-party-centenary?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Jul 2021 10:30:11 +0000 Historical anniversaries sometimes – not always – provide an opportunity to take stock. Rarely do two anniversaries coincide that encourage such an opportunity. That was the case with the 50th anniversary on July 3 of former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s breakthrough visit to China and the July 1 centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. Australia needs to take stock of a troubled relationship with its dominant trading partner and guarantor of its economic... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3139834/china-australia-relations-what-canberra-can-learn-gough-whitlam?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3139834/china-australia-relations-what-canberra-can-learn-gough-whitlam?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Jul 2021 05:31:59 +0000 With media reports suggesting that North Korea is struggling to navigate its way out of an impending famine, Kim Jong-un’s message to President Xi Jinping on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party is seen by analysts as a sign that strong ties with Beijing will help Pyongyang navigate any pandemic-induced food or economic crises. Kim on Thursday said he would push to further upgrade relations with Beijing, and raise bilateral friendship “to a new strategic point as... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3139689/how-will-emaciated-kim-jong-un-ride-out-famine-north-korea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3139689/how-will-emaciated-kim-jong-un-ride-out-famine-north-korea?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Jul 2021 21:00:19 +0000 Much has been said about the so-called Wolf Warrior diplomacy. Rhetoric aside, the real issue is Chinese victimhood over the “century of humiliation” that started with the 1840 opium war. When Deng Xiaoping met Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Beijing in 1989, he talked for quite some time about how China was maltreated by imperial Russia before he said “let’s put an end to the past and face the future”. In other words, he would not be able to talk about the future without first talking about... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3139624/no-more-victim-china-must-leave-its-past-behind-and-embrace-its?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3139624/no-more-victim-china-must-leave-its-past-behind-and-embrace-its?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Jul 2021 17:00:13 +0000 A film celebrating the Chinese Communist Party’s centenary has drawn mixed reactions from audiences despite topping the box office charts in the first two days of its release. Co-directed by Huang Jianxin and Zheng Dasheng, 1921, which tells the story of the founding of party 100 years ago, hit the cinemas on Thursday. It features a star-studded cast portraying many of the leading figures of the era, including Mao Zedong played by Wang Renjun. According to the China Movie Data Information... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3139745/chinese-communist-party-centenary-film-1921-tops-box-office-it-anything?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3139745/chinese-communist-party-centenary-film-1921-tops-box-office-it-anything?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Jul 2021 08:00:22 +0000 Why is Marxism thriving in China and not Marx’s place of birth? Why is Buddhism practised more in East Asia than India? Why does Islam have more followers outside Saudi Arabia? Ideas and religion spread through globalisation, but it was really their localisation that created more believers and followers. What succeeded was not globalisation but glocalisation, the internalisation of universal ideas and beliefs by the many and not just the few. Few Westerners see the irony of a supposedly closed... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3139573/why-china-embraced-marxism-not-other-western-thinking?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3139573/why-china-embraced-marxism-not-other-western-thinking?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Jul 2021 17:00:19 +0000 The Communist Party has stepped up recruitment of young blood as it looks to the future, with more than 80 per cent of new members since January 2020 aged 35 or younger. Ahead of its centenary on Thursday, China’s ruling party announced early this week that membership had reached 95 million people – up 3.5 per cent from the end of 2019. More than 4.7 million joined between January last year and June 5 this year – many of them young Chinese. The party’s Organisation Department said it continued... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3139674/chinas-communist-party-seeks-younger-members-it-looks-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3139674/chinas-communist-party-seeks-younger-members-it-looks-future?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Jul 2021 15:26:57 +0000 Backs straight, heads high, three dozen Commu nist Party members in red neckties who hope for leadership posts belt out a poem by revolutionary leader Mao Zedong at a historic mountainside battle site in central China. “We stay upright even as we are surrounded by countless enemy forces!” declare the men and women, who are on a two-week course at the China Executive Leadership Academy. “Together, we will defeat the enemy!” As the party celebrates the 100th anniversary of its 1921 founding,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3139654/communist-party-continues-training-new-devotees-it-marks-100?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3139654/communist-party-continues-training-new-devotees-it-marks-100?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Jul 2021 12:08:46 +0000