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The Party should not perch above the people
By Wang Yong |
January 15, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
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LATE Chairman Mao Zedong once warned Chinese Communist Party members of the dangers of perching above the ordinary people.
Chairman Mao died in 1976, but his populist and egalitarian ideas are remembered and respected in China today even as the country has broken the "big rice bowl" of Mao's time to let some people get rich first.
On January 9, Shanghai Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng told the city's key Party members that Mao's "people first" concept must not be forgotten as the country builds up a socialist market economy - although the concept was first put forward in the years of class struggle.
Chairman Mao said: "Communist Party members should be good at settling issues through communication and discussion with the people, and should never ever alienate themselves from the people." Yu quoted this line in his speech last Saturday, saying it's the Party's precious legacy and a powerful principle in dealing with conflicts in today's China.
Yu didn't enumerate the conflicts faced today, but he said China must prevent the income gap and corruption from worsening at the mercy of capital whose nature is to seek profit.
Indeed, just because you can get rich first does not mean you should get rich through corruption or serving the rich only.
Indeed, China has changed from a planned economy to a market economy, but China has never embraced capitalism.
A European mayor once asked me in an interview on the Bund whether China is now a Communist or a capitalist country. I said China would never be a capitalist country where people are just the ashes of capital and aspirants to wealth.
Shanghai has certainly built some expensive apartments for the rich, but it's also throwing its weight behind the construction of many affordable ones - not just in the suburbs, but also in the city proper - so that the downtown will not be downgraded into a club of the rich.
Do Shanghai officials make mistakes? Of course, said Yu. "It's impossible (for government officials) to have made no mistakes, especially when you have been in power for a long time," he said. "If you want to win public trust, you must tell the truth, you must be ready to admit your shortcomings and mistakes. If you refuse to admit your shortcomings or mistakes, the public will lose trust in the Party and the government."
Bones and flesh
Yu was very candid when he said that some officials tend to be aloof from the public now that the Communist Party has been in power for a long time. During the years of revolutionary wars, Party members and ordinary people were as close as bones and flesh. But this feeling is lacking today in many officials who have no such experience.
"And a considerable number of Party and government officials lack work experience in grass roots areas and thus do not understand the hardships of the people," Yu said.
This reminds me of a case last summer in which a senior government official in Henan Province accused the media of speaking for the people, not for the Party.
In June last year, Lu Jun, a senior official of the urban planning bureau of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province, snapped at reporters: "Do you speak for the people or the Party?" The reporters had been asking him why the land allocated for the construction of affordable housing for ordinary people had been earmarked instead for luxury villas.
In Lu's mind, the Party should perch above the people and, he reasoned, he should be above the people and the media. Now he has been suspended from his post and subject to investigation.
In his speech, Shanghai Party Secretary Yu did mention the importance of building a system of checks and balances to prevent corruption of some officials. I believe China has made progress in that regard. Active online public opinions is just one example. But a system of checks and balances won't work if the wrong people are placed in charge of it.
Western countries boast of political and economic systems with checks and balances, and yet we have seen Wall Street financial wizards line their own pockets, create zombie banks and ruin a large part of the Western economy.
Wang Fuzhi (1619-1692), a well-known Chinese thinker and philosopher, said it's bad politics to employ the law only and ignore the importance of personal morality. In other words, a good law is useless if it's in the hands of unethical officials.
I do not say that my own father is a perfect Communist, but once the president of a major hospital in Jiangsu Province for about 20 years, he has retired to live in a simple apartment of less than 100 square meters, smaller than many of his colleagues' homes.
When I went home last year, I found my father, now in his 80s, was still using a kettle from the 1970s.
Do you expect a hospital president today to be like that?
Chairman Mao died in 1976, but his populist and egalitarian ideas are remembered and respected in China today even as the country has broken the "big rice bowl" of Mao's time to let some people get rich first.
On January 9, Shanghai Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng told the city's key Party members that Mao's "people first" concept must not be forgotten as the country builds up a socialist market economy - although the concept was first put forward in the years of class struggle.
Chairman Mao said: "Communist Party members should be good at settling issues through communication and discussion with the people, and should never ever alienate themselves from the people." Yu quoted this line in his speech last Saturday, saying it's the Party's precious legacy and a powerful principle in dealing with conflicts in today's China.
Yu didn't enumerate the conflicts faced today, but he said China must prevent the income gap and corruption from worsening at the mercy of capital whose nature is to seek profit.
Indeed, just because you can get rich first does not mean you should get rich through corruption or serving the rich only.
Indeed, China has changed from a planned economy to a market economy, but China has never embraced capitalism.
A European mayor once asked me in an interview on the Bund whether China is now a Communist or a capitalist country. I said China would never be a capitalist country where people are just the ashes of capital and aspirants to wealth.
Shanghai has certainly built some expensive apartments for the rich, but it's also throwing its weight behind the construction of many affordable ones - not just in the suburbs, but also in the city proper - so that the downtown will not be downgraded into a club of the rich.
Do Shanghai officials make mistakes? Of course, said Yu. "It's impossible (for government officials) to have made no mistakes, especially when you have been in power for a long time," he said. "If you want to win public trust, you must tell the truth, you must be ready to admit your shortcomings and mistakes. If you refuse to admit your shortcomings or mistakes, the public will lose trust in the Party and the government."
Bones and flesh
Yu was very candid when he said that some officials tend to be aloof from the public now that the Communist Party has been in power for a long time. During the years of revolutionary wars, Party members and ordinary people were as close as bones and flesh. But this feeling is lacking today in many officials who have no such experience.
"And a considerable number of Party and government officials lack work experience in grass roots areas and thus do not understand the hardships of the people," Yu said.
This reminds me of a case last summer in which a senior government official in Henan Province accused the media of speaking for the people, not for the Party.
In June last year, Lu Jun, a senior official of the urban planning bureau of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province, snapped at reporters: "Do you speak for the people or the Party?" The reporters had been asking him why the land allocated for the construction of affordable housing for ordinary people had been earmarked instead for luxury villas.
In Lu's mind, the Party should perch above the people and, he reasoned, he should be above the people and the media. Now he has been suspended from his post and subject to investigation.
In his speech, Shanghai Party Secretary Yu did mention the importance of building a system of checks and balances to prevent corruption of some officials. I believe China has made progress in that regard. Active online public opinions is just one example. But a system of checks and balances won't work if the wrong people are placed in charge of it.
Western countries boast of political and economic systems with checks and balances, and yet we have seen Wall Street financial wizards line their own pockets, create zombie banks and ruin a large part of the Western economy.
Wang Fuzhi (1619-1692), a well-known Chinese thinker and philosopher, said it's bad politics to employ the law only and ignore the importance of personal morality. In other words, a good law is useless if it's in the hands of unethical officials.
I do not say that my own father is a perfect Communist, but once the president of a major hospital in Jiangsu Province for about 20 years, he has retired to live in a simple apartment of less than 100 square meters, smaller than many of his colleagues' homes.
When I went home last year, I found my father, now in his 80s, was still using a kettle from the 1970s.
Do you expect a hospital president today to be like that?
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