Title: XI Jinping: China's New Boss and the 'L' WordSource: http://www.newsweek.com/id/81558/page/1Date: 22nd Dec 2007Labels: GovernmentBy Jonathan Ansfield and Melinda Liu NEWSWEEKRarely has the word-of-mouth surrounding a new Chinese star differed so dramatically from his official résumé. Xi Jinping was anointed in October as the likely successor to President Hu Jintao as party chief in 2012, and his canned bio says little about his family history. But China's gossip mills have been churning overtime. Turns out Xi's dad, revolutionary hero Xi Zhongxun, was purged three times by Mao Zedong and later became a pro-market reformer.
He was also one of the few leaders to defend Hu Yaobang, a progressive party chief sacked in 1986, and to condemn the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre—after which he was rarely seen in public again.
Were such facts better known, they might raise awkward questions for his son.
Thus China's state-run media has avoided the subject, and Xi Jinping has deflected questions about his dad—and his influence on Xi's philosophy. That's left China's new boss a mystery. About the only things analysts can agree on is that he's market-friendly, prudent, and married to a famous singer. Where Xi's heart really lies is unknown.
What is clear is that Xi is popular within the party. His selection as heir apparent this fall surprised many, and came at the expense of Li Keqiang, Hu's handpicked successor. Seems that the president's rivals thought Li was too similar to his mentor in outlook and style. So Xi, who topped a shortlist of up-and-comers in intraparty polling, emerged as the consensus pick instead.
Xi owes much of his popularity to his man-of-the-people image, which he came by early. During the Cultural Revolution in 1968, the 15-year-old Xi was sent to the countryside for a stint of manual labor. Down in rural Hebei province, while his father was being publicly denounced back home, the young Xi impressed the locals with his modesty and hard work—so much so that, by 21, they'd made him a local party chief and recommended him for university.
Xi, now 54, has carried this history as a badge of honor ever since and avoided signs he's a pampered son of the elite. When he was vice mayor of Xiamen in 1987, for example, he sometimes favored simple windbreakers over Western business suits and mini-buses over chauffeured cars. "He was unusually easygoing and down to earth," one official recalls.
This manner has won Xi plaudits from no less a figure than Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, who declared on a recent visit that Xi was "a thoughtful man who has gone through many trials and tribulations." "I would put him in the Nelson Mandela class," Lee declared.
That may be, but Xi's shown no signs he plans to follow his dad's principled example—much less risk prison for his ideals, like Mandela.
China's leaders have become less and less bold since Tiananmen, as the party has placed increasing emphasis on consultation and consensus. It's thus hard to imagine any of them attempting big changes in the near future, says
Jin Zhong, editor of Open Magazine in Hong Kong. "Even if they wanted to, they wouldn't dare."Sure enough, Xi's recent record has been carefully conservative. During a brief stint as Shanghai party secretary from last March to October, Xi "didn't touch any of the sensitive, thorny issues," says Jin, such as the massive pension-fund scandal that had toppled his predecessor or the detention of local activists. Instead, Xi dutifully promoted Beijing's policies, including its prescriptions for more measured growth.
Expect more of the same in Xi's new roles, which include being party point man on Hong Kong. Democrats there have been clamoring for full suffrage, and the city's tabloids are following Xi's every move to see what he might deliver. Brookings scholar Cheng Li notes that Xi "has not been impressive" in recent ventures. Still, he has an "open-minded leadership style." And under the circumstances—with an uptight, micromanaging Hu Jintao still in charge of China—open-minded is probably the most anyone should hope for.
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Comments: Xi Jinping is a rising star in the CCP and many see him as Hu Jintao's successor. What's interesting is his father's background
( bell ring continue later)
Labels: government
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Article 4: China's leaders rediscover ConfucianismBy Daniel A. Bell. International Herald Tribune. Sept 14, 2006
BEIJING: Marxism no longer serves as Chinese society's guiding ideology. But that doesn't mean the end of ideology. Western experts hope liberal democracy will fill the void, but they will have "joined Karl Marx," as the Chinese used to say, before that happens. In China, the moral vacuum is being filled by Christian sects, Falun Gong and extreme forms of nationalism. But the government considers that such alternatives threaten the hard-won peace and stability that underpins China's development, so it has encouraged the revival of Confucianism. Like most ideologies, however, Confucianism can be a double-edged sword. "Confucius said, 'Harmony is something to be cherished,'" President Hu Jintao noted in February 2005. A few months later, he instructed China's party cadres to build a "harmonious society." Echoing Confucian themes, Hu said China should promote such values as honesty and unity, as well as forge a closer relationship between the people and the government. The teaching curriculum for secondary schools now includes teaching of the Confucian classics, and several experimental schools have been set up that focus largely on the classics. Abroad, the government has been promoting Confucianism via branches of the Confucius Institute, a Chinese language and culture center similar to France's Alliance Française and Germany's Goethe Institute. For the government, the promotion of Confucian values has several advantages. Domestically, the affirmation of harmony is meant to reflect the ruling party's concern for all classes. Threatened by rural discontent - according to official figures, there were 87,000 illegal disturbances last year - the government realizes that it needs to do more for those bearing the brunt of China's development. Internationally, the call for peace and harmony is meant to disarm fears about China's rapid rise. How does Confucianism resonate in society at large? At some level, especially regarding family ethics, Confucian values still inform ways of life. Filial piety, for example, is still widely endorsed and practiced: Adult children have a legal obligation to care for their elderly parents. Many intellectuals have turned to Confucianism to make sense of such social practices and to think of ways of dealing with China's current moral and political predicament. But their interpretations of Confucianism often diverge from official ones. Perhaps the most influential contemporary Confucian thinker is Jiang Qing, author of "Political Confucianism," in which he argues that for contemporary China, political Confucianism is more appropriate than Western-style liberal democracy. Jiang could not develop the institutional implications in that book. In a Taiwanese publication, however, he puts forward an interesting proposal for a legislature that includes representatives of Confucian elites, of elites entrusted with the task of cultural continuity, and of the people. In an article widely distributed on the Web, he argues for the establishment of Confucianism as a state religion (as with state religions in Britain and Sweden, other religions would not be prohibited). Intellectuals have also been applying Confucianism to foreign policy. Confucians favor rule by moral example and oppose the use of force to promote morality. Hence, Confucian intellectuals were severely critical of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. But here, too, interpretations of Confucianism may diverge from official ones. The idea that Taiwan should be reintegrated into the mainland by being threatened with invasion and bloodshed is far removed from Confucian ideals. Perhaps the biggest challenge to the government is the Confucian emphasis on meritocracy. The Confucian view is that political leaders should be the most talented and public-spirited members of the community, and the process of choosing such leaders should be meritocratic, meaning that there should be equal opportunity for the best to rise the top. Historically, Confucian meritocracy was implemented by means of examinations, and there have been proposals to revive and update Confucian examinations for contemporary China. Again, there is an obvious challenge to the government: Objectively measured performance on an exam, rather than party loyalty, would determine who occupies what government post.If Confucianism shapes China's future, it won't look like Western-style liberal democracy, but neither will it look like the status quo.
Chay Teng's Commentary: Confucian teachings do promote and encourage meritocracy, in which appointments are bestowed on the best person for it and is not based on nepotism or wealth, etc. However, China's governmental system has been unofficially 'plagued' by patronage and this meant that the most qualified person may not necessarily get the appointment. And it does not help that there are many, many officials who are corrupt. The Chinese government could perhaps use this Confucian teaching to move China to a social democratic system. Labels: confucianism, government, posted by chay teng, Social
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