Teaching Comparative Government

During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China, there were study groups in farm fields, factory floors, classrooms, and neighborhoods. The only study materials were Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung , the "little red book." President Xi is updating the ideology study. Courseware on Xi thought launched Courseware on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era has been launched for free download on several websites including people.com.cn and xinhuanet.com. The courseware, developed by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the Ministry of Education (MOE), contains 30 subjects that focus on basic spirit, connotations and requirements of the thought. The courseware is aimed at helping officials and the public, especially college teachers and students, to learn, understand and grasp the thought. The CPC Central Committee Publicity Department, the MOE and the working committee of the centra...

This is going to take some fancy explanation. Chinese campus crackdown on young Marxist activists expands in major cities At least 16 of 22 Chinese labour activists – many of them recent graduates from elite universities – who disappeared in five cities over the weekend were still missing early on Wednesday, as authorities widened their crackdown against emerging grass-roots activism led by young Marxists. Students at Peking University (PKU)… have been warned by the university over the past two days – in the presence of their parents and others who appeared to be plain-clothes police – to ignore the weekend purge. But the group, which gave the estimate of the numbers of activists still missing, has vowed to keep fighting for their freedom. The latest purge follows the earlier detention of about 50 activists after a labour rights protest that began in Shenzhen at the end of July… “Many students were told the weekend incident was a law enforcement action by relevant departments targetin...

The Communist Party of China has published a "mind map" guide to President Xi's ideology for those who need a cheat sheet to stay out of political trouble. A simple guide to Xi Jinping Thought? Here’s how China’s official media tried to explain it When Xi Jinping outlined his political blueprint for the next 30 years at the Communist Party congress last year, it took him three and a half hours to articulate his vision for the country. Now, to mark the first anniversary of his speech, the party’s official mouthpiece has made a no less ambitious attempt to visualise the Chinese president’s doctrines. The result, published on the WeChat account of People’s Daily on Thursday, is a complex colour-coded “mind map” consisting of 30 separate elements, each broken down into multiple subsections that resemble the branches of a tree. Officially called “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”, the doctrine is now enshrined in both state and party...

Given how much Chinese President Xi pushes "his" reform and opening up ideas, it's good to remember that the idea was raised 40 years ago by Deng Xiaoping. Senior legislators hold study session on reform, opening up The Leading Party Members' Group of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee held a study session on China's reform and opening up over the past 40 years. Li Zhanshu, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee and secretary of its leading Party members' group, chaired and addressed the meeting held Monday and Tuesday. The meeting stressed studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and a profound understanding of the major political judgement by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, that reform and opening up is the key that has determined c...

Chinese leaders must be nervous. The last time youthful protests were widespread, they ended only after the army killed hundreds of protesters in Tiananmen Square. The army moved in when workers began joining students in the protests. China’s Leaders Confront an Unlikely Foe: Ardent Young Communists They were exactly what China’s best universities were supposed to produce: young men and women steeped in the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party. They read Marx, Lenin and Mao and formed student groups to discuss the progress of socialism. They investigated the treatment of the campus proletariat, including janitors, cooks and construction workers. They volunteered to help struggling rural families and dutifully recited the slogans of President Xi Jinping. Then, after graduation, they attempted to put the party’s stated ideals into action, converging from across China last month on Huizhou, a city in the south, to organize labor unions at nearby factories and stage protests demanding g...

In China, the Long March was a crucial episode in the civil war of the 1930s. Beginning in Jiangxi Province, it was an epic retreat of the Communist army as the Kuomintang (Nationalists) tried to follow them. Mao Zedong became the leader of the Communist forces during the retreat. Now, educational tourism is a growing business in Jiangxi. China’s ‘red education’ history tours and the rise of communist cosplay If anyone can best tell the scale and intensity of China’s “red education” drive to promote loyalty to the ruling Communist Party, it’s businessman Yu Meng. The 36-year-old runs the largest Red Army uniform rental business in Jinggangshan, a city dubbed the “cradle of the communist revolution” deep in the mountains of Jiangxi. Last year alone, his company rented uniforms to 256,000 people taking part in red ideology study tours. Political tourists in rented uniforms Yu started the Xiangganbian Red Army uniform company 10 years ago. But it’s only in the last three years that the bu...

When I began studying about China, it was known in the USA as Red China as opposed to the more friendly Nationalist China (on the island of Taiwan). Later we began calling it Communist China. After Nixon's visit some of us called it the People's Republic of China. Somewhere along the way, Americans began using the simple name China and called "Nationalist China" Taiwan. Now the Communists in the People's Republic are discussing ways to improve the "business environment." No wonder we don't call it communist or red anymore. Look for further developments. China vows to further improve business environment China will work to tackle the weak areas in its business environment to further improve overall competitiveness and sustain the sound momentum of steady economic performance, the State Council's executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang decided on Wednesday. The Chinese government places high importance on improving the country's busines...

President Xi has frequently mentioned the importance of Marxism. However, some younger Chinese aren't sure about the brand of Marxism Xi is promoting. Why Beijing isn’t Marxist enough for China’s radical millennials Beijing has long gone far to teach China about the father of Communism. Classes on Marx and Marxism are routinely part of the country’s educational curriculum, especially at the university level… [I]n recent years, Marxism has also inspired some young activists in China, who have seen in [the Communist Manifesto] the motivation to boldly press ahead on issues of feminism, workers rights and income equality. In sharp contrast to the official Marxist line, this new generation of Marxists has emphasised individual freedoms, with some even expressing some interest in a constitutional democracy – a stand that the country’s mainstream Marxists and Maoists usually dismiss as hypocritical. For their part, despite Beijing’s official narrative that the party upholds Marxism, so...

President Xi seems to think that China needs a reminder that it's a socialist country. Stick to Karl Marx’s true path, China’s Communist Party is “totally correct” to stick with Karl Marx’s theory, President Xi Jinping has said in a speech ahead of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the German philosopher whom he described as the “greatest thinker of modern time”. Since coming to power in 2012, Xi has stressed the party must not forget its socialist roots as it works to attain the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”… “We must win the advantages, win the initiative, and win the future. We must continuously improve the ability to use Marxism to analyse and solve practical problems,” Xi said beneath a massive portrait of Marx on a stage bedecked with scarlet and gold curtains. Xi also instructed all party members to adopt the reading of Marxist works and the understanding of Marxist theories as a “way of life” and a “spiritual pursuit”… Today, China, the world’s largest s...