POLI371 Lecture Notes: Chinese Politics, Characteristics of Totalitarianism - PDF

JANUARY 6 China = peoples republic of China - Mainland - What we will be referring to in this course Republic of China = Taiwan Chinese communist party = leading party of China WHY STUDY CHINA? Chinas clout in the contemporary world - 2nd largest economy - 2nd most populous country...

JANUARY 6 China = peoples republic of China - Mainland - What we will be referring to in this course Republic of China = Taiwan Chinese communist party = leading party of China WHY STUDY CHINA? Chinas clout in the contemporary world - 2nd largest economy - 2nd most populous country - Permanent member of the UN security council - 2nd largest military spender - Largest greenhouse gas emitter - Largest developing country - Uniqueness of its political system The Sino-Canadian bilateral relationship - Canada’s 2nd largest (goods and service) trade partner/country - Canadas major source of immigrants - Increasing tensions between Ottawa and Beijing at multiple fronts o The Huawei issue o Alleged election interference BC and China - Host of one of the largest Chinese diasporas (eg. Richmond) - Close economic ties (eg. BC lumber for Chinese markets) o 21.5% of BC lumber products go to China (BCFII) WHY DOES China HAVE UNANIMOUS VOTES Surveillance - Repercussions if you don’t vote ‘correctly’ No better alternatives It HAS to be like this to consolidate supremacy—once the decision is made behind closed doors - ‘Fighting takes place under the table but once it goes public, you must support’ Mao initiated young people/students to revolt against authority—eg. incentivising students to publicly humiliate and/or harm their teachers - Also landlords - Also other party members (even people high up like party secretaries) - Left himself unscathed—partly due to the party structure JANUARY 13: PARTY STATE AS THE INSTITUTIONAL BACKBONE OF THE PEOPLES REPUBLIC Hard for China to establish Asian hegemony because their neighbors are so diverse and concentrated, as opposed to NA Population in China largely in east China (along the coastline), large areas in the west, etc. ae empty Todays China: - More prosperity in eastern coastal area - Usually provincial capital cities most prosperous  - More mountainous areas you go, very similar to sub-Saharan Africa—backwards of prosperous centers o Eg. Ethiopia GDP comparable to Ningxia PARTY STATE Why called party state? - Emphasizes party having influence and control over the state (an overseeing power) - Party not operating below the state system LETS START WITH SOME ANALOGIES… Conjoined twins… - State and party are inseparable from each other—if one dies the other does as well Pyramid… - Top down control, not bottom up - Party controls all institutions of state - Party state, by design, tries to enable the party boss to be the one sole person to design—invest all power into one persons hands - Hierarchical system Multiple hats - People may hold multiple roles - Might hold state roles and party roles - Sometimes the multiple hats that people are wearing are not necessarily compatible MOST IMPORTANT IN CHINA - CCP politics and law commission= oversees Chinese police, court, and any judicial matters - Government boss/parliament - Senate - National propaganda department - International liason department à in China, you don’t apply to these jobs. You get drafted as a local official and are tracked vigorously to assess qualification. May get paid off to give drafts à top 5 group hosts the most powerful politicians in government - Some can take double roles - Eg. party boss of education of Canada and the minister of education of Canada will often be the same person China hosts ~100-300 politicians in the outer layer of the core party group - Find important provinces party secretaries there (eg. economically important, internationally, etc.) – conservationist economic political clout - Power structures equivalent to eg. BC RCMP would not have a seat at the second layer Even in educational institutions, China still has a heriarchy where different academic units have someone to report to Judges and courts are part of the party state apparatus and makes it very hard to interact (eg. undue influence on the legal system by design—can’t really prosecute high standing political figures, their family, etc.) CCP has party secretaries for even small organizations (eg. equivalent of Royal BC museum)  - Eg. biweekly meetings between newspaper secretary with propaganda secretary to plan propaganda - Propaganda secretary probably has biweekly meetings with other higher positions (eg. BC propaganda party secretary) - Larger districts always one hierarchical level above the smaller below them (eg. regional more powerful than municipal) Chinese government = state council CORE FEATURES OF THE PARTY STATE SYSTEM A hierarchical structure covering the entire widely defined public sector (party, bureaucratic, educational, media, and corporation organizations) in a unitary political system - Incompatible with federal design Party structure parallel (sometime superior) to, and completely intertwined with the governmental bureaucracy - Not military of defence that makes decisions, it’s the party-state central military committee - Party personnel are sometimes intertwined with state leadership as well (in some cases its separate) - Wherever there is a state function, there is a party member Major positions in almost all levels of the state apparatus taken by party members - Not only the party as an organization, party members also exert control within the state apparatus (eg. organization) Internally, party committee or group is the decision-making body for each unit/branch in the state apparatus - Eg. if CCP rules BC government, all major decisions are made in a weekly party- committee meeting, attended by major politicians (eg. law and policy commissioner) Externally, certain party entities have higher authority over state entities - Eg. propaganda department of the party has authority over the department of education - Politics and law commission has authority over courts and police Leninist party has a high requirement for party members - Eg. party ideology over personal life COMPOSITION OF POLITBURO HEIRARCHY INSIDE THE PARTY - It is almost impossible to futher your career without being a party member CCP FUNCTIONAL DEPARTMENTS - Organization - Publicity/propaganda - United front - International liaison (only at the central government level - JANUARY 20 IMPORTANT DATES AND EVENTS: PRE-1949 1636-1912: Manchu led dynasty of China 1912: establishment of the republic of China (ROC) with the help of nationalist party (Kuomintang, KMT/geomindang, GMD) - Leninist party - Founding party that established republic of China July 1921: establishment of the Chinese communist party (CCP) - Both parties were Leninist and borrowed heavily from the soviet union party building and work 1923-1927: the 1st united front (KMT/GMD-CCP alliance) to end warlordism in China  - Worked together to try to unify China 1927-1936: chinese (KMT/GMT vs. CCP) civil war (1st phase) - The CCPs long march - 1934-35 à brainwashing education about these years December 1936: Xi-an incident (general of nationalist party and #1 of republic of China tried to crash newly established CCP with military; but was very dependent on warlords for military; but when he flew to xi’an he was put under house arrest by the warlord generals—said enemy should be Japanese imperialism, not CCP) - KMT shifted its strategy of “first internal pacification, then external resistance” July 1937-august 1945: 2nd sino-japanese war 1937-1945: the 2nd CCP-KMT/GMD united front 1937-1945: the second united front (KMT-CCP alliance) resisting Japanese invasion Aug 1945-dec 1949: chinese (KMT/CCP) civil war (2nd phase) - Onset of cold war made CCP lean to SU and nationalist party to US October 1949: establishment of the peoples republic of China (PRC) announced by mao Zedong - Mao zedong proclaimed the establishment of the PRC at tianemen on October 1, 1949 Dec 1949: KMT/ROC migrated to Taiwan WHO IS MAO ZEDONG, AND WHY HIM? Mao never brushed his teeth uh oh stinky no more oranges Mao died on September 9, 1976 Maos mausoleum at Tiananmen square of Beijing (above) MAO ZEDONG, AND HIS LONG LASTING INFLUENCE IN China Examples: - Mao’s portrait on Tiananmen tower in central Beijing - Head statue of mao zedong in Changsha, capital city of his natal province - Statue of mao erected by local residens in henan in 2015 - Sticker of mao’s portrait on Mercedes in Ontario - Dec 26, 2023: 130th anniversary of mao’s birth CHARACTERISTICS OF TOTALITARIANISM (totalitarian dictatorship and autocracy, p22—friedrich and Brzezinski) - Argued that totalitarianism was the best framework to understand Nazi Germany and Mussolini An elaborate ideology: an elaborate and articulated set of ideas for how life and governance should work - An official body of doctrine covering all vital aspects of human existence to which everyone living in that society is supposed to adhere o Official = must be state propagated and perpetuated o Vital aspects = study, work, farmer, etc. all covered, despite how insignificant they seem in regards to the ideology o No exceptions in society to adhere (disability, age, gender, sexuality, etc.) - Focused and projected toward a perfect and final state of a human society o An ‘ideal’ form of society that should be realized AN OFFICIAL BODY OF DOCTRINE “mao zendong thought” is listed in constitutional documents with Marxism and Leninism as guidelines of the party-state and the nation - Mao’s “little red book”: supported personality cult and form of communism proliferated by mao o Everyone was supposed to have one o Start with reading this if you’re illiterate, not ABC, etc. - Eg. guards waving the “little red book” in front of the Tiananmen tower during the cultural revolution - Eg. peasants studying the “little red book” on the field - “workers of the world, unite!” Goal: to rid communist China of the evils of western imperialism and capitalism, etc. - How to be a good communist - EVERYONE is involved - Study Marxism and Leninism - Don’t only carry it around at all times, read it on a daily basis for inspiration, etc. - Got banned in the SU COVERS ALL VITAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN EXISTENCE Example: how to farm? - Eight point charter of agriculture (ba zi xianfa) - Tu, fei, shui, Zhong, mi, bao, guan, gong (soil improvement, fertilizer application, water conservancy, seed-strain improvement, close planting, plant protection, field management, tool reform) Related posters: “implementing the agricultural eight-point charter, striving for better servants”, also “eight point charter of agriculture is great” Example: how to manage daily meals? Chairman mao’s quote… - The work of saving food must be strengthened. Ration is needed. Eat less when there is less work, and eat solid food when there is more work. When there is less work, eat half solid food and half liquid food, combined with sweet potatoes, bok choys, radishes, beans, and taros. This matter must be prioritized... We must acknowledge that China is a big country with 650 million people, eating is the first matter à people given food vouchers to get meals and everyone has designated places to receive food—mao’s quote on even the food vouchers lol Example of a marriage certificate in Mao’s era - Supreme instructions - Struggle with private ownership - Criticize the revisionists - All revolutionary team members should care for eachother, protect eachother, and help eachother à then BELOW this statement is your actual marriage certificate lol - EVERYONE LIVING IN THAT SOCIETY IS SUPPOSED TO ADHERE TO OFFICIAL IDEOLOGY Pupils Armymen Mental disorders Factoryworkers Etc. all with mao’s little red book - Eg. swimmers reading the little red book before a training session - Eg. middle school students waving the little red book when marching FOCUSED AND PROJECTED TOWARD A PERFECT FINAL STATE OF HUMAN SOCIETY Destruct the “four olds” during the cultural revolution (1966-1976) - Old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits (traffic lights, street names, etc.) - - A related poster: “smash the old world, create a new one” Examples - Monks holding a banner in front of a temple saying “buddhist texts, total bullshit” - Buddhist statues/cultural relics being burnt down - Vandalized Taoist statute of jade emporer with poster “no.1 jerk” - A student destroying the baroque-style gate of Tsinghua university, and the crowd hailing its destruction THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY A single-mass party: - Typically led by one man; - Hierarchically and oligarchilly organized; - Typically, either superior to, or completely intertwined with to governmental bureaucracy The party state structure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzn8f38sw90 - No organized oppositional body to chinas communist party—parties included in NPC that are not CCP are only there based on the condition that they accept the communist leadership - Caveat: in maos era, the structure is more intact and hierarchical than contemporary party-state CCP functional departments: - Organization - Publicity/propaganda: oversees media censorship including traditional and public media, also academia like textbooks - United front - International liason (only at the central government level): establish party-to-party relations  - PARTY CONTROL THROUGH THE UNITARY STATE STRUCTURE PARTY CONTROL OVER GOVERNMENT MULTI-PARTY SYSTEM WITH “DEMOCRATIC PARTIES”? The existence of 8 satellite parties Features of these parties: - Under CCPs leadership (via the CCPs united front departments) o Not oppositional parties o They can never be the running party o Seats in NPC assigned by CCP, 2/3 are CCP members - No purpose to become the ruling party (seats in NPC are assigned by the CCP) - No independent finance o CCP gives them money to let them survive  - Some leaders are secret members of the CCP o They know they will be in a democratic deficit if it is unanimously CCP o So as a formality, they sent some of the CCP members to be part of ‘other’ groups o Try to restrict any autonomy and any endeavour that will harm CCP interest - Restricted scope of recruitment (no military or student members) - Restricted size: total members of the 8 parties are around 1.3 million (less than 1% of CCP members) “the east, the west, the south, the north, and the central; workers, farmers, business people, students, and soldiers; the communist party is the leadership of everywhere, everyone, and everything” TERROR IN CHINA A system of terror: state imposing certain programs/policies to impose fears on the public - Physical or psychic (eg. putting a bullet in a revolutionaries head) - Effected through party and secret-police control - Directed only against demonstrable “enemies” of the regime, but against arbitrarily selected classes of the population - In Maoist China, your neighbors, coworkers, or family might also be watching you JANUARY 27 Danwei = work unit/workplace Hukan = household register system Dang’an = personal archive A SYSTEM OF TERROR: PEOPLES ENEMIES—“BLACK NINE TYPES” - Often not top-down—downloaded to neighbors, peers, etc. - No robust definitions for any of the groups (mao just made 9 categories and let others define what it means—gave significant leeway to execute them) o Eg. in Canada there are guidelines set by the government for who can qualify for some welfare, etc. Landlords: destruction of Chinese landlord class; 1949-53 - There were different political campaigns targeting this group of society - Wanted to confiscate land and redistribute it to poor people - Instigate hostile class confrontation bwn the poor and those who have land (but it wasn’t a problematic/confrontational relationship before the CCP intervened) Rich farmers Anti-revolutionaries “Bad elements” “Rightists”: the anti-rightists movement 1957-59 - Mao asked intellectuals what their opinion was on the new government, and they spoke freely and criticized naively - Then mao made this campaign to target intellectuals Traitors Spies “Capitalist roaders” “Stinky no. 9”  - 10 “castes” of Chinese identified by Mongol conquerors in the 11th century: bureaucrats, officials, Buddhist monks, Taoist priests, physicians, workers, hunters, prostitutes, Confucian scholars, and beggars o Based on their profession o Maos prejudice against intellectuals Terror under the cultural revolution (1966-1976) - Public humiliation widely used MASS MEDIA AS THE PARTYS MOUTHPIECES - Radio, news, etc. “As communists we gain control with the power of the gun and maintain control with the power of the pen” (mao zendong) - Want to make sure that CCP propaganda goals are met through radio, text, etc. A monopoly of control over mass communication (ownership, funding, personnel, professional development) - No foreign ownership - Media completely state owned and controlled - No way for outlets to raise funding outside of the state NEWS AGENCIES AND THEIR PUBLICATIONS IN THE PARTY-STATE HEIRARCHICAL ORDER - Chinese party state fit each media outlet into the nomenclature party-state structure A MONOPOLY OF ALL WEAPONS AND ARMED COMBAT Symbiotic relationship between the party and army before 1949 Formally under the state council through ministry of defense, but essentially under the party through the central military commission (CMC is chief and makes major military related decisions—not the defense council) - CCP born first, then gave birth to the army, then together gave birth to the state - Party boss in control of military, not civilian control like Canada (PLA—peoples liberation army) - Xi jinping and mao came into military even though they aren’t really in military power to show symbolically that the party boss controls the military A CENTRAL CONTROL AND DIRECTION OF THE ENTIRE ECONOMY—“SHORTAGE ECONOMY” IN MAOS CHINA: Ownerships: state owned or collective owned  - Collective= designated enterprise in rural area - No private ownership Virtually no market activities (price control) - No market mechanisms for example, the price of potatoes - Everything is vouchers, for example - Supplies were controlled and provided by the state - Material shortage is a constant risk in maos China because of how highly controlled everything was—not market control on how much to make based on consumption, just delegated amounts by the government o Secret swaps for different supplies between citizens (eg. ill give you three potato vouchers for a soap voucher) Supply and marking cooperatives in rural area - Daily needs stores that have things like soap, water bottles, etc. - Often very far from where people live - Even things like soap may become luxury for some people Based on household size and bureaucratic level - Boys get more food vouchers than girls - Urban areas better than rural areas, higher positions better than lower positions - Only people with high bureaucratic levels have access to pornographic magazines, western entertainment, etc. - Vouchers given by employer—run by the government but workplace significantly undertakes your welfare distribution SUPPLIES IN “VOUCHER” IN MAO’S China 50 grams food voucher issued by city of shanghai in 1972 (only accepted in shanghai) 66cm cloth coupon issued by Fujian province in 1976 - Many residents have a sewing machine and make their own clothes 2.5kg food coupon by PRCs ministry of food in 1965 - Some vouchers issued by the central government that work in all provinces; eg. if minsters need to go on work trips 5kg briquette for February use issued by Jinan first commerce bureau Coupon for 200gram canola oil issued by Anhui provinces department of food - Could only use in the 4th quarter of 1955 - Shows food shortage—rations per quarter Soap coupon issued by commerce bureau of Hangzhou city for December 1962 - Had to be used in that month or invalid Special coupon issued by the 3rd commerce bureau of xi’an city: tofu (500g), meat (400G), soy sauce (100g), bean sprout (500g), vermicelli (250g), salt (100g) - Maybe for a family of 3-4 Coupon for an enamel mug issued by Anhui Province’s Supply and Marking Cooperative, valid between May 1962 and May 1963 Coupon for a thermos bottle issued by Anhui Province’s Supply and Marking Cooperative, valid between May 1962 and May 1963 Stool, shoes, lightbulb coupons, etc. (even dictate what sizes the shoe could be)  à coupons say you cant sell/buy/trade, but you can give them away for free (OBVIOUSLY there would be some kind of bartering system) WRAP UP AND QUESTIONS Revisiting the Maoist version of totalitarianism, and examples - Ideology - Single party - System of terror - Control over mass communication - Monopoly of weapons - Central control and direction of the economy Does the totalitarian approach neglect anything in comprehending Maoist China? - Pervasive patrol-client relationship: don’t carry out everything your superior tells you, there is some give and take - Cultural revolution and rise against authority—how could Mao get everyone to revolt against the system while leaving himself untouched? Any conceptual flaws of this theory/concept? Are there any positive aspects or advantages of the political system - No rational reason to want to be there unless you are the person pulling the strings like mao, stalin, hitler, etc. - Orders coming from the top can be very quickly and efficiently executed (no slowdown like there is in democracy) CHARACTERISTICS OF NEO-TRADITIONALISM - Another framework that people may use to understand mao’s era Positive incentives for compliance - Political loyalty rewarded with career opportunities, social perks, and other favors that officials in communist societies are uniquely able to dispense o Rewards only exist because of the party-state system - Willing to be controlled/play the game for certain purposes o In totalitarianism, people revolt and get stifled—that didn’t really happen in mao era Patrol-client relations - Public loyalty to the party and its ideology is mingled with personal loyalties between party branch officials and their clients Rich subculture of instrumental personal ties - Individual circumvent formal regulations to obtain official approvals, housing, and other public and private goods controlled by low level officials DEFINING FEATURE OF COMMUNIST NEO-TRADITIONALISM Employment plays a welfare role with many social services delivered at work place (health, medical, pensions, housing, education, childcare, meals) - Social and economic dependence on employer - Firm is not an economic enterprise in a capitalist sense Political dependence on the party and enterprise management - Informal political association of workers outside of official auspices is eliminated Discretion of supervisors to influence promotions, pay, and non-wage benefits for workers and their family - Personal dependence on supervisors - Petty corruption Building block of society, west vs China - West= individuals as the cell of society - China= family as the cell of society o Helps to explain why the party state is so robust in China but could not work here o Kids are trained from a young age to be independent; once born, you are considered an individual o In China, when a child is born, they are part of a network with entailed responsibilities (they are a son, a nephew, etc.) DANWEI: THE WORKING UNIT Danwei: a state organization to which one belongs as an employee (as “employee” is not used in the sense with capitalism and/or the market) As a cell of urban life in politics and the state-planning economy Permission from the work unit was needed for marriage, childbirth, and transferring the dang’an (ie. Changing workplace) - Can’t have multiple jobs; danwei may issue a certificate to work for different jobs; you are in the same danwei for life unless you get assigned a new one - Danwei substitution in the family when retired; eg. if you are a teacher and retire, you choose one of your kids to fill in for you Guaranteed permanent employment - A factory could not easily fire its workers and the workers could not easily switch to another work unit unless they obtained special permissions DANWEI INTEGRAL TO THE PARTY-STATE HEIRARCHY: EXTERNAL A working unit is organized into the general party-state system as an integrated cell A working unit is assigned a position in hierarchical ranks of the party-state system DANWEI INTEGRAL TO THE PARTY-STATE HEIRARCHY: INTERNAL The party-dominant power structure within a working unit Other organizational elements within a working unit as a copy of the party-state structure WITHIN DANWEI Self-sufficiency Wide coverage of an employee and their families’ consumptions, welfare, and benefits - Each danwei created their own and exclusive housing, canteens, childcare, schools, hospitals, clinics, shops, postal services, shuttle bus, sports facilities and events, public bathrooms, crematory, etc. o Eg. peking university as danwei SAMPLE QUIZ QUESTIONS—wont get tested below the central government level 1. B 2. B 3. B 4. B FEBRUARY 3 CAMPAIGN AS A CONSTANT POLITICAL DYNAMICS OF MAOS China A major way of policy implementation Ignores normal divisions of labour Continuous campaigns: one after one, minor ones within a major one The triple political divisions among people according to their different performances in campaign: activists, backward masses, enemies - 2 basic meanings of “qunzhong”/masses and its confusion - Politically positive: eg. the “mass line” of the CCP à trying to get immersed in the ordinary people and understand their interests o Similar to an MLA candidate knocking on your door, asking what you want, and saying they will fight for your interests - Rather negative politically: ie. My “political face/identity/status” is “masses” Political differentiations within those of non-enemies: - CCP cadres, CCPs model members, CCPs ordinary members - Communist youth league members; non-CCP activists - Masses - Backward masses POLITICAL IDENTIFICATION/DESIGNATION SYSTEM THROUGH DANG’AN A permanent dossier or archival system that records the political assessments of the persons “performance and attitudes” Follows the person wherever they go in their lifetime The person is not allowed to see their own files in their lifetime Urban residents and those rural residents who attended middle school, etc. had a personal file à contemporary China still has dang’an if you do your undergraduate degree in China WHAT IS DANG’AN? Personal information and appraisals by supervisors and peers - Employment record  - Political status and history - Photograph - Academic reports from primary school to university - Employment records - Professional credentials - Any criminal or administrative penalties, club/society memberships Used to determine which individuals and families would be targeted in Maoist political campaigns - Eg. codes for origin of family - BLOODLINE THEORY DURING THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION “from a revolutionary father a hero, from a reactionary father a bastard” MAJOR POLTICAL CAMPAIGNS IN MAOS China Late 1940s-early 1950s: land reform (tugai) Peasants were mobilized, and divided into different political categories: landlord, rich farmer (enemies); higher middle farmers, middle farmers (backward); lower middle farmer, poor farmer, poorest farmer (good) Lands were redistributed to poor farmers, who thus supported the CCP Violence prevailed during CCP land reform - Eg. a “landlord” being strangled in a public trial MAJOR POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS IN EARLY PRC 1950-52: crackdown of anti-revolutionaries (zhen fan): 710,000 anti-revolutionaries killed, 1,290,000 into jail, and 1,230,000 under control (guanzhi) 1950: rectification of cadres (zheng feng) 1950-52: movements to counter US and support north Korea (kangmei yuanchao) 1951-54: rectification of the party (zheng dang) 1951: thought reform of intellectuals (sixiang gaizao) 1951: increasing production and practicing of thrift (zengchan jieyue) 1952: three anti’s (san fan): anti-graft, anti-waste, and anti-bureaucratism 1951: five antis (wu fan): anti-bribery, anti-tax-evading, anti-stealing of state properties, anti- jerry-building, and anti-stealing of state economic information àImages: parade showing support of PRCs military intervention in 50s north korea; representatives attending a “five antis” meeting in shanghai 1953-1956: industrialization and three transformations (yi hua san gai):  - Industrialization - Cooperative transformation of agriculture - Cooperative transformation of handicraft industry - Socialist transformation of capitalist industry and commerce 1955: the purge of gao gang and rao shushi 1955-57: cleansing of anti-revolutionaries (su fan): 1,700,000 were investigated 1957: anti-rightists (fan you): 550,000 intellectuals were classified as ‘rigthists’ following “hundred flowers movement” 1957-58: eliminating the ‘four evil creatures’ (chu si’hai) and the patriotic public hygiene movements 1958: the great leap forward (da yuejin) and peoples communes ECONOMIC CONSTRUCTIONS VS. CLASS STRUGGLES CAMPAIGNS LEADING TO THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION 1959: the purge of peng dehuai and anti-rightist inclination (fan youqing) 1962: anti-three tendencies (fan san feng): hei-an feng (tendency to see everything dark), dang- gan feng (tendency to return to individual farming), fan-an feng (tendency to reverse the verdict of peng dehuai) 1962: petite four cleanings (xiao si qing): cleaning of accounts, storehouse, properties, and work points 1963: five anti’s (wu fan): anti-graft and stealing, anti-touji-daoba (anti-engagement in speculation and profiting), anti-waste, anti-decentralism, and anti-bureaucratism THE CAMPAIGN FOR ELIMINATING THE “FOUR EVIL CREATURES” The targets: not human class enemies - Rats - Sparrows - Flies - Mosquitoes The list was changed later: in 19959 sparrows once became the first ‘evil’, but in 1960, it was replaced by bedbugs, and later cockroaches, after many scientists argued in favour of sparrows Slogans: “everyone act, four evil creatures eliminated”; “everyone lets hit the sparrows”; “exterminating evil creatures and distinguishing diseases, benefitting tends of thousands of generations”; “eliminating the four evil creatures!” THE CAMPAIGN WAS ACCOMPANIED BY EDUCATIONAL AND PUBLICITY EFFORTS Examples: - Cover page of Beijing daily making publicities about the campaign against sparrows - Article titles: “city-wide battle against sparrows will start, the headquarter has released the battle plan, fight hard for three days for a quick win” “let the sparrows have nowhere to hide” “wenjiang well done, sparrows hukou gone” - Slogans reading “getting rid of the four evils, promoting hygiene” - Killed sparrows paraded as war trophies on a cart and deliviered to the exhibition of the campaign of “eliminating four evils” accompanied by pupils - Etc. see slides; children were encouraged too à minister of public heath reported to the national peoples congress that 210 million sparrows were killed in 1958 CONTENDING EXPLANATIONS: WHY DID MAO HATE SPARROWS? Utopia explanation (macfarquar 1983): - Mao wanted to build up a utopia of public hygiene Grain explanation (chang and halliday 2006) - Sparrows eat grains, contradicting to maos plan of a huge and quick increase of grain productions Mass mobilization of actualizing maos personal authority (wu 2017) - Why mass mobilization so important for mao in 1957-58? - Why this way of mass mobilization? - Mass mobilization for what? CHINESE ELITE POLITICS IN 1955-57 1955: accomplishment of ‘socialist transformation of agriculture’ (collectivization) 1955-56: mao’s ambitions in promoting chinas economic development (intra-elite disagreement—‘rush advance’ (maojin) vs. ‘conservatism) 1956-57: maos setbacks (economic policies, party guidelines, the partys major task) MAOS SETBACK September 1956: the CCPs 8th national congress, at which mao retreated to the ‘second line’ of the leadership The clause to uphold ‘mao zendong thought’ as the partys guidelines was deleted from the CCP charter/constitution - Vs. “xi jinping thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era” in 2022 “the collective leadership”? THE GREAT LEAD FORWARD TO THE GREAT FAMINE 1957-58: mao came back through the anti-rightist campaign, and he planned for the great leap forward Images: mass demonstrations in 1958 to celebrate the second session of the 8th national congress of the CCP; furnaces in agricultural fields for producing steel during the great leap forward - 44:00-55:00 from “the sorcerers apprentice” on course reserve MAOS CALCULATION AND VISION Mao launches the elimination of “four evil pests” to - Strengthen his personal authority over CCP cadres - Test average Chinese citizens “revolutionary” muscles “peoples war” against sparrows is just a rehearsal of the great leap forward mass mobilization, and later, the cultural revolution Mao and CCPs international ambition in international communist movement and the bi-polar global structure A precursor of chinas zero-covid policy? MANGO CULT Maoist culture - Eg. loyalist dance and the song of revolution Lyrics: 拿起笔，作刀枪，集中火力打黑帮。革命师生齐造反，文化当闯将！ "Pick up a pen and use it as a weapon. Concentrate firepower on the gangsters. The revolutionary teachers and students revolt together, and the Cultural Revolution becomes the leader!" 忠于毛主席忠于党，刀山火海我敢闯。革命后代举红旗，毛泽东思想 放光芒！ "Loyal to Chairman Mao, loyal to the Party, I dare to break through the mountains of sword and the sea of fire. The descendants of the revolution raise the red flag, Mao Zedong Thought shines!" 歌唱毛主席歌唱党，党是我们亲爹娘。谁要敢说党不好，马上叫他见 阎王！ "Sing Chairman Mao and the Party, the Party is our father and mother. Who dares to say that the Party is not good, immediately tell him to meet the King of Hell!“