September 4, 2014
Is the Cultural Revolution making a comeback?
CCP officer Zhang Yingwei. Photo provided by author.
The Cultural Revolution ended in August 1977, or so the 11th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party officially declared. Almost four decades have since passed; yet some of the era’s ultra-leftist thinking and behavior remains. The ruling party knows how to use this to serve its purpose. “Politics in command” was one of the leading slogans of the Cultural Revolution, an idea that has controlled the daily life of the common people for many years. Even today, with materialism as the leading dogma in China’s society, the old ideology lingers in the minds of the high cadres. Politics takes priority. Let’s see how this ideology manifested in recent events at The Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, the premier academic institute in China.
On June 10, Zhang Yingwei, an officer from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, gave a speech at the Academy’s Institute of Modern History Academy. He harshly criticized irregularities in the Academy, and listed four problems he saw occurring within the think-tank: 1.) He accused the Academy’s members of hiding under cloaks and creating smokescreens; 2.) He claimed that they use the Internet to promote “unorthodox viewpoints on sensitive topics”; 3.) He warned of “illegal collusion during sensitive times” between the Academy and “foreign forces” ; 4.) And he claimed that the Academy allows peer-to-peer infiltration from abroad.
Zhang’s language sounds very much like the rhetoric used by the Red Guards. A man with neither formal education nor practical knowledge, Zhang used to be a lecturer of Marxism at a college in Inner Mongolia. He slipped into the government through some nepotistic channel. Now, as a political cadre inside the Academy, Zhang represents the authority and demands that all teachers, students, researchers, and administrators stay alert and practice zero tolerance for dissident thinking. Zhang has stirred up lots of dust. People are angry about his arrogant and preposterous talk, but, in light of a similar warning another unofficial officer set out months before, they cannot ignore it.
In April, military “scholar” Colonel Dai Xu, published an article on his blog entitled “China’s Biggest Threat: American Cultural Strategy and the ‘Fifth Column.’” In the article he reminded readers that “not only the Academy of Social Sciences, but lots of research institutes and universities are infiltrated. Look at their savage anti-Maoism, anti-communism and anti-Chinese words and deeds, these people are strategic lackeys built up by hostile forces….” This frantic phrasing reminds one of the Cold War. Zhang Yingwei’s speech echoes the same sentiments, indicating that it is a part of a trend.
“Infiltration” apparently refers to “bad Western influences,” such as ideas about universal values, ethics, human rights, and freedom. In China, the paranoid relics of the Marxist movement have a persecution complex. They believe that anyone who does not share their opinion is a potential enemy.