The Chinese Communist Party boasts 92 million members from all walks of life, drawn by ideology, ambition, and the pragmatic knowledge of how to get ahead in the world's second-largest economy.

But little is known about the inner workings of the secretive organisation, where open criticism is still taboo.

As China prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Party's founding in Shanghai, AFP spoke to six members to ask why they joined.

- The veteran -

Su Xiaodong was born five years after the Communists proclaimed the People's Republic in 1949 after a gruelling civil war, and joined the Party at the age of twenty.

"At that time, all young Chinese aspired to join the Party," he said. "It was really a long-cherished dream."

After missing school as a teenager because of the Cultural Revolution -- a decade of devastating political upheaval that Beijing later admitted was a mistake -- Su fought in the brief China-Vietnam conflict in 1979.

The market reforms that followed afterwards turned China into an economic powerhouse but were a "huge" ideological shift for Su at the time after growing up in the era of Mao Zedong, the 67-year-old admits.

"As Party members, we had to pioneer this new thinking and get people to buy into it," he said.

- The artist -

A surrealist painter, 38-year-old Yang Na joined the Party in 2001.

She paints from a sunlit studio in Beijing, making long sweeping strokes with her brush in bold colours, and her works have been exhibited both in China and overseas.

As a Party member, Yang wants to use her artistic profile as a way to show the world what it is like to be a young person in China.

"I think I can be someone who makes people realise that not all Chinese are the same and not all CCP members are the same," she said.

- The retiree -

Born before the founding of the People's Republic of China, 75-year-old Dalong joined the Party in 1974 and served as a village committee secretary in the sensitive region of Tibet for three decades.

"I was born in the old society and grew up under the red flag," he said. "I understand the bitterness of the old society and the sweetness of the new society."

Now the retiree lives in the same house with his family, feeding his pigs and tending to his plants with water poured from a large kettle.

"I met Chairman Mao when I was young, President Hu Jintao when I was middle-aged, and now President Xi," he said, wearing a traditionally embroidered Tibetan coat and hat.

- The chief executive -

Chen Jian, 51, is CEO and Party chief of a state-owned company. His mission as a member, he says, is to ensure that the company develops and brings employment to Chinese people.

He calls on foreigners who see the CCP as dictatorial to abandon their "prejudices" and come and see for themselves its achievements, including living conditions that have improved dramatically in the past 40 years.

"Thanks to the Party, people's standard of living is getting better and better," he said.

"The huts of the past have been replaced by these big modern buildings."

- The student -

Yang Guang, 24, is studying finance in Beijing and joined the Party in 2018.

She plans to return to her mountainous home province of Sichuan with her boyfriend after graduating and work in a bank.

As a student representative with a passion for volunteering, Yang says she joined the party to help others.

"The nature of the Party is... to be at the service of people," she said.

"In short, the idea is to help those around me as much as I can."

- The historian -

Historian Xu Jia joined the party in 2010 in his twenties, and now writes official reports in which he analyses Party history.

The 33-year-old comes from a family of party members, including his parents and grandparents.

"What they taught me was that the Party is a good organisation, that becoming a Party member is a mark of recognition by society, that you gain more respect, have more opportunities do to many things and to realise your dreams," he said.

But this didn't spare him from arduous sign-up process.

"Joining the Party is not something that happens overnight... After applying for membership, I, like the others, had to undergo a long check-up by the Party before you can fully join."

'Not quite a religion': China's Communist Party attracts new devotees
Shanghai (AFP) June 25, 2021 - Wang Ying is young, educated and an unquestioning believer in the Communist Party's sole right to rule China -- exactly what the increasingly conformist institution seeks as it enters a new century.

As the ruling body celebrates its 100th birthday on July 1, current members describe an increasingly cult-like atmosphere under leader Xi Jinping, propagandising successes such as its control of the coronavirus, and viewed as the only viable saviour for China.

"Belief in the Party is steadfast. Perhaps not as deep as a religion like Buddhism or Christianity, but something that fosters self-discipline," said Wang, a partial pseudonym to protect the Party member's identity.

The membership focus of the Chinese Communist Party has continually evolved, from intellectuals, to the proletariat, and welcoming entrepreneurs from the 1990s.

Despite outward appearances, analysts say, it has always entertained a wide range of views on China's direction, but that resulted in factionalism, inefficiency and corruption.

Members interviewed by AFP across China say Xi has tightened criteria to weed out potential troublemakers, running it more like a private corporation.

Today's multi-layered, more than two-year application process seeks the best and brightest regardless of "class" background, they said, with a premium on youth, college educations, and spotless personal histories as the Party looks to its future.

In 2019, 50.7 percent of members held academic degrees, up from 41.6 percent in 2013, when Xi took over. Those from farming or labour backgrounds declined from 38.1 percent to 34.8 percent.

- Mandate of Heaven -

Above all, the CCP seeks young acolytes raised on China's recent strengths -- not past mistakes -- and who possess unwavering belief in the Party.

"(Today's) young Party members are more confident, ambitious and positive," said a 46-year-old member surnamed Song, an official at a university in eastern China.

China's past emperors ruled via the "Mandate of Heaven", the idea that peace and prosperity bestowed divine endorsement on a particular dynasty.

The Party is effectively claiming that mandate today, members say, with plenty of justification.

China emerged relatively unscathed from the pandemic due to aggressive early lockdowns, Xi has aggressively cracked down on corruption and pollution and declared this year that extreme poverty had been eliminated. Chinese prosperity and global influence have soared.

These victories are being trumpeted nationwide by the Party and its members in a pre-anniversary propaganda blitz.

But analysts warns of instability if Xi, now 68, were to pass away, as there is no clear successor, or if China's already slowing economy were to dip precipitously.

Xi's rapid centralisation of power and emphasis on Party-led conformity -- aided by a fast-growing and intrusive high-tech state security apparatus -- also could kill the flexibility and spirit of economic experimentation that made China's newfound strength possible.

Chinese youth disillusionment is already rising with the feeling that the low-hanging economic fruits have already been plucked, and that getting ahead is becoming more difficult.

The Mercator Institute for China Studies said in a recent report that many Chinese are resigned to submit to a "party state whose digital surveillance is increasingly encroaching on people's privacy."

"It's a potential problem," said Tony Saich, a Harvard University professor and author of the forthcoming "From Rebel to Ruler: One Hundred Years of the Chinese Communist Party."

"If you're just bringing in 'yes' people, does that lead to atrophy over time?"

Dissension exists, but increasingly only in flickers.

Last year, business tycoon and former party heavyweight Ren Zhiqiang penned an essay criticising the country's leader, without naming Xi directly, as a "clown" and "monarch" interested only in aggrandising his own power.

He was later jailed for 18 years on corruption charges.

- 'Centralised democracy' -

Wang, a 29-year-old grassroots cadre in a rural eastern province who has an agriculture degree, admits that open criticism is taboo, and that Chinese have no choice other than the party.

But he and others insist China is building what they call a "centralised democracy" that better suits a country which has never known the real thing.

They describe instead an internal appraisal system in which cadres and officials are judged annually by peers and subordinates, ensuring rectitude.

In comments to foreign journalists, ordinary citizens routinely express strong support for the party, eagerly pointing to its recent successes.

"Chinese democracy is totally different from that in foreign countries. China is a vast land, plagued with disasters, and you need a strong centralised power to manage that," said Song.

"The natural environment decides the political system."

"We had doubts (about the party) before," Song adds.

But the current trajectory "is the path most suitable for China."

Many members, however, admit that joining the party is also a stepping stone to a better life with the potential to open doors in a hyper-competitive country.

"I don't deny that joining the Party helps you to find a job, helps you in your professional life," said Xu Jia, a historian and party member.

"But this help, in the end, is only possible if you are a competent member of the Party, who is up to the task."

Related Links
China News from SinoDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

'Not quite a religion': China's Communist Party attracts new devotees
Shanghai (AFP) June 25, 2021
Wang Ying is young, educated and an unquestioning believer in the Communist Party's sole right to rule China - exactly what the increasingly conformist institution seeks as it enters a new century. As the ruling body celebrates its 100th birthday on July 1, current members describe an increasingly cult-like atmosphere under leader Xi Jinping, propagandising successes such as its control of the coronavirus, and viewed as the only viable saviour for China. "Belief in the Party is steadfast. Perha ... read more