(The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers, by Richard McGregor, 273pp)
It’s depressing to realize how 273 tiny pages can raise the ire of the humongous Chinese Communist Party and kick up such a colossal domestic fuss, yet veteran journalist Richard McGregor’s latest work of investigative prose succeeded in doing exactly that.
Going deep behind Zhongnanhai “enemy lines” in a way few foreign scribblers or Zhongguotong — those cliched “Old China Hands” — would ever dare to (on fear of reprisals from PRC authorities), McGregor serves up a red hot zinger of an indictment on the inner-workings of China’s Big Red Machine, the party tugging the levers of power inside the authoritarian capitalist country.
The book is the work of more than a decade of silent toil and research by the relentless Australian, a journalist who traveled to and fro between the PRC, Hong Kong, and his native Land of Oz, with family in tow, as he compiled interview after painstaking off-the-record interview for this comprehensive tell-all.
To be sure, The Party’s already been banned across China; yet, then again, we fully expected it would be and, come to think of it, doesn’t it kind of add to its cachet in a very Zhao Ziyang-esque sort of way (let us know in the comments below!).
What kind of illicit treasures can be found inside this latest oeuvre of CCP criticism, you ask? What in tarnation is so taboo, you want to know? I mean, what exactly is the Central Committee so goshdarn afraid of?
All good starting questions…
McGregor — like other so-called “China experts” — knows several of the answers. All of this tracks back to that “sum of all fears” for the Chinese Communist Party: the fear of losing total control of the state apparatus and helplessly witnessing as the nation-state reverts back into the pre-revolutionary Armageddon-like times which reigned supreme during Chiang’s rule.
The CCP, oddly enough, permits practically anything and everything that doesn’t directly clash with its interests or harm its preeminent position within Chinese society.
This is the reason why, for instance, visitors to China can observe such things as LGBT bars in the ‘jing, yet no organized national gay pride parade exists for China. This is also the reason why Chinese citizens are legally permitted to freely practice their chosen form of religion…provided they link up with one of China’s wholly (holy?) state-sponsored places of worship, be it a church, a mosque, or a Buddhist shrine. Say you’re a Roman Catholic? No problemo, provided you don’t recognize the Pontiff as your spiritual shogun with the lone direct hookup to the Man Upstairs. A proud and practicing Muslim? Cool beans, so long as you don’t buy into the drivel Rebiya Khadeer has been popularizing in the Western mass media. And, oh yeah, you can’t be a member of that group with its first initial before the letter “G.”
The basic “silent agreement” between the State and these various religious acolytes is that all must avoid demonstrating for greater faith-based openness in that Big Square which sprawls out in front of the Forbidden City — yeah, that one. Or else!
Crazy Eights:
McGregor unfurls his argument in eight exquisite chapters. He deems these to be the eight key areas in which the CCP’s influence pervades Chinese society. In order:
- The CCP’s relationship towards the Chinese State.
- The CCP’s capitalist leanings in the wake of the Deng-era (aka, “China Inc.”).
- The CCP’s iron-fisted control of its personnel files.
- The CCP’s relationship towards the People Liberation Army (PLA).
- The CCP’s total dominance by “The (notorious) Shanghai Gang.”
- The CCP’s relationship with towns and regions far away from Beijing.
- The CCP’s capitalist shell surrounding its so-called “socialist” core.
- Tombstone: The book which revealed the true death toll from Mao’s Great Leap Forward (>30 million citizens).
Salient Points:
Rather than supply a detailed breakdown of all eight chapters — thereby ruining the fun for you, dear reader, as you track down your illicit copy of The Party — why don’t I summarize what you can expect to find in each, thereby whetting your chops for the bigger feast to come?
- The CCP’s relationship towards the Chinese State: Nothing that happens in China occurs without the CCP’s blessing. Any organization, body, association, business, and/or any dealing with any foreign power — either in the Southeast Asian region or internationally — always occurs via the CCP’s direct intervention. Party membership is coveted by business types as it affords them access and needed connections. The Party bills itself as the preeminent force preventing China from teetering back into Century of Humiliation-like anarchy. Like an octopus, and in emulation of Lenin’s dictates about the Communist Party of the Soviet Union being everywhere at all times, the CCP penetrates every facet of Chinese society.
- The CCP’s capitalist leanings in the wake of the Deng-era (aka, “China Inc.”): Being accepted into the CCP’s ranks is no mere ideological progression. Rather, it’s a step up the ladder of corporate and commercial success in China. Former State-owned enterprises that were gradually privatized are still run by a silent cabal of Party loyalists who duly take their instructions from on high in Beijing, despite any decisions these firms’ various boards of directors or CEOs might make regarding the strategic direction of the company they preside over. The Party always has final say. And a company director can always be overruled by the most senior Party member on the board. CEOs carrying membership also receive the coveted “red hotline” in their offices, the direct line from Beijing. Their phone numbers are so exclusive, that they’re limited to just four digits. And when that red box rings, you better pick up.
- The CCP’s iron-fisted control of its personnel files: Being in total command of information flows is also a key CCP characteristic: all the better to avoid unexpected media leaks or to parties with an aim to toppling the CCP’s legitimacy via a coup. Personnel files are fiercely guarded in Beijing-area buildings that don’t even carry distinctive visitor-friendly markings on the outside. The merits and demerits of its several thousand members — hand-written on paper cards — still remains one of the nation’s most fiercely guarded secrets. The Party uses these cards to award concessions, favors, or privileges or to dole out punishment to its adherents and members.
- The CCP’s relationship towards the People Liberation Army (PLA): The PLA exists solely to safeguard the Party, not the Chinese people and neither the integrity of the Chinese state. Believe me when I tell you these various strapping youths are expressly recruited for their stature and capacity to intimidate. I witnessed with my own eyes how these Tiananmen Guards strike fear into thousands of onlookers because at whose behest they serve (i.e. the Party’s). The PLA remains the Party’s vanguard force, tasked with protecting the Party from all threats both from within and from without.
- The CCP’s total dominance by “The (notorious) Shanghai Gang:” Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin was the exemplar of the might of Shanghai politics in the Communist Party’s upper ranks. Once he become President back in October 1992, Jiang moved quickly to entrench Shanghai’s position amongst the capital’s power elites. Shanghai went from being the bastard child of the new People’s Republic — the city most despised by the Communist Party for all it represented during the interwar period — to a thriving, thoroughly-modern colossus. It’s no mere coincidence that Shanghai and its gorgeous Bund views are the most recognizable thing about China outside of the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.
- The CCP’s relationship with towns and regions far away from Beijing: The infamous Sanlu (“Three Deers”) melamine scandal, in which a form of plastic was added in lieu of protein to bolster the consistency of this company’s milk is a recent example of this. Regional Party members seek to leverage their power within rural Party fiefdoms strictly for gain. It’s what one anonymous Chinese blogger called the “black-collar class: their cars are black. Their income is hidden. Their life is hidden. Their work is hidden. Everything about them is hidden, like a man wearing black, standing in the black of the night.” A ranking compiled by most popular Chinese portal sina.com of the numbers of people seeking information about particular government jobs revealed that “…of the top ten government bodies which received the most expressions of interest for positions, eight were provincial tax bureaux, topped by Guangdong, all of them along the prosperous coast; and two were customs bureaux of Shanghai and Shenzhen. The bottom ten which attracted the least interest, were all provincial statistics bureaux.” With Beijing so far from the regions, who notices when things go awry until it’s too late?
- The CCP’s capitalist shell surrounding its so-called “socialist” core: The Party in 2010 isn’t the same Party of Mao. In fact, today’s CCP bears little resemblance to the revolutionary mass organization which won the hearts of WWII-weary Chinese citizens back in the late 1940s. This is a more business-oriented party. Fully corrupt. Swayed by profit. Droning on fulsomely about its socialist roots and leanings, meanwhile it erects ever-larger, ever more luxurious, and ever-megalomaniacal infrastructure projects across the breadth of China. Now that the government is flush with cash, it’s begun spending on the population: roads and hospitals, for instance, yet this is a relatively recent phenomenon.
- Tombstone: The book which revealed the true death toll from Mao’s Great Leap Forward (>30 million citizens): Tombstone: Yang Jisheng’s account of the true death toll from the Great Leap Forward. A fitting end for The Party because of how it handily summarizes the main themes of the previous chapters: the CCP’s rigid control of information as it forged data about the Great Leap. How the regions were quick to avail themselves of their distance from Beijing to falsely report only information Beijing wanted to hear. How the Party sought to silence those who has the power to knock it off its pedestal. Yet this intrepid Xinhua journalist — yes, an insider! — devoted fifteen years of his life to meticulously notate over one thousand pages of stats from regional bureaus as the core material for his book. McGregor cites the (only Hong Kong, for now) publication of Tombstone as an example of how the Party appears to be morphing over time. Yang’s heretical work would have surely been destroyed — with Yang himself likely imprisoned or killed by the state — more twenty years ago. Does this seemingly permissive act hold out future promise for the Chinese Communist Party? McGregor appears to want his readers to decide.
Should You Buy This Book?
Yes! Just don’t get arrested buying it. There’s enough incendiary information contained within its pages to fully indict the Party for its misdeeds, sundry corruptions, and other flagrant recent abuses of power. Short of a few random hardcover copies flitting around Beijing-area indie bookshops, don’t expect to find this on Chinese bookshelves — either in its original English or in translation — anytime soon.
For any aspiring China Hand, amateur Sinologist, or Sinophile, The Party makes for deeply engaging fare.
But for all you vets out there, this book will only serve to reinforce the message you already know that the CCP isn’t a object to be trifled with.
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Richard McGregor: “Nothing that happens in China occurs without the CCP’s blessing … the CCP penetrates every facet of Chinese society”
Take a look at this one http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/metro/2010-07/07/content_10075689.htm and you understand that McGregor is not thrustworthy.
I don’t get it, Rolf. What are you attempting to convey here, that the Party is in fact toothless? That the myth of the CCP’s supremacy and perniciousness is a fiction? Or…?
I fail to see what’s the big deal about this book. Look at any other democratic governments out there there’s enough corruption in the whazoo that would make China look corruption free. For example, look at the US: Lobbyists, pork barrel spending, CIA/NED, government surveillance toward its citizens, etc…
Have you read the book, Pugster? Because the central argument is not “there is corruption.”
It’s branding and optics, pug. That’s really want matters here. And it’s not a relativist argument that McGregor’s making, either. He’s just examining a phenomenon that’s become such a salient feature of our everyday lives — especially in the West — and he gives it a due accounting with very little spin, in my estimation.
I mean, if you’re going to claim the man’s biased, then I’ll freely admit that every writer carries a smidge of it into the mix. Unadulterated objectivity isn’t a noble goal to shoot for by any stretch. Makes for dull reading fare. But as for the content, it’s all there, my friend. All there. Eight delectable chapters of it.
Good to see you here still at the ol’ Reviews. I’ll look forward to jousting with you here now and again.
It reminds me of today when I had to to go a local State Office to run some errands and what do I see? I saw a copy of Epoch times which commemorate the 11th anniversary when Jiang Zemin decided to go after all the FL@G people. Seriously, how much of that stuff is real ‘news’ rather than just some rehashed information. Same as this book. Like a echo chamber, this guy is just selling re-hashed information that just it. The sad fact is that there’s no doubt that this book would sell well because all the US government funded NGO’s would buy this book and make it mandatory reading.
Another thing.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/topsecretamerica/
Personally I think we know more about the Chinese government than the American Government.
And what would the chances be of a similar documentary about the Chinese government appearing on television in the PRC?
I think you just proved McGregor’s point there, Pugster.
And what point is that?
Pug,
Thanks for stirring up the pot here in the comments at CNR. I still think you should write a blog…if nothing else than to expand upon your comments across the China English-language blogosphere.
The Washington Post investigates and PBS (public television) produces a FRONTLINE documentary on post 9/11 security apparatus in the US. Meanwhile Richard McGregor writes a book in English about the CCP and it is banned.
I have not read the book. I intend to.
My takeaway from Adam’s review is:
“Nothing that happens in China occurs without the CCP’s blessing. Any organization, body, association, business, and/or any dealing with any foreign power — either in the Southeast Asian region or internationally — always occurs via the CCP’s direct intervention”
I think that’s the point. The CCP retains the potential of control even if that control is not always exercised. The US Government is more tied up in the rule-of-law, although your point is that the exercise of power can and has expanded beyond what is legal in the US, and that much is opaque today especially after 9/11. It’s a valid point, but doesn’t take away from the 8 points highlighted by Adam in the review.
Again I haven’t read the book, and I look forward to doing so. How about you Pug_ster?
Hey Elliot,
I hope that you are not offended by me ’stirring the pot.’ According to the preview, the reporters are mentioning the locations the Government and private agencies in the post 9/11 world. I doubt that they will mention anything about what these agencies do.
“Nothing that happens in China occurs without the CCP’s blessing. Any organization, body, association, business, and/or any dealing with any foreign power — either in the Southeast Asian region or internationally — always occurs via the CCP’s direct intervention”
That’s a pretty strong statement but I don’t see what’s the difference between that and some Western Country like the US. In fact, I think China has less direct intervention than the US.
If you want me to compare to 8 points here they are:
1) The American government relations with the American States
2) American government’s influence with the large corporations using lobbyists.
3) The American government tight fisted control toward information that they consider ‘top secret.’
4) The American government control of the American armed forces.
5) American government control via people who are in K Street.
6) The American government control towards its States and cities
7) The American capitalist shell in the so called ‘freedom’ core.
8) Tombstone: The book which reveal the true death toll as the result of American wars in foreign lands post WWII.
I’m sure that someone with some creative writing skills can conjure some crap along those lines about the US or some other oppressive government. But I don’t. Nor to I have enough time to read this guys BS and I will not pay one red cent to read someone’s propaganda. Same reason why I don’t want to start my own blog, because it is something that I have to take care of.
Let pugster be pugster, as the saying goes. If he really believes his own nonsense what’s the point of replying?
We read this week of several Xinjiang journalists being handed sentences between 3 and 15 years for revealing “state secrets.” The charges, of course, are groundless, but what can you do? Off they go. Here in the US, thousands of whacko “citizen journalists” preach to us daily that our president is a Muslim terrorist Marxist Nazi and none goes to jail. Not one. Andrew Breitbart launches a campaign to smear the political party now in power. No penalty, the more stupid his charges the more attention they seem to garner. The simple point being, the government here does not control information like the government there. If so, there’d be no Drudge Report or National Review. But as I said, why bothering to argue? Pug is not a serious commenter. Most delightful was his comment above about walking in somewhere where he “saw a copy of Epoch times which commemorate the 11th anniversary when Jiang Zemin decided to go after all the FL@G people.” Readers here will recall how just a few short weeks ago he wrote about walking into a library and suffering heartache and tears because kids were reading a book that said the TSM was about democracy. Note the pattern, almost as though he were posting cookie-cutter comments. He’s always walking into places where he sees signs of villains seeking to hurt the feelings of the Chinese people. There’s a constant voice in his head shouting, “Victim, victim, victim.” No wonder we want him to start his own blog; his comments are uniquely insufferable and ponderous, but worst of all they are utterly predictable.
Adam, wonderful post. I truly admire your patience and fortitude in summarizing all 8 chapters. Great work. Great book.
Poor Richard. I stopped commenting in your ugly hate hate filled site and now trolling this site. Good going.
FYI, the recent news about China ‘asserting’ its influence in Southeast Asian is totally lopsided. The only reason why this was news was because Clinton went to the ASEAN global forum and claim that US had “a national interest in freedom in navigation, open to Asia’s maritime commons, and respect for international law in the South China Sea.” She also have support for “collaborative diplomatic process” in South China Sea disputes pertaining the Spratly islands. The last time that the US has that much ‘national interests’ in the South China seas was during the Vietnam war. Do you think China has some kind of invisible hand towards “freedom of navigation” and land disputes in the South China Seas before the US came along?
Darling, I’ve commented on this site for years. And tell the truth – you didn’t stop posting on my hate-filled terrible site, you were banned for making stuff up and being a quintessential troll. But my point remains; I enjoy your pattern of walking into places and seeing bad things about China that make you misty-eyed, and the script is always so similar – poor, poor China being victimized again. China is a great country. You can dry those tears of victimhood.
(Sorry Elliott, I know I shouldn’t feed the trolls.)
Great review Be leaning on the purchasing officer at the local library this week.
Love the fact that they use paper personnel files. No potential wikileaks here. To be the future historian who gains access to these records after the CP gets consigned to the proverbial dustbin.
@Adam, this is a very good review of this book. I appreciate your patience and honesty in writing this post. I have not read the book yet. Now, I will, if I can find it in English here in Taiwan. Or I will wait and get it in the US when I come back to the US later this year.
@Richard, thanks for putting up with pug for so long before you banned him. Should be some kind of humanitarian award or Nobel Prize in it for you. Thanks for all your hard work and patience, Richard.
Yes, his MO remains the same. Always!
@pug, thanks for being you. Adam concisely reviewed the book, all 8 chapters. Then in your quirky, tu quoque kind of way, you give your analysis/comparison of why the US is more interventionist, in 8 points. Of course, you never really talk about the book or the points which Adam made. Which, for you, Pug, is par for the course. I have come to expect this behavior after reading your many comments at FM and PKD.
In China, Breitbart would be in jail now. Julian Assange would have been hunted down and executed. Tea Partiers would be in jail. The people of LA and the Gulf Coast would be in black jails if they ever sought redress for their losses from the BP oil spew. And the purchase of legislative and executive branch influence in the US via lobbyists and excessive campaign contributions in the US is paltry compared to the corruption and tight-fisted, ruthless, paranoid control of the ChiComs of the CCP.
America is not perfect by any means. America needs more transparency. But we Americans have a chance to make her better, without being jailed for wanting to do so. I love the USA, warts and all. And god knows that I kvetch. Somehow, they have not put me in jail, yet. But I complain because I believe America can improve. I even complain about Taiwan, because I love the people here. And they deserve better.
To me, you seem the Permanent Victim, always finding slights against you, your family, fellow Chinese-Americans and Chinese ex-pats. Richard’s PKD is just one of a myriad of slights. IMHO, you seem to find the USA as insufferable and extremely painful. If you find the USA so insufferable and painful, why do you remain in the US? Yet, being an American, you have the freedom and privilege to remain in the US. You can kvetch and still not be jailed. Isn’t the USA a great place? Try that in the ChiComs’ China!
@Adam, again thanks for the wonderful review. I am looking forward to reading the book.
@Pugster, you might get a kick out of reading Bill Moyers’ “Moyers on America” and any of the numerous Chomsky books and transcriptions of his speeches. Moyers and Chomsky love the USA. They point out the faults of various parts of American life and governance. They want a better America. And they are not in jail for doing so.
BTW, @Pug, you have the nerve of calling PKD a “hate filled site”, after you made a homophobic remark out at PKD in February (Han Han post)? Pretty amazing and ironic!
Jerry. Learning more about cross-site posters everyday ie Pugster.
Notice that McGregor and Assange are both Australians who have a thing for the bushranger spirit. I was not making a meal of my short post, but now that you pointed out Pugster’s anti gay views, I very no like the guy.Go to CD where I am both serious and troll. People who get angsted by orientation/bedroom issues always have questionable attitudes much bigger issues.
Black jails are the inevitable fate for people who challenge CCP hegemony.
Good review.
Thanks KT. It’s good to see you here again as well.
Jerry,
For your information, I called PKD a hate filled site because when I made my usual objective comments (it was about 6/4 incident and not about Han Han), people made personal attacks against my family. The worst thing is that troll Richard allowed it and promoted it.
As for the ‘victimization’ thing and ‘hurting feelings’ thing, when did I portray that idea? You hear it from Richard because he is usually talking out from his a$$ about me most of the time. Richard often looks down on certain Chinese beliefs and society as a whole and believes it is some kind of ‘white man’s burden’ to ‘love’ China by talking about how backward it is and talks down on people who doesn’t agree with him. Furthermore, he could never keep the discussion civil and more often, talks about me rather than the topic at hand (as you can see above.)
I didn’t talk about much about this person’s book because I consider much of his information redundant and bits and pieces of information about this book was already mentioned (based on the summary above.)
I have never said that China is the ‘perfect’ country and you are probably right about Breitbart and Assange. But I think that if Breitbart is allowed to publish his book in China, I doubt that his book would sell very well and I think there would be protests against the publisher, similar to Assange.
Pug, we were laughing with you, not at you. :-)
The threads you refer to on my site are there for all to see. and a glance will show there is no hate toward you. You just put yourself on a plate and begged everyone to dig in. It’s what you’re doing here. When you post nonsense and get provocative expect to get called on it, my friend. Threads, like this very one, only devolve into mud slinging when someone like Pug comes in with the intent to derail the topic. His MO is always the same. Others hate China, they misunderstand China, Pug always walks by mean white people as they are reading bad things about China and he cries at how unfair everyone is to poor little China, they are mean to Pug and pick on him, and voila, the thread shifts from one about The Party to one about The Pugsley. I have to admire pug’s ability to do this literally everywhere he goes. And of course, for pointing this out, I am a “hater.” Ah well, no one’s perfect. Keep up the good fight, Pugs.
Hi Jerry, sorry I’m chiming in so late on this one. But thank you for your kind words and for taking the time to read an otherwise longer review.
I appreciate pug in a way, because whatever we may have left out, he ensures we’ve covered all the bases. It’s like hiring an editor/copy editor without the anchor of a salary. ;-)