海角大神

New and decorative billboards have sprung up around construction sites in central Beijing recently, featuring colorful clay figurines of children in traditional Chinese dress, engaged in traditional Chinese arts.

One plays a stringed instrument; two others practice calligraphy; another pair plays Chinese checkers. Each picture is accompanied by a vaguely uplifting but generally vacuous poem.

The publicity campaign, which also portrays a retired couple waving a Chinese flag under the slogan 鈥淔orward China,鈥� is the latest manifestation of President Xi Jinping鈥檚 flagship concept, the 鈥淐hina Dream.鈥�

But what it all means is far from clear.

Eight months into President Xi鈥檚 decade-long term of office as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, the direction in which he wants to take his country is still uncertain.

He has spoken of the need to uphold the rule of law and this week stressed the importance of 鈥渁 spirit of reform and innovation,鈥� encouraging liberals to hope that he shares their dream.

But he has also spouted rhetoric reminiscent of Mao Zedong, while State Security officers round up human rights lawyers and social activists in an unusually harsh crackdown, and propaganda moguls squelch public debate of awkward issues.

If that sounds contradictory, says Liu Shangying, a political analyst at the China Academy of Social Sciences, it shouldn鈥檛. 鈥�Xi Jinping is a reformist, but not in the Western sense,鈥� Professor Liu explains. 鈥淗e doesn鈥檛 think Western theories of democracy and modernization can help solve China鈥檚 problems.鈥�

Reform? What kind of reform?

Rather, Xi believes in the Communist Party and in its unchallenged rule. But the party he has inherited 鈥� bloated, bureaucratic, and corrupt 鈥� has largely lost the trust of ordinary Chinese citizens. To rectify that problem, Xi has girded his reformist loins.

鈥淲inning or losing public support is an issue that concerns the Communist Party鈥檚 survival or extinction,鈥� he said last month, launching what he called a year-long 鈥渢horough clean up鈥� of the party.

聽鈥淴i thinks the party is not just out of touch with the masses but out of sync with modernity, not equipped to deal with the social challenges it faces,鈥� says Russell Leigh Moses, dean of the Beijing Center for China Studies. 鈥淗e thinks the party cannot rule as effectively as it needs to unless it gets its act together. But party reform is not political reform鈥� as Chinese and Western liberals conceive it.

Xi has gone about his task with rare confidence and sense of purpose, having consolidated his authority unusually quickly for a new Chinese leader. As far as outside observers of China鈥檚 notoriously secretive system can tell, he does not appear to be hobbled by factional infighting.

Tigers and flies

If Xi presses ahead with his anti-corruption drive, however, and keeps his promise to catch 鈥渢igers as well as flies,鈥� senior officials as well as junior ones, he will inevitably anger a lot of vested interests in a ruling party where political and business interests are tightly interwoven.

The Communist Party has staged such campaigns before; this one may be fiercer but critics say there is nothing fundamentally different about it.

鈥淎t the moment Xi is seeking to deal with the symptoms, not the causes鈥� of corruption, worries He Bing, who teaches at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing. 鈥淲e have seen no sign of large scale institutional reform.鈥�

Nor is the Communist Party showing any welcome to citizens seeking to join the campaign. Social activists who have demonstrated in support of a law forcing officials to disclose their assets have been arrested.

鈥淭he public is invited to be part of the audience, but they are not allowed onstage,鈥� says Dr. Moses, because the party intends to control the speed and scope of any moves against its dishonest members.

Mao鈥檚 toolbox

But if the party is to maintain such control, it needs a better public image. And to set about creating that image, Xi has dipped into Mao Zedong鈥檚 toolbox, reviving a 鈥渕ass line鈥� campaign to bring the party closer to the people.

The goal, Xi said as he launched the campaign last month, is to eradicate 鈥渇ormalism, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance鈥� among party members. He admonished them to 鈥渓ook in the mirror, groom yourselves, take a bath and seek remedies鈥� for their misdeeds.

High end restaurants are already suffering as officials scale back on banquets, sales of luxury liquor are down, and this week the government declared a five year moratorium on the construction of official buildings in a bid to restrain local authorities from building themselves palaces (see accompanying blog).

Officials鈥� often extravagant working style is a major gripe for many ordinary Chinese, but changing ingrained habits will not be easy. Official party newspapers are full of daily exhortations, but the duration of the 鈥渕ass line鈥� campaign, one full year, suggests the scale of the task.聽

In the meantime, there is no sign that Xi is ready to loosen the party鈥檚 grip on political debate.

Though he paid lip service to the rule of law last December in a speech marking the 30-year anniversary of the Chinese Constitution, the official press launched a virulent campaign soon after, branding as Western-influenced traitors those intellectuals urging the government to respect the Constitution.

Party officials also issued a directive recently to universities, banning the discussion of such sensitive issues as press freedom and judicial independence, and there has been no let-up in the persecution of dissidents. Environmental activist Hu Jia was detained on Thursday night in a restaurant as he celebrated his birthday at a party with friends and family.

Control

The Communist Party is more concerned with winning over members of the general public and the 鈥淐hina Dream,鈥� ill-defined though it is, appears to be an attempt to do this.聽

Xi told President Obama when they met last month that the 鈥渄ream鈥� means 鈥渆conomic prosperity, national rejuvenation, and people鈥檚 wellbeing.鈥� China鈥檚 massive propaganda machine has gone into top gear to promote it in newspaper articles, workplace lectures, online advertising, and the sort of billboards erected in Beijing.

鈥淭he party鈥檚 legitimacy is in trouble, so the 鈥楥hina Dream鈥� is meant to inspire people and give them some hope,鈥� so as to restore the party鈥檚 authority and control, says Zheng Yongnian, a specialist in Chinese politics at the National University of Singapore.

If there is one leitmotif to Xi鈥檚 words and actions since he took power, it is the need to restore Communist Party control over the state and society, argues Francois Godement in a recent paper he wrote for the London-based European Council on Foreign Relations.聽

鈥淥n balance 鈥� Xi鈥檚 flow of words shuts more doors than it opens,鈥� he writes. 鈥淚f 鈥榗ontrol鈥� is the key word for Xi鈥檚 style, this will leave little room for major reform.鈥�