The confidence of China’s Communist Party is striking
It is revealed in a rural county sponsored by the Chinese foreign ministry
SINCE THE Ming dynasty, Chinese who are oppressed by local officials have sighed, by way of explanation: “The heavens are high, and the emperor far away.” An earthier variant runs: “With no tiger in the mountains, the monkeys are in charge.” Today’s Communist Party bosses have no time for such cynicism. They want the masses to believe that, even in the remotest villages, their welfare is the concern of an all-knowing leader, Xi Jinping, served by officials striving to follow his stern but wise example.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “The Communist Party’s confidence”
From the October 23rd 2021 edition
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