新海峡时报 中共改新貌但官员仍感优越

　哦，几十年的变化多么大！回顾毛泽东和他的小红书岁月，中国自豪地宣称共产党是工农兵的党。现在呢？政治局常委的两名新成员习近平和李克强都拥有博士学位。

　　2002年选出的九名政治局常委都是工程师，但习近平和李克强却是可喜的不同。他们是法学和经济学博士。事实上，中央委员会正反映了党正在进行的变革。中央委员会183名成员中，差不多一半（49.3%）是新人。中纪委的127名成员中，近80%是新人。中央委员会成员92.2%是大学毕业的，当中还有九名来自中国科学院或中国工程院的院士。这显然不是中国人口的截面，而是非常精英的队伍。

　　中央委员会成员是从4.33万党官员中选出，他们的资格经过60支派往全国的调查团队的检验。

　　党章第一章设定党员的标准。它说“中国工人、农民、军人、知识分子和其他社会阶层的先进分子”，年满十八岁并承认党的纲领和章程的可以申请入党。

　　这和三十年前的标准相当不一样。1977年的党员标准是“中国工人、贫农下中农、革命军人和其他革命分子”，年满十八岁并承认党的章程的可以申请入党。在那时，贫困和革命是必须的。如今，“革命”已经消失了。过去是鼓励贫农入党，如今是鼓励企业家入党。事实上，就在党代会开始之前，官方的新华社就报道说，去年有1554名私营企业主加入共产党。

　　党在其他方面也发生了改变。在七十年代，毛泽东一个人就代表了党。如今党章规定“党禁止任何形式的个人崇拜”，显然暗示围绕毛主席的崇拜。毛被誉为“伟大的领袖，伟大的导师，伟大的统帅和伟大的舵手”，他的语录小红书被当成有特殊法力的护身符。此外，党章如今坚称党内民主。

　　但尽管它看起来更现代，甚至带有民主的装饰，但党（很可能中国）显然仍然停留在封建心态。

　　从媒体对一些寂寂无名的党代表在回到自己的省和县后所受的待遇的报道可以明显看到这一点。在北京，他们是汪洋大海里的小鱼，回到自己的地盘，他们变成小池子里的大鱼。

　　江苏一个县级市邳州市的一位市委书记在返回邳州时受到热烈欢迎。邳州政府组织了一个盛大的庆典“欢迎李书记”自十七大荣归。

　　而且，看来同样的场景会在全国各地上演，卑微的官员像凯旋的英雄一样受到欢呼，只因为他们到过首都，坐在全能的领袖们附近。毫无疑问，在他们自己的地盘，他们也接近全能。（原标题：走出农民、革命者；作者：FRANK CHING）

FRANK CHING: Moving away from peasants, revolutionaries

By : Frank Ching

OH, what a difference a few decades makes! Back in the days of Chairman Mao Zedong and his Little Red Book, China was proud to proclaim the Communist Party as the party of workers, peasants and soldiers.

And now? Two of the new members of the standing committee of the Politburo, Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, who are expected to take over the jobs of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao in five years’ time, both have doctorates.

While the standing committee of nine men elected in 2002 consisted only of engineers, Xi and Li are delightfully different. Xi is an economist and Li has a PhD in law.

In fact, the central committee, the highest authority within the party, is a reflection of the change that the party is undergoing. Almost half of the 183 members of the central committee — 49.3 per cent — are newcomers. As for the 127 members of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, almost 80 per cent are new.

Of the central committee members, 92.2 per cent are university graduates, including nine academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences or the Chinese Academy of Engineering. This is clearly not a cross-section of the Chinese population, but a very elite group.

The central committee members who were ultimately chosen came from a much larger pool of 43,300 party officials, whose credentials were reviewed by 60 investigation teams sent around the country beginning in the middle of last year.

Chapter One of the party constitution sets out the criteria for membership. It says that “any Chinese worker, farmer, member of the armed forces, intellectual or any advanced element of other social strata” who is at least 18 years old and who accepts the party’s programme can apply to join.

This is quite different from the constitutional criteria 30 years ago. The 1977 constitution says of membership: “Any Chinese worker, poor peasant, lower-middle peasant, revolutionary soldier or any other revolutionary” who has reached the age of 18 can apply for membership.

Then, poverty and revolutionary credentials were vital. Now, the word “revolutionary” has disappeared. Instead of poor peasants, entrepre- neurs are encouraged to join.

In fact, just before the party congress opened, the official Xinhua news agency reported that last year, 1,554 private entrepreneurs joined the Communist Party. The entrepreneur-party members included the board chairman of the Wanfeng Auto Holding Group, described as Asia’s largest aluminium wheel producer, the chairman of the Chong- qing-based Lifan Group, a privately owned motorcycle producer, as well as the chairman of detergent manufacturer Chuanhua Group.

The party has also changed in other ways. In the 1970s, Mao and Mao alone represented the party. He did not even condescend to attend meetings of the Politburo, sending instructions to the party’s highest decision-making body through the handful of females who were allowed to be in his presence.

Now, the constitution says that “the party forbids all forms of personality cult", a clear allusion to the cult around Chairman Mao, who during his life was hailed as “great leader, great teacher, great supreme commander and great helmsman” with the Little Red Book of his sayings being treated as a talisman with special powers.

Moreover, the constitution now insists on intra-party democracy. Beginning this year, the Politburo is supposed to report regularly to the central committee and accept its supervision, and all party organisations must “accept oversight by the masses inside and outside the party".

But despite its much more modern and seemingly even democratic trappings, the party — and probably China — appears to be still mired in a feudal mindset.

This was evident from media reports of how the several thousand nameless, faceless delegates to the party congress in Beijing were treated when they returned to their native counties and provinces. While in Beijing they were tiny fish in a vast ocean, back home they became big fish in a small pond, big fish that had had a chance to be in the presence of the emperor in Beijing.

Thus, the party secretary of Pizhou, a county-level city in Jiangsu, was given the red carpet treatment par excellence when he returned home. The Pizhou government organised a grand ceremony to “welcome Secretary Li’s glorious return from the 17th party congress".

And, it would appear, the same scene was enacted all across the country, with lowly officials hailed as triumphant heroes simply because they had journeyed to the capital and sat in the vicinity of all-powerful leaders. No doubt, in their own locality, they would be close to being all-powerful as well.