The Aspect of Interpersonal Relations
A. A Culture of Jealousy
The party promoted �absolute equalitarianism� so that �anyone who stands out will be the target of attack.� People are jealous of those who have greater ability and those who are wealthier�the so-called �red-eye syndrome.� [87]
B. A Culture of People Stepping Over Each Other
The CCP promoted �struggle face-to-face and report back-to-back.� Squealing on one�s associates, creating written materials to frame them, fabricating facts and exaggerating their mistakes�these devious behaviors have been used to measure closeness to the party and the desire to advance. .
Subtle Influences on People�s Internal Psyche and External Behavior
A. A Culture That Transforms Human Beings into Machines
The Party wants the people to be the �never rusting bolts in the revolution machine,� to be the �tamed tool for the Party,� or to �Attack in whatever directions the Party directs us.� �Chairman Mao�s soldiers listen to the Party the most; they go wherever they are needed and settle down wherever there are hardships.�
B. A Culture That Confounds Right and Wrong
During the Cultural Revolution, the CCP would �rather have the socialist weeds than the capitalist crops.� The army was ordered to shoot and kill in the June 4th massacre �in exchange for 20 years of stability.� The CCP also �Does unto others what one does not want to be done unto oneself.�
C. A Culture of Self-Imposed Brainwashing and Unconditional Obedience
�Lower ranks obey the orders of the higher ranks and the whole Party obeys the Party�s Central Committee.� �Fight ruthlessly to eradicate any selfish thoughts that flash through your mind.� �Erupt a revolution in the depths of your soul.� �Maintain maximum alignment with the Party�s Central Committee.� �Unify the minds, unify the footsteps, unify the orders, and unify the commands.�
D. A Culture of Securing a Flunkey Position
�China would be in chaos without the Communist Party;� �China is so vast. Who else can lead it but the CCP?� �If China collapses, it will be a worldwide disaster, so we should help the CCP sustain its leadership.� Out of fear and self-protection, the groups constantly suppressed by the CCP oftentimes appear even more lefty than the CCP.
There are many more examples like these. Every reader could probably find various sorts of elements of the Party culture from his personal experiences.
People who experienced the Cultural Revolution might still remember vividly the �Model Play� of modern operas, the Songs with Mao�s words as lyrics, and the Loyalty Dance. Many still recall the words from the dialogues in �The White-Haired Girl,� [88] �Tunnel Warfare� [89], and �War of Mines� [90]. Through these literary works, the CCP has brainwashed people, forcibly filling their minds with messages such as �how brilliant and great� the Party is; how �arduously and valiantly� the party has struggled against the enemy; how �utterly devoted to the Party� the Party�s soldiers are; how willing they are to sacrifice themselves for the Party; and how stupid and vicious the enemies are. Day after day, the CCP�s propaganda machine forcibly injects into every individual the beliefs needed by the Communist Party. Today, if one went back to watch the �Epic Poem� of musical dance� �The East is Red,� one would realize that the entire theme and style of the show is about �killing, killing, and more killing.�
At the same time, the CCP has created its own system of speech and discourse, such as the abusive language in mass criticism, the flattering words to sing the praises of the Party, and the banal official formalities similar to the �eight-part essay.� [91] People are made to speak unconsciously with the thinking patterns that promote the concept of �class struggle� and to �extol the Party,� and use domineering language instead of calm and rational reasoning. The CCP also abuses the religious vocabulary and distorts the content of those terms.
One step beyond the truth is fallacy. The CCP party culture also abuses traditional morality to a certain extent. For instance, traditional culture values �faith,� so does the Communist Party. However what it promotes is �faithfulness and honesty to the Party.� The traditional culture emphasizes �filial piety.� The CCP may put people in jail if they do not provide for their parents, but the real reason is that these parents would otherwise become a �burden� to the government. When it fits the Party�s needs, the children are required to draw clear boundaries separating them from their parents. The traditional culture stresses �loyalty.� Nevertheless, �the people are of supreme importance; the nation comes next; last comes the ruler.� The �loyalty� preferred by the CCP is �blind devotion��so completely blind that people are required to believe in the CCP unconditionally and obey it unquestioningly.
The words commonly used by the CCP are very misleading. For example, it called the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communists the �Liberation War,� as if the people were being �liberated� from oppression. The CCP called the post-1949 period �after the founding of the nation,� when, in reality, China existed long before that. The CCP simply established a new political regime. The three-year Great Famine [92] was called �three years of natural disaster,� when, in fact, it was not at all a natural disaster but, rather, a complete man-made calamity. However, upon hearing these words used in everyday life and being imperceptibly influenced by them, people unconsciously accept the ideologies that the CCP intended to instill to them.
In traditional culture, music is taken as a way to constrain human desires. In the Book of Song (Yue Shu), Volume 24 of the Records of the Historian (Shi Ji), Sima Qian (145-85 BC) [93] said the nature of man is peaceful; sensation of external matters affects one�s emotions and stir up the sentiment of love or hate based upon one�s character and wisdom. If these sentiments are not constrained, one will be seduced by endless external temptations and assimilated by one�s internal sentiments to commit many bad deeds. Thus, said Sima Qian, the emperors of the past used rituals and music to constrain people. The songs should be �cheerful but not obscene, sad but not overly distressing.� They should express feelings and desires, yet have control over these sentiments. Confucius said in the Analects, �The three hundred verses of The Odes (one of the six classics compiled and edited by Confucius) may be summed up in a single sentence, �Think no evil.��
Such a beautiful thing as music, however, was used by the CCP as a method to brainwash the people. Songs like �Socialism Is Good,� �There would be no new China without the Communist Party,� and many others, have been sung from kindergarten to the university. In singing these songs, people have unconsciously accepted the meanings of the lyrics. Further, the CCP stole the tunes of the most melodious folk songs and replaced them with lyrics that praise the Party. This has served both to destroy the traditional culture and to promote the Party.
As one of the CCP�s classic documents, Mao�s �Speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Arts� [94] placed cultural endeavors and the military as �the two battle fronts.� It stated that it was not enough to have just the armed military; an �army of literary arts� was also needed. It stipulated that �the literary arts should serve politics� and �the literary arts of the proletariat class� are the �gears and screws� of the revolution machine.� A complete system of �Party culture� was developed out of this, with �atheism� and �class struggle� being its core. This system goes completely against traditional culture.
The �Party culture� has indeed rendered distinguished service in helping the CCP to win power and control over society. Like its army, prisons, and police force, the Party culture is also a violence machine, which provides a different kind of brutality��cultural brutality.� This cultural brutality, by destroying 5000 years of traditional culture, has diminished the will of the people, and undermined the cohesiveness of the Chinese nationality.
Today, many Chinese are absolutely ignorant of the essence of traditional culture. Some even equate the 50 years of �Party culture� to the 5000 years of Chinese traditional culture. This is a sorrowful thing for the Chinese people. Many do not realize that in opposing the so-called traditional culture they are in fact against the �Party culture� of the CCP, not the real traditional culture of China.
Many people hope to replace the current Chinese system with the Western democratic system. In reality, Western democracy has also been established on a cultural basis, notably that of Christianity, which, holding that �everyone is equal in the eyes of God,� thus respects human nature and human choices. How could the despotic, inhuman �Party culture� of the CCP be used as the foundation for a Western-style democratic system?
Conclusion
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