Figuring out "Core Socialist Values"

Yesterday I was riding a bus through Harbin, looking out the window.  The view was typical, a wide avenue lined with drab buildings, the first floors of which were small shops and restaurants.  In the background, a few high-rise apartment buildings still under construction and swathed in dark green scaffolding stood out against the gray sky.  As the bus approached the outskirts of the city, a few factories came into view.  We rolled to a stop right by a bright red billboard with gold writing on it.  I managed to snap a photo; the text reads something along the lines of "Carry out the practical, China-specific Socialism of the new Xi Jinping era."

These little reminders of China's political culture always interest me, and sometimes still surprise me.  It's striking to see the government calling on urban commuters to engage in high-minded pursuits of society building.  I'm more accustomed to the pithy American reminders of the "Buckle up or pay up" variety.

I'm not sure when I first learned that modern China was Communist.  In American middle and high school Communism was usually spoken of in the context of the Cold War and the Soviet Union.  The ideology often felt outdated, even cartoonish.  In history class, my friends and I snickered at PowerPoint slides featuring propaganda posters of Lenin and Stalin rallying the masses.  There was very little material on the broader history of the Communist thought.  Someone probably could have convinced me that Marx and Engels and the Marx Brothers were the same people.  The general feeling was, "Communism was an important part of world affairs from the 50s through to the 80s, and now it's not."

Media coverage of Communist China during my youth talked about explosive industrial growth, modernization that took other countries 100 years squeezed into the space of a few decades.  Political news was often eclipsed by stories about the economic miracle of a country that had left the planned economy behind for the beckoning invisible hand.

All this background education didn't prep me for a China where Communist political rhetoric is still very much a part of everyday life.  And the more time I've spent in China, the more I've realized that socialist language and imagery don't seem to be going anywhere soon.

Take the above poster for example, which is located near my dorm at the Harbin Institute of Technology.  The large red text reads, "Core Socialist Values" and the smaller text below lists various virtues-- justice, civility, freedom, rule of law....  The novelty of these little reminders of the Communist ethos, like calls to collective morality from the Party, still hasn't worn off.  I find I still have a knee-jerk impulse to smirk at these kinds of posters, the same way I reacted to those PowerPoints in high school depicting bygone Soviet propaganda, despite the fact that these are living images that have an active role in Chinese society.

I'm taking a class on Chinese Politics currently and the language in the readings can be campy, with sentences like, "China's party system is specific to China and deeply rooted in the country's soil.  It is in line with the interests of all ethnic groups, and has a strong vitality."  Heavy on justification of CCP's role in society, light on how the work of governing actually happens.

XinhuaNet, the Communist Party's media mouthpiece, also uses this kind of language, especially when talking about President Xi Jinping.  I started reading it to practice Chinese, but it helps with studying political signaling as well.  There are phrases like: "Since the Eighteenth Party Congress, the Party, with Comrade Xi Jinping as its center, has lifted the banner of reform higher, and Xi's ideology of comprehensive deepening of reform has come at a historic moment."

Before, I think I largely assumed that most Chinese people, like me, paid little attention to this kind of speech and dismissed it as political humbug.  But after being exposed to more of this kind of rhetoric, I've realized it's more ubiquitous than I thought.  After talking to a few locals about it, I also realize not everyone in China is as skeptical of the Party's methods and motives as I am.  Now I'm constantly wondering how different groups of Chinese people react to this kind of speech. What kind of person is simply numb to it?  Who looks twice at the socialist posters that have decorated city walls for decades?  Does anyone thoughtfully read a list of "Core Socialist Values" as a sincere reminder of how to live a good and righteous life?

I wish I could ask these kinds of questions to every taxi driver, barista and college professor that I meet.  Sadly, it's more advisable to steer clear of political topics in China, especially with people you don't really know, because of the government's intolerance of dissent.  For now, I'll have to rely on the thoughts and opinions of closer friends to figure out what Chinese people really think.

“革命无罪，泡妞有理” (Revolution is righteous, flirting is justified)

“关心未成年人成长健康，净化未成年人环境。”  (Have concern for young people's health, keep the environment clean)