Red Genes & Footprints in Hunan & Yang Jiechi heads to Russia
Here are the stories and pieces from the May 24, 2021, edition of the People’s Daily that I found noteworthy.
Page 1: It’s quite an uneventful frontpage, for my liking at least, today. The only piece I was interested in was the column on Xi’s red footprints. Today, the focus is on Hunan province and the Yangtze River Economic Belt. The piece blends developmental goals with the idea of inheriting “red genes.” It tells us that Xi has “personally drawn the blueprint” for the province’s development since the 18th Party Congress, “inspiring the sons and daughters of Sanxiang(三湘) to continue their spiritual bloodline, carry on the fire of struggle, and continuously write a new chapter and create new glory in the new era.”
The piece talks about Shaoshan, which as we know is the birthplace of Mao Zedong. It talks about Mao returning to the town in 1925 to start a Peasant Night School, and “90 years later, today, a study class on the theme of ‘Strive, young man’ is being held here.” The piece talks about Xi’s 2011 visit to the region when he had said: “revolutionary traditional resources are the precious spiritual wealth of our party, and every red tourist attraction is a vivid classroom...that contains rich political wisdom and moral nourishment. We should take these revolutionary traditional resources as vivid teaching materials to carry out patriotism and party spirit education.” (If this was 2011, clearly the import of these comments were not understood by all and sundry who believed Xi was a reformer.)
The rest of the piece talks about development in Shaoshan, with people having greater opportunities and incomes. “With the increasing popularity and deep development of red resources, Shaoshan has achieved high-quality development, and people’s living standards have improved significantly, and their sense of gain, happiness and security has been continuously improved.”
We then come to Xi’s 2020 visit to Hunan, when he went to the Yuelu Academy. Then we have references to Mao’s time at the Hunan First Normal University and the establishment of the Xinmin Society. It then says:
“At present, Hunan is strengthening the ideological and political education for teachers and students in the whole province, so that red can become the bright background of moral education. The education department has dug deep into the connotation of red resources, established an integrated working mechanism of red education in large, middle and primary schools, and used revolutionary sites, relics, memorial halls and red education bases to carry out red research and study visits. Local schools have invited veteran cadres, veterans and old experts to preach red stories on campus.” 目前，湖南正在全省加强师生思想政治教育，让红色成为立德树人的鲜亮底色. 教育部门深挖红色资源内涵，建立了大中小学校红色教育一体化工作机制，利用革命旧址、遗迹、纪念馆、红色教育基地等开展红色研学访学，各地各校纷纷邀请老干部、老战士、老专家等进校园宣讲红色故事.
The final bit of the draws from Xi’s 2020 visit to an industrial park, emphasising the narrative of keeping control of core technologies in one’s own hands.
Page 2: First, Liu Guoqiang, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China said (English report) on Sunday that two-way fluctuations, either appreciation or depreciation, of China's currency renminbi will become the norm in the future, with its exchange rate continuing to depend on market supply and demand as well as changes in the international financial markets. The managed floating exchange rate system based on market supply and demand, and adjusted with reference to a basket of currencies, is suitable for China at present and for a certain period of time in the future, he added.
Second, in April, China’s electricity consumption increased rapidly, reaching 636.1 billion kWh, up 13.2% year-on-year and 15% compared with the same period in 2019. From January to April, the total electricity consumption of the whole society was 2,558.1 billion kWh, an increase of 19.1% year-on-year and an increase of 14.6% compared with the same period in 2019.
Page 3: First, China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi will be visiting Russia from May 24 to 27 for the 16th round of China-Russia strategic security consultation and will pay official visits to Slovenia and Croatia. Interesting timing given that Lavrov and Blinken met last week at the sidelines of the Arctic Council meeting. You can check out my coverage of the Blinken-Lavrov meeting in my weekly Eye on China bulletin.
Next, a short report telling us that “The China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation launched the ‘Emergency Community Oxygen Station’ project in Kathmandu.” The foundation aims to provide oxygen cylinders, personal protective equipment, face masks, masks and disinfection machines to the local communities.
Third, a report about the Chinese Embassy in Germany and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Government jointly hosting a video exchange meeting titled ‘Xinjiang is a good place’ on May 21. PD says that “people from German political parties, parliament, industry and commerce, culture and education and many Chinese and foreign media were invited to attend.”
Here’s more:
The Vice Chairman of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region “refuted the so-called ‘forced labor’, ‘genocide’, ‘cultural genocide’, ‘forced sterilization’ and all kinds of rumors and lies related to education and training centers one by one. He said: You are welcome to go to Xinjiang, have a look and listen to the voices of people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, and witness Xinjiang which is completely different from that depicted by western anti-China forces. Wu Ken, Chinese ambassador to Germany, said that Xinjiang had suffered greatly from separatist forces, extremist forces and terrorist forces. If the German public recalls the tragic scene of the terrorist attack on the Christmas market in Berlin in 2016, I believe they can empathize with the people of Xinjiang.”
Page 4: There’s a piece by 周珊珊, with no details about the author’s affiliation. It begins with children (also some veterans) in different areas in Zunyi talking about reflections and recollections from their ancestors about the Red Army. It says:
“Revolutionary tradition and red genes span across time and space, constantly inspiring future generations. The ideal pursuit of ‘being higher than heaven’, the revolutionary belief of ‘being completely red’, the political consciousness of ‘being single-minded,’ and the fine style of ‘loving the people by the army’…It is these red genes that constitute the spiritual home of the Communists, and give our party an unbreakable steel backbone and a stable revolutionary spirit. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: ‘It is the common responsibility of the whole party and society to strengthen the protection and utilization of revolutionary cultural relics, carry forward revolutionary culture and inherit red genes.’ After a hundred years of struggle, revolutionary history is not only a textbook for officials and entrepreneurs, but also the best nutrient for a nourishing life.”
The author then talks about the importance of “transmission” of this redness. An example that is given is this: “After the death of He Mulin, a Red Army veteran, his daughter-in-law Lin Chengying stayed at his old residence and insisted on telling the story of the Long March of the Red Army for passing tourists.” Then there is a bit about her daughter, He Li, becoming a “little red preacher.”
“Only by guiding young people to inherit the red spirit and strengthen their ideals and beliefs can we cultivate new citizens who can shoulder the heavy responsibility of national rejuvenation.”
Next, we have the two historical figures for today, i.e., Xian Xinghai and Jiang Zhuyun. Xian was a music composer, who ended up earning the tag of the People’s Composer. The story in PD talks about his journey to the point where he composed the Yellow River Cantata in Yan’an in 1939. It talks about Mao and Zhou Enlai’s praise for the song. He died in Moscow in 1945, but there was a memorial service held for him in Yan’an, during which Mao wrote: “Condolences for Comrade Xian Xinghai, a musician of the people.” 为人民的音乐家冼星海同志致哀.
Jiang, meanwhile, joined the CCP in 1939 and worked undercover in Chongqing before being sent to Sichuan to work with youth and students to resist the KMT. Her life inspired the character of Jiang Xueqin or Sister Jiang in the novel Red Crag. She was eventually arrested by the KMT, tortured and executed in Zhazidong Prison on November 14, 1949.
Page 13: The Theory page today basically has pieces about the significance of Marxism or more specifically how Marxism became part of China’s historical development process. I didn’t think there was anything terribly new here.
Page 17: On the international page, there is a story about the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. It emphasises China’s role in the process. There’s another about anti-racial discrimination rallies being held in cities around the US.