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Q: Beijing ordered universities to fortify ideological control by Studying and propagating Marxism
Earlier this week, the Communist leadership in Beijing ordered universities nationwide to fortify ideological control by "studying and propagating Marxism," as well as "cultivating and promoting the core values of socialism," according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. What do you think about it?
Do you mind providing a link, or a source for this ?
Honestly, I think it would be self-defeating to propagate Marx's ideas in China, at least for the powers-to-be. It would be bad for the harmony of China. That's why I'm asking you to provide some serious source, that sounds just so irrational to me, unless it's a completely warped rewriting of Marx. I would much less surprised to see Kong Zi pushed forward and Lu Xun put in the shadow. Ho... It happened already http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2009-08/19/content_742530.htm !
Why I think so ? Marx said something about those who hold the capital, and those who generate capital while not owning it. That those with the capital owns the right to make laws, the ability to enforce the laws and bend reality to their will. Those who don't own capital but make capital tends to be exploited and kept in their situation. Why on Earth one would harshly criticize the very foundation of modern China, if it's not to undermine it ?
Shining_brow:
Remember that the PtB will also tell those universities exactly what Marx said... so, they'll be controlling this 'information' anyway. Doesn't matter what label they choose to put on it.
(You know Marx really wrote that the party government is required to grab as much money as possible and put it in private accounts overseas... and Marx was all for paying officials for government contracts....)
Do you mind providing a link, or a source for this ?
Honestly, I think it would be self-defeating to propagate Marx's ideas in China, at least for the powers-to-be. It would be bad for the harmony of China. That's why I'm asking you to provide some serious source, that sounds just so irrational to me, unless it's a completely warped rewriting of Marx. I would much less surprised to see Kong Zi pushed forward and Lu Xun put in the shadow. Ho... It happened already http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2009-08/19/content_742530.htm !
Why I think so ? Marx said something about those who hold the capital, and those who generate capital while not owning it. That those with the capital owns the right to make laws, the ability to enforce the laws and bend reality to their will. Those who don't own capital but make capital tends to be exploited and kept in their situation. Why on Earth one would harshly criticize the very foundation of modern China, if it's not to undermine it ?
Shining_brow:
Remember that the PtB will also tell those universities exactly what Marx said... so, they'll be controlling this 'information' anyway. Doesn't matter what label they choose to put on it.
(You know Marx really wrote that the party government is required to grab as much money as possible and put it in private accounts overseas... and Marx was all for paying officials for government contracts....)
I'm pretty sure this has been a mandatory part of Chinese education for decades. Not sure why it's made the news now. It's called 政治思想课. Pretty sure it's taught all the way from primary school to university.
thelatinodancer:
So basically you learn socialism in schools but chinese health system is not good in china and people need to go to atm before they go to the hospital.Education in china is expensive and quality is really low.
I wonder what Chinese learn in their classes. how do you apply that knowledge to real world?
xunliang:
Who knows. I'm sure they don't learn anything. They just memorize it for tests. That's why Chinese people who've pasted various English exams cant's speak a word of English.
Hmm... Promoting socialism? I'd start by making healthcare free and easily available and then I'd have a look at making education more egalitarian. That would be a start.
Shared ownership with Chinese characteristics:
"What's yours is mine, what's mine is mine".
Monkey's intuition is right. What is actually taught in universities (and the first year is entirely dedicated to this kind of bullshit, which is why they need 4 to graduate) is not even close to Marx.
It's "comments and analysis on Marxism/socialism/etc", and it's mainly what you would expect from such a title: handpicked quotes seasoned with China-compatible warped excuses. Apart from that, in this year, there are also revised history classes with record of precedent chairmen's "thoughts" and "achievements".
Obviously no philosophical value to the lot.
What's new is that from this year on, brainwashing classes have been extended to primary schools, where kids now have to learn and recite some recent propaganda posters*. This existed before, but only in rural/minority schools. Now even city schools have those.
*For those who can read Chinese, I'm talking about those
for those who don't read Chinese, don't miss the opportunity for learning a bunch of new words and have a good laugh : 富强、民主、文明、和谐,自由、平等、公正、法治,爱国、敬业、诚信、友善
here is the link from time.com
http://time.com/3674160/china-education-college-studying-marxism-xi-jinp...
What’s the Priority for Chinese Colleges? ‘Studying and Propagating Marxism’Xi Jinping is fond of the kind of socialist jargon more reminiscent of Chairman Mao’s era
University life in China involves more than just cramming for exams and polishing résumés. On Jan. 19, China’s official Xinhua news agency published a high-level government and Communist Party decree stating that Chinese universities needed to make a renewed effort to “fortify conviction in the right ideals and faith.” The appropriate ideologies, lest anyone be confused, are socialism and Marxism, as the pronouncement explained:
“As the front line of ideological work, universities bear the responsibility of studying and propagating Marxism; cultivating and promoting the core values of socialism; and providing the intelligence and talent for the realization of the China dream.”
The “China dream” (also called the “Chinese dream”) is President Xi Jinping’s amorphous mission statement for a country intent on regaining its former glory and encouraging individual fulfillment. Last month, in a harbinger of the Jan. 19 university decree, Xi gave a speech in which he urged universities to exert better “ideological guidance” over students and professors alike.
When Xi assumed control of China’s ruling Communist Party in late 2012, some China watchers wondered whether he would be more amenable to economic and political reform than his predecessor Hu Jintao. But if Xi has a soft spot for political liberalization, he has not exposed it. The Chinese President’s speeches have been peppered with the kind of socialist jargon more reminiscent of Chairman Mao’s era. Under Xi, China has intensified a crackdown on dissent that has locked up everyone from university students and poets to journalists and lawyers. An internal government memo that was leaked in 2013 enumerated seven Western values and institutions that China needed to wage war against, including constitutional democracy, civil society, market liberalism and the “universal values” of human rights.
How do Chinese campus denizens feel about the need to “build universities into strongholds of studying and propagating Marxism” and “persistently use socialism with Chinese characteristics to arm the brains of students and teachers,” as the decree urges? Are they as committed to “uncompromisingly resisting the infiltration of hostile forces,” as Western ideals and values are labeled?
It is, of course, impossible to generalize about a university population of more than 30 million students. But Zhang Ming, a politics professor at Renmin University in Beijing, noted on his microblog that “ideological indoctrination can only succeed in a closed environment.” China today, Zhang said, is a “semiopen environment so mandatory indoctrination will cause an antagonistic psychology … the more forceful the indoctrination is, the more superficial obedience is.”
A Peking University postgraduate student, who, given the sensitivity of the subject only wants to be identified by her English name, Penny, tells TIME: “The notice is a heap of long, disgusting, empty words … I read the whole [decree] and I still do not understand what they will do in the future.” As for the mandatory ideology classes she has already attended in college, Penny issues no praise. “Very boring,” she says. “Most students just sleep at their desks.”
—With reporting by Gu Yongqiang / Beijing
OK. So, you used the Q&A section for a soapbox comment. Is there a questions in all that rambling?
It is in the interest of all authoritarian governments to keep people stupid and uninformed...easier to control (whiffs of the US maybe?).
Xi is positioning himself as the new Emperor or Putin...power grab...any remote dissent is quashed sending a message.
Cradle to grave propaganda is not enough in this age.
Just like Russia China is clinging to power through manufactured consent...but it will fail in China too.
I don't think they are buying that crap anymore. They know their lives are better under capitalism. They love their iphones
Who is the saddo with two accounts pretending to be a Chinese girl? This is not a real person
Damn, somebody took the indoctrination classes on steroids.
ambivalentmace:
You get arrested for being too marxists in China, my head hurts, have I been teleported to a parallel universe.