On this episode of China Uncensored,
is China still communist?
Hi, welcome to China Uncensored.
I'm your host, Chris Chappell.
China, as you know,
is run by the Chinese Communist Party—
or CCP.
And it has been since Mao Zedong's revolution
nearly 70 years ago.
And nothing illustrates the success
of communism in China like...
the complete destruction of all things capitalist?
In 1949, Mao Zedong and the CCP
seized all the means of production,
taking over all the farmland,
and turning all private companies into
state-owned companies—
creating a communist paradise
where everyone was equal.
Equally miserable, sure...
but equal.
But China has undergone huge changes
since the days of collective farming and ration coupons.
All that silly equality is long gone!
And everyone is happy!
Except the vast majority of people—
who still earn less than $10 a day.
But with the rise of China's wealthy elite,
is China really even communist anymore?
It's easy to look at the skyscrapers
in Shanghai and Guangzhou and say
"No, China's capitalist now.
In most ways it's just like Western countries."
Well yes,
China no longer has a collectivist economy.
Nowadays, some people are brutally poor,
and some people are crazy rich...
and some people are crazy and rich.
The Communist Party hopes we in the West see
China's bright shiny cities and luxury hotels,
and forget that China is still controlled
by the Communist Party.
"Pay no attention to the red dragon
behind the curtain."
Karl Marx,
who's the founder of modern communist thought,
wrote a lot about the economics of communism.
His idea was that no individuals
should be allowed to own the means of production—
like factories or farmland.
Everything should be owned collectively
by the masses,
i.e. the Communist Party.
That's why when Mao Zedong took over,
he made sure no one in China owned
a company or farm anymore.
I mean if they did,
the CCP would just kill them and take it.
So most businessmen and landlords were like,
"Here ya go!"
It's called equality by mandatory consent.
But now, after four decades of economic reform,
97 percent of Chinese companies
are privately owned.
So in the sense of private ownership,
China isn't really communist anymore.
I bet Chairman Mao is rolling over in his...
glass case.
Let me just take a moment to point out
how weird it is that they've kept a dead guy
in a display box in the middle of Tiananmen Square...
for 40 years.
Anyway, the CCP wants you see
all the private ownership and think
"China has reformed!"
But there are other aspects of communism
that the CCP would like you to please forget.
In particular,
how communism isn't just about
how the economy works.
It's about having a one-party system
that controls just about every aspect of society.
And that part has stuck around.
For example, the CCP controls workers
through the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.
It's goal is actually to make sure workers
don't collectively bargain.
The CCP also controls
all citizens' groups and associations.
For example, China's feminist organization—
the All-China Women's Federation—
is actually an organ of the CCP.
It's used to make sure that women follow
the national population control plan,
such as by getting married younger,
and having the correct number of children.
Very feminist.
The CCP also controls the churches.
Want to be Christian in China?
Well, you do have a choice.
You can either belong to the state-run
Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association,
or the state-run Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Church.
Doesn't that sound fun?
You can believe in Jesus if you want,
but you'd best remember who's really in charge.
The CCP also controls the entire education system,
making sure that children learn to
hate the Japanese imperialists,
and love the Communist Party.
As one Shanghai history textbook official said,
"History is still used as a political tool,
and at the high school level,
we still must follow the doctrine."
The Great Famine that killed 40 million people?
Let's just call it "The Great Oopsie Daisy."
I'm just kidding.
It's actually called "The Great Leap Forward."
Seriously.
The CCP also monitors every one of
its nearly 1.4 billion citizens through
a massive security system—
which is called "Skynet."
Yes, they actually call it Skynet.
It's like they watched Terminator,
but somehow got the opposite takeaway
than everyone else.
China's Skynet combines mobile phone GPS tracking,
text message collection,
and 170 million security cameras
to make sure everyone is harmonious
and no one does anything illegal—
like criticize the CCP's invasive security system.
China also controls the media.
There's obviously the state-run media,
like China Central Television.
China also allows privately owned media.
But what they can and can't say
isn't exactly free market;
it's determined by CCP censors,
through an organization called SAPPRFT.
It's even harder to say in Chinese.
But at least you can own
a private company in China.
That's not communism, right?
Right, except it's not a free market economy
like we have in the West, either.
Because while anyone can start a business,
not everyone can succeed.
For example,
if a company's president makes friends
with the right communist officials,
red tape and roadblocks will magically disappear.
If he doesn't,
he can be stopped by arbitrary regulations,
and his competitors will quickly out-compete him.
That's why all the big companies
have strong ties to the CCP.
Plus the CCP requires all companies
with more than 50 employees to have
a Communist Party Secretary on staff.
That person's job is to monitor the company
and make sure it's ideologically pure.
And by "pure,"
I mean the right kind of corrupt.
Even foreign companies operating in China
have to have a Party Secretary.
Just to make sure that free Happy Meal toy
doesn't come with any free speech.
The CCP also controls China's currency.
For decades, they've kept prices in China
artificially low so that Chinese exports
are cheaper than everyone else's.
And that also has meant that foreign goods
are artificially expensive in China,
so it's hard for foreign companies to compete.
That's not a free market either.
And while 97 percent of companies
are privately owned,
the CCP still controls most of the biggest industries,
like oil, banking, rail, and telecom.
Foreign companies wanting to do business in China
can't just set up shop.
They're required to have a Chinese-owned
joint venture partner.
That partner gets to share the profits
and all their valuable intellectual property.
That is not something that normal countries require...
because it's ridiculously unfair.
In fact, besides moving toward a market economy,
China has made very few major political reforms
since the days of Mao Zedong.
Even though the current leader is called a "president,"
he's not elected.
The Communist Party
is above the law,
and controls China's government and society
through the same kind of authoritarianism
the Communist Party has always held so dear.
The CCP also controls the court system,
so there's no rule of law.
Unless you think China's 99.9% conviction rate
means it has really, really talented policemen.
There's no freedom of speech, either.
Which is why you can't watch this YouTube video in China.
Except for you, buddy.
You think I don't know about your illegal VPN?
Just kidding, ok,
I don't know about your illegal VPN.
But the Chinese Communist Party does.
So while China today barely resembles
the communist state of the 1950s and 60s
in terms of economic structure
and the number of McDonald's,
it still retains almost
all the other aspects of communism—
like state control, censorship, mass surveillance...
and surveillance of mass.
So next time someone asks you
if China is communist,
you can tell them with confidence:
Yes...
-ish, sort of, mostly.
It's complicated.
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Once again, I'm Chris Chappell.
See you next time.
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