Announcing Teach-In on China 座谈会：“新时代”的中国, Pennsylvania State University and Live Streamed

Announcement

Teach-In: An Introduction to China

Pennsylvania State University

Katz Building Room 336

14 March 2018 – 2.00 – 4.30 P.M. U.S. East Coast Time

Live Streamed With Participation From Listeners. 

As part of a week of events tied to the transformation of China in the “New Era”–The Vanguard Acts: A Focus on China at the Dawn of its “New Era,” we have organized this “Teach-In” to take advantage of the fortuitous visit of prominent China scholars to the Penn State campus. Concept Note and Program Details follow.  作为关注中国“新时代”转型的“先锋行动：在新时代的前夕关注中国”系列活动的一部分，我们借几位杰出的中国学者访问Penn State 之宜组织了这场座谈会，具体信息如下。

The Teach-In will take place 14 March 2018 in Katz Building Room 336, Pennsylvania State University From 2.00 – 4.30 P.M. Its aim is to provide a basic introduction for those who know very little but are interested in knowing more. We hope you find this useful and encourage your participation.  It is organized around four broad themes: (1) Chinese political system; (2) Chinese economic organization; (3) One Country two systems; (4) a Primer on the “New Era.”

The event will be LIVE STREAMED and Recorded. Listeners to the live stream event will have the opportunity to send in their questions via MediaSite.  

The Program may be accessed HERE.

The Concept Note follows. 

Concept Note

At its 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, held October 2017, the CPC leadership boldly announced the dawn of a “New Era”–a new stage in the history of the CPC and of China, as it moved forward, under the leadership of the CPC toward the ultimate mandatory goal of establishing a communist society in China. That forward movement represents the workings of two quite related but distinct elements. The first is the Marxist element–the continuing refinement and development of the basic normative theories from which the obligations of state, society and vanguard are derived and the goals toward which everything is bent. The second is the Leninist element–the continuing development of the normative structures of legitimate leadership by a vanguard element (in common parlance a “Communist” party) whose core obligation is to lead the people toward its Marxist objectives. These two basic elements are interlinked through the establishment of governmental (administrative) institutions through which the vanguard party might assert its leadership role in bringing society closer to its ultimate objectives.

While the development of Marxism and Leninism withered in Europe after the 1980s, lingering only in outlier states like North Korea and Cuba, China took a different path. The result was the creation of a unique approach to both government (the Leninist party of its structure) and the road taken toward the establishment of a Marxist society. To that end, China began to develop a Marxism with Chinese characteristics some of which were quite non-European. Its implementation of socialist development moved Marxism toward the adoption of the techniques of markets in the service of its Marxist goals. This Markets Marxism sought to embed markets into the objectives based obligations of its vanguard party. At the same time, the character of the CPC and its leadership role also developed. It profited from the lessons learned from the tragedies of cults of personality in Leninist parties and sought to begin to develop the collective principle inherent in Leninism in building what might evolve into a unique approach to endogenous democracy.

Chinese progress from the time of the beginning of the commencement of the last “New Era” (1978-2016) suggested to CPC leaders that the China of 2017 was at a very different stage from the China of 1978 and that this progress required more explicit refinement of its normative and governance structures in line with that progress. Both Marxism and Leninism were again further refined by the 19th CPC Congress. In its Leninist aspects, the centrality of a rules based organization was advanced along with a strengthening of intra-Party democratic principles (and perhaps eventually more fully practices). Accountability was centered through a focus on monitoring and cadre oversight and discipline. But the role of the CPC was also more explicitly broadened to cover virtually every sphere of life. CPC leadership, then, is now more clearly understood to extend to all aspects of national life. At the same time, the Marxist elements were developed. The central contradiction–the challenges at the center of the immediate leadership obligations of the CPC was recognized to have changed, and with it the primary obligation for leadership through state organs. That central contradiction, before 1978 was focused on the classical one of class struggle (from out of which European Marxism never advanced). After 1978 it was focused on economic development, centering on the contradiction in Chinese society between the ever-growing material and cultural needs of the people and the low level of production. The current “New Era” however, sees a movement beyond that to the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people’s ever growing need for a better life. These changes will have profound effect on government by shaping its policy choices and programs.

For most outsiders much of this is both new and daunting. It is sometimes difficult to separate the myths and stereotypes of the failed European Marxist-Leninist experiment form the construction of the Chinese (and to some extent the Vietnamese) Party-State. Yet such an understanding is now essential for anyone who is likely to deal with China or its enterprises int he course of global trade, international relations, or in the cyber sphere.

To bridge the knowledge gap in the West The Coalition for Peace and Ethics and its Partners have sought to develop a set of events designed to provide basic understanding of the operation and world view of the Chinese state and its vanguard party. To that end this Teach-In will provide a basic introduction to the government and political ideology of China today. It is designed especially for those with little or no knowledge of China and will provide a strong foundation from which participants will be able to better understand and follow developments at home and abroad respecting China and its emerging place in the world.

概念文件

在2017年10月的中共十九大上，中国共产党领导层大胆地宣布了中国已经走入“新时代”，也就是中国共产党发展历史中的一个全新阶段，即中国在共产党领导下在追求共产主义社会最高理想又向前迈进了具有历史意义的一步。这一进步体现了两个相关但又完全不同的方面的要素。第一个是马克思主义要素，即对基本规范性理论不断完善和发展，这一理论衍生出国家、社会和党的义务以及统领一切工作的发展目标。第二个是列宁主义要素，即先锋（通常是共产党）合法领导的规范性结构的不断发展，先锋党的核心义务就是领导人们视线马克思主义目标。这两个基本要素在政府（行政）机构建制中相互连接，先锋党则通过政府机构维护其在推动社会向终极目标前进中的领导。

尽管上世纪80年代马克思主义和列宁主义的发展在欧洲枯萎，如今仅仅只在朝鲜、古巴等国家存在，中国选择了一条不同的道路。 通过这一道路，中国在政府（列宁主义政党的结构）和建立马克思主义社会的方式上开辟了一条独特的道路。在这样一条道路上，中国开始发展在某些方面与欧洲马克思主义十分不同的中国特色马克思主义。这种马克思主义对社会主义发展的实践将市场应用到了对马克思主义目标的追求中去。这种市场马克思主义寻求吧市场嵌入进基于先锋政党的的责任的更大目标中去。同时，中国共产党和其领导的特征也在不断发展。中国共产党从列宁主义政党的个人崇拜悲剧中吸取了经验，开始发展一套与列宁主义一脉相承的集体主义原则，这些原则将有可能发展出一种独特的内源性民主（endogenous democracy）路径。

中国从前一个“新时代”（即1978年到2016年）开端至今的进步向中国共产党领导层揭示了2017年的中国与1978年的中国处在完全不同的历史阶段，这一进步呼唤共产党对自身的规范和治理结构进行明确的细化和改进以适应时代的发展。马克思主义和列宁主义都在十九大中被进一步精炼和改进。在列宁主义方面，规则为基础的组织的集中性质随着党内民主原则（可能最终形成更为全面的事实）的强化而被进一步加强。问责制也集中于监控、干部监管和纪律。不过中国共产党的角色也更明显地被扩大以涵盖几乎生活的每一个方面。中国共产党的领导现在更加清晰地延伸到国民生计的各方各面。同时，马克思主义要素也在发展。（中国社会的）主要矛盾，即中国共产党直接领导义务的核心挑战，被认为已经改变，这一矛盾的解决也是党的领导通过国家机关所要履行的首要职责。这一主要矛盾在1978年之前聚焦于“阶级斗争”（欧洲马克思主义的发展在止步于此）。1978年以后，主要矛盾聚焦到经济发展上来，即中国社会中人民日益增长的物质文化需求和落后生产力水平之间的矛盾。当前的新时代则在该矛盾之上更进一步，指明当前社会的主要矛盾已经转化为人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不平衡不充分的发展之间的矛盾。这些变化将通过重塑政策选择和规划对政府产生深远影响。

对于大对数局外人来说，这些变化及新奇又令人生畏。有时，人们的确很难将失败的欧洲马克思列宁主义实践的迷思和刻板印象与中国（从某种程度上来讲，越南）的党国体制构建区分开来。不过这种正确的理解现在对任何一个想要在全球贸易、国际关系和虚拟空间与中国或者中国企业打交道的人来说是十分必要的。

为了缩小西方的这种认知鸿沟，和平与道德联盟和其合作伙伴们决定组织一系列活动以帮助更多人理解中国国家和其先锋政党的运作和世界观。为了这个目的，这次座谈会将对当今中国的政府和政治思想体系做一个基本的介绍。座谈会面向主要是对中国不甚了解的观众，参与者将通过这次座谈会对中国当今的国内国外发展以及其日益上升的国际地位形成更准确的理解。