Answers: 100 Years of China's Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party has been marking the anniversary of its first national congress in Shanghai in 1921 on July 1 (though the meeting began on July 23). This quiz explores how the CCP evolved into one of the world’s largest political forces, how various personalities shaped the party and its policies as well as how it tackles political opposition.
There is a lot to pack in: Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, the Long March, Japanese occupation, World War II, victory over Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists, the Korean war, advances in health and education under Mao, the excesses of Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution that caused the death of millions, Richard Nixon’s visit, opening up the economy under Deng Xiaoping to become the ‘factory of the world’, Tiananmen massacre, ever-expanding clout on the road to becoming the world’s second largest economy.
The Xi Jinping era marks a return to the personality cult of the Mao days. An emboldened China is flexing its economic, political and diplomatic muscle, prompting NATO to declare China a security risk for the first time. Hong Kong’s freedoms have been eroded and Taiwan is under increasing pressure. The state is ready to rein in business behemoths seeking to call the shots (Jack Ma). But the Communist Party’s culture of secrecy and denial continues to have devastating consequences, from Sars to the coronavirus.
Questions & Answers
1) Fill in the blanks: Zhang Chunqiao, Wang Hongwen, Yao Wenyuan and ——- ——
Jiang Qing (Mao Zedong’s wife). The group known as the ‘Gang of Four’ played a major role in the turmoil and purges of the Cultural Revolution. After Mao’s death in 1976, they were arrested and convicted on charges of attempting to overthrow the government in a rare open trial. Recently though, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has allowed public access to the grave of Jiang Qing
2) Rumoured to be in ill health, what did Mao Zedong do in Wuhan on July 16, 1966 at the age of 72? This turned out to be a propaganda coup and helped Mao promote the Cultural Revolution and its purges.
Mao swam across the Yangtze river. More here, here and here.
3) In the 1960s China trained and armed communists from a neighbouring country as part of its efforts to export the Cultural Revolution. The ethnic Chinese minority in that country were exhorted to back the Cultural Revolution. The turmoil led to anti-Chinese riots in 1967 and the Chinese Embassy was also attacked. Diplomatic ties were ruptured for a few years. Which country?
Myanmar. The China-Myanmar relationship has its complexities going beyond the patron-client narrative. More on the 1967 anti-Chinese riots here.
4) Events in another neighbouring country were described by Radio Peking on June 28, 1967 as ‘the front paw of the revolutionary armed struggle launched by the ——-people under the guidance of Mao Zedong’s teachings’. A week later an editorial by the CCP mouthpiece People’s Daily described the events as ‘Spring Thunder’. Regular coverage by Radio Peking gave a big boost to the movement. Which country?
India. The far-left uprising that began in Naxalbari in West Bengal. More here and here. The People’s Daily editorial from 1967 here.
5) His final resting place was blown up by Mao-influenced Red Guards in 1966. After Mao’s death, his rehabilitation began with conferences and in 1984 a ceremony to honour his birthday was held. This is now an annual event. Who?
Confucius. More here, here and here.
6) In 2016 his 150th birth anniversary was commemorated with gusto on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese Communist Party hails him as the ‘forerunner of the democratic revolution’. Coins were minted by Beijing to commemorate him, an unusual honour for a non-Communist. There are museums dedicated to him in Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Penang and a memorial park in Hawaii. Who?
Sun Yat-sen, who played a key role in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty in 1911 and became the first leader of the Republic of China. More here, here and here.
7) Yuan Longping was an iconic Chinese scientist who died this May. He developed his major innovation in the 1970s after surviving a purge for suggesting changes to Mao’s agricultural policy. A major backer was Hua Guofeng, who succeeded Mao in 1976 and elevated Yuan’s role. Leaders since then have venerated his work. What was his innovation all about - that benefited not just China but large parts of the developing world?
High-yield hybrid rice. More on Yuan Longping here, here and here.
8) Which party was formally established on August 25, 1912? It currently operates as an opposition party.
Kuomintang or the Chinese Nationalist Party. Sun Yat-sen was its first leader, followed by Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang suppressed the CCP in the ‘Shanghai massacre’ of 1927, breaking a KMT-CCP alliance that was formed to counter warlords. But the CCP eventually won the internal conflict, after a series of events that included the Long March, Japanese occupation, World War II and civil war.
After being driven out of the mainland, Chiang Kai-shek and the KMT left their mark on Taiwan as the island became an economic power amid decades of authoritarian rule, followed by a transition to democracy. The KMT is now in the opposition facing an identity crisis, perceived as more China-friendly than the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
9) This policy initiated in 1979 was accompanied by slogans such as ‘have fewer ———, plant more trees; have fewer ————, raise more pigs; ‘I’d rather shed blood like a river than let you have more than ———-’ What policy? (I have left out the common word that appears in each of the slogans).
One-child policy. More on how China’s slogans changed from ‘one child’ to ‘three children’ here. A quick primer on the CCP’s penchant for slogans here
10) From December 1978 an area near a busy bus terminal in Beijing’s central Xidan neighbourhood became a hub for what? (this lasted until a crackdown in the spring of 1979)
Democracy Wall. Encouraged by hints of political change with the rise of Deng Xiaoping and the fall of the ‘Gang of Four’, people began putting up posters in public places criticising the Cultural Revolution and seeking openness. The wall near the bus terminal in Beijing’s Xidan became the hub for the most outspoken posters. The leadership initially allowed the posters to stay, but cracked down soon after the most prominent critic Wei Jingsheng, called for democracy as the "Fifth Modernisation" (Deng had prioritised Four Modernisations - agriculture, industry, science and technology, and national defence). Wei Jingsheng spent 18 years in prison before moving to the U.S. on ‘medical parole’. Wei wrote about the Democracy Wall 20 years later here.
11) In the first three decades China under communist rule was involved in multiple military conflicts - the annexation of Tibet, Korean war, border war with India and an intense border conflict with communist fellow traveller Soviet Union. The last major war it fought was in 1979. But the invading People’s Liberation Army struggled to make breakthroughs and pulled out in three weeks. Both China and the resisting country did not officially disclose casualties, though both claimed to have got the better of the exchanges. Name the other country.
Vietnam. More here, here, here and here.
12) Connect Jiang Qing, Ye Qun, Deng Yingchao, Wu Yi, Liu Yandong and Sun Chunlan. (This is about women’s representation)
The six women to have made it to the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo so far. No woman has ever been a member of the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, the top decision-making body within the Politburo. Currently, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan is the only woman in the 25-member Politburo.
The first three women in the list of six were also spouses of prominent figures: Jiang Qing (Mao), Ye Qun (Lin Biao, once Mao’s handpicked successor) and Deng Yingchao (Zhou Enlai). Wu Yi, who features in the next question was the first woman without any family ties to male leaders to make it to the Politburo. More on the limited presence of women in the CCP hierarchy here.
13) Wu Yi became known as China's 'Iron Lady' for her negotiating skills in contentious trade talks with the U.S. She shepherded China's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001. She served as Vice Premier and was ranked the second most powerful woman in the world three times by Forbes magazine (after Angela Merkel). In 2003 she was given additional charge of a cabinet post, after the previous minister and the Beijing mayor were sacked for mishandling a crisis. She was globally hailed in the role for openness and decisive action. What was the crisis and the cabinet role?
SARS and Health Minister. Later Wu Yi was put in charge of salvaging China’s reputation after a product safety scandal, prompting the headline ‘China’s Enforcer of Last Resort’. Wu retired from public life in 2008.
14) While Communist Party head in Guangdong province, Xi Zhongxun, father of Xi Jinping noticed an exodus of people to Hong Kong seeking economic opportunities. What did he set up in 1980 which set China firmly on the road to a market-oriented economy?
China’s first special economic zone in Shenzhen. More here and here. Xi Zhongxun, was purged during the Cultural Revolution only to flourish during the Deng era. He faded away from public life after the Tiananmen Square massacre. More here
15) After a countrywide ban in the early 1950s, the Shanghai Feile Acoustics Company was the first to undertake a certain activity in November 1984. What activity?
First to issue shares to the public
16) Just over a year after the Tiananmen Square massacre, which event was held in Beijing with the official slogan ‘Unity, Friendship, Progress’? The event was also a big step in diplomatic rapprochement with Taiwan.
Beijing Asian Games. More here and here. Under a 1989 agreement athletes from Taiwan competed under the name ‘Chinese Taipei’
17) While under house arrest he recorded 30 cassette tapes over two years. With help from former senior officials and supporters, he taped over children’s music and opera cassettes. The tapes were smuggled out of the country and the contents were published as a book titled ‘Prisoner of the State’ in 2009 (he died under house arrest in 2005). Who?
Zhao Ziyang. A liberal Deng protege who was a key figure in the post-Mao economic reforms, Zhao became the CCP General Secretary in 1987 (Deng remained the unofficial ‘paramount’ leader). Zhao visited Tiananmen Square and addressed students in May 1989 but his conciliatory approach was rejected by the party. He was replaced by Jiang Zemin and put under house arrest soon after the Tiananmen massacre. More on Zhao Ziyang here, here, here, here and here. More on the book based on Zhao’s secret recordings here, here and here.
While asking a question on Zhao Ziyang I reluctantly excluded Hu Yaobang. Another economic and political reformist, Hu was removed from the CCP General Secretary post in 1987 for his liberal instincts. His death in April 1989 accelerated the protests in Tiananmen Square, with students seeing him as a symbol of democratic reform. More here, here and here.
18) On June 4, 2020 - the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown - a video was released on YouTube in which a Chinese sporting legend called for the ouster of the Communist Party. Considered the greatest-ever Chinese to play his sport till date, he appeared along with his wife, a two-time world champion and Olympic bronze medallist. China called the remarks ‘absurd’ and the couple have been airbrushed out of Chinese social media. Name the couple
Hao Haidong, the Chinese national team’s all-time top goalscorer in football (41 goals from 1992 to 2004) and Ye Zhaoying, world number one in badminton in the late 1990s, world champion in 1995 and 1997 and Olympic bronze medallist at Sydney in 2000. More here, here and here.
19) The sporting couple appeared on the YouTube channel of fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, who is now based in the U.S. Guo has been tied to online disinformation efforts in the U.S, some aimed at China and others attacking the safety of coronavirus vaccines. His targets have included both the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese dissidents in the West. Who was arrested from Guo’s yacht off the coast of Connecticut in August 2020 and charged with fraud?
Steve Bannon. More here and here. Online platforms linked to Guo Wengui have been accused of pushing disinformation on coronavirus vaccines, promoting false election fraud claims on behalf of Donald Trump as well as QAnon conspiracies. More here
20) Which movement has its global headquarters at Dragon Springs, a 400-acre compound which is an hour’s drive northwest of New York City?
Falun Gong, the spiritual movement that was banned in China in 1999 after gaining a huge following. More here, here, here and here. More on the Dragon Springs compound here. The Epoch Times, a U.S. based newspaper linked to Falun Gong has a massive online presence with anti-China and pro-Donald Trump content. More here, here and here
21) X struck a provisional deal with China in September 2018 (extended for two more years in 2020) that ended a decades-long dispute over the right to appoint people for a certain position. While the details of the deal have been kept under wraps, the head of X was formally recognised for the first time under communist rule and would have final say over the appointments. X in turn would accept the legitimacy of appointments previously made by Beijing. What is X
The Vatican. China recognised the Pope’s authority within the Roman Catholic Church and gave him some leeway in choosing bishops. Pope Francis in turn recognised seven bishops earlier appointed by the Chinese government. More here, here and here.
22) Connect Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, Eswatini, Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua, Paraguay, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Vatican City.
The remaining 15 countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan and not China. As China flexes its economic might, seven countries have switched ties from Taipei to Beijing since 2016 - Sao Tome and Principe, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Burkina Faso, El Salvador, Solomon Islands and Kiribati. More here, here, here, here and here. The assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise last week brought unexpected attention to Taiwan’s diplomatic presence there. More here and here
Update: In December 2021 Nicaragua switched from Taiwan to China, leaving only 14 countries. But Taiwan did notch a diplomatic gain in Europe in November, as Lithuania allowed the island to open an office under its own name, angering China. More here and here.
March 2023 update: Honduras has switched to China, leaving Taiwan with only 13 diplomatic allies.
January 2024 update: Nauru has broken ties with Taiwan and opted for China.
23) Two action flicks in 2015 and 2017 showcasing People's Liberation Army special forces with Americans as the antagonists shattered box office records in China. The films have inspired a phrase that’s now used to describe China’s diplomatic tactics. What’s the phrase?
‘Wolf Warrior’ Diplomacy. More here and here. Video report below