On December 24, 2023, a flower shop in Jing’an District, Shanghai celebrated Christmas with spray foam simulating snowflakes. (Hector Retamal/AFP)
[The Epoch Times, December 30, 2023](Epoch Times Special Topics Department reporter Xu Yiyang reported) Two completely different atmospheres have emerged in China recently: In Shanghai, China’s largest economic center city, local residents seem to be dissatisfied with the CCP authorities’ boycott of traditional Western festivals. Their requests fell on deaf ears and they all participated in the grand Christmas celebration held recently. At the same time, the Chinese Communist Party authorities held a high-profile commemoration of the 130th anniversary of the birth of former party leader Mao Zedong, and the scale of the event was significantly larger than in previous years.
This Christmas, Shanghai becomes lively. As the city with the strongest Christmas atmosphere in China, Shanghai is already filled with a strong Christmas atmosphere at the beginning of December, and local Christmas markets have been opening as early as the end of November.
The streets and alleys of Shanghai are also filled with a strong festive atmosphere. Christmas trees and lights can be seen everywhere. Citizens dressed in various Christmas costumes are walking on the streets, and the Bund is a gorgeous scene with bright lights. The major shopping malls in Shanghai are no longer as secretive as in previous years, and have carried out elaborate decorations and launched various promotional activities.
Some netizens exclaimed: “There is no concept of Christmas in Shanghai, there is only Christmas month in Shanghai.” “Walking for 30 minutes on the streets of Wutong District during Christmas month, you will encounter 20 Christmas trees, 15 coffee shops with Christmas elements, and 10 wall-climbing Santa Clauses.”
Some netizens also said that the Christmas decorations in various places in Shanghai even exceed those abroad, which shocked many foreigners living in Shanghai.
The strong Christmas atmosphere in Shanghai has aroused widespread public attention. The reason is that the Chinese Communist Party’s official suppression of Christmas has intensified in recent years. Against this background, Shanghai appears to be quite unique.
After Xi Jinping, the current leader of the Chinese Communist Party, came to power, Christmas was regarded as a Western holiday full of religious overtones and was seen as conflicting with the Chinese Communist Party’s socialist ideology. Therefore, Xi Jinping claims to maintain the so-called “cultural self-confidence”; many governments in the CCP have also issued a “No Christmas” initiative, asking “not to blindly follow the traditional cultural festivals of other countries.”
Some universities in China also kept students on campus on Christmas Eve, December 24, and explicitly stipulated that students should not have anything related to Christmas in their dormitories. In addition, some cities deployed heavy police presence on the streets and even implemented strict control measures near churches. Officials also banned vendors from selling Christmas cards, Christmas fruit and other products, and prohibited the use of any Christmas decorations.
Different from the lively celebration of foreign festivals in Shanghai, this year Beijing held a high-profile commemoration of Mao Zedong’s 130th birthday, and the standards were extremely high.
On December 26, the day of Mao’s birthday, the Chinese Communist authorities held a symposium at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. All seven members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee attended. Xi Jinping also delivered a speech at the meeting, highly praising Mao and claiming that Mao’s Thought was the CCP’s “Precious spiritual wealth” will guide the CCP’s actions in the long term.
Compared with his speech ten years ago, Xi Jinping’s evaluation of Mao’s “Cultural Revolution” has basically remained unchanged, saying that Mao “went through detours” and “made serious mistakes” during the “Cultural Revolution”, but emphasized Mao’s “contributions” It comes first, mistakes come second.”
Before the symposium, Xi Jinping also led other members of the Politburo Standing Committee and other officials to pay homage at Mao Zedong Memorial Hall.
In addition to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, relevant commemorative activities were also held across China. As Mao Ming’s birthday approaches, the Chinese Communist Party’s official media has already begun to intensively publish commemorative articles and documentaries. Compared with the past few years, the scale of this year’s commemoration of Mao Ming’s birthday has been significantly expanded.
Analysis: The CCP celebrates Christmas to save face and commemorate Mao Zedong, but this is a licentious issue
Lai Jianping, former Beijing lawyer and Canadian chairman of the Democratic Front, said in an interview with an Epoch Times reporter on December 29 that the CCP’s permission to celebrate Christmas in Shanghai is a matter of face, while commemorating Mao is a matter of dignity. Face is to show outsiders, but The essence of the CCP is to return Chinese society to Mao’s ultra-left line.
Lai Jianping believes that Shanghai’s Christmas celebrations must be approved and led by the CCP. Under the extremely strict control of the Chinese Communist Party, all similar activities and gatherings must be approved. Therefore, this high-profile celebration in Shanghai, which is more lively and prosperous than in previous years, is actually led by the CCP from form to content, is needed by the CCP, and is approved by the CCP.
“Why is it like this? It’s actually very simple. Celebrating Christmas is a matter of face, while commemorating Mao is a matter of dignity.” Lai Jianping said, “Face is for outsiders to see, and the CCP is trying to create a false appearance. To show to foreign countries and the entire world, it is also to show domestically to some people who support reform and opening up, hold universal values, or people who are disgusted with the ultra-left line, to show that the CCP still has the will to reform and open up, and attempts to use This is recognized by some people in Western society or China who hold right-leaning views, so it needs face.”
“But in fact, this is not the case in essence.” Lai Jianping further said, “The CCP essentially wants to turn left, return to fundamental communism, and return to Mao’s totalitarian autocratic ultra-left line. The CCP wants to Putting populism and nationalism on the political agenda will make some left-wing forces support Xi even more.”
Analysis: The serious divisions among Chinese people are caused by the CCP’s deliberate leadership
Lai Jianping believes that China currently presents two different situations, which seem to be a dispute between two lines and policies, but in fact they are not. “The Chinese Communist Party has made strict calculations in terms of internal coordination. For the people, this kind of division is real, but at the top of the CCP, this kind of division does not exist.”
He explained that there are serious divisions among the Chinese people. Many elites and intellectuals have a very disgusting attitude towards Mao Zedong, but there is also a group of people who admire Mao. “People know what the state of Chinese society was under Mao’s rule. People had no political rights and freedoms, and were extremely economically miserable. The entire country was in a state of abject poverty, and most people did not agree with Mao’s line. However, those However, the old Red Guards never forget the Mao era. They have great respect for Mao, and that memory has penetrated into their bones. Therefore, every year, these people who support and admire Mao will spontaneously commemorate Mao. Their high-profile propaganda creates a There is an atmosphere in which many people seem to be nostalgic for the Mao era. But the real situation is not like this. There are far fewer people who truly admire Mao than those who are anti-Mao.”
Lai Jianping said that the current members of the CCP’s Politburo Standing Committee and even senior officials above the Politburo are all Xi’s cronies. It is impossible for them to oppose Xi Jinping’s ideas, so there is no rift between them in terms of line and policy. Their tear is on another level, between politics and economics.
“This kind of rupture is the two internal issues of politics and economics, which are equivalent to two horses going in different directions. On the one hand, it wants to strengthen totalitarianism and strengthen control over society and the people; on the other hand, it wants to strengthen totalitarianism and control over society and the people; It also wants to use some kind of banner to hope that the economy will not collapse. Therefore, it will continue to exert unremitting control over the entire society and the people. It will not give any space to the people. It thinks out one thing after another, showing contradictions with each other. But this is actually the CCP’s intention to take the lead.”
(Reporter Ning Xin contributed to this article)
Editor in charge: Lian Shuhua
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2023-12-30 05:21:21
