As Beijing Celebrated Xi, China's Other Reality Emerged

Yesterday was June 15th. Do you know what that day was? It was Xi Jinping's 73rd birthday. Now, under normal circumstances, CCP leaders do not publicly celebrate their birthdays. That has been the case since Mao Zedong. State media says nothing. Even when foreign leaders send birthday greetings, Chinese state media usually ignores them. But this year was different. On the 15th, CCTV prominently featured a six-minute political documentary titled Comrade Xi Jinping, the Communist Party Member. Yes, that's the title. For all practical purposes, it looked very much like a carefully orchestrated birthday tribute, which raises an interesting question. Was breaking the rule an expression of loyalty to Xi Jinping, or was somebody playing a very sophisticated political prank? I ask that because there's one line repeated throughout the documentary. It emphasizes that Xi Jinping's primary responsibility is, quote, working for the party. Now think about that for a moment. Not working for the country, not working for the people, but working for the party. And that wasn't the only unusual event that day. At Beijing's Great Hall of the People, the CCP held a high-level national party building work symposium. Okay, this party building is not party party, it's CCP party building. More importantly, the party officially unveiled a brand new ideological slogan, and it's called Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. And in his keynote speech, Cai Qi instructed the entire party to, quote, study Xi Jinping's original works, learn the original text, and understand the original principles. Okay, that's what he said. And he also reminded the party to firmly safeguard the so-called two upholds, upholding Xi Jinping's core status as the party leader, and upholding the authority of the party central leadership. Now, under normal circumstances, having a major symposium convened in your honor and having an official doctrine attached to your name represents the highest form of political prestige within the CCP system. But this newly unveiled Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building feels somewhat awkward, because when you strip away the packaging, what do you actually find? It's simply Mao-era political language wrapped in new packaging. And what makes it even more ironic is that Xi Jinping Thought has already spread into virtually every corner of Chinese political life. There is Xi Jinping Thought on economics, Xi Jinping Thought on rule of law, Xi Jinping Thought on culture, on ecology, on military affairs, on diplomacy. And if you really think about it, China hasn't been doing well in any of those areas where his thoughts were the leading guidelines. And now we have Xi Jinping Thought on party building. At this point, some observers have begun wondering if Wang Huning, the party's chief political theorist, has quietly dug a giant theoretical pit for Xi Jinping. Because Xi Jinping is increasingly being placed on an ideological shrine that fewer and fewer people inside the system genuinely respect, and even fewer truly believe in. Now being on a shrine that no one believes in only means Xi is increasingly being mocked. And that makes this a risky move. The reality is that many officials no longer buy into these ideological campaigns. Very few people in China today genuinely believe in So officials publicly study the text and pledge loyalty. Privately, many complain bitterly. So the result is a bureaucracy filled with people performing loyalty rather than genuinely believing it. Everyone becomes a political actor. What you get is performative loyalty, pseudo-loyalty. At the top, the CCP is busy building a personal cult and elevating Xi Jinping toward near-mythical status, which is dangerous for himself. On the ground, Xi Jinping Thought is helping justify a nationwide campaign of arrests. So let me give you two recent developments inside China that's a perfect explanation of this two-China state. On June 14th, the day before his birthday, inside an ordinary church in Jiangyou, Sichuan, dozens of Christians were peacefully holding a Sunday worship service. Suddenly, the doors were forced open. Roughly 60 to 70 people stormed inside. There were police officers, SWAT teams, officials from Civil Affairs Bureau, local township leaders. The entire site was locked down. Everyone's identification was checked. Buses and police vehicles were brought in. In the end, 33 people were taken away by force. Those detained were elderly believers in their 70s, and there were even infants still being carried in their mother's arms. The church targeted in the operation was called Autumn Rain Covenant Church, one of China's most closely watched house churches. There's one detail that really stands out. Two of the elders who were detained have been elected by the congregation only the night before. Less than 24 hours after being chosen or elected, security forces arrived and took them away. A complete sweep. Now let's rewind the clock by two days to June 12th. It happened in the Wuchang District in Wuhan. Hundreds of homeowners took to the streets. Their complaint? Authorities were preparing to build a hazardous waste lab near residential neighborhoods. The facility would handle approximately 30,000 hazardous waste operations every year. The chemicals involved reportedly include highly toxic materials, such as hydrogen chloride and nitrogen oxide. And in addition, plans reportedly include a radiation analysis lab. And where is this facility being built? Not in the industrial zone, not on the outskirts of the city, but in the heart of Wuhan, surrounded by residential communities. One residential complex is only 27 meters away. Within 500 meter radius lives tens of thousands of residents. Even the Hubei Provincial Library is nearby. Now China plans to build six such regional centers. The facilities in Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shenzhen, and Xi'an are all located in remote suburban areas. Only the Wuhan project is being placed directly in the middle of a densely populated urban district. So residents fear what could happen if a serious accident were ever to occur. And recently there were similar accidents that happened in Guangzhou in a similar lab. And what made matters worse was that many local residents say that they were never properly informed about the nature of the project. By June 12th, frustration boiled over. Residents confronted the construction site and clashes broke out. So the response was not negotiation, never negotiation. It was police action. Some homeowners were knocked to the ground by security personnel and unidentified plainclothes individuals mixed in the crowd. And that evening, the authorities moved in. They handled it the same way they often do. Police cleared the area and carried out arrests. Some people were arrested. Online censorship, deleted posts, restricted communications, internet blackouts, and attempts to control the narrative. And there's another detail worth noting. According to local residents, this project was originally planned for Hunan province, but it countered strong opposition there before eventually being relocated to Wuhan because allegedly a deputy governor of Hubei province pledged loyalty and signed up for this lab in his territory. However, Wuhan is a city that has been forever associated with concerns about laboratory safety that's tied to public health risks. And now once again, residents in Wuhan find themselves confronting fears surrounding another controversial laboratory project again. And that brings us back to the two Chinas. On one side, the party state is celebrating a new chapter of Xi Jinping thought and the absolute authority of the regime. On the other side, ordinary citizens are fighting over questions of faith, property rights, public safety, and the basic right to access their bank accounts and the basic right to protect their families.