This woman's name is Feng Lin.
She is a 22-year-old Chinese university student.
The video of this college student, which would not be strange even if it was a top star actress, recently became a hot topic with over 130 million views on Chinese social media.
Fenglin entered China's Chunmei University in Beijing in 2018.
This university is where the Chinese authorities train state-run media workers.
Feng Lin is an aspiring announcer-anchor.
In a few years, it is very likely that he will appear on TV screens as news anchors for Chinese state broadcasters.
On the 12th, Feng Lin appeared as a representative speaker at the university's opening ceremony for this year's school year.
The video captures that speech, swearing allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party and General Secretary Xi Jinping.
Hearing Xi Jinping's speech in the vicinity of Tiananmen Square refers to the time when he took an oath of allegiance to the Communist Party as a representative of young students at the 100th anniversary ceremony of the Communist Party of China held in Tiananmen Square on July 1.
He is already famous in China.
In China, Xi Jinping's one-man rule is getting stronger.
No repulsion is perceived by outside observers.
Rather, among young people who are tainted with patriotism, there is a high enthusiasm for realizing the Chinese dream under the leadership of the Communist Party.
The popularity of Fenglin's Pledge of Allegiance video is a phenomenon that well illustrates that trend.
Where and to what extent is Xi Jinping, who has already heard the voice of 'Emperor Xi', to lead China?
Reinforcing education on 'Xi Jinping Thought'...
China in 2021 swept by the red wind movement
In China this year, there has been a strong movement to strengthen the socialist ethos, which can be called the Red Wind Movement.
The Jeongfeng Movement is an internal crackdown and power strengthening activity initiated by Mao Zedong in the 1940s to rectify the wrong trend within the Communist Party.
It entailed coercion of self-criticism, red terror and reactionary purges, and cultural and artistic control.
China's National Textbooks Committee held a press conference on the 24th and announced that it would teach Xi Jinping's 'socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era' in textbooks, "according to the demands of the Party Central Committee," from elementary school to graduate school.
The committee emphasized that "studying Xi Jinping ideology in depth is the first political task of all Party members and all people," and that for the development of Chinese-style socialism, "We must use Xi Jinping ideology to arm the students' brains."
In this atmosphere, in China this year, many celebrities and the entertainment industry have been hit with crackdowns.
A number of star celebrities have disappeared or have been expulsion warnings, such as tax evasion or sexual offenses that caused a scandal, they have a Western nationality, received too much money for appearances or advertisements, or for other unknown reasons. and went into care mode.
In the future, the Broadcasting Regulatory Agency in China has decided to ban the activities of female male idols, male celebrities who wear heavy makeup, and 'vulgar' influencers in entertainment programs.
In order to promote a socialist and patriotic ethos, the policy is to encourage a 'more masculine image'.
Banned from appearing in 'People who are not of one accord with the party and the country'
The Chinese authorities have made it impossible to appear on TV even if they are 'people whose political positions are not accurate and who are not of one accord with the party and the country'. The notice issued by the General Bureau of Photoelectricity on September 2 instructed broadcasting industry workers to "strengthen the cultivation of political aptitude, deepen the education of Marxist press and literary centers, and uphold the position and sentiments of the people at all times." Popular culture reflects the contradictions of reality, satirizes the powerful, or criticizes social absurdity, but it is interpreted to mean that such content will not be allowed.
The Communist Party also tightened restrictions on fan club activities. On August 27th, the Central Internet Safety Informatization Committee's Office of the People's Republic of Korea announced a plan to 'strengthen management of disorderly fandom'. This plan contains provisions that prohibit minors from spending money to support celebrities and swearing online between celebrity fan clubs. In the case of singers, only one album can be purchased per person. Apparently, Blackpink Lisa, who released a new album, became the first K-pop artist to apply.
The last six days fanclub account of the BTS, exo, IU, Black, Pink, watch SNS way for the Twitter of China was suspended for 30 days. BTS member Jimin's fan club account was suspended for 60 days. Fans collected money and covered the Jeju Air plane with Jimin's face and a happy birthday message. Fans were planning to put a congratulatory ad in the New York Times in the US and The Times in the UK.
The state-run Global Times argued that "the idol fandom culture that distorts the values of minors and endangers social governance should be purified," and that "it can be used by foreign powers and threaten China's political stability."
The phrases 'social governance' and 'political stability' show the true intentions of the CCP in regulating fan clubs.
K-pop fan clubs are not swept away by the mainstream sentiment of the country, and they are good at promoting with strong bonds among themselves.
The Chinese Communist Party, which intends to instill Xi Jinping ideas into students' minds by making textbooks, cannot be allowed to operate such a private organization that can spur backlash.
In fact, in the US, in the last presidential election between Trump and Biden, K-pop fan clubs systematically interfered with Trump's election campaign.
He made a reservation to attend Trump's campaign, and then made a 'no-show' at the last minute, leaving the venue empty.
The CCP must have been closely watching these phenomena.
The red wind movement...
Creating a socio-political environment for 'common wealth'
The Red Wind Movement can be seen as a way to create a social and political environment for 'common wealth', which President Xi Jinping has been promoting as a national keyword this year.
Xi Jinping said this at the 10th Central Finance and Economy Committee meeting of the Communist Party on August 17th.
"Common wealth (共同富裕) is an essential requirement of socialism and an important feature of Chinese modernization. We must promote common wealth in the midst of high-quality development."
The Central Finance and Economy Conference was the first public appearance of President Xi Jinping in 18 days after attending the meeting of the Politburo of the Communist Party on July 30.
In China, it is believed that the 'Beidaihe (北戴河) meeting was held in the meantime.
Beidaihe is a seaside resort to the east of the capital Beijing. Every summer, the highest dignitaries of the Chinese Communist Party gather here to discuss major national issues in private.
This tradition originated because Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping enjoyed swimming here.
At the Bei Daihe meeting, important decisions are made, such as the reorganization of the Chinese ruling class and the revision of the direction of state affairs, but the schedule and contents are not disclosed at all.
If it was so difficult to know how the Chinese Communist Party leaders make decisions from the outside, would the term 'veil of bamboo' have arisen?
This time, there were many observations that they would have discussed how to prepare internally and externally in order to achieve President Xi Jinping's third term of office in the fall of next year without noise.
After returning from such a secret meeting, the topic that President Xi brought to the fore was 'common wealth'.
The Communist Party leadership embodied the will of General Secretary Xi Jinping as follows:
Ambiguous corners such as how much income is 'too high' will be materialized by the party's decisions in the future, but companies that have received 'encouragement' from the party jumped into the 'donation' race.
Tencent, a leading big tech company, announced that it would donate 50 billion yuan (9.29 trillion won) as an 'additional' donation on August 18, the day after President Xi Jinping's 'common wealth' remarks.
The reason this is 'additional' is that Tencent donated the same amount in April in the name of 'sustainable social value innovation'.
Since the CCP made Alibaba-Ent Group Chairman Ma disappear at the end of October last year, big tech companies such as Tencent have already been frozen since the first half of this year.
The Hong Kong Myungbo reported that over the past year, six big tech companies, including Alibaba, Tencent, Byte Dance (TikTok), Pinduoduo, Meitu, and Xiaomi, donated a total of HK$200 billion (about 30 trillion won).
'Together (共)' or 'First (先)'...
The history of the route struggle for 'common wealth'
The word 'common wealth' itself is a beautiful goal because it means to live well together, and it is a topic worthy of ideals in any country.
The question is what line and policy, and who will lead to achieve common wealth.
It can be thought that the way to common wealth is to take advantage of the function of the market and the spontaneity of the private sector, and to see the judges to see if the rules of the game are applied fairly.
It is the way of Western capitalist countries.
On the other hand, in socialist China, which was founded through the communist revolution, the communist party leads the way to a world where everyone prospers.
The Communist Party is not the kind of party we see in South Korea, the United States, or Japan.
It is an elite organization that 'leads' all units of the state and society.
The Chinese Constitution stipulates that "the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party is the most essential characteristic of Chinese-style socialism."
The line of Mao Zedong, who organized the Communist Party and established a socialist republic through the peasant revolution, was a 'study theory' that prioritized distribution.
The goal was to make the people a prosperous country that surpasses the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union, so that the people can live well.
Tens of millions of people starved to death under Mao's rule, and China's economy has been criticized for more than 20 years of recession.
Deng Xiaoping, who saved the economy through 'buying ahead' and reform and opening up
After surviving Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping, who became the ruler of China in 1978, changed his course to prioritize growth.
It was said that there was something to share only by growing the pie of the economy.
His line is called seonbu-ron (先富論).
"First, get rich first. And help those who have fallen behind."
Deng Xiaoping opened China's door to the capitalist world, and allowed the private sector's spontaneity and market vitality to revolve inside China.
People who want to become rich and those who have the means to become rich competed to form companies and compete to make money, and the Chinese economy achieved rapid growth unprecedented in world history.
Since 1978, the Chinese economy has grown at an average annual rate of 9.2% for 42 years.
In particular, large cities in coastal regions with good access to global markets achieved explosive growth.
The strength of China's economy that we are experiencing now is the result of Deng Xiaoping's 'before and after' theory.
China is getting richer, but the gap between the rich and the poor is widening
The first 40 years of reform and opening up left behind results and side effects at the same time.
China's national prestige has risen significantly as it has become an economic power comparable to that of the United States in scale.
However, the gap between the rich and the poor is so severe that Prime Minister Li Keqiang announced in May last year that “600 million people out of 1.4 billion people earn 1,000 yuan a month (about 180,000 Korean won).”
There is an indicator called 'Gini coefficient' that shows the degree of income inequality.
The Gini coefficient is expressed as a number from 0 to 1. The closer the value is to '0', the more equal, and the closer to '1', the more unequal.
Generally, a Gini coefficient of 0.4 or higher causes social unrest, and a Gini coefficient of 0.5 or higher can lead to extreme social conflicts such as riots.
China has not published the Gini coefficient for 10 years since 2002 for no apparent reason.
It hasn't been publicly announced since 2017, which makes it hard for Chinese observers.
In 1984, in the early stages of reform and opening up, China's Gini coefficient was 0.227.
In 2019, the Gini coefficient was reported to be 0.495.
It has more than doubled in 35 years.
There are many Chinese who believe that even this figure has been reduced.
Korea's Gini coefficient is controversial, but it is at the OECD average level.
Xi Jinping mentions 'improving income distribution' from the beginning of his administration
After Deng Xiaoping, Xi Jinping, who became ruler after Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, pondered the lessons of 40 years of reform and opening up. Did the wealthy first help those who were left behind? Xi Jinping seems to have thought otherwise.
In fact, the term 'shared wealth' was not first coined by Xi Jinping, but a concept derived from Deng Xiaoping's rule. It first appeared in the Amendment of the Party Constitution, which was passed at the 14th Party Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1992. In 1992, when Deng Xiaoping was leading the reform and opening up by 'Strengthening Namsun', it would have been natural to have his approval. When Xi Jinping took office as general secretary of the party in November 2012, Hu Jintao, who had been succeeding him, said, “We must gradually realize the common wealth of all the people and build a modernized socialist state in harmony with prosperity, democracy, civilization.” also presented
Xi Jinping has included improving income distribution in his policy goals from the beginning of his administration. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party, ascended to the post of state president in March 2013. According to the income distribution reform plan announced a month earlier, by 2020, household real income will be doubled from that of 2010 and the distribution structure will be changed from 'pyramid' to ' The goal was to convert it to an olive shape (oval shape). This 'olive-type' income distribution structure has been mentioned by the Communist Party again this year.
Since 2015, Xi Jinping has also emphasized the redistribution of wealth in his public remarks.
Xi Jinping's remarks have increased dramatically since last year.
According to an analysis by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), 'we talked about common wealth about 5 times a year, 30 times last year, and more than 60 times this year'.
Xi Jinping succeeding Mao...
Deng Xiaoping's move to erase?
When the former communist bloc is swept away by the capitalist-style reform and opening up, the gap between the rich and the poor is bound to widen.
It's not just about China.
Among the poor, there are voices that they miss the days before reform and opening up, when they could not all live together.
This was also the case in the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc.
From late 2012 to early 2013, when Xi Jinping came to power, the nostalgia for the Mao Zedong era was growing among the Chinese at that time.
Xi Jinping revived the cult of Mao Zedong, which had been criticized during Deng Xiaoping's reign, and made his image similar to Mao and used it to strengthen his power.
However, Xi Jinping does not seem to deny the achievements of the Deng Xiaoping era.
On January 5, 2013, shortly after becoming general secretary of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping gathered party officials at the Central Party School of the Communist Party and expressed his philosophy as follows:
“The historical period before reform and opening cannot be denied as the historical period after reform and opening, and the historical period after reform and opening as the historical period before reform and opening cannot be denied.”
For the development of socialist China, both Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping did what was necessary at the time.
According to the dialectical view of history, history is positive (the state in which something has been maintained in the past) - anti (denying the former and trying new things) - 合 (in both positive and negative ways, discarding what is to be discarded and taking what is to be taken and overcoming it, transcend). Looking at Xi Jinping's steps, it seems that he views Mao Zedong as positive and Deng Xiaoping as anti, and as the union of the two leaders, he is trying to become a leader who will solidify the prosperity of the new century.
High-ranking Communist Party officials also drew a line so that a series of corporate regulations that advocated common wealth would not be misunderstood as beating the rich, reminiscent of the Mao era. Han Wen-shu, deputy director of the Central Finance and Judgment Office (Ministerial level), provided a detailed explanation of the theory of common wealth at a press conference announcing a document titled 'The Historical Mission and Action Values of the Chinese Communist Party' on August 26th. It has been less than ten days since Xi Jinping publicly declared commonwealth as a new political philosophy.
According to Han Won-shu, deputy director, common wealth is "not a uniform and average 'living well together'."
He added this saying:
"(Common wealth) is that the person who accumulates wealth first should lead and help those who accumulate wealth later."
However, there is a prospect that the Chinese authorities will raise taxes on the rich.
In the middle of last month, state-run media published expert articles on the need to introduce real estate ownership tax, inheritance-gift tax, and capital gains tax.
(China does not yet have an inheritance tax, and a real estate ownership tax is being implemented in some cities as a pilot.)
Regulations that only target certain industries?
the problem is how
Looking at the regulatory measures imposed on businesses, the CCP is not beating all businesses in general. Since it is said that it is difficult for the urban poor and the middle class to buy a house and have children, it seems that they are repairing the dominant platforms in the industry related to them.
A typical example is the regulation of private education. On July 24, the Chinese government banned all private tutoring for entrance exams for students in the compulsory education stage. The size of China's private education market is estimated at $100 billion (115 trillion won). Due to the blitz, the stock prices of related companies were cut in half, the entire stock market fluctuated, and employees and instructors of education-related companies were laid off. Although President Xi Jinping ordered the regulation of the private education industry in May, few people predicted the fall of a high-strength regulatory bomb that effectively bans the private education industry itself. Some applause came from the class who felt the relative deprivation. However, the structure that calls for overheated competition in college has not changed.
The Communist Party did not take these measures simply by looking at the working class. There are many observations that the Communist Party was trying to prevent the situation in which foreign capital dominates the industry, such as a situation in which the education industry has grown too large and is out of the party's control, and black rock that has entered the Chinese education market. Most of the large platform companies that have recently been withdrawn from regulation by the Chinese authorities are also for this reason. A case of holding too much customer-related data and virtually monopolizing the market is a case of being listed on an overseas stock exchange. Didi Chuxing, a ride-hailing app that can be called the Chinese version of Uber, is a representative example. On the other hand, there is a view that it is not a big burden on the Chinese economy as a whole, as manufacturing-based growth industries such as semiconductors, electric vehicles, and batteries are still being actively nurtured.
The problem is that this kind of regulation undermines the vitality of the private economy.
On August 30th, the game industry was bombed.
A rule was announced that teenagers should not play games on Mondays to Thursdays and only play games for one hour from 8 to 9 pm on Fridays to Sundays and holidays, and the game industry and investors were shocked.
In this way, not knowing what kind of regulatory bomb will explode one day, companies have no choice but to withdraw from the party's eyes.
As the inflow of innovative factors from outside is increasingly blocked due to the confrontation between the US and China, if the vitality of companies within China decreases, it is not good for the growth of the Chinese economy.
China's retail sales growth rate, which shows the private consumption economy, continues to fall due to the sporadic re-spread of Corona 19 and the US check-in. It is a constraining factor in the economy.
'Co-suspension' is a powerful drive...
Why now?
But why is Xi Jinping particularly strong this year to drive an omnidirectional policy of co-prosperity?
First of all, it can be seen that the time has come to focus political power on this issue.
In his early days in power, he had to focus on eliminating rivals within the party and concentrating power.
After U.S. President Trump declared a trade war, it was difficult to counter the omnidirectional attack from the U.S.
And then COVID-19 broke out.
With the party congress next fall as an opportunity, it is time for Xi Jinping to start cracking down on his family, who is about to be appointed general secretary of the Communist Party for a third term.
Institutional obstacles have already been cleared.
This is because the constitutional amendment in 2018 abolished the limit of three consecutive terms.
The Beijing Winter Olympics in February next year will be a showcase for the mid-term inspection of the suspension of three consecutive terms.
Follow Me for Common Wealth...
Xi Jinping steps forward to long-term imperial rule
Now, Xi Jinping is building the legitimacy of his long-term rule as a leader who will succeed in revitalizing the great Chinese nation by breaking through the checks of the West, including the United States, and as the only leader who will realize common wealth by bridging the gap between the rich and the poor.
The Chinese Communist Party's discipline in various fields of society and its aggressive confrontational diplomacy against Western countries (so-called 'war war' diplomacy) are connected in this way.
The argument that the concentration of power in one person is necessary to effectively govern a huge nation in a period of transition was also found in ancient Rome, and has been repeated endlessly in the East and West.
Two thousand years ago, in Rome, Caesar was murdered by republicans amidst such a controversy, and his successor Augustus became the first emperor, ushering in an era of imperialism.
Since then, the history of the West has progressed in the direction of limiting the power of one person through the modern civil revolution and restoring the republican government of division of power.
After Deng Xiaoping, who experienced the evils of Mao Zedong's rule, the Chinese leadership made various safeguards to prevent the long-term imperial rule of a single leader. Xi Jinping neutralized such devices one by one, under the pretext of achieving common wealth. And then raise your voice to the world.
'The Chinese model is more competent. Unlike the United States, which weakens through failures, China's achievements prove it. Don't force the Western model on us. Anyone who undermines China's core interests will have to pay the price.'
The next government of the Republic of Korea must deal with such a third-term Xi Jinping regime.
(Composition: Senior Correspondent Lee Hyun-sik, Reporter Jang Seon-i, Kim Hwi-ran Editor / Designer: Myung Ha-eun, Park Jeong-ha)