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  • Essay / Emerging from Mao's Shadow - 2279

    For several decades since the death of Mao Zedong, dissent among the public has increased against the one-party system of Mao's Chinese Communist Party, or CPC, . The CCP, Mao's co-founder, has ruled China since 1949 with little or no opposition party. The ruling party has long crushed dissent since its creation. Three authors have focused on dissidence. The first is Merle Goldman in his analytical essay on the intellectual class in China entitled “Chinese intellectuals under siege” (2009). In this essay, Goldman focuses on intellectuals' struggle for political and intellectual freedom against the CCP. Goldman's vision for China's future is one of greater political freedom. On the other hand, Andrew G. Walder's critical essay "Unruly Stability: Why China's Regime Has Staying Power" (2009) refutes Goldman's assertion that Chinese intellectuals have the capacity to change domestic policy. He argues that although political dissent has become more common, the CCP and authoritarian control are here to stay. The third author, Philip P. Pan and his novel Out of Mao's Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of a New China (2008), has a more neutral tone and shows both the side of the intellectuals and the of the CCP. This article will use Pan's book to determine which view, Goldman's or Walder's, is correct. The first section of Pan's book entitled "Remembering" discusses two of the main players, Zhao Ziyang and Lin Zhao, during the various campaigns and revolutions throughout Chinese history, and how the public remembers their death. The lives and deaths of Zhao Ziyang and Lin Zhao were treated differently by government censors and the public. Zhao Ziyang was an important member of the C...... middle of paper...... including thousands of people who would otherwise die needlessly. Both Goldman and Walder make excellent arguments, both supported by Pan's book. The argument Walder makes is very convincing: the government and all its censorship are here to stay. Reactions to reformers are generally exaggerated and extreme. They are also very immoral and against human rights. However, Goldman's argument is much stronger. Since the rise of a semi-capitalist society under the market reforms of the 1980s and the Tiananmen Square protests, voices of political dissent and change have increased, and from the examples given, especially after the year 2000. The party effectively lost power largely thanks to the Internet and the rise of lawyers like Pu. Therefore, the political status quo in China is changing no matter what the party says..