Democracy in China? It will be a long march forward

HONG KONG: To most observers, the period in China when the Cultural Revolution played itself out horribly was a 'lost decade', a black hole in the country's history.

During this period, millions of people were killed or driven to suicide as Chairman Mao Zedong's foot soldiers moved ruthlessly and recklessly to seize power within the Communist Party.

However, for Prof Ding Xueliang, one of the key members of a radical branch of the Red Guard in Anhui province in east-central China who experienced the horrors of those times, the decade wasn't entirely a lost cause. There are critical lessons to be learnt from that time, says Ding, currently a social sciences professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and a Senior Associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

In an interview to DNA in Hong Kong, Ding said that in his estimation, however, "the current Chinese political leaders have misunderstood the lessons of the Cultural Revolution." Terrible as it was, one of the reasons that spawned the political upheaval was that prior to the mid-1960s, "there was no established legal channel for ordinary Chinese citizens to participate in the government," says Ding. Therefore, when Mao mobilised them to move against his political opponents, they went overboard. "Every citizen took the opportunity to do whatever he or she could – to address bureaucratic problem or to check corruption – which caused chaos," recalls Ding. 

Unfortunately, that poor advertisement for mass participation in governance issues is being cited to deny the people a voice at all. "The lesson for Chinese political leaders should not be that you completely close popular participation in government affairs: that's a bad lesson," says Ding. 

The "good lesson", on the other hand, should be to "open up legal-constitutional regular channels of participation," he asserts. "I think some members of the Chinese ruling class have learnt that, but not at the top level." Is there an understanding among China's leaders that it is important to make civil society a stakeholder in the country's transition process? Ding say that the Chinese government was at one point, even in the 1990s, quite open to giving civil society organisations a limited role in public life.

But the so-called "colour revolutions" that unfolded in the post-communist countries in central and eastern Europe unnerved the Chinese central government, he observes.

"In many of these countries, the ruling parties have been voted out a couple of times; that's a fundamental issue that the Communist Party of China refuses to contemplate."

The government, he says, has therefore become much more conservative in its attitude towards civil society organisations. "The government does not want to see these organisations get very active; in particular, they do not want them to establish regular channels with their counterparts outside the country," says Ding.

And, in his reckoning, for the next few years, this conservatism will reign in mainland China. "If, over a period, no big 'event' happens around China, and if the economy continues to do well, then, perhaps the central government may give them a bit more room…"  How legitimate were China's models of "grassroots democracy" – the village-level elections that it showcases? Ding concedes the model has not been without problems, but says that if these village elections can be kept going for a while, they will perhaps gain wider support.

"I do hope to see such elections becoming more widespread – not just in rural areas, but also at the township level, and even the county level," says he. Does he ever hope to see a democratically elected Chinese President? "That's for the long term," he says. "For now, I only hope elections can move up to the county level."

(To be continued)