FOREIGNERS IN SHANGHAI MEET GRASSROOTS PARTY MEMBERS
Social involvement work, aid to society explained
In Shanghai, one of the world’s largest cities, Australian architect Mark Unger thought about the day in 1921 when the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China convened.
He was inspired by a recent visit to a full-size replica of the building where the founding members of the CPC first gathered. “I took the time to imagine them all sitting around, getting passionate about this idea. From little things, big things grow.”
Unger, who has lived in China for 14 years, has always been curious about the daily lives and work of CPC members.
Xinhua News Agency’s China Chat show gave him the opportunity to meet and spend time with grassroots Party members, visit historical CPC sites and delve deeper into the world’s largest political party.
He was joined in the visit by French chef and entrepreneur Corentin Delcroix, Sarah Sharman, a language adviser from the United Kingdom who has worked in Shanghai for more than five years, and Canadian business analyst Katia Houle.
On a drizzly morning in the city, Unger met with Hua Lei, a young woman who serves as the Party’s branch chief for the Ruihong No 1 residential community.
In the community hall, Unger took part in activities with the elderly, including dancing, handicraft classes and table tennis. There was also a birthday party for a resident who turned 100 that day. The activities and the party were organized by Hua.
Unger asked her, “Were you ambitious about getting into politics?”
She replied that this hadn’t really been the case, and all she wanted to do was focus on her work and achieve good results.
However, running a residential community for the elderly is not easy. Hua’s duties include managing public activities, keeping an eye on residents’ health, and providing a series of daily community services.
Unger said: “She was on call 24/7, but in no way did this appear to be a burden for her. She was really into it. Hua was really impressive.”
Houle, despite her family’s Chinese origins and her work experience in Shanghai, knew little about the Party.
At the Caohejing community medical service center she met the director, Shen Lei, who told her about his daily duties and spoke about being a Party member.
“When he was at university, he had the sole intention of joining the CPC to contribute to society, and now it’s just part of his life,” Houle said.
During her visit to clinics, different departments and a quarantine hotel operated by the medical center, Houle was impressed by Shen’s strong sense of responsibility.
“He had to sacrifice time with his family and gave up his vacation to help during the pandemic by coordinating medical staff and services,” she said.
Houle said Shen is an ordinary representative of the Party as a whole, which is able to efficiently mobilize and coordinate social resources.
“You can see with the coronavirus that the 90 million CPC members are all out there ready to tackle any issue and find solutions,” she added.
Meanwhile, at a busy restaurant on Anyuan Road, Shanghai, Delcroix, who is passionate about Chinese cuisine and culture, met with local taxi driver Yuan Qinghua.
It was the first time the chef, who has lived in China for 15 years, had become fully acquainted with a Party member.
Yuan told Delcroix his family felt honored to have a Party member in its ranks. He said his father felt proud of him and smiled on hearing that he had become a Party member.
During a conversation with Yuan in his cab, Delcroix learned that joining the Party is a selective and competitive process, involving far more than merely signing a piece of paper.
The Frenchman was also surprised to learn that after the rigorous application process, recommendations and scrutiny, becoming a Party member also involves more responsibilities.
“Yuan did some voluntary work at metro stations, where there was a big flow of people,” Delcroix said.
Yuan has also acted as a volunteer during the China International Import Expo in Shanghai.
Meanwhile, at a factory in the suburbs, an hour away from downtown Shanghai, Sharman spent time with Shen Huiqin, a quality supervisor at Joyson Safety Systems, a major supplier to electric vehicle maker Tesla’s gigafactory in Shanghai.
Shen showed Sharman around her workplace and later had a discussion with her, during which the Canadian discovered that Shen’s decision to join the Party was motivated by her family, as both her grandfathers are members.
Sharman found that being a Party member requires a lot of work and the ability to learn.
“They (Party members) study regularly and work on self-improvement. They also study a lot about the Party,” she said.
New impressions
During the trip, the group went to the original site of the first CPC National Congress in the downtown area.
However, due to renovation work, the venue was not open to visitors, so the group headed to the full-size replica of the site at the Shanghai Film Studios Amusement Park, where the film 1921 was made.
During the visit, the foreigners learned that the first school set up by the Party was a language school. “I think this is interesting,” Delcroix said, adding that it sent a positive message that the Party had started out by learning from others.
The itinerary also included a visit to Shanghai International Studies University, a language college, where the visitors talked to a number of students.
Sharman was surprised at how open the students were and their interest in sharing their thoughts on the Party.
“There was one girl who was not really interested in joining the Party, but she showed us a website she is working on. She answered questions that foreigners have about China. Even though she is not a Party member, she is still really eager to help us learn more about the country,” Sharman said.
Delcroix and Houle, who had an in-depth discussion with a young Party member at the university, were impressed that he decided to join the CPC after taking some time over his decision, rather than acting hastily.
“It was more about self-conviction. It was nice to hear that he had thought about this, rather than just accepting directly without asking any questions,” Delcroix said.
In their final group discussion with China Chat host Miao Xiaojuan, the foreigners concluded that the day spent with CPC members had “refreshed their impressions” of the Party.
Delcroix described his conversation with Yuan as a “bit official” at first, but it later became more relaxed.
“Yuan comes from a small town outside Shanghai. After becoming a Party member, he saw his family’s status in the area rise,” he said.
Delcroix added that he thought stereotypical views of China held by some people in the West had stagnated since the Cold War.
“A lot of people think itself is just scary, without understanding it at all,” he said.
However, he added that judging a political party ultimately depends on the results it achieves, rather than any form of stereotyping.
“People, in the end, care about their standard of living,” he said, emphasizing that the most important and pragmatic criterion is development over time.
Delcroix cited his own case as an example. “A lot of private business and development has happened in China. I have my own company and we have had a lot of encouragement. The pandemic has made it a tough period for many businesses, but we have had tax cuts on everything,” he said.
Sharman said, “I think that in general Chinese people are really positive about the future because they can see how everything is constantly improving.”
Houle said: “It is the CPC that brought people out of poverty and raised the standard of living. That is the way it is perceived here.”
She used to believe that CPC members mainly comprised officials who worked for the Party.
“What really surprised me is that some of them are just ordinary members. They have a lesser political role — it is more about social involvement and aiding society,” Houle said.
“The CPC has gained a strong foundation in China and cultivated a sense of pride for people who are part of it. But outside China, not everyone understands and feels the same way about it.”
Houle initially thought that “the CPC did not really care about the Western world and kept focusing on solely on its own duties.”
However, she found that this was not the case. “Through meeting with the Party members, I realize it is the aim of the CPC and China to kind of open a dialogue in a way that would actually speak to Western media,” she added.
The four foreigners said people were the Party’s core value. Unger felt that the Party always has the people’s support, while Delcroix cited the official slogan “work for the people” to explain the Party’s spirit.
In conclusion, Unger said, “I would like to tell my friends how close I came to the CPC and how wonderful the experience was.”
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