Oct. 31,
2016

ISSUE
No. 83

AMS Weekly Newsletter
Dedicated to the development of the future stewards of U.S.-China relations
Here is your 6th Plenum Special. It is easy to want to ignore much of the news about internal Party discipline (as opposed to plenums that discussed economic reform and rule of law), this is an important plenum, and don't be surprised if there are some high profile corruption cases to brought forth soon. Much of the language used in discussing the need for discipline and higher ethical standards of behavior involves the threat to the future existence of the Party (灭党亡党), so the 6th Plenum is worth paying close attention to. 
And oh yeah, 万圣节快乐!
 
Weekly Readings

Last week, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held the 6th Plenum of the 18th Party Congress with the focus on party discipline. By now, you probably have heard that Xi was recognized as the core of the leadership (全党同志紧密团结在以习近平同志为核心的党中央周围). Plenty of English-language commentary is focusing on this highlight, but the plenary report offers a great deal more about the fundamentals of the modern CCP and how the party works in its ideal form. 


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俗语 in Xi Jinping's  Speeches

圈子文化
quānzǐ wénhuà
 
Meaning: the culture of relationships and inner circles

This is not a 成语 or  俗语, but long-term readers will know that we occasionally like to highlight new political phrases. 圈子文化's  negative connotations have been mentioned in CCP political discourse for at least a couple years (see original below), but we are betting that it really comes to the fore now that is was stressed int eh 6th Plenum. Goodbye 关系, hello 圈子文化? 

Original: 
有的干部信奉拉帮结派的"圈子文化",整天琢磨拉关系、找门路,分析某某是谁的人,某某是谁提拔的,该同谁搞搞关系、套套近乎,看看能抱上谁的大腿。有的领导干部喜欢当家长式的人物,希望别人都唯命是从,认为对自己百依百顺的就是好干部,而对别人、对群众怎么样可以不闻不问,弄得党内生活很不正常。
--2014年1月14日,在十八届中央纪委三次全会上的讲话

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2016-10/24/c_1119777066.htm
Video of the Week
 
In addition to the documents in the weekly readings, here are links to the half-hour news report of the 6th Plenum and the hour-long press conference. Scintillating? Nope. Important? You betcha.


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