Not far from the blustery pass of Lou Shan Guan, where a famous battle was fought during the course of the Long March — cranes are working overtime to build a brand new museum, carved out of the lush green slopes of Daloshan mountains.
Over the course of a several months, the state-of-the-art museum will replace the existing wooden double storey structure, of considerable vintage, where exhibits marking the decisive battle are currently displayed.
But this is not the only museum, being built on President Xi Jinping’s watch to lionise the Long March — the epic trek undertaken by the Red Army during the Chinese civil war. Threatened by almost certain annihilation, the Red Army broke through a siege enforced by an alliance of the Kuomintang (KMT) and local warlords. The jaw dropping trek of 12,000 km in the line of fire, over snowy mountains and turbulent rivers, in which hundreds of thousands perished, nevertheless succeeded in preserving the Red Army’s fighting core. In turn, it paved the way for China’s liberation in 1949, and the emergence of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The Long march also elevated Mao Zedong, as the unrivaled leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
South of Lou Shan Guan, less than two hours driving distance away, is the city of Zunyi. Last year, another imposing museum marking the achievements of the Long March was inaugurated here. Zunyi, in Guizhou province became famous in January 1935, when a conference of top 18 CPC functionaries, and representatives from the Moscow based Communist International, was held in the city. During the meeting held in a merchant’s house-an elegant fusion of western and Chinese architectural styles-Mao’s line to advance the Long March prevailed, overriding the strategic orientation of Otto Braun, the German deputed by the Comintern, and the Bolshevik trained Wang Ming, his close ally.
The sprawling new museum, a stone’s throw away from the conference site, narrates the story of the Zunyi conclave, the defining battles of the Long March, and rich biographical details of its leaders.
But in Xi Jinping’s China, the return to Maoist roots-sans the painful Cultural Revolution of the sixties and seventies-- is not the only game in town for winning the battle for hearts- and-minds, especially of young Chinese, widely exposed to western culture and values. Well aware of the seemingly seductive charms of democracy, human rights, and colour revolutions, which could permeate in China, President Xi, not taking any chances, is fortifying credible soft-power, which includes a selective revival of Confucian moral values.
Hewn out of a green hillside, a vast center for Confucian learning, visible from far on account of a 30 foot high statue of the ancient philosopher has been opened in Guiyang, the provincial capital of Guizhou. The site set amid a sprawling wetland park, is further south of Zunyi, where memories of Mao are kept studiously alive.
The Confucian Academy is now managed and funded by the local government. It provides free lectures on Confucian philosophy, and has the infra for Confucian scholars to live and work. Provincial officials attend regular courses at the school. The decision to open the facility is a logical fallout of President’s thinking of fusing Confucius with Mao and (Karl) Marx, in order to realise the home-grown “Chinese Dream”.
“To solve China’s problems, we can only search in the land of China for the ways and means that suit it,” Mr. Xi told the 25-member Politburo in October last. He added: “We need to fully make use of the great wisdom accumulated by the Chinese nation over the last 5,000 years.”
Consequently, the CPC has publicly called upon officials, to learn about Confucius and other classical Chinese thinkers. The return to classical thought has echoed in the education ministry, which has decided to encourage inclusion of classical literature in school curriculums.
But President Xi’s novel experiment is still a work-in-progress. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the education ministry slammed a Shanghai school for making 700 children kneel before their parents, as an enforced and excessive mark of reverence. A Beijing school was reprimanded for going overboard on teaching girls “traditional female virtue.” Analysts say that a lengthy process of trial and error appears likely before a new national doctrine, brought about by merger of socialist egalitarian ideas with elements of China’s ancient political culture, can be defined.
