Analysis Of Farewell My Concubine

Despite the obvious lack of democratic institutions and political system, the CCP has long been portraying itself as the representative of the “fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people (最广大人民群众的根本利益)”1. The idea behind such a statement is a legitimacy based on support of the masses. This populist nature of the regime was highly visible during the Mao period, when the Party claimed to have built a better society for the majority of the population and increased its popularity particularly through ideological control and mass mobilization. And the pursuit of popular support, with facts or propaganda, remains a basis for the rule of the CCP until today.

A. A Legitimacy Based on the Claim of Building a Better World

It was in conformity with the communist ideology, while also being a political move to gain more support. During the empirical ages, officials and nobilities had enormous privileges compared to commoners. Not only did the latter possess few political, economic or social resources, they struggled for living and justice was beyond reach. As we can see in Farewell My Concubine, during the Warlord Period, which was shortly after the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644­1911), children in the opera troupe were trained in ruthless manners and harsh conditions in order to get a skill with which they could earn a living; and the former imperial eunuch still had the power and wealth to hold extravagant birthday celebrations and could rape commoners like Dieyi without any legal consequences. Bare survival was the major struggle for many at the bottom of the society and injustice was more than common. And contrary to many people’s expectations, the Republic of China did not dramatically change the situation. Although modern democratic political institutions were introduced, the regime was highly corrupted and incompetent in consolidating power or stabilizing economy. In F arewell My Concubine, we see undisciplined soldiers in opera house, easily bribed judge and acquittal based on a general’s short notice instead of sound evidence. Changes did happen, but there was also remarkable consistency in people’s

What else specifically happened during Maoist period ? Which specific elements have we forgotten ? As it is mentioned in M ao’s invisible hand by Perry and Hailmann, “China’s governance techniques are marked by a signature Maoist stamp that conceives of policy making as a process of ceaseless change, tension management, and ad­hoc adjustment”7. Thus, the answer remains in the effective adaptability of the regime through a unique way of policy making, whose flexibility linked with history and permanent policy style played an important role.First and foremost, to explain the incredible adaptability of the communist regime in China, an important part of the academia underlined the important role played by the institutions. According to Andrew Nathan, professor of political science at Columbia University specialised in Chinese politics, the source of Chinese resilience remains in the “institutionalization of the elite succession process and containment of factionalism as well as its success in fostering a “high level of acceptance” through various “input institutions” — local elections, letters­and­visits departments (...)”8... Such an opinion is shared by David Shambaugh, who depicted the CCP as a resilient institution which benefited from “a range of