They are, literally, everywhere. Living next door to you, working in the same office – one of them may even be dating you. With over 82.6 million members, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the largest political party in the world and it’s growing fast – especially with people under the age of 30.
Although originally the party of the revolutionary working classes, the CCP – which celebrates its 72nd anniversary this July – has moved to expand its membership in recent years to include a wider sub-section of modern society, including entrepreneurs and private business owners.
But it’s college students who now form the bulk of the party’s yearly intake, according to the People’s Daily. Each year, college students account for a third of all new party
members. In 2012, the Central Committee revealed that China’s colleges were home to an estimated 27.78 million Party members – equivalent to 38.6 percent of its total.
Despite all this, evidence of the Party’s popularity on China’s campuses remains largely concealed. Student members show no obvious signs of affiliation. They attend the same classes as other students, share the same dormitories, talk about the same issues and eat in the same canteens. Party badges and other insignia such as the Young Pioneers’ scarf – a kind of CCP Scouts troupe – are shunned, while Party membership itself is rarely discussed openly. The only discernible difference occurs once a month, when student members go off to attend Party meetings. It is here that new members are nominated and admitted, opinions shared on important international and domestic events, and large news stories revealed to members prior to being made public.
The process of becoming a Party member is both arduous and highly selective. Aspiring applicants are first encouraged to write an application letter, before undergoing a formal interview. If successful they are entered into a lengthy application process that can take anything up to two years to complete.
During this period, applicants must succeed in being selected by a senior member of the university teaching staff to attend a training course held each semester. After completing this course, applicants wait until they receive an internal nomination. Once nominated, they are required to gain approval from the local Party, whereby they will undergo a probationary selection process. For the next 12 months, applicants will be investigated and their behavior heavily scrutinized. Many applicants do not make it past this point; among those that do, a brief election awaits, followed by fully qualified Party membership.
Far from dissuading potential applicants, however, this difficult process appears to have the opposite effect. A 2012 survey on the ‘Ideology of College Students,’ carried out by the Chinese Education Department, revealed that that 80 percent of students questioned would consider applying for membership.
So what is the secret behind the Party’s new-found credibility on campus? According to the CCP’s founding declaration, members enjoy no material benefits, other than the spiritual pursuit of helping to realize a Communist society.
“I don’t share Communist ideals, nor do most other students. Party members have more opportunities, be it in school or their future careers,” says aspiring member Fu Shuang, in her third year of study at Beijing Institute of Technology.
One of the benefits Fu refers to is the perceived advantages members enjoy when searching for a job after graduation. Although discrimination in the private sector is illegal in China, most stable government jobs go to Party members.
Wang Xuejin, deputy editor of Shaoxing Education agrees. In a recent microblog post, he commented: “College students today are not as pure and ideologically motivated as previous generations. They see many student Party members enjoying all kinds of social benefits, and greater access to limited resources, so they also want to join the group.”
Another survey by Chizi magazine in 2012 appears to support this notion. On the question of what motivates students to join the Party, 24.8 percent answered: “It is helpful in applying for scholarships and other honor prizes.” Another 46.9 percent replied: “It is helpful when searching for jobs.” Only 20.1 percent of respondents claimned to be joining for purely ideological or political reasons.
To prevent students from abusing membership for personal gain, the Party encourages them to submit regular handwritten ‘thought reports,’ detailing their sincerity and devotion to the Party’s ethical code. However, according to Fu Shuang, few applicants take the process seriously. All they need to do is search for “thought report” on Baidu, explains Fu, and everything they need is there – samples, correct opinions on domestic and international topics, self-criticism and how applicants could improve their status.
To some students, the Party’s internal training is nothing more than an exercise in jumping through hoops. Each course lasts several weeks, with lectures focusing on ideological and political content, such as Marxism, Party theory and international and domestic news. Aspiring members are required to sign their name on a roster before and after the course, but according to Fu, “Nobody cares about the lectures – the only important thing is that you’re not caught talking, or surfing online.”
Having finished the course a year ago, Fu has yet to be nominated by the local Party secretaries. “If you want to join the Party, you really have to network – a lot. If the important people don’t know who you are, how can you ever be nominated, let alone win an election?” asks Fu.
Not everyone agrees with this anlaysis, however. Chen Dan, a instructor from the Beijing International Studies University has a different theory: “It is not a standard examination, so EQ [Emotional Intelligence Quotient] is also important. The most important criteria in selecting student Party members has never changed: that is, can this person serve the students? It’s really about leadership.”
Party member Wang Xiaoyu, who graduated last year from the same university, supports Chen’s opinion. “Those who didn’t make the grade should ask themselves, why did others gain membership over me? It’s just like how some people hate rich people; I think it’s better to stop complaining and think about why they don’t have more money themselves,” says Wang.
Wang is now working for PriceWaterHouseCoopers. She attributes her relative success to hard work during the college years, which in her words were “crazy busy” with all kinds of academic competitions, studying, student union activities and internships.
It is estimated that one in ten students are either Party members or aspiring Party members. However, this figure rises substantially among the country’s elite institutions. Take Peking University for example: last year, more than half of all Japanese-language students were Party members, says former student Li Yu. “Party members dominate certain subjects,” says Li, who now studies in Japan.
“Some of the country’s top students will go on to become provincial Party secretaries,” he adds. “Active Party membership at college level is a good way to test their abilities.”
To Li, joining the Party is an another important accolade. “It shows you are excellent, a star student – it gives the feeling of being in an elite club.”
He says that non-membership is not discriminatory: “I think that many of those who don’t want to join the Party are excellent, too. It is just a personal choice. I chose to join because it is proof of my abilities.”
Not everyone, though, is able to build on the perceived benefits of Party membership. Having struggled to find work since graduating last year, Zhao Lu now counts herself among
another, less glamorous group, – the so-called “drifting Party members.”
“The only connection I have with the CCP is when I deposit my yearly membership fee,” admits Zhao.
On July 1st, Zhao received an update from the Tianjin College Students Career Center Party Branch: “CCP members: to celebrate the birthday of the Party, our center will hold a composition contest. The theme is ‘My Chinese Dream.’ Content should reflect the personal success of CCP members.”
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