Amid the continuous downturn of the economy, the Chinese Communist authorities claim to support private businesses, but the industry remains skeptical. Recently, portions of the book “Common Bottom Line” by liberal writer Qin Hui circulated on mainland Chinese social media in video form, sparking discussions due to its implications about Communist officials first plundering under the guise of the “left” and then distributing spoils under the guise of the “right.”
Retired Professor from China’s Tsinghua University and liberal writer Qin Hui’s book “Common Bottom Line” has gained attention as certain chapters were widely circulated on mainland social media platforms via video format. Various bloggers showcased the book’s content by flipping through its pages in the videos:
“Under unconstrained power, switching between the ‘left’ and ‘right,’ first looting under the ‘left,’ then distributing spoils under the ‘right.’ Using ‘socialism’ as a name, turning private possessions of the commoners into ‘public,’ and under the guise of ‘market economy,’ transforming it into the private assets of the privileged. The ‘state-owned sectors’ become the ‘primitive accumulation pump’ in the ‘left-right cycle,’ acting as an unrestricted power’s powerful motor, pumping commoners’ assets into the national treasury on one end, and funneling national treasury resources into the pockets of the privileged on the other…”
One blogger commented, “This book, ‘Common Bottom Line,’ is quite audacious. Due to the broad scope of its content, publishing faced many setbacks. The ‘Preface’ mentions that the book was actually completed in 2002 but was abandoned for various reasons. It was not until ten years later in 2013 that it finally saw the light of day, in its unedited form, which is quite rare.”
Some videos have been deleted from mainland Chinese networks, but some remnants remain. Other videos introduce different contents from the book, such as highlighting China’s real issues: where areas considered private domains in both Western left and right ideologies are ironically restricted or controlled by ‘public authority,’ while areas perceived as public domains, including ‘public authority’ itself, are dominated by individual wills and small group interests.
In March 2013, “Common Bottom Line” was published by Jiangsu Literature and Art Publishing House, authored by Qin Hui. In 2013, the book was selected for the Sina Annual China Best Books List. Presently, the book has entries on Baidu Encyclopedia and Douban.
Related videos on an overseas platform have sparked heated discussions among netizens:
“Communism, socialism, are inherently anti-human societal structures, a false ‘public ownership’ that transforms societal wealth into a minority’s ‘private ownership,’ such as state-owned enterprises; otherwise, where do their astronomical deposits and high medical expenses for senior cadres come from?”
“The writing is too realistic; the sickle is still there, back and forth, harvesting the common people.”
“The Party’s original intention was to confiscate and distribute wealth, even Mao said, ‘political power grows out of the barrel of a gun,’ it’s essentially violent robbery!”
“Some things are unspeakable, yet they still happen.”
“Qin Hui is one of the few scholars with integrity.”
“China is a privileged authoritarian state, just like North Korea, there’s no real socialism.”
“It seems the CCP has lost control of speech within the wall.”
“The Communist Party system is like a syringe relentlessly attached to the ordinary people.”
“The core idea of communism: smash and grab.”
“Everyone acts poor, hands the money over to the party to spend, then it’s all equalized.”
Within the CCP, there has always been a struggle between left and right lines, with the “Cultural Revolution” representing extreme leftism, while the subsequent “Reform and Opening-up” phase was considered a manifestation of the right. However, since Xi Jinping took office, there have been claims of a comprehensive shift to the left, evidenced by economic policies like “state advancement, private retreat” and recent actions against monopolies and the education training industry.
Under this leftward shift, the economy has declined, leading to numerous closures of private businesses. Due to increasing fiscal pressures at the local level, in recent months, local governments started retroactively inspecting corporate taxes, with several Chinese listed companies revealing they are being investigated for tax issues dating back 30 years. Incidents of entrepreneurs being arbitrarily detained by authorities have become commonplace. Private business owners feel like hunted prey, either lying low or seeking refuge abroad.
According to “21st Century Business Herald,” when considering cases of corporate executives being “taken away” for investigations and not yet returned, data from Wind indicates that by October 10, more than 30 listed companies have been involved this year. Over the past three years, a total of 31 listed companies had their executives taken away. Most of the executives taken away are heads of private enterprises.
In an effort to restore confidence in private enterprises, in July of this year during the Third Plenum of the Twentieth Central Committee, the CCP released signals supporting the private economy and protecting private businesses, followed by the publication on October 10 of the “Draft for Opinions on Promoting the Development of the Private Economy Law,” stating intentions to strengthen the protection of private enterprise rights and support their participation in significant technological breakthroughs while also requiring private businesses to uphold the CCP’s ideology.
Professor Xie Tian from the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina previously told Epoch Times that the CCP has never changed its stance; while they acknowledge the substantial contributions of private enterprises to the Chinese economy, they do not trust them, and the CCP will never relinquish the dominant position of “state-owned enterprises.”
The CCP’s Marxist theory on surplus value claims that capitalists are exploiters and advocates for the abolition of private ownership.
A video of a speech by Chinese economist Xiang Songzuo from several years ago has resurfaced online. He mentioned that the prevalent mindset among private entrepreneurs now is, “They need us is an inevitable choice, eliminating us is a noble ideal.”