BANNEDTHOUGHT
Restrictions of Freedom of Speech in China, and
Suppressed Documents About China, Past and Present
China is a country that has very strong restrictions on the freedom of speech, especially with regard to revolutionary ideas. With the overthrow of people’s power after the death of Mao Zedong, China became a bourgeois state. There are two main types of bourgeois state: bourgeois democracy and fascism. China is definitely not a bourgeois democracy! However, it is also not quite a fascist state of the Nazi type, but rather what might be called “soft fascism”. That is, the people are mostly not persecuted unless and until they do anything to try to change the social system. No publications are allowed which try to educate and organize the people in the necessity of retaking power from the new bourgeoisie. The Internet is severely censored, as are foreign publications, films, etc. Even mild reformist criticism of the ruling class and its policies is usually suppressed. Moreover, the Chinese rulers also try to prevent information about injustices in China from being made known in other countries.
In dealing with a country so devoid of a free press and free communications as China, it is hard for bannedthought.org to even know where to start. We will simply have to post news of specific outrages, big or small, as we learn of them. We will also attempt to post information about social struggles and rebellions of the Chinese masses; about the beginning developments of a new Maoist revolutionary sentiment in China; and about the development of Chinese capitalism into a new imperialist power.
For suppressed or difficult to find information about China during the Maoist (socialist) era see our separate page at: https://www.bannedthought.org/China/MaoEra/index.htm
Contact us at: freespeech@bannedthought.org
Suppression of News and Ideas in China
- “In Support of Young Leftwing Activists Detained and Wanted for Organizing a Reading Group on November 15, 2017”, by the Borderless Movement, March 2018, 5 pages. PDF Version (253 KB);
- “Internet Censorship and China’s New Online Publication Law”, by Dezan Shira & Associates, May 17, 2016, 3 pages. PDF Version (156 KB); Although this article focuses on the ramifications of this new censorship law for foreign corporations operating in China, it also has information of a more general character. It notes for example that in recent years under the regime of Xi Jinping China has expanded the fraction of the web sites in the world which it blocks from 14% to 25%. It says:
“The [new Chinese Internet censorship] law stipulates that an internet publication cannot include any content that opposes the principles of the constitution, threatens national unity, sovereignty or territorial integrity or security, divulges state secrets, damages the reputation or interests of the state, incites ethnic hostility or discrimination, endangers social morals or ethnic cultural traditions, advocates heresy or feudal superstition, disseminates rumors, disturbs social order and stability, disseminates obscenity, pornography, gambling, violence, or incites crime or insults others or infringes on their legal rights and interests.” [In other words, the Chinese rulers openly state that they will block anything and everything that they disapprove of, and that there will be no such thing as free speech on the Internet in China.]- “China’s Xi Calls for Cooperation over Internet Regulation”, AP, Dec. 16, 2015, 2 pages. Quotes one commentator as saying: “Under the guise of sovereignty and security, the Chinese authorities are trying to rewrite the rules of the Internet so censorship and surveillance become the norm everywhere.” PDF Version (49 KB)
- “China is Leading Jailer of Journalists, Group Says”, New York Times, Dec. 15, 2015, 1 page. PDF Version (99 KB);
- “China’s Defiance Stirs Fears for Missing Dissident”, New York Times, Feb. 3, 2010, 3 pages. About the arrest and disappearance of human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng. PDF Version (142 KB);
- “Google, Citing Attack, Threatens to Exit China”, New York Times, Jan. 13, 2010, 3 pages. PDF Version (137 KB);
- “Furious Google Throws Down Gauntlet to China Over Censorship”, Ars Technica, Jan. 12, 2010, 4 pages. PDF Version (325 KB);
- “Trial in China Signals New Limits on Dissent”, New York Times, Dec. 24, 2009, 3 pages. About the trial of Liu Xiaobo, an advocate of bourgeois democracy. PDF Version (153 KB); [A follow-up NY Times article reporting the harsh 11-year sentence handed down by the court is available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/25/world/asia/25china.html?th&emc=th.]
- “Filmmakers Barred From Chinese Festival”, New York Times, Sept. 2, 2009. PDF Version (121 KB);
Chinese Capitalist-Imperialism
- [Book:] “Chinese Society Research — Phase I”, a volume in Chinese, December 2020, 147 pages. Prepared by contemporary Chinese Maoists and presenting their extensive investigations into the current organization of capitalist production in China, industrial zones, factory conditions, class relations, wages & benefits, the attitudes of the workers and of management, the living conditions of the workers, etc. Includes investigations of a number of specific workplaces, interviews with some individuals, and a discussion of both the traditional and newly emerging petty bourgeois strata. Chinese: Searchable PDF format (1,473 KB); English Version of this Book, translated by Nick G., Chairperson of the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist), August 2022, 173 pages. English: Searchable PDF format (1,360 KB)
- “Poor Households Mired in the Cycle of Poverty and Illness”, author unspecified, January 2020, 21 pages. PDF Version (242 KB)
- “China is Turning Ethiopia Into a Giant Fast-Fashion Factory”, by Bill Donahue, Bloomberg Businessweek, Asia Edition, March 5, 2018, 12 pages. About the export of Chinese capital to Ethiopia and the effects it is having there. PDF Version (1,567 KB)
- “Capital Accumulation, Private Property and Rising Inequality in China, 1978-2015”, a scholarly study by Thomas Piketty, Li Yang, and Gabriel Zucman, Oct. 7, 2018, 41 pages. PDF format (3,417 KB)
- [Book:] “Is China an Imperialist Country?”, by N.B. Turner, et al. An extensive essay on the growth and development of China as a major contending imperialist power, together with discussion of the nature and changes within the current world imperialist system and of the contradictions within it. Red-Path.net, March 2014, 129 pages. English: PDF format (A4 paper size) (1,932 KB); English: PDF format (8.5" x 11" paper size) (1,489 KB)
- “The Political Economy of Chinese State Capitalism”, by Li Xing & Timothy M. Shaw, JCIR 1:1 (2013), 26 pages. Searchable PDF Version (325 KB)
- “How China Became Capitalist”, by Ronald Coase and Ning Wang, CATO Policy Report, January/February 2013. [This article is from a deeply reactionary bourgeois perspective, and suffers from all the usual capitalist biases, but is still of interest. It shows how the ideologists of the Western capitalists themselves have long ago recognized that China is no longer “socialist” in any way, shape or form. —Ed.] Online at: http://www.cato.org/policy-report/januaryfebruary-2013/how-china-became-capitalist
- “Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader [Wen Jiabao]”, by David Barboza, New York Times, Oct. 25, 2012, 12 pages. [In reaction to this article, the Chinese government blocked access to the New York Times website.] PDF Version (231 KB)
- “‘Princelings’ in China Use Family Ties to Gain Riches”, New York Times, May 17, 2012, 5 pages. PDF Version (144 KB)
- “May Day Means Pay Day for University Student Swindlers in Lanzhou, China”, by Jerry Leonard and Xie Yingjun, May 4, 2012, 7 pages. A telling little personal story illustrating how the once very militant workers’ holiday in Mao’s China has changed into just a vacation period, and one in which you might very well get swindled by the new class of “entrepreneurs”! PDF (285 KB)
- “The Chinese Communist Party’s Capitalist Elite”, an article about the huge number of members of the National People’s Congress who are capitalist billionaires, Bloomberg Businessweek, March 1, 2012, 2 pages. PDF Version (118 KB)
- “The Rise of China and Its Implications”, by Fred Engst, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing. This is the edited and approved version of this important essay, parts of which were presented at the ILPS 4th International Assembly in the Philippines on July 9, 2011. 15 pages. PDF Version (204 KB);
- “China’s ‘State Capitalism’ Sparks a Global Backlash”, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 16, 2010, 7 pages. PDF Version (284 KB);
- “Chinese Military Seeks to Extend Its Naval Power”, New York Times, April 23, 2010, 5 pages. PDF Version (211 KB)
- “China Emerges as a Major Exporter of Capital”, by John Chan, World Socialist Web Site, May 19, 2009, 3 pages. [Note: While this article is from a Trotskyist publication, it seems accurate and quite useful to us.] PDF Version (191 KB);
- “China-India Maritime Rivalry”, by Cdr. Gurpreet S. Khurana, Indian Defence Review, Oct.-Dec. 2009, 8 pages. PDF Version (369 KB);
- “The Realities of China Today”, by Martin Hart-Lansberg, Against the Current, #137, Nov.-Dec. 2008, 15 pages. Though the author is not a Maoist, and makes at least one very unsupported and unjustified criticism of Maoist economic policies, overall this article strongly debunks the notions of some people on the “left” today that China is still a socialist country, or that it at least is supposedly advancing the welfare of the Chinese masses. It shows that nothing could be further from the truth! PDF Version (183 KB)
- “China’s Emerging Role in the International Financial System”, speech by Chen Yuan, Governor, China Development Bank, Shanghai, Nov. 10, 2008, 9 pages. Searchable PDF format (25 KB)
- “China Offers India Help to Defeat Maoists”, UPI Press report, Oct. 27, 2005, 1 page. PDF format (25 KB)
Mass Struggles in China
- “Big Events of 2020 for the Labourers: The Oppression by the Bourgeoisie and the Resistance of the Proletariat”, a revolutionary perspective, prepared by “Gonghao 51”, 21 pages. (Includes an internal link to the original Chinese language version.) English: PDF format (1,310 KB)
- “Workers, Police Clash in China’s Yanan; 100 Injured”, Hong Kong Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy (via BBC), May 7, 2010, 2 pages. PDF Version (65 KB);
- “They’re Not Going to Take It: China’s women, facing pervasive discrimination, decide to fight for their rights”, Newsweek, Aug. 1, 2009, 3 pages. PDF Version (161 KB);
- “Chinese Workers Beat Manager to Death; Farmers Block Highway”, Asia News, July 27, 2009. PDF Version (131 KB)
- “A New Revolution? Chinese Working Classes Confront Globalized Economy”, by Robert Weil. Policy Brief, Summer 2006. http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/node/2468
Pro-Maoist Sentiment in Contemporary China
- [Book:] “History Project of the Republic: The History and Logic of Revolution and Restoration”, by an anonymous group of Chinese Marxist-Leninist-Maoists, probably originally written in the 2016-2019 time frame.
“This book, banned in China, traces the history of all the major contradictions within the Communist Party of China both during and after the period of Mao Zedong’s leadership. It explains why the genuine Left was unable to carry on Chairman Mao’s behest to continue the revolution under the conditions of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and then examines the contradictions between the different groupings of capitalist-roaders who seized power after Mao’s death; the struggle between them, on the one hand, and their collusion, on the other, to strip the workers and peasants of their rights and to suppress them under a bourgeois state machine of inherent violence.” —From the translator’s introduction.“共和国的历程 革命与复辟的历史与逻辑", original work in Chinese, 376 pages. PDF format (6,281 KB)
English translation, by Nick G., Chairperson of the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist), August 2022, 355 pages. Searchable PDF format (4,767 KB)- “Democratic Socialism is Capitalism: A Criticism of Xie Tao’s ‘Only Democratic Socialism Can Save China’”, by Wu Bing, 82 pages. [The original Chinese version, which appeared years ago on the maoflag.net website, is no longer available, and was written in March 2007. This is a 2022 English translation by Nick G., Chairman of the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist). Nick notes that though this article refers to “democratic socialism”, the issue is really about what is more commonly called “social-democracy”, which of course is not really socialism at all. “Wu Bing” is a pseudonym meaning “armed soldier”, and the person criticized, Xie Tao, is a reactionary academic. Xie advocated for a freer development of capitalism in China under the cloak of what he called “democratic socialism”. Searchable PDF format (1,278 KB)
- “China’s Maoists Mark Death of Great Helmsman with Tributes, Street Events”, from the website of the so-called Radio Free Asia, Sept. 9, 2021, 2 pages. Searchable PDF format (284 KB)
- “‘Who Are Our Enemies?’ China’s Bitter Youths Embrace Mao”, by Li Yuan, New York Times, July 8, 2021, 5 pages. Searchable PDF format (391 KB)
- “China’s Ruling Party Cancels Maoist Gatherings on Cultural Revolution Anniversary”, from the website of the so-called Radio Free Asia, May 17, 2021, 3 pages. PDF format (127 KB)
- “Anti-Capitalist Tirades Go Viral in China: Marxist rhetoric is gaining currency among young, overworked netizens”, The Economist, Feb. 6, 2021, 3 pages. PDF format (345 KB)
- “New Years Greeting: The Return of Marxism and the Opening of a New Age”, by “Zuo Yi 23”, circa Jan. 1, 2021, from a social media site in China, 14 pages. (This is a slightly polished English translation from a basic original translation provided to bannedthought.org by a friend in China.) PDF format (187 KB)
- “Big Events of 2000 for the Labourers: The Oppression by the Bourgeoisie and the Resistance of the Proletariat”, a summary of the year's events by "Gonghao 51", 24 pages. This is an English translation of the original Chinese posting (linked to within the document) provided to bannedthought.org by a friend of this site. PDF format (1,318 KB)
- Two issues of a new revolutionary Maoist Chinese-language journal, entitled “燎原”, Liaoyuan Bao or “Prairie Fire Journal”, are now available at: China Magazines Page in the Liaoyuan/Prairie Fire section. A list of contents and brief introduction to each issue is also posted there in English.
- “Seven Maoist Students Detained in Beijing After Talking to Foreign Media”, from the website of the so-called Radio Free Asia, Jan. 25, 2019, 3 pages. PDF format (147 KB)
- “Marxist Students Detained, Manhandled by Security Guards at Peking University”, from the website of the so-called Radio Free Asia, Dec. 28, 2018, 3 pages. This is a follow-up to the report below. PDF format (152 KB)
- “Chinese Police Detain Marxist Student Leader on Mao’s Birthday”, from the website of the so-called Radio Free Asia, Dec. 26, 2018, 3 pages. This student leader at Peking University was on his way to a meeting he organized on the 125 anniversary of the birth of Mao Zedong. PDF format (137 KB)
- “Police Detain Maoist Labor Activists on Campuses Across China”, from the website of the so-called Radio Free Asia, Nov. 12, 2018, 3 pages. This is about the further spreading of Maoist struggle by youth which was originally sparked by the Jasic Workers’ Solidary Group in Guandong. PDF format (151 KB)
- “Cornell University Cuts Ties With Chinese School After Crackdown on Students”, by Javier Hernández, New York Times, Oct. 29, 2018, 2 pages. In connection with support by students at Renmin University in Beijing for the Jasic Workers’ struggle. PDF format (131 KB)
- “Maoists Call on China’s Official Union to Stand Up for Workers”, follow-up report on the Jasic Workers’ Solidarity Group, from the website of the so-called Radio Free Asia, Oct. 25, 2018, 2 pages. One of the prominent activists in the JWSG, Yue Xin, has not been seen in more than 60 days. She has apparently been arrested or exiled to the countryside. Other JWSG workers are also still detained in what can only be viewed as an attempted fascist suppression of the working class struggle. PDF format (149 KB)
- “China’s Government Censors Shut Down References to Mao-Inspired Labor Movement”, further report on website of the so-called Radio Free Asia, Aug. 21, 2018, 3 pages. PDF format (74 KB)
- “Maoist Labor Campaigner ‘Kidnapped,’ Believed Detained, in China’s Guandong”, report on website of the so-called Radio Free Asia, Aug. 13, 2018, 4 pages. (The Maoist woman referred to is Shen Mengyu. This is a follow-up to the next item below.) PDF format (74 KB);
- “Dozens Detained Amid Maoist-Led Rights Campaign at Chinese Factory”, report on website of the so-called Radio Free Asia, July 30, 2018, 4 pages. PDF format (113 KB);
- “Hong Kong’s May 16 Demonstration Commemorating the 52 Anniversary of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution”, May 2018, 8 pages. 香港“五一六”游行,纪念无产阶级文化大革命52周年 Chinese Original: PDF Version (3,728 KB); Improved English Translation: PDF format (78 KB);
- “Maoist Writer Jailed for Subversion”, report on website of Radio Free Asia, Jan. 19, 2012, 3 pages. About a 10-year prison sentence handed down to self-identified Maoist, Li Tie. PDF format (107 KB);
- “Yu Quan-yu, A Truly Unforgettable Committed Revolutionary in Our Era”, by Li Zhen-cheng. A remembrance of a Maoist revolutionary who was falsely labeled as a “rightist” back in the 1950s, but who remained a revolutionary nevertheless. In both Chinese and English translation. Aug. 17, 2010, 11 pages. PDF format (763 KB);
- “A Memorial Meeting for Chairman Mao and Other Martyrs”, at Luoyang City, Henan Province. Posted on the “Utopia” website (www.wyzxsx.com) on April 14, 2010. Includes a link to the video of the original memorial speech in Chinese. PDF format (133 KB);
- “Economic Bust is Big Boom for Mao”, an article in the Toronto Star about the Utopia Bookshop in Beijing, a center for Maoist books and magazines. March 25, 2009, 4 pages. PDF format (115 KB);
- “Some Thoughts Regarding Our Future Revolution, by a Revolutionary Old Guard”, by Wei Wei, 5 pages. This article was distributed on the Maoist Revolution email list in the U.S. on Nov. 9, 2008, along with the notice that it was translated from Chinese from the www.hongqiwang.com web site. The author seems to take a fairly strong nationalist line, and views the current regime as that of a bureaucrat and comprador bourgeoisie (rather than a national bourgeoisie). But he also is a strong supporter of Paris Commune style democracy. PDF format (81 KB);
- “China: Signs of Ultra-Leftist Support to Maoists of India and Nepal”, by D. S. Rajan, Oct. 5, 2005. PDF format (164 KB);
- “On December 24, 2004, Maoists in China Get Three Year Prison Sentences for Leafleting: A Report on the Case of the Zhengzhou Four”, Monthly Review, Jan. 2005, 5 pages. PDF format (299 KB);
- “Without Rejection, There can be No Rebirth”, My Declaration of Withdrawal from the Party, by Zhang Lushi, an old Chinese Communist Party member, July 19, 2001, 5 pages. A very powerful and touching letter. PDF format (180 KB);
Journals and Periodicals — From both the Socialist Era and the Present Capitalist-Imperialist Era: Magazines Page
Chinese Government and Official Functions — Documents from the Capitalist-Imperialist Era
- Recent Government Documents:
- “Report on the Work of the Government, 4th Session of the 13th National People’s Congress”, by Premier Li Keqiang, March 2021, 128 pages. Searchable PDF format (366 KB)
- Centenary Meeting on the Revolution of 1911:
- “Speech at the Centenary of the Revolution of 1911”, by Liu Jun, chairman of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, Oct. 9, 2011, 6 pages. Searchable PDF format (1,232 KB)
- “Speech at the Centenary of the Revolution of 1911”, by Zhou Tienong, Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and Chairman of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, Oct. 9, 2011, 6 pages. Searchable PDF format (1,216 KB)
China’s Economy in China’s Capitalist and Capitalist-Imperialist Eras
- Political Economy Theory (A series of works illustrating how the capitalist-roaders developed ever-more bourgeois economic views and practice.)
- [Book:] “China’s Socialist Economy”, by Xue Muqiao, China Knowledge Series, (Beijing: New World Press, 1981), 340 pages. Searchable PDF format (4,414 KB)
Revised Edition, 1986, 332 pages. Searchable PDF format (8,628 KB)- [Book:] “New Strategy for China’s Economy”, by Ma Hong, China Studies Series, (Beijing: New World Press, 1983), 176 pages. Searchable PDF format (2,760 KB)
- [Book:] “Smashing the Communal Pot — Formulation and Development of China’s Rural Responsibility System”, by Wang Guichen, Zhou Qiren and Others, China Studies Series, (Beijing: New World Press, 1985), 208 pages. Searchable PDF format (2,986 KB)
- “Chinese Reforms, Inflation and the Allocation of Investment in a Socialist Economy”, by Oktay Yenal, World Bank Internal Discussion Paper, Asia Regional Series, Report No. IDP 52, October 1989, 48 pages. Searchable PDF format (1,941 KB)
- [More to be added.]
- Trade
- “The Facts and China’s Position on China-US Trade Friction”, “White Paper”, by the Information Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, Sept. 25, 2018, in reaction to the trade war started by the Trump Administration, 72 pages. Searchable PDF format (845 KB)
China’s Military in the Capitalist-Imperialist Era
- General and Strategic
- [Book:] “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China: 2020”, Annual Report of the U.S. Secretary of Defense to Congress, 200 pages. Searchable PDF format (7,052 KB)
- [Book:] “Understanding Chinese Nuclear Thinking”, ed. by Li Bin & Tong Zhao, (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment, 2016), 286 pages. Expressing the point of view of the current Chinese political and military authorities, and as they wish it to be understood in the West. Searchable PDF format (3,078 KB)
- Navy
- “The People’s Liberation Army Navy: A Modern Navy with Chinese Characteristics”, by the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence, August 2009, 51 pages. Searchable PDF format (21,770 KB)
Communist Party of China — Documents from the Capitalist-Imperialist Era
- 19th Party Congress: 2017
- “Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party”, adopted at the 19th Party Congress, Oct. 24, 2017, 28 pages. Searchable PDF format (285 KB)
- 17th Party Congress: 2007
- “Resolution of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on the Amended Constitution of the CPC”, adopted Oct. 21, 2007, 8 pages. Searchable PDF format (1,654 KB)
- “Resolution of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on the Report of Its 16th Central Committee”, adopted Oct. 21, 2007, 9 pages. Searchable PDF format (2,243 KB)
- “Resolution of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on the Report of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection”, adopted Oct. 21, 2007, 3 pages. Searchable PDF format (481 KB)
- Other Documents:
- “The Present State, Structure and Operation of Party Organizations”, from the “ABCs of the Communist Party of China” series, n.d., but circa 2010 (when Hu Jintao was General Secretary), 28 pages. Searchable PDF format [2,646 KB]
- [Book:] “A Concise History of the Communist Party of China”, Hu Sheng (chief editor), on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Party in 1921, (Beijing: FLP, 1994), 885 pages. [While this huge book contains considerable information, it must never be forgotten that it is written from the point of view of the lying capitalist-roaders who seized power in a coup d’état after Mao’s death and proceeded to transform socialist China into its present capitalist-imperialist system. As such, it simply cannot be viewed as reliable and trustworthy in anything it says, though it is especially untrustworthy for the period from 1959-1976. The work is of value mostly as a reference for the views as of 1994 on Party history by the new National Bourgeoisie in China which is centered in the CCP.] Searchable PDF format [Enormous file: 131,487 KB]
- [Book:] “欧美共运风云录 (1945-1991)” [Wind & Cloud Record: European and American Communist Movement (1945-1991)], compiled by the Institute of International Communist Movement History of the CCP Central Committee, Chief Editor: Li Zongyu, (1994 printing), in Chinese, 954 pages. Presenting, of course, the somewhat sympathetic view of the Chinese ruling class Party as of the early 1990s of the recent history of many other revisionist “Communist” parties around the world. Searchable PDF format [37,519 KB]
- [Book:] “Resolution on CPC History (1949-1981)”, claiming to be an “authoritative assessment of Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution”, including the “Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China” [adopted by the 6th Plenary session of the 11th Central Committee of the CCP on June 27, 1981] and two shorter documents, (Beijing: FLP, 1981), 127 pages. This is the official verdict on Mao and the GPCR by the capitalist-roaders who seized power in a coup d’état after Mao’s death. Searchable PDF format [7,687 KB]
BANNEDTHOUGHT China in the Maoist Era Page