Global Voices is publishing a series exploring the language used during the 20th congress of the Communist Party of China and analyzing its implications for China’s national and international policies. Find the first, second and third articles here. The most novel idea introduced by Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is that China is entering a “new era.” The term was first introduced in 2017 at the 19th National Congress of the CPC and later “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” and was incorporated into the party constitution and eventually the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. Xi's previous ten years in office have been devoted to creating a Chinese ideology entirely distinctive from the West. Xi mentioned the term “new era” 46 times in his 19th Congress keynote in 2017 and outlined the new era as a historical period that marks the development of China’s socialism, which would contribute significantly to the development of international socialism and human society. Yet, after five years, Xi’s new era seems more characterized by authoritarianism and statism. The three most significant successes since 2017 presented in his 20th Congress report are the Zero-COVID policy, the realization of the so-called “comprehensive jurisdiction” in Hong Kong through the imposition of national security law (NSL) and overhauling of the local election systems, as well as the demonstration of military power and political determination against Taiwanese independence. All three cases indicate a break with previous political, diplomatic and economic norms, even though there could be huge consequences for these changes — the political crackdown has undermined the status of Hong Kong as an international financial hub, the military drills pushed Taiwan further away from one-China consensus and China’s economy has suffered a significant downturn thanks to the zero-COVID policy. There were certainly other more human-oriented and socialist agendas such as common prosperity and environmental preservation in Xi’s October congress report. The reintroduction of supply and marketing cooperatives and food kitchens around the country is a huge gesture to stabilize the price of agricultural products and food, among other necessities. However, some see the move as a revival of the planned economy back in the 1950s. Above all, it is clear that the state is taking firm control of all aspects of people’s economic, social and cultural life. Xi loyalists call the ongoing political and ideological struggle and the so-called “comprehensive” control a profound revolution, while critics call it a turn toward totalitarianism. Human rights and civil groups are concerned about its global implications: 2/2 Things will likely get much worse for human rights and civic freedoms before they start to get any better, and China’s model will remain influential internationally. But absolute power won’t last forever. https://t.co/LbLOUlRT5G #CIVICUSLens pic.twitter.com/1fGhVXeyE2 — CIVICUS (@CIVICUSalliance) November 1, 2022 The term “new era” marks a break with former CPC leader Deng Xiaoping, who coined the idea of “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics”, at the 12th CPC Congress in 1982 to pave the way for China’s economic reform and further liberalization. Deng’s political rhetoric was used to round off the ideological debate within the CPC on his economic policy, which facilitated the growth of private ownership, foreign investment, and a market economy. It marked a shift from the PRC founder Mao Zedong’s era when ideology and class struggle were viewed as a means to maintain the socialist political system and the single-party regime led by the CPC. Mao’s political approach led to a series of political purges, including the anti-Rightist Campaign (1957–59) and the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). Unlike Mao, Deng was a pragmatist, as reflected in his “Good cat theory”, which suggested the separation of the economy from a political system, and his “Crossing river theory”, which argued that China’s socialism is an experimental process. Yet Deng’s strategy to “let some people get rich first” resulted in a mass layoff of workers from state and collective-owned corporations, high inflation, and corruption as officials took advantage of their power to “resell” resources obtained from the “planned economic sector” to the “private sector”. In fact, anti-corruption, in particular, the call against “official resale” (打倒官倒) was one of the primary demands put forward by the students of the 1989 pro-democracy student movement in Tiananmen. Many protesters believed that political reform was the key to social and economic injustice, while some hoped to return to the Leninist and Marxist socialist path.