Villagers in military uniforms practise martial arts
in front of a 30ft statue of Mao <><>
Posted on 04/18/2008 8:29:29 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
China's last Maoist collective, where villagers held out against capitalism, is to privatise after its prosperity was found to have rested on a mountain of hidden debt.
While the rest of the country abandoned the commune, pursued personal fortunes and dismantled state industries, the village of Nanjie in central China renationalised its land, set up factories and paid all residents £20 a month.
Villagers in military uniforms practise martial arts
in front of a 30ft statue of Mao <><>
Advertising was banned and instead, propaganda banners hung in streets which led to a 30ft statue of Mao built in 1993. Annual "profits" from the 26 village businesses paid for a mass wedding ceremony and honeymoons in Beijing.
Nanjie also provided free housing, schooling and health care, supporting a standard of living so much better than surrounding towns that many who visited were awestruck by its egalitarianism.
Ten years ago, The New York Times noted its well-kept apartments and spacious schools - although it added that the state of its finances could not be verified.
More recently, one of the nostalgic Chinese tourists attracted to the village as its fame spread enthused to the BBC: "Mao's slogan 'Serve the people' is really put into practice here. It's not just empty rhetoric."
Unfortunately, few of the visitors were accountants. In the past two months, newspapers in Hong Kong and Guangzhou have unravelled a tale of Enron-style woe.
The village's triumphs were built on £120 million of secret loans from the Agricultural Bank of China, which is now calling in its loans as it prepares to list its shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
According to one report, the bank had been instructed to support Nanjie at all costs by a conservative in the Communist Party leadership after the crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.
The village had already begun to unravel when the village head died with the equivalent of a million pounds in cash in his safe, along with the deeds to several properties. A number of women came to his funeral, claiming to be his mistresses and dem-anding a share of his wealth.
In a late effort to save Nanjie's struggling noodle factory and its livelihoods, the village committee has finally bitten the bullet of privatisation and turned its holdings into equities. The irony will not be lost on Nanjie's party secretary, Wang Hongbin, who has ended up with nine per cent of the shares.
the cult of the golden buddha
strikes pay dirt!
bruinbirdman wrote:
So, what’d the ChiComs do with all these Maoists? Send them to Tibet? Kosovo? Nepal?”
Do with them? Did you all the RED CHINA FLAGS so proudly waved in San Fran Sicko?
Wait, it’s not too late to save this commie commune!!
Let’s just send them Obama and Wm. Ayers to save the day!
Our most dedicated leftists can surely find some way to lead this commune into the promised land of Maoist bliss.
All are equal...but some are more equal than others....like Obambi and Cankles.
They gave independence to Kosovo. Send them there. Albanians were always Maoists.
yitbos
No surprise the BBC fell for this Potemkin Village.
The village's triumphs were built on £120 million of secret loans from the Agricultural Bank of China, which is now calling in its loans as it prepares to list its shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Suckers! It's, "Serve the state." A person is not worth a single yuan to The Communist State.
yitbos
yitbos
I get sick of this kind of sneaky, inaccurate editorializing in news articles.
-ccm
2 legs good. 4 legs better. Yep, animal farm all over again.
Shallow, transparent propaganda.
The government of China, is called the “Chinese Communist Party” for a reason.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.