Six centuries ago, in just 25 years, the Mongols conquered more lands and people than the Romans had in over 400 years. The Mongols accomplished this with the most disciplined army ever in human history.
During the last 30 years, the Chinese Communist Party lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty in China, and reached a level of development Europe succeeded to accomplish only over 400 years.
The Chinese accomplished these results with the most disciplined organization ever in human history: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Even the most critical people of communism have to recognize the facts: ”Whatever the price of the Chinese Revolution, it has obviously succeeded not only in producing more efficient and dedicated administration, but also in fostering high morale and community of purpose. The social experiment in China is one of the most important and successful in human history.” – David Rockefeller, statement in 1973 about Mao Tse-tung, York Times October 08, 1973.
After Mao died in 1976, the Chinese Communist Party vowed never to let a single person, whatever his position or charisma, to have so much power to lead to the horrific deeds of the Chinese cultural revolution. From then on, all
political decisions and national policies should be discussed and formulated collectively, validated by the party, and Chinese leaders serve only as good executives hired to implement without questioning the official policies.
As strict code of discipline has been put forward, and the “Central Commission for Discipline Inspection” has been revived. From the years 1980s, under Deng Xiaoping, the following principles has been institutionalized:
• – Unified leadership is paramount. At home or abroad, any Chinese leaders should display total and unconditional loyalty to the country, the party and under any circumstances should not display attitudes or make statement that conflict or go against the official line of the party.
• – Democratic centralism: Inside the party everything could be discussed, members could fight for their opinion and position, challenge each other. But once a decision is reached after careful consideration of all points of view, the party stresses unity and avoids public conflict.
• – State as a work of science or Scientific development: state’s affairs should not be a matter of opinion, intuition, impulse, emotion, religion, personal preferences or lineage, but based on the scientific approach of ”seek truth from facts” in political and economic affairs. China is the first country in the world, with Germany, which deliberately see ”State as a work of science”, not ideology. The idea of State as a work of science ”stems from the basic premise that it is possible for the state to engineer sustainable development through tested and proven methodologies of governance. Such a scientific approach is said to minimize conflict amongst different interest groups in society in order to maintain stability on the national level, in turn fostering economic and cultural advancement.” – From Scientific development
• – No politics in government: the government is not the place for politics; the government is an administration tool for execution and implementation of the party strategy and policies.
• – Unity, Loyalty and Discipline are the 3 most important attitudes required to work in the government. The principle states as follow: ”It’s better to hire an honest person in the first place, than spending time and money to control and discipline a dishonest person”
• – Damocles or Shuangui: Chinese Party Members Face Harsh Discipline if they fail to live up to the party discipline. According to the Economist, the discipline system is commonly known as shuanggui, a huge surveillance system that monitors the party and the government officials deeds, and uses a parallel judicial system to punish harshly those who err. Because of widespread disgust over official corruption, Chinese seems to appreciate the work of the Commission for discipline.
Overall, What is unique about Chinese focus on discipline is the fact that the Chinese government perceives discipline not just as an attitude or behavior they seek for political reason in the name of power games, but Discipline is perceived as the most important resource the country might develop, cultivate and promote to be able to succeed. This activity of cultivating discipline receives a priority attention, and is assigned to one of the Top 7 Leaders of the country, Wang Qishan.
A story said:
An African student in China asked his professor the following question: ”Why isn’t China doing anything to change his image abroad, as most of the things people say about China are not true”.
The professor paused, smiled, and with a sterling contempt replied “China doesn’t give a damn”. Then he continued ” it took us 30 years to build our country, while it took over 400 years for Western countries to reach the same level of development.
The most important thing for China now is stability, so we can focus on our development. That’s the stage where we are now.
We are well aware of all the various human freedoms available under other suns, and we desire to have them here in China, and we are confident that in time we will have the same freedoms here in China. However, for now, at the stage where we are, we need stability to continue our development.”