Hong Kong independence ideas must be suppressed, top China official Wang Huning warns city

By Tony Cheung
This article first appeared in South China Morning Post on 6 March 2018
Link to original article: HERE

Fifth-ranking Politburo Standing Committee member urges Hongkongers to strengthen their sense of national identity, promising more initiatives to help them reap the benefits of the Greater Bay Area project

China’s propaganda tsar on Tuesday warned that

Why China won’t let people compare Xi Jinping with an imperial predecessor

By Isabella Jackson
This article first appeared in The Conversation on 5 March 2018
Link to original article: HERE

The Chinese Communist Party’s legitimacy is largely based on a supposed contrast between its “enlightened” leadership and the despotism of “Old China”. Any hint that the party is creating a new emperor must therefore be quashed. But the Chinese public know their history, and history is a potent political force