Democracy in China
中国的民主
Control freaks
控制狂
Dec 17th 2009
From The Economist print edition
A growing dilemma for Hu Jintao: how should he deal with democracy
inside the Communist Party?
胡锦涛面临的日益严峻的困境：他该怎样处理共产党内部的民主？
YOU might have thought China's leaders would be brimming over with
confidence just now. Even as the West is struggling, their economy is
growing strongly. China's eclectic mix of free-market principles,
spoon-fed state enterprises and intolerance of dissent may be
contradictory, but it seems to have paid dividends. Around the world
those disillusioned with American capitalism have half an eye on China
as an alternative.
你可能认为中国领导人正信心满满，因为即使西方国家的经济蹒跚而行，而中国的经济却发展强劲。中国兼收并蓄，既利用自由市场的原则，又对国企大力支持，这与对持异见者的不容忍似乎是矛盾的，但是似乎已经产生了好处。世界范围内，那些对美国式的资本主义失望的人已经稍稍的关注着中国，以从中国寻求办法。
Yet the ruling Communist Party is acutely conscious of its own
frailties. Although students are still desperate to join the party,
that is not because they believe in Marxism, but because they are
worried about their job prospects and party membership can pull
strings. Once in, they find an organisation that cloaks itself in the
mind-numbing dogma of yesteryear, pays little heed to the will of its
76m members and revels in costly, time-wasting meetings to
rubber-stamp the leaders' decisions. It is a formula that buys the
party short-term comfort at the expense of long-term instability.
然而中国的执政党共产党是十分清楚自己的弱点的。虽然学生仍然都拼命入党，但这不是因为他们信奉马克思，而是因为他们担心未来的就业，而党员的身份能在求职的过程中助他们一臂之力。一旦入党后，他们就会发现，这个组织披着以前麻木人的思想的教条主义的外衣，对7600万党员的意志置之不理，却沉醉于费用高昂，浪费时间的各种会议，而通常在这些会议上，他们不经审核就直接批准领导的决定。用长期的不稳定换取党内的短期的舒适已经成为了一个原则。
Seven years ago the party abandoned its scruples about recruiting
private entrepreneurs. It has worked hard to restock its grassroots
after the havoc caused when thousands of state-owned enterprises
closed. As a result, party cells have been sprouting in private
businesses, including in many which are partly foreign-owned. But
within the party's ranks, power still flows much as it did in the
dictatorial days of Mao Zedong.
七年前，共产党允许私营企业主入党。当数千家国企倒闭后，共产党努力发展基层党员。因此，党员细胞开始在私企萌芽，包括很多中外合资企业。但是，在党内各不同的官衔中，权力的使用仍然与毛泽东时代很类似。
Party leaders admit that this is a weakness. The party's immunity to
scrutiny, even by its own members, fosters corruption and leaves
decisions prone to error. Giving supposedly elected posts in the party
to hand-picked favourites generates resentment and cynicism. Members
from the private sector are often still marginalised. So too, at the
top, are women.
党领导人承认这是个问题。共产党缺乏监督（甚至缺乏党内监督），这滋生腐败，也容易做出错误的决定。在人们认为本来是公开竞选的职位上直接委任精心挑选的，自己偏好的人，又导致了愤恨，愤世嫉俗。私有经济中的党员经常被边缘化，在党内高层中，女性也被边缘化了。
Let a hundred flowers wilt
让一百朵花凋零
China usually scorns lessons from the developing world, but party
scholars have travelled to study Vietnam. Many have come back
inspired. The Vietnamese Communist Party brooks no opposition, but in
recent years it has introduced a semblance of competition for top
positions. Hu Jintao has often spoken of the need for "inner-party
democracy" in China too. The media have heaped dutiful praise on his
words. But China's experiments have been timid and puny (see article).
中国常轻视发展中国家的经验教训，但是党员学者已经去越南学习了。很多人从越南回来时，感觉倍受鼓舞。越南的共产党不能容忍反对声，但是最近几年越南已经采用一种类似对高层职位进行竞选的方式。胡锦涛也经常在中国谈论需要实行党内民主，媒体也都很尽职的对他的话大肆赞扬。但是中国一直不敢在这方面实践，即使有，也是微不足道的。
This is bad news for those in China who had believed that Mr Hu's
inner-party democracy would foster the countrywide sort. In fact it is
becoming clear that Mr Hu is as fearful of giving a voice to the party
as he is of giving one to the country. It is also bad for China's
stability. Mr Hu himself has often warned that corruption could
destroy the party. Its isolation from public opinion makes it
vulnerable to nasty surprises such as the explosions of unrest in
Tibet and Xinjiang.
对于那些相信胡锦涛的党内民主能促进全国范围内的民主的人而言，这是个坏消息。事实上，现在清楚地是，胡锦涛对实行党内民主和全国范围的民主都很担心。这也不利于中国的稳定。胡锦涛自己也经常警示说，腐败会搞垮共产党。党与公众舆论的隔绝，使其应对突如其来的严重事件时力不从心，如西藏和新疆动乱事件的爆发。
China's leaders have begun manoeuvring their favourites into senior
positions in readiness for them to take power in 2012 when Mr Hu, it
is assumed, steps down as party chief. Success or failure in the
struggle for power will be decided not by the ballot box but by
backroom deals between factions. Mr Hu's rise to power in 2002 went
smoothly, but previous post-Mao transitions had resulted in a coup and
a popular uprising.
中国的领导人已经开始将他们偏好的人调到高级职位上，以准备在2012年胡锦涛退休后上台执政。权力之争的成与败不是由投票箱决定的，而是由不同小派系的幕后交易决定的。胡锦涛2002年上台很顺利，但是之前，毛泽东去世后，职权的交接导致了政变和民众的骚乱。
Mr Hu appears to worry that his remaining years in office could be
marred by turmoil. Intense security remains in force in Xinjiang and
Tibet. Controls on the internet have been tightened in the past few
months. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have been
blocked: their role in Iran's recent upheaval clearly spooked China's
leaders. The lawyer of Liu Xiaobo, a prominent dissident, has learnt
that his client will face trial for subversion. Mr Liu's offence,
apparently, was to organise a petition calling for more democracy.
胡锦涛似乎担心他执政的最后几年会遭到动乱的破坏。在新疆和西藏，安全力量仍然严阵待命；过去数月，加强了对因特网的控制，像facebook
和twitter这样的社交网络网站被屏蔽：这些网站对最近伊朗动荡的报道吓到了中国的领导人。刘小宝，中国有名的异见者，他的律师已经知道他的当事人将面临颠覆国家罪的审判。显然，刘小宝的违法行为在于，他组织了要求更多民主的请愿。
Optimists in China have suggested that internal democracy could help
the party evolve into something like Japan's Liberal Democratic Party,
which ruled for 54 years with only a brief interruption until its
defeat this year. But that would happen only if party factions could
compete openly before facing the electorate. Mr Hu, for all his talk
of democracy, stresses the need to uphold the party's tradition of
"centralism"--following the leader, with no open dissent.
中国的乐观主义者建议，党内民主能使共产党发展成类似日本的自由民主党，该当连续执政了54年，直到今年才被打败。但是只有当党的各派系面对选民公开竞选，这才有可能实现。胡锦涛的所有关于民主的言论，都强调需要坚持党的"中央集权制"的传统----跟随党的领导，没有公开的异见者。
Party bosses can either choose their successors themselves or give the
members a say. They cannot do both.
是自己选择继承人，还是给党员发言权？党领导人应该只能二者择其一。
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