Last week I posted a short piece by my friend who hadn’t joined the Party. Today brings us a post from his best friend who did join the Party. Again I have left it unedited, so I hope it is still understandable. His article was a bit longer, so I will be posting more of it over the next few days.
Why I Joined the Communist Party
I find that joining the party for me is quite a natural way during my personal development. Because when little, every kid was encouraged to join the Young Pioneer, and then when we reach our teens, it means that we are doing very well in every field if you could join the Communist Youth League earlier which is under the direct leadership of the Party.
In the first two stages, I applied for the membership mostly because that I was taught that it would be a glorious achievement which could make myself proud and appreciated. After I became an undergraduate, it was totally up to me to decide whether to apply, even though some of the student party organizations would try to persuade you to.
I thought about it for a moment, because it was a very huge decision to make. But to my knowledge, those who had joined the party were really good students, who were doing well not only in studying but also popular in some other fields, and most importantly, they were nice and promising guys. It is not that non-party members are not as great, but people are watching and will judge. So you have to be role models or respectable or at least lovable. So I filed my application. And to be frank I became more self-disciplined ever since.
Actually, one thing that bothered me a little before I sent in the application was that it was said it would not be easy for a party member to go abroad. You have to conceal your political background so as to get a visa, especially for some “unfriendly” nations. I didn’t know whether it was true or just hearsay, but to someone who’s interested in English, it was bugging.
If you pay close attention to what I have written above you will find words like “taught”, “encouraged” and “persuade”. In China the Party has established a comprehensive educational system and an overall propaganda organ (Tom’s Note: Propaganda does not carry a negative connotation in China) from primary schools to universities, from each neighborhood to the nation as a whole. We learn to find that the Party is the representative of being good. If you read some literary works about early days, you would find that people truly regard the organization as holy, because it brought great changes to this land.
My parents are still and always grateful for what the Party and Mao have helped us achieve. So the party is not only a political entity, it is also a symbol of being outstanding, being decent and virtuous.
continued tomorrow
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