Chinese-language outlet Baodian Times has set off another "bombshell": why did Hu Chunhua bring a copy of the Party Constitution to the CCP's Fifth Plenum?
How did Baodian Times reporters spot a copy of the Party Constitution on Hu Chunhua's desk in CCP state TV (CCTV) footage, when it was so easy to miss? Because of an earlier exclusive from Du Wen, a former senior CCP legal official living in Europe, who said Hu Chunhua did not attend the plenum's opening session.
CCP state TV (CCTV) footage shows a copy of the CCP Constitution in front of Hu Chunhua.
So when CCTV finally released video of the plenum, and everyone could see Hu Chunhua in it, the reporters had to work out one thing: was this footage from the opening session, or the closing one?
Going over the footage as if with a magnifying glass, the reporters finally found that "inconspicuous" copy of the Party Constitution.
Yet this small booklet landed like a thunderclap and set off even more debate.
Standalone booklet edition of the CCP's Party Constitution.
Du Wen called it "one man alone, holding the Party Constitution and taking on Xi Jinping." Some said, "At a Party meeting, Hu Chunhua was the only one with the Party Constitution on his desk. That is a strong signal he will be the next General Secretary!" Others gasped: isn't this exactly what Liu Shaoqi did when he held up the Constitution? Is Hu openly risking his life?
Liu Shaoqi was China's head of state under Mao. When Red Guards persecuted him during the Cultural Revolution, he held up a copy of China's constitution and argued that it protected his rights as a citizen. It didn't save him. He died in custody in 1969.
In my humble opinion, bringing a copy of the Party Constitution to a plenum is certainly highly unusual. As for what he meant by it, whether a "subtle" challenge to Xi Jinping, open defiance, or simply a need to look something up during the plenum, only he knows.
For a long time, many prominent overseas Chinese commentators have kept bringing up Hu Chunhua's name. Some have even sworn that Hu, backed by Party elders and the military, will replace Xi and drive him from power. When CCP state media used the phrase "春华秋实", "spring blossoms, autumn fruit", in a headline, some read it as a hint that Hu Chunhua was about to rise, because "Chunhua" means "spring blossoms." Even if Hu Chunhua were arrested tomorrow, someone would probably say the military is secretly plotting to rescue him and put him in charge.
Hu Chunhua was once widely seen as the CCP's future top leader, a "crown prince" groomed under Hu Jintao, to whom he is not related. At the 2022 Party Congress, Xi dropped him from the Politburo altogether and gave him a largely ceremonial post. That is why the Chinese internet calls him the "deposed crown prince."
In fact, at this point many people don't really care whether these stories are true. They simply want so badly for China to change, and for Xi to go as soon as possible. As the "deposed crown prince," Hu Chunhua is the one person who can be brought up again and again to give some people an emotional lift, even "hope."
That is why every appearance, or absence, of Hu Chunhua draws so much attention.
There's an old Chinese saying: "All under Heaven have long suffered under Qin," Qin being the tyrannical dynasty that was eventually overthrown. When will change finally come?
I believe the real hope lies in people's hearts.
How many people truly see the CCP for what it is? How many are willing, and brave enough, to face its evil head-on, expose it, resist it in every way they can, even find ways to bring it down?
On the surface, the CCP has pushed the terror of digital totalitarianism to the limit, and any resistance looks futile.
But think of the old Chinese fable of "The Foolish Old Man Who Moved the Mountains." Two huge mountains, Taihang and Wangwu, blocked the old man's door. He set out to dig them away with his sons, basket by basket, saying that his descendants would carry on after him for as many generations as it took. The neighbors laughed at him. But did he really move those mountains himself?
Of course not. It was because he had the resolve and took action that the Emperor of Heaven was moved and had the mountains carried away.
The West has a similar fable. In Aesop's "Hercules and the Wagoner," a man's cart gets stuck in the mud. He kneels and begs Hercules for help, and Hercules tells him: "Put your shoulder to the wheel, and then call on me." Heaven helps those who help themselves.
It may look like there is little any one of us can do. But each of us can set our own heart right. If we lack even the will to see through the CCP, resist it and fight it, and take no action at all, why would Heaven move those "mountains" out of our way?
So, rather than pinning our hopes on someone else, let's help ourselves. And give the 'Hu Chunhua' speculation a rest for a few days.
Source: Baodian Times (@baodiantimes)
https://baodiantimes.com/article/wu-zhong-quan-hui-shi-pin-xie-lu-jing-ren-xi-jie-hu-chun-hua-7a5e39fc4c944ac28f50b7f8527765a4.html
Read on X:
https://x.com/jenniferzeng97/status/2115970162679492746
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