When I interviewed non-party members, including Chinese officials, intellectuals, college students, businessmen, workers, and peasants, I asked them whether they were interested in joining the party.  95 percent answered "no."  The reason is very simple: the reform movement has opened up many ways for the Chinese people to reach their goals.  Becoming a party member is only one of the ways and is increasingly viewed as an uncertain guarantee of success.  In order to have a stable and good life, most Chinese people believe that three things-intelligence, education, and money-are the most important.  The slogan of "time is money" already has become popular.  The Chinese people look upon party activities as an "extra tax."  They like to spend their time not on party activities, but on receiving education, making money, and having fun.  When I asked them the question: "Why don't you join the party?"  They always answered my question with a question: "Why do I need to join the party?"  Since they are capable of making their life comfortable without dang piao, they do not like to be restricted by the political and spiritual shackles of membership.  Obviously, dang piao is no longer attractive to the Chinese people, especially to the talented elite and the younger generation.  Under these circumstances, the party must persuade people to become party members through different means, including reducing the requirements for membership.  Nonetheless, it is still not easy for the party to increase its membership.  I found that people who have less education, fewer professional skills and less money, are more interested in becoming party members.  

All of this will create problems in the future.  A party that cannot recruit the elite of Chinese society will have a great deal of difficulty remaining the governing body of China .

 

Jinghao Zhou is an assistant professor of Asian studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges .