You would think that Marxists in established communist and socialist countries would want to stay in their communist utopias. That Marxists in America would leave to live in Communist China. But Marxists from around the world are choosing to come here. To America.
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Let’s examine that.
There is a fairly recent article by an outspoken Chinese sociologist that has gone viral. This is noteworthy because it appeared on Beijing’s tightly-controlled social media. The article is sparking debates about the children of China’s privileged class. It is an inconvenient truth. Perhaps even an embarrassment, but many of them choose to live overseas.
The author is Zheng Yefu. He is a retired sociology professor from China’s prestigious Peking University. He observes that the Chinese Communist Party maintains its grip on power to better serve the ruling elite. Their children, at the same time, are choosing to “vote with their feet.” The next generation is taking-up permanent residence in western countries.
Who is taking flight?
The exact number of children of China’s Communist Party leaders who chose to live overseas is unknown. Certainly, there have been high profile children who have sought degrees in top tier American universities. For example, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s only daughter, Xi Mingze, was educated at Harvard.
Two of the party’s last three top leaders, former President Zhao Ziyang and Jiang Zemin, had grandchildren who attended Harvard. Jia Qinglin, a former member of the Politburo Standing Committee, the party’s highest ruling organ, had a granddaughter at Stanford. The now-disgraced former Chongqing party star Bo Xilai is the father of Bo Guagua, who had attended Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
The Washington Post reports at least five of the nine members of the last Politburo Standing Committee have children or grandchildren who study or studied in the United States. The Washington-based Migration Policy Institute notes in a report; affluent and educated elites are the main force driving emigration from China to the U.S. Isn’t it curious Marxists of the world are taking flight from the heaven they have created?
So is this the opinion of one person or a growing recognition?
The China-based wealth research firm Hurun Research Institute reports more than a third of rich Chinese “are currently considering” emigrating to another country. They are pursuing better education systems elsewhere. They are fleeing the country’s polluted cities and strict government. Additionally, they are protecting their wealth.
Zheng Yefu writes that China has spent billions of dollars to “maintain stability.” They do so in order to “safeguard the country created by the great Communist Party.” Zheng argues the effort is mainly aimed at protecting the country’s privileged class. The concern is family and passing those economic and political advantages on to their children.
The children of a number of Communist Party leaders seem to be indifferent to the idea of inheriting their parents’ political power. They are voting with their feet and moving to western countries, particularly the U.S. They don’t love the power, they love America. Clearly the implication is they love the freedom China does not afford. Marxists of the world are taking flight for reasons we should be teaching in our schools.
Why do they vote with their feet?
He points out there are several reasons for this change of mind from their fathers and grandfathers. Those reasons include a worsening environment for freedom of speech and movement. There is also a general dissatisfaction with the previous generation’s way of seizing and maintaining power.
Zheng notes, after China’s opening up in 1978, people have the chance to go abroad more freely. Benefiting from that policy, some of these elites decide to stay in western countries after comparing the two ways of life.
China observer Zan Aizong says one of the reasons these elites decide to emigrate is they feel they have no way to change China.
Zan said, “If China has democracy, constitution, the rule of law, human rights and universal value, then although there’re problems, they could stay and try to fix it. But if they see there’s no way to change the current status, they would just give up. Vote with their feet.”
Rights activist Hu Jia said that there’s another reason. If they choose to stay and fight for their positions in the party, there are huge risks involved.
“For the second or third generation reds, if you lose in the power struggle, you are going to lose everything. Compare that to your opportunity to live a peaceful life in a free and democratic environment… So for some, they choose to stay away from the mess.”