Why China’s students now face a longer long march to join the Communist Party

July 31, 2023 Media Library

Yet the long march of Wu and his future comrades is becoming more difficult. They have been facing a stricter political review in the past few years, according to party committee instruction documents on the websites of various Chinese universities.

Visitors to the Museum of the Communist Party of China pose for photos holding party flags. There is no shortage of people applying to join the Communist Party, despite a stricter screening process. Photo: AP

In Xi’s keynote speech to the party’s disciplinary apparatus in January, he told anti-corruption watchdogs to “strengthen the education, management and supervision of young cadres” and ensure they “fasten the first button in their political career right”.

Xie said the Communist Party was “in no hurry” to cross the 100 million-member mark, as it had already achieved a critical mass to cover every aspect of China. Instead, the party was having “a clearer focus on quality” as it faced struggles with internal and external pressures.

“As the United States and its allies are determined to fracture China’s rise, we will continue to see unprecedented challenges. The party needs fresh blood who can stand firm, stay loyal and perform well under pressure,” Xie said.

“Those who join the party to climb the power ladder will become the party’s liability in the long run, as they will fall for temptations and become the weakest link. Besides the disciplinary committee’s sweeping anti-corruption works to catch the corrupted elements who are already in the system, the organisation department has also tightened the front-end screening process in recent years to filter out those who have shown signs of weakness.”

A party official who handles university recruitment said that besides the direction of going for quality, Covid-19 was part of the reason for the drop in recruitment of the youngest members.

“All party organs were called in to control the spread of the pandemic, including the organisation department. It caused some delay in approval of applications because some party committees could not meet due to social distancing measures,” the source said.

“Also, many applicants were put to the test in the Covid-19 control works. While most of them did well, we did see people who were not fully prepared to go through the thick and thin with the party during critical periods,” he said.

A Beijing-based political researcher said the screening of prospective party members was going to be further tightened after a slew of Chinese universities saw students protesting against the country’s strict Covid-19 controls in November.

“This is regarded as a political struggle as Beijing indicated there are elements of ‘colour revolution’. Those who are found to have taken part in the protests will have problems to clear their political review,” said the researcher, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The Communist Party leadership is focusing on quality rather than quantity for new members as it faces both internal and external pressures. Photo: AFP

Meanwhile, party applicant Ray Wu said that despite the long process, there was no shortage of people hoping to join the party in his school, despite the problems party membership can cause those who plan to spend time overseas – especially in the US – to further their studies.

In fact, the number of applications to join the party has remained high. Official numbers show that nearly 21 million people submitted applications in 2022, around 300,000 more than the previous year.

“I know a few friends who withdrew their applications to join the party after deciding to go for further studies in the US, because they will be asked if they are party members when applying for a visa. But they are not the majority. Party membership is very important for those who are staying in China. It is a prerequisite to most government jobs,” Wu said.

Party membership is listed as almost a requirement for undertaking xuan diao sheng exams – a term referring to students who will be selected by the Communist Party’s personnel department to fill vacancies at the grass-roots level.

The unemployment rate for those aged 16-24 hit a new high of 21.3 per cent in June, up from 20.8 per cent the previous month. So such “iron rice bowl” jobs have become very attractive to graduating students. They are also seen as the best way to start a career in China’s public administration system.

Despite the drop in campus recruitments, the party still had a net increase of 1.3 million members, a 1.4 per cent growth, pushing total membership past 98 million last year. This accounts for around 7 per cent of the nation’s population, and makes it the second largest political party by number in the world.

It is a long way from the Communist Party’s beginnings in 1921, when there were just 58 members at its founding, according to party historians.