China’s Communist Party turns 100 this year. Expect mixed signals
There will be reassuring words for foreigners and radical ones for the audience at home
IN LATE MAY 1949, as China’s civil war neared a blood-soaked end, America’s consul-general in Shanghai, John Cabot, was startled when resident Western businessmen cheered the city’s capture by Communist soldiers. Foreign traders and factory bosses admired the discipline of the troops, who declined gifts of food and handed out notices in English promising safety for “normal” businesses.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Seizing the moment, cautiously”
From the January 23rd 2021 edition
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