“Document number 9 – what’s that?” you ask. Recently I was watching a couple of videos about modern life in China. The videos were quite revealing concerning how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese government control so much of the life of the Chinese people. One video explained how the government has expanded its technical networks for tracking people’s activities on the internet and using closed circuit TV cameras in the large cities. Utilizing internet algorithms, face recognition software, license plate reading cameras, and other high tech methods, they can keep close tabs on their citizens almost anywhere.
In case you did not know, China’s government and nearly every public institution is controlled by the CCP. The CCP was founded in 1921 by Mao Zedong (1893-1976) and gained total power in the country after World War II in 1949 with the help of the Soviet Union. Today the party has about has about 96 million members. the total population of China is about 1.4 billion (now in second place behind India). That means that less than 8% of the population rules over everyone else. Actually real political power rests in a small group of 35 CCP leaders called the State Council. But even above them is one individual who sets all policy for the country. He is the CCP General Secretary, Government President, and Supreme Military Leader: Xi Jinping (b. June 15, 1953).
One of the videos I watched mentioned something called “Document Number 9” (dated Nov. 2013) as the foundational legal basis for all these Orwellian precepts. I was curious as to what that document actually said (I couldn’t find anything about documents 1-8 if there were any). I found Number 9 online and noticed four basic mandates it espoused for all members of the CCP. They are as follows with abbreviated explanations directly from the document and my interpretations.
1. Strengthen leadership in the ideological sphere. Leaders at all levels of government, you must strengthen your sense of responsibility—make work in the ideological sphere a high priority in your daily agenda.
My interpretation: This essentially means that all CCP members and government officials are to make it their priority to uphold and promote whatever the ideological party line happens to be at any specific time (that is, whatever Xi Jinping says it is).
2. Guide our party members and leaders to distinguish between true and false theories. Forcefully resist influential and harmful false tides of thoughts, help people distinguish between truth and falsehood, and solidify their understanding.
My interpretation: This means that whatever the CCP says (as stated by Xi Jinping) is true about anything, cannot be denied, and they must uphold it. Anything that is contrary must be suppressed.
3. Unwavering adherence to the principle of the Party’s control of media. We need to strengthen education on the Marxist perspective of media to ensure that the media leadership is always firmly controlled by someone who maintains an identical ideology with the Party’s Central Committee, under General Secretary Xi Jinping’s leadership.
My interpretation: The CCP has total control of all media: print, TV, radio, internet, etc. Whatever is presented by the media must strictly adhere to the party’s ideological line (i.e. what Xi Jinping says it is).
4. Conscientiously strengthen management of the ideological battlefield. We must reinforce our management of all types and levels of propaganda on the cultural front, perfect and carry out related administrative systems, and allow absolutely no opportunity or outlets for incorrect thinking or viewpoints to spread.
My interpretation: The CCP has as its primary function to enforce ideological propaganda (whatever they say is the truth) in every area of culture and society. These include education, the arts, science, the media, health care, the military, business, and international relations. It also includes the strict suppression of all religion. For several decades Christianity has been rapidly growing in China. But under the harsh regime of Xi Jinping, the CCP will do all it can to eradicate it.
So what does Document Number 9 have to do with worldview? Everything. Marxism (communism) is perhaps the worst expression of the worldview of Naturalism. It is the belief that there is no God or supernatural dimension to the universe. Marxists believe that history is on an inevitable course toward a communist society. This is basically what Xi Jinping believes (as filtered through his own peculiar “thought”). As such he is determined that China will become the world’s dominant economic and military power by the middle of 21st century. He sees the United States as the only real hindrance to that goal.
This is another issue that Christians will face in the coming years. As secularism grows in this country and the western world, Xi Jinping and the CCP intends to fill the gap with Marxist philosophy. This why we must do all we can to spread the truth of Christ in our country and around the world in this generation.