Saturday, June 25, 2011
China’s government may be Communist, but that doesn’t mean the country as a whole is. Not by a long shot.
The latest figures on Chinese Communist Party (CCP) membership show that 80 million Chinese are members. That’s a lot of people—almost equal to the population of Germany.
But compared to China’s population of 1.3 billion? Party members make up only 6% of all Chinese.
The party added about two million new members in 2010, after 21 million applied to join.
People become members in order to get ahead professionally or politically, or to obtain perks such as health care and retirement benefits.
The CCP controls all media in China and those who openly criticize either its policies or its legitimacy are subject to arrest.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
China's Communist Party Members Exceed 80 Million (Associated Press)
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