| Pragmatists, Pragmatic Rightists,
Neoconservatives, or Socialists:
What Should We Call the Current Leadership in China?
by Satya J. Gabriel
Now that the 16th Congress of the Communist
Party of China
"The ceaseless permutations of the myriad
things-and-beings all, without exception, occur because of the
intermingling of yin and yang. Modern science likewise explains the
production of the myriad phenomena as transformations of yin and
yang. That is to say, science tells us that the fundamental constituent
of matter is atoms. The core of the atom is, furthermore, formed from the
association of two kinds of "kernels." The first of these is the hydrogen
atomic kernel, which carries positive (yang) electricity; it is called the
proton. The other "kernel" carries negative (yin) electricity, and is
called the electron. All of the transformations of the myriad
things-and-beings are, without exception, due to the separations and
unions of atoms. But the separations and unions of atoms are, without
exception, due to the movings and flowings of yin and yang. The statement
of the Change, "now yin, now yang: this is called the Tao," is
understandable in terms of this phenomenon: it is the stirrings of yin
and yang that produce union of the sexes, distinction between hardness and
softness, difference between movement and stillness, change from life to
death. The myriad phenomena in Heaven-and-Earth (i.e. the universe) are
never for a moment unchanging.
has concluded and it is clear that the leadership, which I have herein
called the pragmatists or pragmatic rightists (or whatever) has solidified
its control over the government, we must ponder the question of who these
people are, not in terms of their resumes but in terms of their underlying
political/social/economic philosophy.
Copyright © 2002 Satya J. Gabriel, Mount Holyoke College. All
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