Welcome to Foreign policy‘s China Letter.
This week’s highlights: A major newspaper blames the population Card game guanda for promoting official corruption, the United States removes a Chinese laser manufacturer from a Pentagon blacklist and two important publications crown a great summer for Chinese Video games.
The CCP’s informal ties
A major newspaper in China’s capital, the Beijing Youth Newspaperrecently launched a barrage of harsh criticism of a popular card game, blaming officials for guanda for laziness, conspiracies for personal gain and the building of corrupt relationships. The reporting is a change in tone that shows how easily things can become politicized in China these days.
Guandan was invented in Jiangsu province in the 1960s as an offshoot of another game. The provincial government has been trying to promote the game for years and declared it an intangible cultural heritage in 2014. Last year, Guandan’s popularity soared after it was featured on the 2023 Spring Festival Gala, China’s most-watched television program. It now has an estimated 140 million players nationwide.
Until now, the game seemed to receive only praise, being hailed as a better alternative to games like poker. In China, betting is seen as a persistent social evil and illegal gambling is widespread; crucially, Guandan is not necessarily about money. It is a trick-taking game that requires a lot of counting. Originally, the name meant “throwing bombs” but was gently softened to the equivalent “throwing eggs” (although the hands in the game are still referred to as bombs).
So why this sudden change? Over the past year, Guandan has also become a popular way to build relationships between Chinese officials and businesspeople – strengthening the kind of social connections that are strongly associated with corruption. The game has come to enjoy a status similar to that of Wall Street’s so-called lying poker among Chinese financial professionals, who are currently in the crosshairs of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Communist ideology regards factions within the party as one of the greatest political threats, which leads to regular campaigns against so-called cliques. Beijing Youth Newspaper Articles condemn Guandan as the cause of the emergence of “gangs,” “cliques,” and other such dangers. Other recreational activities in China have already been subjected to similar measures, including golf.
But like any organization, the CCP relies on connections beyond its normal hierarchies to function—especially given the party’s culture of secrecy and reluctance to share information through official channels. Since at least 2004, the party leadership has sought to introduce a “culture of transparency” to formally counteract the party’s opacity.
But in practice, secrecy is deeply rooted – and demands for transparency do not sit well with fears of espionage and increasing censorship.
As a result, informal politics within the CCP has often been more important than formal politics. Friendly personal relationships make it possible to get things done, but they also provide opportunities for officials to intrigue against their superiors and bypass hierarchies. This poses a particular danger for the party leadership as doubts about Xi Jinping’s rule have grown since the COVID-19 crisis and China’s economic downturn.
Consider also the shadow of former card player Deng Xiaoping, who used his social skills to build extensive networks despite being officially censured during the Cultural Revolution. Deng loved to play bridge and regularly met with other officials to gamble and scheme. These networks helped him plan the coup against the Gang of Four that ended the Maoist era, and eventually come to power himself. In his nominal retirement in the 1990s, when he was still in control of China, the only official title Deng retained was that of chairman of the China Bridge Association.
As political scientist Wen-Ti Sung pointed out last week, the Guandan ban is part of a pattern of placing blame for China’s faltering economy and poor governance on the failings of individual agencies rather than the leadership. “A leisure hobby is being politicized as a sign of economic unproductivity and political cronyism, which in turn is associated with poor performance and political corruption, which entails disobedience to the leadership’s demands for greater moral purity and discipline among the cadets,” Sung noted on X.
It is not yet clear what China’s top leadership’s position is on the issue of Guandan. Beijing Youth Newspaper is a relatively important channel, but it is not at the top of the hierarchy. An earlier shot at Guandan from the News from Beijing in January came to nothing. Some local newspapers have already expressed opposition, but the major media have not yet commented.
However, there are reports that internal bans have already been issued to officials, and people have shared an image of a purported form that is supposed to require officials to report cliques that form through gaming. It might be time for Chinese officials to get a new hobby. Have they tried studying Xi Jinping’s ideas together?
What we pursue
USA reverses decision to blacklist. The Financial Times on Monday reported that the U.S. Department of Defense will remove Chinese laser sensor maker Hesai from a blacklist after authorities ruled the company could not defend the ban in court. The company holds about 47 percent of the global market for LiDAR technology – an advanced form of detection that uses pulsed lasers instead of sound (as in radar).
Hesai was blacklisted in January under a 2021 US law targeting China’s so-called civil-military fusion strategy. Hesai immediately filed a lawsuit, but was not the first company to be removed from the list: Chinese phone maker Xiaomi had itself removed from the list in 2021.
On the one hand, this move is slightly embarrassing for the Pentagon, as it makes the original rationale for Hesai’s inclusion seem weak. On the other hand, it is a useful signal to Chinese companies that the list is not completely arbitrary and that they can take steps to avoid inclusion.
Russian banking bans. Banking between China and Russia is becoming increasingly difficult. Small Chinese banks that were once willing to work with Russian partners are increasingly pulling out due to US sanctions. Larger Chinese banks stopped trading after the US imposed further secondary sanctions last December.
The last resistance only became active after the extension of further sanctions in June; smaller banks are now quickly following suit. Russian newspaper Commersant reports that around 80 percent of bank transfers between the two countries flow back to Russia. The changes have led to a yuan liquidity crisis in Russia, and banks are trying to make up the shortfall through third-party maneuvers.
Technology and Economy
Release of video games. It’s a big summer for Chinese video games – one of the country’s biggest, if often beleaguered, markets. Audiences love video games, while the CCP, as always, fears fun and often targets the industry. This means that although Chinese firms, particularly Tencent, have invested heavily in foreign studios, China has produced few global hits.
The exception is Genshin Influencean extremely popular Gacha game, a genre that originated in Japan. These games are free to play, but players are encouraged to purchase randomly selected loot boxes that provide in-game benefits. For Genshin Influencewhich has generated revenues of over 5 billion dollars. The publisher’s successor, Zenless Zone Zerowas released last month and has already gained a considerable player base and rave reviews.
But the release of the long-awaited Black Myth: Wukong Next week there could be a real breakthrough. Black Mythbased on the much-loved character of the Monkey King (Sun Wukong), is the first major pitch from a Chinese studio for a global AAA game – big-budget and slickly produced like a blockbuster movie. Early previews of the game are good, though the studio’s sexist past could draw criticism.
Breakthrough in electric vehicles. China hit a green technology milestone in July when electric and hybrid vehicles overtook internal combustion engine vehicles in sales for the first time. China, the world’s largest auto market, has invested heavily in electric vehicles, helping to drive down prices despite fierce competition – giving them a sales boost despite overall weak auto sales this summer.
FP’s most read articles this week
A bit of culture
Throughout Chinese history, most people listened to famous stories rather than read them. Literacy in China was often relatively high for a pre-modern society, but storytellers were the norm and attracted audiences from all walks of life. Below, Ming Dynasty writer Zhang Dai (1597-1684) describes the skills of one such sought-after master of the storytelling art.—Brendan O’Kane, translator
Extract from Dream memories
By Zhang Dai
Liu Jingting of Nanjing had a dark, pockmarked face, a relaxed demeanor, a disdain for all pretense and affectation, and a rare talent for storytelling. He told one episode a day, charged an ounce of silver as a fee, and had to be booked – with advance payment – ten days in advance. Even this was subject to availability, which (since he was one of Nanjing’s two most sought-after artists, along with the singer Wang Yuesheng) was rare.
I once heard him tell the story of how the outlaw Wu Song slew the tiger on Jingyang Mountain. It was very different from the version in the book. Liu described every detail vividly and precisely, not a word too many, in a voice that sounded like a giant bell, and at key moments he let out a roar that shook the rafters. When Wu Song reaches the inn and finds there is no one to serve him, Liu roars so wildly that all the empty pots and jars are still ringing after he’s finished.
Even the parts where nothing happened were vividly narrated by him.
Liu did not open his mouth until his hosts sat quietly listening with bated breath, and if there was the slightest hint of whispering among the servants, or a sign of yawning or waning interest among the listeners, he immediately stopped speaking and refused all requests to continue. He often continued his stories well after midnight, while the servants wiped the tables, trimmed the lamps, and served tea in tasteful porcelain cups.
Liu’s pacing and intonation were always perfectly matched to the characters and their situations, and if you could have grabbed any other storyteller in the world and pulled them by the ears to listen to him, I’m sure they would have been speechless, if not dead with amazement.
