Chinese leader decries speechifying - in long-winded speech

It has been quite a while since the Communist party of China has been really revolutionary, but Vice President Xi Jinping evidently intends to shake things up.

Party officials, he decreed in a speech published Sunday, should rid their speeches and documents of “empty words” and political jargon.

If that happened, most Chinese party hacks would be left literally speechless. Empty words and political jargon are standard fare in a political culture where the longer you speak the more important you must be.

That attitude spreads beyond politics in China. A former teacher I know recalls speeches by the chairman of her start-of-term school’s board of governors that lasted an entire day, broken only for lunch.

“I would just take a book,” she remembers. “Everyone knows you are not expected to listen, you are just expected to sit there to show respect.”

That was pretty much what delegates to the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament, were doing in March, as they sat through Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s annual work report. That lasted a droning two hours and two minutes, although that was pithy compared to the hours-long speeches that Mao Zedong would sometimes indulge in.

Mr. Xi, heir apparent to President Hu Jintao, told new students at the Party School of the Central Committee that they should deliver “short, concise, and straightforward speeches” using “colloquial idiom,” according to Xinhua, the official news agency.

So what do you make of this? “We need to commit ourselves to the Scientific Outlook on Development that puts the people first and focuses on comprehensive, balanced, and sustainable development. We need to handle the issue of environment and development extremely seriously and with a historic sense of mission, and need to adhere to the path of sustainable development.”

Yes, you’ve guessed it. That was Xi addressing a conference last month. Perhaps the revolution is not around the corner after all.

Related links:

• China’s congress follows the script, literally
• China's annual Congress: seen one, seen 'em all
• China news coverage