On July 31, 2012, the state-sponsored China Daily reported that President Hu Jintao had promoted six military officers to the rank of full general.
Among the promoted was Lieutenant General Liu Yazhou (刘亚洲). Liu was formerly deputy Political Commissar of the People's Liberation Army Air Force, prior to his promotion to Political Commissar of the National Defense University.
As the screenshot shows, on August 5, 2010, Phoenix Weekly (凤凰周刊, a publication of Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV) published an essay entitled "Western Discourses" (西部论) under the heading "General Liu Yazhou Composes 'Western Discourses' and Talks Openly About Strategies for Marching Westward" (刘亚洲中将撰“西部论”纵谈西进战略).
On August 11, 2010, foreign media such as Australia's The Age began reporting on the article.
These screenshots, taken on August 12, 2010, show that, on that morning, searches on Baidu and Yahoo.cn for "Liu Yazhou Western Discourses" (刘亚洲 西部论) were returning a large number of results. Less than 12 hours later, the same searches yielded the following results:
By August 13, 2010, Phoenix had removed the article from its website.
Baidu and Yahoo.cn are not currently censoring searches for "Liu Yazhou Western Discourses."
Excerpts From Liu Yazhou's "Western Discourses"
单靠金钱的力量，不但无法长期保有中国在境外的国家利益，甚至亦不能保有境内的平安稳定。迷信金钱力量的民族，是落后和愚昧的民族。无论是用于内政的安抚还是世界的拓展。拥有经济和文化及意识形态双重优势的民族，才是真正强盛的民族，才是值得拜服的、有感召力的民族。
________
决定民族命运的绝不仅仅是军事和经济力量，而主要取决于文明形式本身。民族的生存决定我们必须进行政治体制改革。人类社会，以十年为度，可见政治兴衰;以百年为度，可见社会兴衰;以千年为度，可以看到文明的兴衰。十年之内，一场由威权政治向民主政治的转型，不可避免地要发生。中国将会出现伟大的变局。政治体制改革是历史赋予我们的使命。我们不可能有退路。中国的改革走到今天，容易改的早已改尽，剩下的都是最困难的部分，每一步都要闯地雷阵。苏联的改革则是由难到易。他们已经走过了最难的一关。而中国最难的一关尚未过呢。苏联的教训任何时候都是中国的镜子。苏联的失败主要在于内因。它并没有被世界大战打垮，却在制度竞争中被打垮了。一个制度如果不能让公民自由地呼吸并最大程度地释放公民的创造力，不能把最能代表这个制度和最能代表人民的人放在领导岗位上，它就必然灭亡。当年苏联所有的问题都是体制上的问题。上层不能照旧生活下去，下层不能照旧统治下去。苏联也曾强调稳定，把稳定看成了目的，把维持现状看作实现稳定的手段，稳定压倒一切，金钱摆平一切，结果却激化了矛盾，一切反过来都可以压倒稳定。一个有着远大理想和抱负的民族，绝对不应迷信一时的金钱力量。它可以信赖的，首先是观念的力量。中国传统政治奠基于商鞅，粗成于秦始皇，大成于汉武帝。独尊儒术就是独尊皇权。正因为这种背景，使得百多年来中国多次借鉴西方的政治改革都半途而废。
________
美国成功的秘密不在于华尔街，也不在于硅谷，真正的秘密在于长盛不衰的法治和法治背后的制度。美国制度被诩为是“一种由天才们设计，使蠢才们可以运作的体系”。一种坏的制度能够使好人做坏事;一种好的制度也能够使坏人做好事。民主恐怕是极要紧的。没有民主，就没有持久的崛起。民主思想的传播不受国界限制，当然也不受历史限制。中国的精英们要有为后代寻找一条既符合中国国情又切实可行的制度的勇气。不一定要成为先烈，但一定要成为先驱。它可以信赖的，是真理的力量。真理即知识，知识即力量。中国不缺乏真理，中国缺乏容忍真理存在的土壤。
Among the promoted was Lieutenant General Liu Yazhou (刘亚洲). Liu was formerly deputy Political Commissar of the People's Liberation Army Air Force, prior to his promotion to Political Commissar of the National Defense University.
As the screenshot shows, on August 5, 2010, Phoenix Weekly (凤凰周刊, a publication of Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV) published an essay entitled "Western Discourses" (西部论) under the heading "General Liu Yazhou Composes 'Western Discourses' and Talks Openly About Strategies for Marching Westward" (刘亚洲中将撰“西部论”纵谈西进战略).
On August 11, 2010, foreign media such as Australia's The Age began reporting on the article.
These screenshots, taken on August 12, 2010, show that, on that morning, searches on Baidu and Yahoo.cn for "Liu Yazhou Western Discourses" (刘亚洲 西部论) were returning a large number of results. Less than 12 hours later, the same searches yielded the following results:
- Baidu: A notice saying "Search results may relate to content that violates relevant laws and policies, and have not been displayed."
- Yahoo.cn: A notice saying that it was unable to locate any relevant results.
By August 13, 2010, Phoenix had removed the article from its website.
Baidu and Yahoo.cn are not currently censoring searches for "Liu Yazhou Western Discourses."
Excerpts From Liu Yazhou's "Western Discourses"
Besides the power of money, what power has China's continuing economic strength and increasing growth brought? China's unprecedented ability to throw financial resources at large scale governance plans continues to increase, to the point where the old brand-name developed Western countries are left staring in disbelief. But having a lot of money only shows the growth of a nation's hard power. It does not show there has been any corresponding increase in soft power, because there are many problems that cannot be solved with a pile of money. Today, one thing that leads people to be anxious about Chinese society is that from top to bottom, anything is possible if you have money. There is a sense of enthusiasm that money can take care of anything. It brings with it a desire for instant gratification, a manner of believing and behaving as if it is acceptable to use money as a panacea, at the expense of ignoring the crucial details and improving how we are perceived. By using money to grease the wheels, you lie down with dogs, and you get up with fleas. You don't end up with people who share your values. In the end, often what you get is people scrambling for their own personal gain, and the price just keeps going up. An is example is the investing that China is doing in Africa. The way that Chinese businessmen use money to bribe officials at home had become endemic. But the ability of African governments to administer and control their societies can never compare with ours. The money makes life better for the officials, but it does not do anything for the average person, and it is common for local tribes of guerrillas to toss a bomb or send a letter to blackmail someone. In addition, using money to get things done not only makes the officials' appetites ever greater, it also makes the average people have an extremely negative impression of China's government and Chinese enterprises.
Relying solely on the power of money will not further China's national interests abroad over the long term. On the contrary, it cannot further domestic safety and stability. A people that blindly worships the power of money is a backward and fatuous people. No matter whether it is used to pacify domestic affairs or expand influence abroad. Only a people that has both cultural and ideological superiority, in addition to economic power, is a truly strong people, a people worthy of admiration, a people that can inspire others.除了金钱的力量，我们还有什么力量随着中国经济实力持续而强劲的增长，中国对事关国家大政方略的财政投入能力空前提高，甚至让西方老牌发达国家瞠目。但是，钱多了只意味着国家硬实力的增长，不意味着软实力有了相应提升，因为很多难题并不是只靠堆钱就可以解决。今天的中国社会，令人担忧的一个现象是，从上到下都洋溢着有钱好办事、钱能摆平一切的热情。它带来的是急功近利、用钱买路的逻辑和行为方式，完全忽视必不可少的长期细致工作，以及自我形象的提升。用钱开路，只有油水情而绝无鱼水情，换来的往往是顺水推舟、要价一路水涨船高。以中国在非洲的投资为例，中国商人在国内直接用钱向官员买路的行为方式，在这里被发挥到了淋漓尽致的程度。但是，非洲的政府对社会的治理能力和控制能力远无法与国内相比，钱只是摆平了官员却摆不平当地老百姓，当地部族游击队隔三岔五扔个炸弹或发一封恐吓信的事情经常发生。而且，金钱开道的方式不但使这些官员的胃口越来越大，也让当地百姓对中国政府、中国企业的形象极为反感。
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It is certainly not military and economic power that decides the fate of a people. Rather, it is decided by their inherent culture. Our survival dictates that we must institute structural reforms. A society can see alot of ups and downs in its government over the span of decade, a lot of ups and downs in society over the span of a century, and a lot of ups and downs in its culture over the span of a millennium. Within ten years, an authoritarian government will transform into a democratic government. This will inevitably happen. China will see great changes. Reforming the political system is our manifest destiny. We cannot retreat from it. We have picked off the low-hanging fruit of China's reforms long ago. What is left is the difficult part, and every step will be like charging through a mine field. The Soviet Union's reforms went from hard to easy. They have already been through the hard part. But China has not yet addressed its greatest difficulties. The lessons of the Soviet Union will always be a mirror for China. The Soviet Union's failure arose mainly from internal causes. It was not defeated in a world war, it was defeated by a competing system. If a system does not allow its citizens to breath freely and to release their innovative energies on a grand scale, if it cannot put people in leadership positions who best represent the people, then it must perish. The Soviet Union's problems were all systemic issues. The haves could not continue to live as before, and the have-nots could not continue to be dominated. The Soviet Union once stressed stability, and made stability a goal. It hoped to realize stability by maintaining the status quo. Stability overwhelmed everything else. Everything was done with money, and the result was contradictions were exacerbated, and everything worked to overpower stability. A people that is possessed of broad ideals and aspirations should not blindly worship the power of money. It must first and foremost put its faith in the power of ideas. China's traditional government has its roots with Shangyang, it was formed by the First Emperor of Qin, and found its apex in Han Wudi. To esteem Confucian learning is to esteem imperial power. It is precisely because of this background that for a century China has repeatedly failed to fully implement the lessons of Western political reforms.
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The secret of America's success lies neither in Wall Street nor in Silicon Valley. Its real secret is it has long possessed rule of law and a system that underlies that rule of law. People boast that the American system was "designed by geniuses so it could be run by idiots." A bad system can make good people do bad things, and a good system can allow bad people to do good things. I fear that democracy is essential. Without democracy, long term growth is impossible. Democratic ideals cannot be restricted by national borders. And of course it is not subject to historical restrictions. For the sake of future generations, China's best and brightest must have the courage to seek out a system that is both practical and suited to China's situation. They do not have to be martyrs, but they must be pioneers. It can have faith in the power of truth. Truth leads to knowledge, and knowledge leads to power. China is not lacking in truth, China is lacking soil that can tolerate the existence of truth.
单靠金钱的力量，不但无法长期保有中国在境外的国家利益，甚至亦不能保有境内的平安稳定。迷信金钱力量的民族，是落后和愚昧的民族。无论是用于内政的安抚还是世界的拓展。拥有经济和文化及意识形态双重优势的民族，才是真正强盛的民族，才是值得拜服的、有感召力的民族。
________
决定民族命运的绝不仅仅是军事和经济力量，而主要取决于文明形式本身。民族的生存决定我们必须进行政治体制改革。人类社会，以十年为度，可见政治兴衰;以百年为度，可见社会兴衰;以千年为度，可以看到文明的兴衰。十年之内，一场由威权政治向民主政治的转型，不可避免地要发生。中国将会出现伟大的变局。政治体制改革是历史赋予我们的使命。我们不可能有退路。中国的改革走到今天，容易改的早已改尽，剩下的都是最困难的部分，每一步都要闯地雷阵。苏联的改革则是由难到易。他们已经走过了最难的一关。而中国最难的一关尚未过呢。苏联的教训任何时候都是中国的镜子。苏联的失败主要在于内因。它并没有被世界大战打垮，却在制度竞争中被打垮了。一个制度如果不能让公民自由地呼吸并最大程度地释放公民的创造力，不能把最能代表这个制度和最能代表人民的人放在领导岗位上，它就必然灭亡。当年苏联所有的问题都是体制上的问题。上层不能照旧生活下去，下层不能照旧统治下去。苏联也曾强调稳定，把稳定看成了目的，把维持现状看作实现稳定的手段，稳定压倒一切，金钱摆平一切，结果却激化了矛盾，一切反过来都可以压倒稳定。一个有着远大理想和抱负的民族，绝对不应迷信一时的金钱力量。它可以信赖的，首先是观念的力量。中国传统政治奠基于商鞅，粗成于秦始皇，大成于汉武帝。独尊儒术就是独尊皇权。正因为这种背景，使得百多年来中国多次借鉴西方的政治改革都半途而废。
________
美国成功的秘密不在于华尔街，也不在于硅谷，真正的秘密在于长盛不衰的法治和法治背后的制度。美国制度被诩为是“一种由天才们设计，使蠢才们可以运作的体系”。一种坏的制度能够使好人做坏事;一种好的制度也能够使坏人做好事。民主恐怕是极要紧的。没有民主，就没有持久的崛起。民主思想的传播不受国界限制，当然也不受历史限制。中国的精英们要有为后代寻找一条既符合中国国情又切实可行的制度的勇气。不一定要成为先烈，但一定要成为先驱。它可以信赖的，是真理的力量。真理即知识，知识即力量。中国不缺乏真理，中国缺乏容忍真理存在的土壤。
