Political week

Now that the US elections is behind us I'm sure everyone's attention has turned to the 18th National Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.  What!  This isn't the case. Okay so I am not that informed on the meeting either but given that we are in the country it seems like a good idea to get educated. Here is the Wikipedia write-up if you want to learn more yourself: 18th_National_Congress_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China

For streaming information from the Congress (in English) you can go to this website: 18th National Congress. Also, here is a funny link I came across this morning: Chinese Electoral Map.  If you want to get an inside perspective on and about China the Sinocism daily newsletter is a good resource.  I attempt to read it everyday although it can be extensive, however I always learn something.  You can find it at sinocism.com.  No link, I know you can make it if you want too.

The Congress will consist of 2200+ of China's top movers and Shakers gathering in Beijing's Great Hall of the People to elect the top leadership of the Communist Party set policy for the next five years, as the Congress is held every five years.  This has been taking place every five years since 1977.  The first Congress was held in 1921 when a very few members of the Party met (including a 21 year-old Mao Zedong).  At the time the Party had only about 60 members in the whole country.  Today membership stand at just over 82 million, which in a country of 1.3 billion seemed a little low but I'm still learning about what party membership means.  All told it should be an interesting week and I'm looking forward to learning more about how politics work here in China.

We were asked not to venture into the city as the Congress will last through the weekend and most likely most of next week (if not longer).  Our hosts are very protective of us, so please do not be alarmed.  From one of my co-workers I was told it's no big deal you just need to make sure you carry your ID.  Leaving the city is especially not difficult it is entering the city that there is extra scrutiny to ensure one's identity.  On that note, I have been quite surprised with the ease of movement in China.  On our fall trip to Shanghai we even traveled under a false name because train tickets are bought up early by travel agents so they can re-sell them, which requires the travel agents to buy the tickets in names other than the end user.  The only time we need our ID (passports) was to check into hotels.  We were told we would need them to leave the train station in Beijing but this turned our not to be the case.  Not sure what I was expecting but it has been a quite pleasant.  Just don't get Julie started on the mosquito's that have managed to survive the first freeze.

-Ryan