Chinese President Xi Jinping has pointed out, "To understand China today, one must learn to understand the Communist Party of China (CPC)." With the rapid development of China's economy and society, and the steady advancement of the Chinese path to modernization, the notable achievements of the CPC have drawn extensive international attention and scholarly interest. Against this backdrop, the Global Times has launched the "CPC in Global Eyes" column, focusing on the feelings, perspectives and insights of international friends from various fields regarding the CPC's historical path and achievements.
They include those who have toured China, who deeply study the CPC in academic fields, who work, live, study, seek employment or do business in various sectors in China, and those who, though having not visited China in person, pay close attention to the CPC's policies and trends. Through their vivid personal experiences, we aim to present a multifaceted overseas view of the CPC.
In this second installment of the series, we talk to South African sinologist Paul TEMBE, who, after two decades of interaction with China, sees the CPC not as a mere political party but as Chinese society's "engine and DNA." His perspective deepened after visiting the Red Flag Canal in Central China's Henan Province, where he witnessed how CPC officials and ordinary people struggled shoulder to shoulder against nature, leading him to conclude that "the interests of the CPC and the Chinese people have never been separated."
"The Communist Party of China (CPC) is not just a political structure, it is a 'social mechanism,' the engine or DNA woven into society. You cannot separate the CPC from the Chinese people. It is the engine or the DNA that if you remove, then there's nothing," 63-year-old South African scholar and sinologist Paul TEMBE shared with the Global Times in Johannesburg, as a quiet certainty glints in his eyes.
His Chinese name, "Tan Zheli," means "to discuss philosophy" - a name that seems to foretell his life's mission: to cross cultural and geographical barriers in search of the core code behind a ruling party's enduring vitality.
At a time when parts of the Western world remain steeped in stereotypes and ideological biases against China, this scholar from the African continent has spent nearly a quarter of a century delving into China's historical context and contemporary practices, from which he truly understands the profound connotation of why the CPC can represent the interests of the people and be supported by them.
Red Flag Canal - a profound shock to the soul
For TEMBE, what truly illuminated the essence of the CPC wasn't found in economic data, but in the stories from a place called Red Flag Canal in Anyang, Central China's Henan Province, famous for its 1,500-kilometre canal dug on steep crags by thirsty villagers half a century ago.
The canal was carved out on the Taihang Mountains in the 1960s, after villagers mobilized themselves for the project to ensure the water supply to drought-ridden Linzhou. No heavy machinery was used in digging the waterway, whose length exceeds the distance between London and Vienna.
The canal was initially designed to be used for 20 years, but is still in service. The site, also a popular attraction, has inspired generations of Chinese with a spirit of hard work and devotion.
Visiting this monumental irrigation system, TEMBE learned of the 1960s struggle against drought, where ordinary villagers - armed with little more than hammers and chisels - spent a decade defying cliffs and exhaustion to bring water to their arid land.
"They told me how workers tied ropes around their waists to dangle from cliffs, their bellies grinding against jagged stone until thick calluses formed. The county Party secretary swung a sledgehammer until his palms were raw and blistered with blood, yet he never stopped," TEMBE recalled.
"What impressed me most is that officials received even half grain ration of the masses each day, insisting, 'The people come first.' Leaders lived in the same thatched huts, ate the same cornmeal porridge and slept on the same dirt floors as the villagers," he continued.
"In that moment," TEMBE said, "I understood: The CPC is not above the people - it is the people. Public and private interests are not opposed; they are fused. Public good takes precedence, but never at the expense of human dignity. This unity of purpose - this willingness to suffer together, to build together - is the essence of the CPC's ability to continually rejuvenate and innovate."
Philosophically, he reflects, China views collective will as the ultimate force. "The Red Flag Canal is not just a canal," TEMBE told the Global Times. "It is a living testament: China views public and private interests as complementary rather than oppositional, with public interest taking precedence." This unity of purpose, he told the Global Times, is the essence of the CPC's ability to continually rejuvenate and innovate.
Decades of living and studying in China have given TEMBE a unique vantage point to observe firsthand how the CPC's governing philosophy translates into tangible social development in today's Chinese society.
"'Serve the People,' at its core, is a governance philosophy centered on the people. A policy has no reason to exist if it doesn't bring prosperity to the people," said TEMBE, who has personally witnessed three tangible manifestations of this in China. "First, the step-by-step eradication of poverty, which I saw with my own eyes. Second, rapid industrialization fueled by export-oriented growth that pulled many people out of difficult circumstances. Third, the government provided institutional support and assistance for the rural population to migrate to cities and join the industrial workforce."
For TEMBE, "putting the people first" means turning governance concepts into tangible benefits for the public. He sees the CPC's commitment to serving the people not as a slogan, but as pragmatic practice that is centered on advancing people's interests, embodying the Party's representation of the people's fundamental needs.
Inspired by early red classics
TEMBE began to conduct in-depth research on the CPC's philosophy when he was pursuing his PhD at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, with his dissertation centering on Chairman Mao's "Three Constantly Read Articles": In Memory of Norman Bethune, Serve the People and The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains, all of which are early political works written by Chairman Mao Zedong before 1949.
Why do these pieces, written amid the flames of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-1945) captivate an African scholar? "One thing that has always fascinated me about China," TEMBE explains, "is its use of concise maxims, pithy nuggets of wisdom - some might even call them slogans. In most parts of the world, such language emerges only during times of war, revolution, or social crisis. Yet in China, since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, even after more than fifty years, the same expressions endure. Why?"
His research provided the answer: These are not empty slogans, but structural logic for building society, rooted deeply in thousands of years of Chinese civilizational tradition. "For example," he continues, "whenever you encounter a proverb, idiom, or aphorism, you can trace its origins back to one of the ancient dynasties."
He cites "seventy people share one meal" as an example - a symbol of unity in hardship - whose echoes can be found at the origins of these texts. He sees a clear lineage: From Confucian rituals, to ancient China's shift from hereditary privilege to merit-based selection, to post-1949 gender equality reforms - all underpinned by a tradition of "adapting while preserving the core." And the CPC is the finest inheritor and promoter of this tradition.
Based on this understanding, TEMBE particularly admires the CPC's capacity for "self-renewal." He observes, "In many parts of the world, you find aristocracy or so-called democracy. In contrast, China is consistently and diligently committed to a process of self-correction."
He cites the reform and opening-up of the 1980s as a prime example: "It began as a pilot program in Shenzhen. Once successful, the model was adopted across the entire nation."
He notes that since the launch of reform and opening-up in 1978, the living standards of China's 1.4 billion people have quadrupled. "From the bicycle-dominated streets of the late 1970s to today's global leadership in electric vehicles, from the deserts of Central China's Anyang transformed into forests to the clear skies over Beijing - step by step. Today, China is advancing an even deeper phase of reform and opening-up." In his view, the recent anti-corruption campaigns are another classic example of this self-correction. They serve as a crucial mechanism to ensure that "during periods of intense political production, the elites do not forget the fundamental importance of practical production for the people."
Finding own path to modernization
After graduating with his PhD in 2013, TEMBE devoted himself fully to cross-cultural communication and research. In 2018, he founded a think tank dedicated to spreading authentic Chinese culture in Africa and promoting exchanges between Chinese and African young scholars.
Regarding the four global initiatives proposed by the Chinese leader, TEMBE believes they share many common threads with Africa's development goals. "China is now ready to share its wealth." He regards the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative, and the Global Governance Initiative as embodying this shift. Chinese path to modernization breaks the myth that modernization equals Westernization and displays a different vision for modernization, expanding the choices for developing countries in their modernization journey, he noted.
For African countries like South Africa, TEMBE believes the most critical lesson from China is using rural revitalization as a pathway to poverty alleviation. "Most post-colonial nations suffer from what I call 'arrested development' - their industries were built to extract wealth for European powers, not to benefit local people."
In TEMBE's view, one of the CPC's greatest achievements is its pioneering of a unique modernization path, which he terms a "non-contradictory opposites" development model. "What makes Chinese modernization, or modernization with Chinese characteristics, so distinctive?" he asks. "You do not need to sacrifice rural and agricultural areas - or their populations - to achieve modernization."
He has visited Chinese villages where cars and prosperous lifestyles are commonplace, observing that "there is balance and harmony between development and daily life."
"Why has China - unlike some socialist countries - remained intact and thriving? The answer is that Chinese culture encountered communism and socialism, and they became intertwined," TEMBE said.
Source: Global Times:
Company: Global Times
Contact Person: Anna Li
Email: editor@globaltimes.com.cn
Website: https://globaltimes.cn
City: Beijing
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