Dropping of the words “Mao Zedong thought” from two recent statements by the party’s elite Politburo ahead of a landmark congress, at which a new generation of leaders will take the top party posts, has attracted so much attention

Reformist China drops Mao word

Beijing: The subtle dropping of references to late Chinese leader Mao Zedong from two policy statements over the last few weeks serves as one of the most intriguing hints yet that the ruling Communist Party is planning to move in the direction of reform.
Mao has always been held up as an ideological great in party communiques, his name mentioned almost by default in homage to his role in founding modern China and leading the Communist Party, whose rule from the 1949 revolution remains unbroken.
Which is why the dropping of the words “Mao Zedong thought” from two recent statements by the party’s elite Politburo ahead of a landmark congress, at which a new generation of leaders will take the top party posts, has attracted so much attention.
Also absent were normally standard references to Marxism-Leninism. The omission in the latest such statement by the powerful decision-making body, a Monday announcement that the congress next month would discuss amending the party’s constitution, has seen by some as sending a signal about its intent on reform.
The wording has in the past talked about “holding high the banner of Mao Zedong thought and Marxism-Leninism” in carrying out the party’s work, and is often included at the end of statements almost as a mantra.
But the latest two statements mentioned only that the party should follow “Deng Xiaoping theory”, the “three represents” and the “scientific development concept”.
Late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping introduced the idea that China can be both communist and have market-based reforms, while the “three represents” refers to former President Jiang Zemin’s policy which formally allowed capitalists to join the party.
The last idea is current President Hu Jintao’s thinking of promoting more rounded economic development. Mao Zedong Thought adapted the original theories of Marxism that grew out of industrial Europe to the conditions of largely rural China when Mao took over in 1949.
“Before the fall of Bo Xilai, that direction was not so clear. But now it’s become quite clear. I mean, less Maoism, but more Dengism,” Zheng said.