China vice president tells Communist Party cadres to reduce use of political jargon

China vice president calls for reducing jargon use

BEIJING — China’s ruling Communist Party is being told to cut back on the use of political jargon in the name of clearer communication.

The order published Thursday on the front page of the party mouthpiece People’s Daily addresses one of the most jargon-laden political organizations in the world, whose ideologues have in recent years invented such impenetrable constructs as the “theory of the three represents” and “new socialist countryside.”

The terms are a reference to former leader Jiang Zemin’s hazy concept of admitting businessmen into the Communist Party and current leader Hu Jintao’s push to spread the new wealth concentrated in eastern cities to the country’s underdeveloped west.

No specific examples were given by People’s Daily, which reported on a speech by Vice President Xi Jinping delivered Wednesday to almost 1,000 cadres at the party’s main training academy in Beijing.

However, it said Xi warned that such coded language was a drag on efficiency and created barriers between cadres and ordinary citizens. Language used in speeches and documents must be concise, clear in meaning, and reflect new concepts, he said.

Many terms can mystify even veteran cadres, and lengthy meetings to explain new ideological concepts are a staple of party life.

Xi said much progress has been made in the three decades since the end of orthodox Maoism, which produced such head-spinning concepts as the “four olds” and “red and expert,” used to attack pre-revolutionary culture and the need to balance political purity with technical skills.

However, he said, some “glaring problems remain in our linguistic culture.”

As the academy’s president and putative future party head, Xi is chiefly responsible for explaining concepts credited to Hu, including the “theory of scientific development” and the “eight honors and eight shames,” which aim to inculcate moral values in party members.