Chinese Communists Try Politeness — Or Else

When it comes to government workers, ‘chop chop, I’m off work’ is now banned by the language police.

AP/Ng Han Guan
President Xi at the Great Hall of the People at Beijing, September 30, 2022. AP/Ng Han Guan

As President Xi prepares to tighten his grip over Communist China with a third term in power, the government at Beijing is trying something new for a Marxist country — politeness in the way its bureaucrats deal with the public. 

Under a new policy, public employees who interact with the people will be banned from using phrases such as: “What’s the hurry?”; “Can’t you see I’m busy right now?”; or, “Chop chop, I’m off work.”

The new customer-service oriented approach, first reported by the Chinese Communist party organ Global Times, also bars public employees from offering quips like, “None of my business. Ask someone else,” or, “Haven’t I just told you that? Don’t you understand Chinese language?”

These phrases will be forbidden, along with “arguing with customers” or “being unnecessarily forceful when handing over paperwork including forms or documents.”

The new policy will also limit employees’ activities while on the job, Global Times reports. Stock trading, watching videos, making private phone calls, online shopping, chatting, and playing games are also forbidden to bureaucrats interacting with the public.

London’s Telegraph explains that the new approach is meant to reverse the reputation of Chinese officials presenting “a rather surly face to its citizens.”

“Encounters with bureaucrats,” the Telegraph reports, “come with the risk of a tongue-lashing, or even being hit by a hurled document.” No more: The new policy enjoins “throwing or tossing” any paperwork at the public, the Telegraph says — “even if it is not correctly filled out.”

The effort to present a friendlier face of the totalitarian regime comes at a time when, as the Sun’s Benny Avni reports, there are rising complaints over Mr. Xi’s zero-Covid policy. This strict policy has prompted authorities to lock down entire cities for indefinite periods, Mr. Avni reports.  

Under the zero-Covid policy, Mr. Avni writes, “city dwellers in infected areas are confined to their homes and forced to rely on sporadic government deliveries of food and other necessities.” 

Despite the government’s censorship, public grievances about the policy have emerged on the social media platform Weibo, Mr. Avni observes. People under the Covid restrictions can be seen in videos chanting “lift the lockdowns,” while others complain “police are hitting the people.”

A dissident Chinese-American, Ho Pin, also recently told the Associated Press that Mr. Xi’s regime has cracked down on press freedoms and political dialogue that used to be permitted under previous Chinese Communist rulers. Mr. Ho says he fears Mr. Xi is positioning himself to be dictator for life.

In that context, it’s understandable that the Beijing government is trying to improve “the government’s image amongst both the public and business,” as Global Times reports, with the new customer service policies. 

The measures are described by the communist newspaper as “a further step in optimizing China’s business environment and improving public confidence in government services.”


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