The Communist Party’s Regulations on Disciplinary Action, as revised in 2015, contained an offense called 妄议中央, improper discussion of the Center. Article 46 punished members who “improperly discuss the major policies of the Central Committee, undermining the centralized unity of the Party.”
The 2023 revision keeps the offense in Article 51. It now speaks of the major policies of the “Party Central Committee.”
Yi fen bushu, jiu fen luoshi. “One part planning, nine parts implementation.” A Xinhua commentary of January 14, 2026, used the phrase to urge cadres to carry out the Party Center’s major decisions in full.
A Party text of 1978 told members: “Within the Party, everyone addresses each other as comrade. Do not use official titles.” (党内一律互称同志，不要叫官衔。) In 2016, the Several Norms on Political Life Within the Party repeated the rule: “Within the Party, everyone is called comrade.”
A 2018 article on the Party’s official website still listed addressing people by their official post as a habit to be avoided. The rule had been written down twice, 38 years apart.
From 1985, Wang Shunyou carried the mail in Muli County, Sichuan. For more than 330 days a year, he walked alone with one horse on a mountain postal route of 584 kilometers there and back, 260,000 kilometers in all. He never delayed a single mail run and never lost a single item.
In 2006, his story was made into the film The Shambhala Messenger. In 2009, he was named one of 100 people who had moved China since 1949. He died in 2021.
In March 2021, the Central Committee issued its Opinions on Strengthening Supervision of “Top Leaders” and Leading Groups. One provision concerns meetings of the leading group. “Members of the leading group should fully express their views. When views differ widely, the vote should be postponed. The votes and the dissenting views at the meeting should be recorded truthfully and kept on file.”
The provision appears in a document whose purpose is to watch over the person at the top.
恃才傲物 To rely on one’s talent and look down on others. In the Book of Liang, the verdict on Xiao Zixian reads: “He relied on his talent and looked down on others. His posthumous name should be Proud.”
锋芒毕露 To show the full edge of one’s blade. Said of a person who likes to show off and outshine others.
韬光养晦 To hide one’s light and stay in the dark. To keep one’s abilities hidden.
人微言轻 The person is low, so the words are light. What a person of low position says is not taken seriously. Su Shi used the phrase in a letter: “I have reported this matter three times and have had no reply. The person is low and the words are light, so it is only natural.”
插嘴 To insert a mouth. To speak before another person has finished.
打官腔 To strike the official tone. To answer with official set phrases in order to put someone off.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao is stalled in Hanzhong and gives the night password: “Chicken rib!” His registrar Yang Xiu tells the soldiers to pack. A chicken rib has no meat, he explains, so the king will soon withdraw. Cao Cao has him executed for disturbing the army. The novel says that Yang Xiu “relied on his talent and was unrestrained, and he often offended Cao Cao.”
The historical Yang Xiu was executed in the autumn of 219, on a charge of leaking Cao Cao’s instructions and conspiring with the princes.
Bo Ya was a master of the zither, and his friend Zhong Ziqi understood his playing. When Bo Ya played with high mountains in mind, Zhong Ziqi said: “Splendid! Towering like Mount Tai!” The story is told in the Liezi.
The Annals of Lü Buwei tell how it ended. When Zhong Ziqi died, Bo Ya “broke his zither, cut its strings, and never played again for the rest of his life.”
The word for a close friend, 知音, comes from the story. It means “one who knows the tune.”
According to the Book of the Later Han, Mi Heng “had talent and eloquence from his youth, but he was proud and harsh and liked to defy his times and slight others.” Cao Cao wanted to humiliate him and made him a drummer at a banquet. Mi Heng stripped naked before Cao Cao, put on the drummer’s clothes and played on. Cao Cao laughed: “I meant to shame him, and he shamed me.”
Cao Cao did not want to be seen as unable to tolerate a famous man, so he sent Mi Heng to Liu Biao. Mi Heng insulted Liu Biao too and was sent on to Huang Zu. At a banquet, he insulted Huang Zu, who had him killed. Mi Heng was 26.