By Stephen Gregory, The Epoch Times, Mar 14, 2005 -

On November 19, 2004 The Epoch Times published in Chinese the first of “The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party”. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been scrambling ever since to find a way to respond.

The “Nine Commentaries” (in English translation: english.epochtimes.com/jiuping) are a book-length set of nine editorials that tell the true history of the CCP. Written under the auspices of The Epoch Times editorial board, the authorship is anonymous.

The “Nine Commentaries” lay out the Party’s crimes: its campaigns of mass murder, brainwashing and terror; the 80 million plus unnatural deaths; the avoidable famines; the degradation of the environment; the corruption that goes from top to bottom, and much more.

The "Nine Commentaries" also explain how the Party, which has always tried to identify itself as embodying China, has in fact been constantly at war with China, seeking to eliminate root and branch China’s ancient civilization, in particular its sources in Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism.

This last point may be of special interest to the generation that came of age in China after 1989. That generation has tended to accept the Party’s appeals to patriotism. The "Nine Commentaries" show that any Chinese patriot has no choice but to repudiate the Party, precisely out of love for China.

All Chinese know bits and pieces of the history the “Nine Commentaries” give. The “Nine Commentaries” helps make sense of their personal experiences. Their own experiences vouch for what they read, and what they read explains the significance of what they have known.

As ordinary Chinese understand that significance, they are coming in rapidly increasing numbers to do one thing: disassociate themselves from the CCP.

The CCP has used all its resources to keep the “Nine Commentaries” out of China. But they are getting in, and are eagerly sought after. 40,000 tourists from the mainland visit Hong Kong everyday, and take home the “Nine Commentaries.” Friends and relatives outside China mail them into China. Blackmarket booksellers have begun offering them. And for those who are sophisticated enough in their use of the Internet, the "Nine Commentaries" are available on numerous sites.

The Tuidang Website

On December 3, 2004 The Epoch Times established the Tuidang (“withdraw from the Party”) website (tuidang.epochtimes.com) in order to give the people of China the opportunity to renounce their membership in the CCP and its related organizations, such as the Communist Youth League (CYL).

On December 4, the website received its first solemn declarations by Party members who wished to renounce all ties with the CCP. In December the rate of such statements was a few hundred a day. But the rate has increased exponentially. On March 7, the Tuidang website recorded over 22,000 renunciations. The website has been limited in the number it can post by its ability physically to keep up with the huge volume of statements.

These withdrawals tell one bitter, heartbreaking story after another of suffering at the hands of the Party that has ruled China for 55 years. As I write this, 229,979 have renounced association with the Party.

The Party’s Response

The CCP and its state-controlled media have not publicly responded to the “Nine Commentaries”. This is not surprising. If the CCP were to issue a statement condemning the “Nine Commentaries,” then everyone in China would want to know more about them.

Of course, behind the scenes the Party has responded in its characteristic ways. Shortly after the “Nine Commentaries” were published, there was a crackdown on journalists in China. Notes were confiscated and computers searched. What the police were obviously searching for: information about who wrote the Nine Commentaries.

A number of Epoch Times staff members have family in China. Police have visited these family members and tried to intimidate them into saying something about who wrote the “Nine Commentaries.”

The New York office of The Epoch Times received harassing phone calls almost non-stop the first week of March. In Los Angeles last week a man was arrested for having stolen thousands of copies of the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times, and L.A. is not the only city outside China in which such thefts have been occurring. When the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times brought out all the “Nine Commentaries” together in a special edition in early December, the copies were stolen in numerous cities. One Epoch Times staffer thought the thefts occurred in every city in which there was a Chinese consulate.

The CCP has also recently begun a new campaign, “Maintaining the Advancement of the Party.” In typical CCP style, the Maintaining the Advancement of the Party Special Task Force has been established. This Task Force has in turn established 58 “Central Special Supervising Groups.” These Groups busy themselves by forcing all Party members to attend study sessions and to retake their oath of membership in the Party. Meanwhile, membership in the Party, which used to be highly prized as an entrée to social status, has now been thrown wide open, as the Party desperately seeks to prove it is still popular.

A Party in Crisis

There is no evidence that the Maintaining the Advancement of the Party campaign is having any effect at increasing Party loyalty. As soon as Party members understand the campaign is aimed at countering the “Nine Commentaries,” the campaign simply inspires the desire among Party members to read them.

Party officials know their situation inside China is untenable. The corruption within the party is endemic, and, if one wants to rise in the Party’s ranks, unavoidable. But the practice of corruption, no matter how common it is, leaves any individual open to being destroyed by a chance prosecution.

The Chinese Ministry of Public Security has identified around 500 Party officials who have fled the country, taking an estimated $8.5 billion in U.S. dollars with them. Many others are known to be biding their time. High-ranking party officials are said to seek a foreign passport, homes in foreign lands, and foreign bank accounts, as soon as they can afford them.

Meanwhile, very high-ranking Party officials, including the former preeminent leader Jiang Zemin, have in the last few months been seen going to Buddhist temples, where these materialist atheists burn joss sticks and pray to Buddha.

Who knows what they think they are doing. The word from China is that individuals are going to start gluing their statements of withdrawal from the Party up in public areas. Somehow I don’t think prayer is going to save the CCP.

- Source: 229,979 Resign, and Party Leaders Pray to Buddha