{"id":64768,"date":"2018-05-04T06:21:36","date_gmt":"2018-05-04T06:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=64768"},"modified":"2018-05-04T06:21:36","modified_gmt":"2018-05-04T06:21:36","slug":"look-whos-picking-up-the-tab-for-karl-marxs-birthday-bash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/look-whos-picking-up-the-tab-for-karl-marxs-birthday-bash.html","title":{"rendered":"Look Who’s Picking Up the Tab for Karl Marx’s Birthday Bash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Look Who’s Picking Up the Tab for Karl Marx’s Birthday Bash<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Karl Marx\u2019s home town is holding a party for the Communist Manifesto author\u2019s bicentenary, and China is paying for the birthday gift.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trier, in western Germany, is bracing for big crowds for the 200th anniversary of Marx\u2019s birth this weekend, with political speeches, competing demonstrations and the unveiling of a statue designed and funded by China. The extent of the outside interest has surprised the sleepy city on the Moselle river.<\/span><\/p>\n

People in Trier, which was part of capitalist West Germany after World War II, \u201chave long been a bit ashamed about Marx,\u201d said city spokesman Michael Schmitz, who has played host to Chinese state television and six reporters from the state-run Xinhua News Agency. \u201cWe are aware of the fact that this is part of a larger Marx revival in China,\u201d Schmitz said.<\/span><\/p>\n

With celebrations starting Friday in Beijing, China is making the bicentennial part of a drive to reinvigorate its communist heritage, and underpin its growing global clout. Festivities include an official tribute at the Great Hall of the People and a documentary series by China\u2019s state broadcaster titled \u201cMarx Is Right.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In Trier, visitors can marvel at an art installation of 500 Karl Marx gnome-like figurines — in two shades of red — at the city\u2019s Roman gate, while sipping a Moselle wine named \u201cDas Kapital\u201d for the occasion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet for Chinese President Xi Jinping, the anniversary is an opportunity to push a serious goal. Harking back to the German philosopher, who developed his theory of capitalism, labor and class conflict in 19th-century England, helps him fill a vacuum left by decades of market reforms, modernization and China\u2019s growth to become the world\u2019s second-biggest economy. China overtook the U.S. in terms of trade with Germany in 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

How China Bought Up A Swath of Europe When Nobody Was Looking<\/span><\/p>\n

Xi is seeking to hold together a \u201chuge, unruly country\u201d and take it forward while maintaining broad respect for the Communist Party, said Sidney Rittenberg, an American journalist who joined Mao Zedong\u2019s revolution and served for years as his translator.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cXi is depending on restoring the theoretical soul of the Chinese people,\u201d Rittenberg, in his late 90s, said in an interview from his home in Arizona. \u201cThey built a better life and made money, but they lost their soul and I think he\u2019s trying to restore that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The celebrations dovetail with Xi\u2019s bid to expand the party\u2019s influence as he pushes through sweeping changes in China\u2019s political system, military, economy and education sector. Having cast off presidential term limits, he says \u201cthe party leads everything\u201d and is trying to promote Marxism as a plank of foreign policy, notably in countries like Vietnam and Laos.<\/span><\/p>\n

Grasp the Power\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

China\u2019s top officials need to \u201cgrasp the power of the truth of Marxism\u201d and view the party as the heir of the \u201cspirit of the Communist Manifesto,\u201d Xi told a Politburo session on April 23.<\/span><\/p>\n

Xi appears to view Marxism as a means to an end, \u201cmore of a methodology than an ideology,\u201d said Trey McArver, co-founder of Trivium China, a consultancy. \u201cIt\u2019s a process for solving problems more than a prescription for class struggle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn Marx\u2019s birthplace, the bicentennial is more about history and hospitality. City leaders hope for a tourism boost after the 5.5 meter (18 foot)-high statue is unveiled on Saturday in the presence of German cabinet members (though not Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany). European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will kick off the festivities with a speech in Trier on Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Falun Gong<\/span><\/p>\n

The city council voted to accept China\u2019s gift last year after attaching a resolution stressing the importance of human rights. \u201cWe don\u2019t have industry, so we don\u2019t get much revenue from business taxes,\u201d Schmitz said. Activists from Falun Gong, a spiritual group banned in China, still plan demonstrations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Norbert Kaethler, head of Trier\u2019s tourism agency, is happy about the present from Beijing: he figures the statue will boost the number of Chinese visitors to the town of 110,000. \u201cMany Chinese think Trier must be an important German town because Marx was born here,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yang Liu-Gerhards, who came to Trier as a student in 1998 and now teaches economics at a vocational school, credits Mao only with cherry-picking Marx\u2019s ideas for his own political purposes when he established communist China.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStill, my father was happy when he heard that I was going to Trier,\u201d she said. \u201cNot only because it was Germany, but also because it was the birthplace of Marx.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The statue of Marx aims \u201cto show our appreciation of the great German philosopher,\u201d said Wang Yiwei, Wang Yiwei, associate dean of a new institute for Xi Jinping thought at Beijing\u2019s Renmin University.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut Germans are not so proud of Marx,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re more proud of Goethe.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2018-05-04\/look-who-s-picking-up-the-tab-for-karl-marx-s-birthday-bash<\/span><\/p>\n

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