Hu's on first

News item from China Daily:

On bus-stop billboards, newspaper front pages and television news broadcasts, in school classrooms, factory study groups and student counseling sessions, at forums and meetings all across China, the Communist Party propaganda apparatus has been spreading the word from President Hu Jintao: Do good and avoid evil.

Hu's fatherly advice, in the form of eight do's and don'ts, was issued two weeks ago as an antidote to the corruption and cynicism spreading across China, a result of the often raw capitalism that has emerged during 25 years of dramatic economic change. Although his aphorisms may sound simplistic to Western ears -- "Work hard, don't be lazy" and "Be honest, not profit-mongering" -- Chinese analysts said they are a response to a deep-seated desire among people here for a moral compass to guide them through the unsettling transformation.

Hm. Problems with corruption, cynicism, and the adverse effects of unchecked capitalism . . . ? Perhaps China doesn't need a list of do's and don'ts; maybe all it needs is for our own Great Leader to trot out one of his Speeches of the Eternal Campaign for them.

Here's the list, as promulgated by Hu:

1. Love, do not harm the motherland.


2. Serve, don't disserve the people.


3. Uphold science; don't be ignorant and unenlightened.


4. Work hard; don't be lazy and hate work.


5. Be united and help each other; don't gain benefits at the expense of others.


6. Be honest and trustworthy, not profit-mongering at the expense of your values.


7. Be disciplined and law-abiding instead of chaotic and lawless.


8. Know plain living and hard struggle, do not wallow in luxuries and pleasures.

Actually--rather than sending Bush over there--it could probably only work to everyone's benefit if Bush and the GOP leadership pasted some of these items in their hats back here at home.