The Fourth Plenum is trash and the people don't care, whoever takes office will be the same as before

FILE PHOTO: People walk on a street in Beijing

[People News] The Chinese Communist Party's 20th Central Committee Fourth Plenary Session convened in Beijing starting October 20. Mobile checkpoints have again increased in Beijing's prosperous districts to guard against mass incidents. Before the meeting there were frequent rumors about whether Xi Jinping, who has reportedly lost control of the military, would step back at the Fourth Plenum, attracting outside attention. However, most Chinese people care more about whether life can get a little better, because they have already realized: “The CCP has usurped the country for decades and has never produced a policy that truly serves the people; it has never solved a single problem — it is a truly evil party.”

According to The Dajiyuan, the Fourth Plenum was held at the Jingxi Hotel in Beijing from October 20 to 23. That morning, Beijing resident Mr. Zhao rode his bike past the site; he told The Dajiyuan reporter that there were police cars and special vehicles guarding the hotel: “There was a police car parked at the Jingxi Hotel entrance, a vehicle full of antennas, and police cars across the street; civilian vehicles were all cleared away, the atmosphere was tense. Traffic police were urging pedestrians and cyclists to hurry along. I saw them checking a woman’s ID — she should be a petitioner.”

But reporters interviewing grassroots people in many places found they were generally indifferent to the meeting. Hu Jiangsheng, a retiree in Taizhou, Jiangsu, said: “The central government meets every year, the common people don’t understand those documents. I only hope medical treatment costs don’t keep rising and medicine expenses can be reimbursed. Recently many medicines are no longer covered by insurance, life is getting harder and harder.”

Mr. Liu, a delivery worker at Dagang Oilfield in Tianjin, said: “The Communist Party holds this meeting and that meeting, it has nothing to do with us. I care that oil prices don’t go up and that platforms take less commission. They always say they want to improve social security, but the more they say it the worse off we feel — you have to hear their words oppositely.”

In Yanjiao Economic and Technological Development Zone, east of Tongzhou, Beijing, many petitioners temporarily live there because rent is cheap. Ms. Li, a petitioner from Liaoning, told reporters that to avoid police in Beijing and in her hometown she has already lived in Yanjiao for a month: “Police are arresting people everywhere, I can only hide here for now. I’ll go to the petition bureau to submit materials after the Fourth Plenum is over. There are a dozen petitioners in my building alone.”

Asked for her view of the meeting, Ms. Li said: “What does this have to do with us? Their meetings are their matters. The authorities never care about the common people, they only suppress us. What’s said in the news sounds pretty, it’s all false.”

Before the meeting, official CCP media repeatedly declared “expand domestic demand, stabilize employment, protect people’s livelihood,” but many financial institutions point out that weak domestic consumption, youth unemployment, and strained local finances remain major problems. A China Academy of Social Sciences report in October shows resident income growth has slowed and consumer confidence remains weak.

Wang Juan, a female worker in Xiangyang, Hubei, said: “Hospital fees keep getting higher, medicines are expensive. The country holds so many meetings, but healthcare hasn’t improved.” Mr. Zhang, a petitioner in Fengtai, Beijing, said his property dispute has dragged on for many years with no result: “They report about common prosperity, but ordinary people can’t even protect their rights — who has the heart to follow the plenary?” Auntie Li, a restaurant server in Tianjin, said: “We just hope housing prices don’t fall further and wages don’t get cut again. The government says it wants to stabilize the economy, but every day we worry there will be no customers.”

On social media, the topic “ordinary people feel nothing about the Fourth Plenum” sparked discussion. Someone commented: “The plenum talks about modernization, we only care about tomorrow’s oil price, tuition, and social security.”

Lu Jian (pseudonym), a venture capital advisor in Zhejiang, pointed out: “From a business perspective, tight capital, fewer orders, and heavy tax burdens are common problems. No matter how many policies the authorities introduce, the key is that money must reach companies and individuals.” “The central government’s mention of balancing security and development actually means stronger capital controls and harder local financing.”

Some analysts believe the Fourth Plenum focuses on the “15th Five-Year” plan and strategic deployment, but for ordinary people those are remote. The public lacks concrete feelings about “high-quality development”; more people care whether immediate life pressures can be eased.

Public opinion observers think this meeting shows authorities trying to stabilize the economy and public sentiment through macro-control, but there is a clear gap between that and grassroots needs. Whether concrete measures to improve income, employment, and medical burdens will be introduced after the meeting is the true focus of social concern. However, many interviewees are pessimistic, believing the Fourth Plenum will be the same as before and only care about ensuring the CCP’s power base is secure.

Readers of the People’s News website also debated the Fourth Plenum, saying: “The system doesn’t change; swapping people in office produces basically the same results,” “How many cases like Yu Menglong’s have happened on the mainland? Lives are treated like grass, humanity extinguished — what about the red privileged descendants! A rotten regime shouldn’t exist,” “Let the whole world see what shameless hooligans are — painting big pies, bragging, ruling the country with slogans,” “According to that British clairvoyant William, Yu Menglong told William that even if he obeyed them, those people would still kill him to take the energy from his body. You see, ‘being obedient’ is useless; you must have the ability to escape. ‘Three withdrawals’ is a way to obtain help from the universe’s ‘higher powers’ to escape,” “Hurry and go down [i.e., step down], they do anti-corruption every day but the result is to remove political opponents. Ordinary people’s wages have dropped again and again. Prices have risen again and again. Who has ever truly cared about the hardships of the people?” “The national consensus: the (CCP) brings disaster on the country and people — may it die soon!” △