On September 20, 2023, Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited the city of Fengqiao in Zhejiang province and declared that China should support and develop the Fengqiao experience in the new era to properly manage internal contradictions and resolve problems at a grassroots level. The Fengqiao experience refers to a practice of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in which citizens maintained control and reformed those considered class enemies by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In his speech, Xi first addressed the Fengqiao experiment, emphasizing the importance of relying on the people to resolve conflicts on the ground. He also highlighted the theme of common prosperity in his vision for China’s future, asserting that Zhejiang should take the lead in promoting this ideal. By combining common prosperity with the Fengqiao experience, Xi is essentially replicating Mao’s Cultural Revolution, favoring populism over capitalism and the planned economy over market capitalism.
The notion of constant struggle is at the heart of the Fengqiao experience, according to veteran commentator Hu Ping, who believes Xi sees enemies everywhere and is instituting intrusive controls reminiscent of Mao-era surveillance. To further intensify neighborhood surveillance, Xi has ordered local authorities to transfer law enforcement to neighborhood networks with volunteers, vigilantes, and residents monitoring one another. This network management system aims to make neighborhood surveillance permanent by dividing neighborhoods into quadrants and assigning supervisors to report residents’ activities to neighborhood committees. The goal is to focus on policing neighborhoods and defending stability through coercion and surveillance to prevent dissent against Xi’s regime.
Xi’s reintroduction of this controversial practice indicates that he faces resistance within his own party and is trying to consolidate his control over it. According to Chinese scholar-in-exile Chen Pokong, Xi’s move represents an attempt by him to mobilize people against his political opponents within the CCP in order reinforce his hold on power. This social control strategy seeks not only to strengthen internal stability but also create a volunteer police force dedicated solely
