World Affairs
  The great bore of the people  Lindsey Hilsum
  Published 18 October 2007
    
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  The Chinese economy is like a runaway horse - the government is torn between trying to rein it back, or just clinging on. The leaders' main fear is of falling off
  Never before have I felt at one with the former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin. But halfway through President Hu Jintao's two-and-a-half-hour speech at the 17th Congress of the Communist Party of China, as the 81-year-old's eyelids drooped and his head flopped on to his chest, I experienced a certain fellow feeling.
  The speech had the pithy title "Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive for New Victories in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects". It was delivered in a monotone. President Hu clapped himself at the best bits, as a cue for his audience of apparatchiks. Two frail and elderly delegates had to be ushered off the stage, presumably for resuscitation.
  The speech contained not a single new thought, but rehashed a dozen tired slogans: "Harmonious Society", "Scientific Outlook on Development", "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics". China-watchers - an even more specialised and possibly eccentric bunch than birdwatchers - will now be analysing all 64 pages for clues to what it all means for China's future.
  The party congress occurs only once every five years, so is billed as an important event. For months now, everything that happens has been attributed to its imminence. Petitioners have been driven out of Beijing, human rights lawyers beaten up, and - according to Reporters sans Frontières - thousands of websites closed down (the Shanghai Daily reported 18,401), all apparently to create the right environment for the more than 2,200 party delegates. So nervous were the authorities about Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan - a young dissident couple I have written about before - that a dozen policemen accompanied them to hospital for Jinyan's recent pregnancy scan. Yet I was hard-pressed to find a Chinese person, other than journalists, who was taking the slightest interest. "It will be annoying if it disrupts the traffic," said an elegant woman in her mid-forties whom I met at a party.
  "It will be important only if it makes economic policy," said a friend who works in the private sector. But China's economic course is set. President Hu was clear that "reform and opening up" - the economic policy started by Deng Xiaoping 30 years ago - will continue. He has said many times that he worries about the growing gap between rich and poor, urban and rural, but at this forum he had no new policies to offer.
  All policy debate is secret; no initiative is announced until it has been agreed by the inner circle. On the outside, all is unity and harmony, but the Chinese Communist Party is like any other political party anywhere in the world - riven by factionalism and intrigue. The China-watchers have been speculating for weeks about who's in and who's out of the Politburo Standing Committee, whether the appointment of X is a boost for Jiang's faction, and whether Hu has enough authority to push for Y to be replaced by Z.
  I'm trying to resist getting sucked into all this, because I'm not convinced that it matters. The Chinese economy is like a runaway horse - the government is torn between trying to rein it back, or just clinging on and hoping that it slows down of its own accord. The leaders' main fear is of falling off. People say Jiang's faction favoured no-holds-barred growth, while Hu is more left-wing because he wants to rebalance society, but maybe that's just because Jiang came first. None of these leaders has the vision - for good or ill - of Mao Zedong or Deng Xiaoping. President Hu is like the CEO of a successful multinational - the shareholders know he's boring, but at least he does a competent job. Chinese leaders don't have to spark excitement among the public, because they are not courting anyone's vote.
  As I sat in the Great Hall, trying not to nod off like Jiang, I thought of how China's leaders have brought prosperity to hundreds of millions. Universities are graduating well-qualified students; the stock market is soaring; the trade surplus has reached $1.4trn. Yet the party still claims to be following Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. Real ach iev e ments are submerged in mind-deadening verbiage. No wonder the Chinese people aren't listening. 
  Lindsey Hilsum is China correspondent for Channel 4 News
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