Poetry says:
The newly repaired ancient town occupies many fields,
Why do no one ask about the ferry?
Kaiser’s good remedy is truly poison drink,
Hurting the people and damaging China.
When will bureaucrats’ bloodsucking stop,
The masses lose their wealth and suffer in life.
Only empty remaining empty city people gradually decrease,
Only left with autocracy, their power becomes more clumsy.
Wanting to destroy the resource of cannibalism in the world,
Overthrow the reform party and do not delay.
-
Why is no one interested in the newly repaired ancient town?
Since China’s restoration of capitalism in 1976, a wave of national studies and return to ancient customs has swept through society. In the eyes of bourgeois scholars and some affluent petty bourgeoisie, the socialist revolutionary construction period seemed to deprive them of the right to research Chinese ancient culture, destroy China’s excellent traditional culture, and leave them guarding a huge “cultural” treasury but only able to gaze longingly. Therefore, after the rise of revisionism, these “traditional literati” finally gained the power to “develop national culture” and “protect excellent traditions,” and through this power, they turned “excellent traditional culture” into money. Under their “relentless efforts,” old ancient cities were “discovered,” new “ancient cities” were established, and the “golden age” of GDP growth finally arrived—don’t you see, even places like Jiaxing Wuzhen, economically backward and交通闭塞, also took advantage of this wave of repairing ancient towns, and quickly became a “successful model of tourism operation.”
In the eyes of revisionists, the service industry undoubtedly occupies the “main engine position” of “social development,” and tourism industry is undoubtedly the “leader” and “top dog” of the service industry. Therefore, developing tourism economy has become a secret recipe for wealth accumulation. For a period, the Chinese reform’s lucky plan indeed made a loud bang, with Wuzhen, Zhouzhuang… countless “ancient towns” with less than half a century of actual architecture history earning a lot, attracting millions of petty bourgeoisie annually for “consumption,” and generating tens of billions of revenue. Even some small, unknown places, like rising stars, attracted large capital injections.
However, things are destined to turn against. The factors leading to the collapse of the “ancient town tourism” industry of the Chinese reform group had already been laid at its inception. Under the impact of the capitalist economic crisis, many artificial ancient cities have become ghost towns; even China’s most famous tourism company—Zhangjiajie Tourism Group Co., Ltd.—is on the brink of bankruptcy, and other regions and groups are similarly affected. According to statistics, Zhangjiajie Group lost 700 million yuan in four years, and in the first half of 2024, it lost 61.16 million yuan; Taohuayuan Ancient Town in Changde, Hunan, covering over 1600 acres, is now almost a ghost town; Jinan’s Songfeng Ancient City, covering 652 acres, has become an unfinished project; Xuan City’s Shuidong Ancient Town has now suspended operations… Why are countless ancient cities closing down and unable to sustain? Bourgeois media say it’s because of “over-supply of tourism resources, and not enough tourists nationwide,” and also claim “many ancient towns lack planning and positioning from the start… ‘face’ issues are serious.” But is it really that simple? -
Keynesianism cannot bring prosperity, and the masses struggle to survive in the crisis.
In fact, the rise of (replica) ancient towns is not a “cultural revival,” nor a result of tourism development. The decline of “ancient town economy” is not due to “serious face” issues, but an inevitable consequence of the Chinese reform group’s continuous use of Keynesianism to poison China. Keynesianism is a bourgeois vulgar political economy school that appeared when capitalism was beginning to decline and even perish, proposing a “complete” set of theories demonstrating the “possibility” of overcoming crises, and was praised by bourgeoisie worldwide upon its emergence.
After revisionists seized leadership of socialist China, they fully embraced the capitalist world, naturally adopting all its poisons and tumors. Because Keynesian advocates strongly support government intervention in the economy and provide “theoretical basis” for it, Keynesianism is often called the “theoretical” foundation of state monopoly capitalism. In 2008, China’s capitalism suffered an unprecedented economic crisis, and the nightmare of crisis has since haunted China. To “solve” the crisis, the Chinese reform government massively increased government investment, engaged in fiscal deficits, and policies of inflation, using the blood and sweat of workers to prolong the life of the capitalist system. The development of various old and new ancient towns, and the construction of replica ancient towns, are essentially manifestations of this expansion of investment.
However, the result of continuous expansion of investment under Keynesianism can only be “helplessly watching flowers fall,” leading to its own demise. For public investment like building ancient towns, the Chinese reform government cannot repeatedly invest in a long-term depression. Fiscal deficits ultimately need to be repaid, and in capitalist society, only the working people can repay, not the bureaucratic monopoly capitalists ruling. When the bourgeoisie exploits through inflation, pretext, and plunder to amass wealth, workers fall into deeper poverty, their consumption capacity further shrinks, and it becomes impossible for the bourgeoisie to even recover costs through so-called “tourism economy.” For example, the Daxu Ancient City built by Zhangjiajie Group invested nearly 2.4 billion yuan, with an estimated annual net profit of 184 million yuan after operation, and would take more than ten years to break even. But since its trial operation in 2021, it has lost 547 million yuan over three and a half years, with depreciation costs alone in 2023 exceeding 50 million yuan.
Secondly, the Chinese reform government’s blind expansion of production, which effectively separates production from consumption, contains enormous contradictions. Using increased investment to prevent crises only deepens the fundamental contradictions within capitalism. News reports show that over 2,800 ancient towns have been developed or are under development in China, roughly one “ancient town” per county. After the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and other departments issued the “Notice on Cultivating Characteristic Small Towns” in 2016, the number of so-called “special” ancient towns increased further. But a country cannot keep investing in production without considering where the final products (here, ancient towns and related consumption) go. The bourgeois media claims “it’s over-supply of tourism resources, and not enough tourists nationwide, so some ancient towns will inevitably be ignored,” which, although still a vulgar theory of insufficient consumption, ignores the fact of the increasing absolute poverty of the people under imperialism. It also admits that production cannot be separated from consumption, but this view is partial and contains some rational elements. On the other hand, the media also claims that “many ancient towns face homogenization in construction and operation,” ultimately “dissuading tourists,” which is a completely fallacious bourgeois argument.
Moreover, as mentioned earlier, bourgeois media always try to explain the root of economic crises under capitalism as insufficient consumption, which is fundamentally wrong. The summary states that the reason new ancient towns lack sufficient consumption is because “the uniformity of ancient towns makes it difficult to survive in such fierce cultural tourism competition.” To solve the problem of insufficient consumption, the only way is to “return to simplicity,” “use local authentic features to soothe the hearts of urban workers.” In reality, this reduces “workers”—the laboring masses—to an empty symbol, ignoring their class attributes behind it.
Under capitalism, insufficient consumption is a fact, but it cannot be used to explain crises. The contradiction between production and consumption is merely a main manifestation of the contradiction between the social nature of production and the private nature of ownership. The insufficient consumption of workers is not because they pursue “authenticity” or “local features,” but because under imperialism, workers have long fallen into the quagmire of absolute poverty, with income limited to the minimum necessary for basic survival. Their consumption is not relatively reduced but absolutely decreased. Moreover, under frequent crises, even the slightly better-off petty bourgeoisie can no longer afford high tourism expenses. Therefore, even when linked to major policies like rural revitalization and cultural revival, various ancient towns still frequently face cold reception and can no longer realize the “activation of unpopular areas, drive up surrounding land and housing prices, increase GDP, and create jobs” as imagined by the Chinese reform. -
Saving China’s cultural achievements and overthrowing cannibal capitalism.
Although it has been mentioned above that the uniformity of various ancient towns is not necessarily related to their bankruptcy and demise, it is still necessary to explain why similar and repetitive ancient towns are being built one after another: this is because the Chinese reform group itself is the greatest destroyer of Chinese civilization, the greatest seller of Chinese civilization, and the greatest traitor to Chinese civilization and Westernization.
The Chinese reform group constantly slanders the proletarian revolutionary movement during the Cultural Revolution as “destroying” excellent traditional culture and destroying ancient relics. But since the capitalist restoration, the Chinese reform group has been smuggling and exporting various cultural relics containing the blood and sweat of workers to satisfy their own selfish interests, even once inciting a craze for selling cultural relics. As for the remaining ancient relic sites, the Chinese reform group has not effectively protected them, allowing many to suffer serious damage.
As for establishing various ancient towns, it is not because the Chinese reform group truly “cherishes” national culture—these “ancient towns” less than half a century old have no real culture— but merely to digest excess products and serve to delay the arrival of the capitalist economic crisis. To achieve the goal of selling high-priced goods and extracting surplus value, some “ancient towns” even relocate indigenous people, demolish real old houses, and build new ones, making staff act as “natives,” as if performing in “The Truman Show.” In reality, the Chinese reform group is the true destroyer and annihilator of Chinese civilization!
Now, the entire Chinese society remains in depression, and the fact that all kinds of ancient towns are ignored has already convincingly proved that Keynesian “panacea” is no longer effective. It can only keep piercing itself with countless needles, using larger doses to maintain its superficial radiance. But more injections will inevitably destroy its own body and lead to poisoning and death. For the entire bourgeois society, Keynesianism has already planted a time bomb from the start.
The imminent demise of the ancient town economy is precisely a microcosm of the impending collapse of the real estate economy, and also a microcosm of the impending collapse of the entire Chinese reform group. Capitalism must perish, socialism must flourish—this is the law of historical development. But when capitalism will perish and socialism will be established entirely depends on the intensity of class struggle and the final outcome. Now, in an era when imperialism is about to perish and the proletarian revolution is about to erupt, the task of intellectuals is to accelerate this historical process, thoroughly overthrow the cannibalistic capitalist society, and strive for the early arrival of human liberation!
References:
Biao Ru, 《What is Keynesianism》
News references:
Sources & Notes:
[1] Chinese Government Network, “The role and status of the service industry are further highlighted, and the development quality and efficiency continue to improve—Series of reports on the achievements of China’s 75 years of economic and social development, Part Four”
[2] Keynesianism believes that crises and unemployment mainly arise from insufficient investment, which is due to low profit rates. To solve crises, the government must increase investment and implement “deficit policies.” Keynes also invented a “consumption law,” stating that the more income, the more savings, thus the greater the difference between income and consumption, and he does not recognize that crises are caused by inherent contradictions of the capitalist mode of production, instead blaming insufficient consumption.
[3] Biao Ru, 《What is Keynesianism》
[4] The Chinese reform government’s expansion of investment is most evident in the aggressive expansion of the real estate industry.
[5] Proletarian Liberation Struggle Association, “Keynesianism in China—Rising, ‘Prosperity,’ and Disillusionment”