Kaisa Kantola Participated in Summer School on Chinese Communist Party

Zhu Bajie and Kaisa

 

Kaisa Kantola is a PhD candidate majoring in East Asian studies at the University of Helsinki. She has worked in China at the private sector and also for the Embassy of Finland in Beijing before returning to academia. Kaisa’s current research deals with sources of legitmacy in the Chinese Communist Party rule and the role of ideology in legitimacy building.


“Understanding the CPC”: Young Scholars Getting to Know the Party

Summer school in Shanghai, Chongqing and Beijing 6.-16.7.2016

Written by Kaisa Kantola

Last Saturday I returned to Finland after a hectic ten-day program in three Chinese cities. I was exhausted but also very happy about having had the experience. My suitcase was full of materials about the working of the Communist Party of China. I got many new ideas for my research and also made a few new friends.

How did all that happen? Interestingly, it started with a message from a colleague in Denmark. He asked if I would be interested in a summer school program about the CPC, organized by the CPC. It took me about 2 seconds to say “Of course!” I then found out that the program was organized by China Center for Contemporary World Studies (CCCWS), a think tank directly under the International Department of the Communist Party of China, established in 2010.

So then the organizers got in touch with me and I sent them some materials about myself and my research. Eventually they sent me an invitation letter, a preliminary program and flight information. I was quite impressed with the planned activities. The plan included visiting for example China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong; Institute of China Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences; CCCPC Party Literature Research Office; International Department of the Central Committee of the CPC; and even the International Cooperation Bureau of Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). There were meetings at the grassroots level, visit to Chongqing Party School and even banquets with vice minister level officials. During the program some meetings had to be slightly changed from the original plan, but that didn’t make a huge difference for me personally. I was extremely happy with all the places and people we were able to see and meet.

Kaisa1

Our group of young scholars consisted of 12 China researchers from different European countries and the USA. Some were already assistant professors or lecturers and some were in the beginning of their academic careers, like me. I really liked the mix of people, which gave a lot of room for sharing experiences and learning from each other. We also had a few great people from the organizing side following us for the whole trip and we also met local organizers in the different cities. The general mood was nice and everyone got along really well.

During the program I was able to ask questions related to my research from people in many different levels and departments. Their replies sometimes were not very direct, but anyway highly interesting and important. All in all, it really felt like there was a willingness to open up to us young scholars and provide more access to institutions previously so difficult to contact. My impression is that the Party does want the rest of the world to understand it better, even though sometimes more on its own terms. Many times I heard that they would also like to learn from us and to have a real exchange. So I do hope that more programs like this are arranged in the future, so that more Western scholars can have contact with the Party directly.

I thank the hosts for the great program and hope that this will lead to a very fruitful and meaningful cooperation in the future!

Kaisa 2

Reference:

Kaisa in Chinese news report about her trip!