Commentary 3: On the Tyranny of the Chinese Communist Party

What can Emperor Qin Shihuang brag about? He only killed 460 Confucian scholars, but we killed 46,000 intellectuals... - Mao Zedong.

Epoch Times with Wikimedia Commons

The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party were first published in November of 2004, followed quickly by an English translation. In 15 years, the series has led over 300 million Chinese to renounce the communist party and its affiliated organizations, fostering an unprecedented peaceful movement for transformation and change in China. People continue to renounce the party every day. Here we republish the newly re-edited Nine Commentaries, linked to video versions produced by our partner media NTD Television. For the other Commentaries, please see the Table of Contents.

Foreword

When speaking about tyranny, most Chinese people are reminded of Qin Shi Huang (259–210 B.C.), the first Emperor of the Qin Dynasty, whose oppressive court burnt philosophical books and buried Confucian scholars alive. Qin Shi Huang’s harsh treatment of his people came from his policy of “supporting his rule with all of the resources under heaven.[1]”

This policy had four main aspects: excessively heavy taxation, wasting human labor for projects to glorify himself, brutal torture under harsh laws and punishing even the offenders’ family members and neighbors, and controlling people’s minds by blocking all avenues of free thinking and expression through burning books and even burying scholars alive.