Talk:Tsinghua clique

So the clique's "ascendance to power is likely to begin in 2008". And Hu Jintao is one of them. Isn't he already secretary-general of the Communist Party, president of the People's Republic and chairman of the powerful military committee? I wonder what happens to him in 2008.

Related: see this comment on the generations article. Apus apus 16:52, 12 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I’m sorry, but anyone with a passing knowledge of elite politics in China knows that you simply cannot have a group smaller than the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Politburo that includes people from such different factions as Hu Qili and Song Ping ! If you read Cheng Li’s work, there are many places where he points out the inherent contradiction in the notion of a “Qinghua Clique.” DOR (HK) (talk) 08:47, 28 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm unclear on what you mean, can you clarify? Are you saying the Tsinghua Clique doesn't have that much real power because they don't have a majority of the Politburo Standing Committee? Using Wikipedia sources, I count three Tsinghua graduates on that committee. I think you are saying that more significance is attached to the Tsinghua Clique than it actually has -- that these powerful people went to Tsinghua, not that these Tsinghua grads decided they wanted to start a Clique and rule China. Are there any recommended English internet sources on the topic? Kevin143 (talk) 23:43, 28 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry for returning to the name issue: though the old transliteration is wide-spread, the new one also comes in use, and it is bound to replace Wade-Giles.--Shanghainese (talk) 06:09, 16 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Flaws

There are some serious problems with this article. First, attendance at the university is not the same as membership in this or any other clique or faction. Second, the description of the Tsinghua Clique as holding “hesitantly pro-democratic or reformist ideas” is deeply flawed. This could be applied to any leadership grouping in the last 20 years, and at best, we might characterize this group as being “more expert than red,” or technocratic.

Third, several of the people listed here are best known as leaders or members of other cliques or factions. The most obvious are Xi Jinping (Princelings); Zhu Rongji, Wu Bangguo and Huang Ju (Shanghai); Hu Qili (CYL); and Li Yandong (Princelings and CYL).

Among leaders deceased or no longer active, Hu Qiaomu should be in the Chen Yun / Deng Liqun camp that helped dump Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang. Song Ping’s Gansu Faction stands on its own, and at one time might have included Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao.DOR (HK) (talk) 07:38, 21 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed. Pushing these people together as ideologically similar (and democratically leaning, at that) simply because of their alma mater is misleading, if not flat out incorrect. I would direct curious readers to Wu Bangguo's "5 No's," as well as widely-published comments regarding the necessary role of centralization in Hong Kong. 128.220.159.17 (talk) 14:18, 6 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]