Why a CCP Official Says China Is Really Two Countries

Jun 17, 2026 - 09:53

Xi Jinping's 73rd birthday was marked by unusual celebrations, a new ideological slogan called "Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building," and renewed demands for loyalty across the Communist Party. At the same time, Christians were detained in Sichuan, homeowners protested a controversial hazardous-waste laboratory project in Wuhan, and censorship intensified online.
What connects these seemingly unrelated events?
A CCP official recently aruged that China is actually "two countries" living inside one state: the Party-state and everyone else. His explanation offers a rare insider's view of how the CCP understands loyalty, "foreign forces," the lying-flat movement, and the purpose behind many of its policies. The biggest divide in China may not be between China and the West—it may be between the Party-state and the Chinese people themselves.