i notice that the CCP is mostly used by westerners, sinophobics, anti-china dudes, and literal imperial japan apologist, and also probably more that im missing…
I can’t decide if it’s a big deal or not but I also feel like there is something to this. So here is my thinking that is entirely speculative:
I think “Chinese Communist Party” is used because Chinese is an adjective here. This makes it scarier for the orientalist mind. It’s not just an ordinary communist party, its a Chinese one. Chinese is the first word and becomes the focus. With “Communist Party of China” Communist is the only adjective. Its not quite scary enough to evoke everything. Somehow referring to the land of China is slightly less triggering than mentioning “Chinese,” perhaps this is because Chinese is more of an essence of China, an essence that stands apart from the west. China itself could be a colony, but the Chinese themselves will always be a roadblock to such a colonial project.
So basically, CCP is a dog whistle that evokes orientalism in the mind of the westerner.
Edit: My favorite dad joke regarding this is to always take CCP to mean the Community College of Philidelphia. Those rat bastards at the CCP!
Alright, great comment. I stand corrected. In my mind it will still always be a transliteration difference because I was exposed to the Chinese term first, but I think you’re onto something about how Westerners interpret ‘Chinese’ vs ‘of China’. I will shift to using CPC from now on.
This makes me think, are propagandized western liberals more racist or more afraid of commies?
This makes me think, are propagandized western liberals more racist or more afraid of commies?
¿Por qué no los dos?
Exactly. Anti-communism, racism, and general xenophobia are often conflated, just as capitalism and white christian nationalism.
I think anti-communism is reasonably seen as a specific version or flavor of orientalism that has specific bourgeoisie goals.
It’s a flex.
The US government uses CCP in their press releases and stuff.
It’s a way of saying “we have so much control of the narrative in the anglosphere that we decide what your name is.”
Not really. I doubt most Westerners know that “CPC” is the official abbreviation (or even know what “CCP” means).
More importantly, we ought to start referring to Amerika as the American Nation of United States
Some people, probably on the GZD Reddit, noted that it looks like CCCP (USSR in Cyrillic), which might lead to some conscious or subconscious connections in people’s red scare fried brains.
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At this point, I think it’s genuine ignorance. Most people have only ever heard the term CCP. They have no idea it’s wrong.
I use CCP all the time, who cares? Explain to me how this is not virtue signalling.
I also use KMT to refer to the nationalist instead of GMD because that is what is commonly used. Is it really such a big deal?
Edit: I also want to add that I am Chinese.
Alright, lots of downvotes. Anyone care to explain why? In Chinese the party is called 中国共产党。中国=China/Chinese 共产=communist 党=party.
What I think is off is how white English speakers make meaning and signal things. The question is more about why westerners use CCP when CPC is more prominent in English literatures that are coming out of China. It’s not unlike asking why people refer to the DPRK as North Korea and if there is some greater meaning in that choice. Politics is certainly involved, and white people think it laughable to call the DPRK a democratic people’s republic, thus they would never afford the DPRK the respect of calling it by its actual name.
I don’t know about the history of the names GMD vs KMT, but it appears to just be a different transliteration? In any case, KMT seems to be their preferred name today. (It’s in the domain name of their official website, at least.)
CPC vs CCP is not a transliteration difference, it’s abbreviations for “Communist Party of China” vs “Chinese Communist Party”. The CPC is quite clear about which name they use themselves. Using the other one, CCP, seems to me (as an English speaker…) to be some sort of petty defiant signaling that the speaker/writer is so opposed to the CPC that they refuse to call them by their preferred name.
CPC vs CCP is not a transliteration difference
Literally the opposite. CPC vs CCP is a transliteration difference (中国共产党 - 中国=China/Chinese 共产=communist 党=party). KMT is based on the old method of romanization - wade-giles. GMD is derived from modern day pinyin, which is what the CCP helped create and currently uses. If I am speaking Chinese I will of course use 国民党 (GMD)，but everyone and their mom knows KMT in the English speaking world so I use KMT when referring to the nationalists when talking to westerners.
However, it looks like you guys are right, CPC is the official english acronym. However, again, as a Chinese person…who cares? You’re telling me that correcting this acronym use will change or affect…anything?
Anyone that is interested in language cares. Correcting it doesn’t change the worldviews behind the decision and I’m not sure anyone here is even suggesting we start a campaign to stop liberals from saying CCP.
