China’s Communist Party turns 100 this year. Expect mixed signals

IN LATE MAY 1949, as China’s civil war neared a blood-soaked end, America’s consul-general in Shanghai, John Cabot, was startled when resident Western businessmen cheered the city’s capture by Communist soldiers. Foreign traders and factory bosses admired the discipline of the troops, who declined gifts of food and handed out notices in English promising safety for “normal” businesses.

Blithely discounting the Communists’ pro-Soviet, anti-imperialist rhetoric, the Westerners focused on the party’s stated mission to save the country from hunger and want. That would surely involve trade with the West, and thus them. At the American Chamber of Commerce a day after Shanghai’s takeover, Cabot found members convinced that they would thrive under Communist rule. “The rejoicing couldn’t have been greater if the city had been liberated by American forces,” the diplomat recorded drily. “I can’t think why.” He was right to be cynical. Before long Western businessmen were begging to sell assets and pleading for exit permits.