Original Author: Zi Hengmo
Zi Mo Listening to Rain
August 4, 2025, 21:13

History is not a one-way street. At every crossroads that determines destiny, there exist countless possibilities leading to the future. Today, let us temporarily withdraw from the complex reality, close our eyes, and conduct the boldest and most exciting thought experiment. Let us spread the wings of imagination to explore one possibility: If, from that magnificent era until today, we had never deviated from the glorious path that Chairman Mao pointed out for us—independence, self-reliance, people being masters of their own fate, and continuously marching toward communism—then what kind of world would today's "New China" and hundreds of millions of Chinese people be living in?

This is no fantasy. Because every direction forward on this path has long been illuminated by scientific theory; every blueprint for construction on this path once had solid foundations laid by that generation. All we need to do is follow its internal logic and extrapolate it to the present.

So, what would such a China look like?

01 Farmers of the New Era — "Red Aristocrats" on the Vast Fields

First, let us turn our gaze to the land that occupies China's vastest area—the countryside. Here, we see no "hollowed-out" villages, no "migrant workers" forced to leave home for livelihood, and certainly no landless farmers in tears after capital enclosure.

After decades of development, people's communes have evolved from their rudimentary "large and public" prototype into highly modernized, intelligent "agricultural cities" that integrate agriculture, industry, commerce, education, and military.

"Farmer," a term once bearing identity stigma, has long been eliminated by history. Living here are "commune members"—they are agricultural workers, technical experts, and truly the masters of this land.

The heavy physical labor that once made hundreds of millions of ancestors "face the yellow earth with backs to the sky" has completely disappeared. Operating across the vast fields are massive, intelligent, unmanned agricultural machinery clusters guided by the Beidou navigation system. From sowing and fertilizing to harvesting and storage, complete automation and mechanization have been achieved.

What is the work of commune members like? Perhaps it's in the commune's central dispatch center, enjoying air conditioning and sipping tea while monitoring and coordinating the entire farm's operations through giant electronic screens. Perhaps it's in the commune's agricultural science academy, conducting cutting-edge research in biotechnology and seed improvement.

Their working hours strictly follow the eight-hour workday. After work, they take free public transportation back to well-equipped, uniformly planned modern residential areas. Their children study in the commune's free, high-quality schools; their elders enjoy their twilight years in the commune's free, well-equipped hospitals.

Cinemas, libraries, gymnasiums, cultural palaces... these cultural facilities once considered "urban monopolies" have long been popularized in every "agricultural city."

Just as Marx and Engels predicted in "The Communist Manifesto," the distinction between city and countryside is being historically and irreversibly eliminated on this path.

The commune members here enjoy more comprehensive and dignified security than any "farm owner" in any capitalist country. They are the true "red aristocrats" living on the vast fields.

02 Workers of the New Era — Factory Masters under the "Anshan Constitution"

Now, let us enter a factory. This factory is bright and clean with humming machinery, but you hear no boss's scolding, see no supervisor's cold stare, and smell no stale air of "996 blessing" [note: referring to working 9am-9pm, 6 days a week].

Because every factory here belongs to one sole master—all working people.

The highest management principle practiced here is the great creation praised by Chairman Mao as the "Anshan Constitution." "Two participations, one reform, three combinations" (cadres participate in labor, workers participate in management; reform unreasonable rules and regulations; combination of engineering technicians, managers, and workers in production practice and technological innovation) has long transformed from a charter into the daily, vibrant practice of every worker.

Today's production plans are jointly decided by management committees democratically elected by workers and higher-level planning departments. Today's technological innovations are conquered through "brainstorming" sessions by "three-combination" groups composed of frontline master craftsmen, young technicians, and workshop cadres. Today's factory cadres must regularly remove their cadre uniforms, put on work clothes, and eat, live, and work alongside workers to prevent any bureaucratic tendencies.

"Workers" here are not managed subjects, much less "human costs" that can be arbitrarily "optimized." They are the rightful masters of the factory.

This position as masters is reflected in every aspect of their lives:

Cradle-to-grave free healthcare. From minor colds and fevers to major surgeries, everything is covered by the state. Workers' healthy bodies are considered society's most precious wealth.

Completely free education. From nurseries to universities, workers' children can enjoy the highest quality education without any burden.

Welfare housing allocation. Every worker family has the right to be allocated a spacious, bright home built uniformly by the state, based on family size and years of service.

"Unemployment," capitalism's most terrifying nightmare, has long become an ancient historical term that no one can understand here.

As Lenin envisioned: "All citizens become employees and workers of one nationwide state 'syndicate'... The whole of society will become one office and one factory with equal work and equal pay."

03 Youth of the New Era — Broad Horizons without "Involution"

In such a society, what would the spiritual outlook of young people be like?

One word: spirited.

On their faces, there is no fatigue and anxiety brought by "involution" [note: intense internal competition], no despair and resignation brought by high housing prices, and certainly no emptiness and decadence shaped by consumerism.

Their education, from the beginning, is not designed to make them slaughter each other in the cruel "talent market" to compete for a few positions as "superior people." The sole purpose of education is to serve the people—to cultivate "laborers with socialist consciousness and culture," to nurture "successors to the proletarian revolutionary cause."

Theory and practice are closely combined. Students must not only learn knowledge from books but also regularly go to factories, countryside, and military units to participate in passionate practice and learn from workers, peasants, and soldiers.

After graduation, they face no employment pressure. The state will arrange the most suitable positions for them based on social development needs and their personal strengths. Whether becoming a glorious worker, a new-type farmer, a brave soldier, or a fearless scientific researcher, in their view, these are merely different social divisions of labor with absolutely no distinction of superiority or inferiority.

Their youth is full of infinite possibilities. They can respond to the nation's call, form "youth shock brigades," go to the most challenging frontiers to build new cities and paint the newest canvases. They can devote themselves to various literary, artistic, sports, and technological creative activities in their spare time, because their time and energy are not consumed by endless overtime and commuting.

Their love also becomes purer, because it no longer needs to be bound by the chains of capitalist logic like houses, cars, and money.

They are truly vigorous, dignified, liberated youth.

04 Women of the New Era — Truly "Holding Up Half the Sky"

That bold declaration "women hold up half the sky" has long become the most common, no-longer-needing-emphasis social reality in this "New China 2025."

Women's liberation is considered one of the most fundamental measures of social progress.

The decadent culture of capitalizing on and objectifying women's bodies and appearance in capitalist society is regarded here as the ugliest garbage, long swept into history's dustbin.

The decadent feudal thinking that bound women to families and "three obediences and four virtues" has become a despised social pariah.

The state, through establishing numerous free, high-quality public nurseries, public canteens, and public laundries, has completely liberated women from heavy, unpaid domestic labor.

"Childcare," "cooking," and "housework" are no longer women's "natural duties" but public enterprises shared by the entire society.

As Engels pointed out in "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State," only when women can "participate in social production on a large scale," only when "domestic work no longer takes up any of their time," can women's liberation truly be achieved.

On this land, women's figures appear in every important position. They are commanding strategists, scientists conquering cutting-edge technologies, astronauts piloting interstellar spacecraft, agricultural experts in fields...

Their liberation is not an empty slogan but the most solid material reality guaranteed by powerful socialist public ownership.

05 Culture of the New Era — People's Battle Songs, Not Capital's Decadent Music

The culture here is people's culture, fighting culture.

Turn on the television, and you see no garbage promoting individualism, luxury and pleasure, talented scholars and beauties, or emperors and generals. You see none of those contentless "traffic stars" packaged by capital.

Literature and art belong to the people. Every film, every drama celebrates the great creations of working people, praises the heroic deeds of revolutionary martyrs, and criticizes bourgeois decadent thinking.

Literature and art serve proletarian politics. As Chairman Mao demanded in "Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art": "Our literature and art are for the broad masses of the people, and in the first place for the workers, peasants and soldiers; they are created for the workers, peasants and soldiers and are for their use."

The culture here is also participatory culture. Every factory, every commune, every neighborhood has its own workers' club, youth palace, and cultural propaganda team. After work, workers don't indulge in virtual world anesthesia but enthusiastically rehearse self-created dramas, hold their own poetry recitals, and conduct their own sports competitions.

The entire society radiates a healthy, upward, revolutionary optimistic cultural atmosphere.

06 New Era China and the World — Beacon of the Third World

Internationally, what kind of existence is this "New China 2025"?

It is definitely not a "new superpower" seeking hegemony. It is the most solid, most reliable revolutionary rear base for oppressed nations and peoples worldwide, a never-extinguishing beacon in the eyes of Third World countries.

By consistently adhering to the principle of "self-reliance," its economy and technology are no longer subject to any imperialist country's "chokehold." It possesses the world's most complete and independent industrial and national economic systems.

It leads by example, proving to the world: without exploitation, without colonization, without dependence, a truly socialist country can absolutely develop, and develop even better.

It selflessly shares its advanced technology and mature experience with Asian, African, and Latin American brother countries fighting for national liberation and development. It uses its powerful national strength to check American imperialist hegemonic behavior and support all just struggles worldwide.

As Chairman Mao hoped, it truly achieves: "China should make a greater contribution to humanity."

Its friends are found throughout the world.

Epilogue

Well, comrades, now let us slowly open our eyes from this beautiful vision.

This "New China 2025," this country without "involution," without "996," without "mortgages" and "unemployment," this society where people are truly masters and both material and spiritual wealth are greatly abundant—is it merely an unrealistic "utopia"?

No.

We must clearly recognize that every scene in this picture has incomparably solid, scientific theory as support. It is not fantasy but the glorious shore that can inevitably be reached by following the internal logic of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.

History has carved out its own trajectory. Reality has complexities we must face. But this absolutely does not mean we should forget the possibility of that more glorious, more magnificent path.

That path is still there. That shore still glimmers with undying light in the distance.

It deserves our generation, and future thousands upon thousands of generations, to study for it, think for it, and struggle for it tirelessly and forever.

As that great poem says: "Nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets his mind to it."