Communist China has recently been facing a new kind of pollution—spiritual pollution, following upon the all too familiar industrial pollution.

Following the Sino-American pact made during Richard Nixon’s presidency China adopted an open door policy towards the West. This resulted in an influx of unwelcome liberal values and religious ideas into the country. The entry of greater number of people, and an increase in books and journals coming in from the West, represented a kind of cultural invasion, the ideas of which ran counter to the official ideology of Red China. Ideological crusades were launched in China to resist this invasion. As a result, many people have been arrested and the publication of suspect articles in Chinese newspapers has been banned. A recent example of the rigid censorship that has been enforced was the closure, in September 1983 of a Jean-Paul Sartre play in Shanghai. Sartre’s writings were criticized last year for having a negative impact on Chinese youth.

The government is making tremendous efforts to encounter this “spiritual pollution.” Communist party officials have realized that this pollution has entered China because of its opening to the West in recent years. The head of the communist party’s propaganda unit, Mr. Deng Liqun, has defined spiritual pollution to include “articles and speeches, which criticize or question Marxism and Socialism.”

The communists hold that their ideology is supreme. As they see it, man has finally, after a long ideological search, discovered ultimate truth in the form of communist philosophy. If this is the case, then why is the communist world afraid of non-communist ideas? Why should truth feel insecure in its encounter with untruth? Why should a superior ideology have cause for alarm in face of inferior ideologies?

Darkness can never be afraid of light. When darkness and light come together, the one to flee will certainly be darkness, even if it calls itself light. □