ABSTRACT
On July 1, 2001, the eightieth anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin delivered a speech that later proved controversial. In the speech Jiang stated that private entrepreneurs could be qualified to join his Party, the self-daimed vanguard political organization of the working dass.' A bold move in the eyes of international media,2 this was another step in Jiang's ongoing effort to revitalize the Party's official ideology and to redefine the nature of this biggest political party in the world.3 The major framework Jiang has proposed for this revitalization and redefinition is the ''Three Represents" (Sange Daibiao). The ''Three Represents" suggests that the CCP represents the requirements of China's advanced productive force, the orientation of the development of the country's advanced culture, and the fundl,l1llental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people.4 It has been argued that this contrasts with the traditional definition of the Party exdusively as the political representative of the working dass.5 To recruit capitalists into the Party is one concrete measure under this framework of party-building and reform.
