The following is the text of a speech given by Alessandro Zancan (a member of the Iskra Books editorial board and Friends of Socialist China Britain’s committee) at a China delegation report back meeting held in Brighton on 13 September 2025.
Ale reflects on China’s development over recent decades, arguing that its people-oriented use of technology is central to the country’s success in a number of fields. Platforms like WeChat and AliPay integrate public and private services efficiently and securely, while Huawei’s HarmonyOS NEXT exemplifies China’s push for seamless, cooperative, and non-exploitative tech ecosystems. This state-led coordination underpins achievements in pandemic control, renewable energy and poverty alleviation.
China’s poverty eradication, powered by data systems, digital infrastructure and rural electrification, is the fruit not of charity but of socialist planning and collective effort.
The article concludes that China’s dialectical approach to socialism — pragmatic, adaptive, and technologically advanced — offers lessons for Marxists worldwide: to study China’s experience, challenge Western narratives, and develop their own independent, cooperative platforms for knowledge building, dissemination and coordination.
Quick Rundown of Trip
At the end of May and through the beginning of June, delegates from various organisations, including Iskra Books, the Communist Party of Britain, the Young Communist League, Black Liberation Alliance, Qiao Collective, Freedom Road Socialist Organisation and Workers World Party went on a trip to China, as members of Friends of Socialist China’s Britain and US committees. We were graciously invited and hosted by the China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE).
Shaanxi
Our first stop was in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, by way of a short layover in Shanghai. We saw the Terracotta Army in Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum and we visited the Xi’an City Wall.
We wandered a bit on our own, and experienced the city as tourists, before moving on to Yan’an – the main centre of the Chinese Revolution from the conclusion of the Long March in 1935 until the late 1940s – where we visited the Revolutionary Memorial Hall and the CPC base. We actually got to enter Mao Zedong’s, Zhou Enlai’s and Liu Shaoqi’s cave houses, along with the 7th National Congress Hall.
Gansu
In Dunhuang, Gansu province, we attended a number of meetings and conferences, headlined by the Fourth Dialogue on Exchanges and Mutual Learning Among Civilisations, where we got to meet delegates from all over the world. We visited one of China’s biggest solar parks; we saw the stunning Mogao Caves; and attended the Dragon Boat Festival celebration in the Gobi Desert. It was truly breathtaking, and nothing else I have seen in my life can truly compare.
We then moved to Jiayuguan, where we visited a dairy farm and a number of museums; had a wine tasting from one of Asia’s largest wine producers; visited the JISCO Smart Grid and Localised New Energy Consumption Demonstration Project; and got to see the westernmost point of the Great Wall. Multiple projectors lined the walls, projecting animations of historical events, mapped to the structure of each fortress and individual wall.
Shanghai
We ended our trip in Shanghai, where we visited both the site and the museum of the 1st National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
We engaged in dialogue with Zhang Weiwei and Wu Xinwen at Fudan University’s China Institute, and got to visit the Lenovo headquarters and the Zhangjiang Robotics Valley.
We visited the city’s famous Bund waterfront area on the last day, and I dragged a few comrades to a book store in the centre to fill up the suitcase I had purposely brought over empty. I ended up bringing back 32 books.
Reflections and takeaways
China has managed to build a system that truly works for the people, and by the people. There are over 100 million members in the Communist Party. There is no extreme poverty, everyday life is cheap, manufactured goods are of a high quality, the streets are safe, and the people are proud of their country. They demonstrate this pride through their sense of civic duty. They keep their streets clean and tidy, and they trust their government, because it works for them.
The levels of home ownership and the general price of housing are incomparable to the West. There is no police brutality, there are no daily shootings, and the police are not armed to the teeth.
China’s cities are built around people’s needs. There is greenery everywhere, easily accessible public bathrooms, parks have padded running tracks, public transportation is dirt-cheap. I could go on and on.
Seeing the sorry state of affairs in Western countries, the general lack of hope and the pervasive nihilism, it’s easy to be suspicious of some of the claims made about China’s progress. After all, what they accomplished doesn’t really seem possible from our vantage point in the West. And to be fair, what China is doing truly is impossible – in the West. The West does not have the infrastructure nor the political will to accomplish anything of the sort.
When I first got back from the trip, I really struggled. For ten days I experienced a functional, collaborative system, and to be thrown back into the mires of a decaying, crumbling country was depressing, to say the least. But after the post-trip malaise relented, I was filled with hope and optimism. China showed me that a better world is possible.
So how does China do it?
Plenty has already been said about Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, about Xi Jinping Thought, and the general course of Chinese development, but I would like to focus on an aspect which I think has been overlooked, and which is of vital importance to us in the West, as it is an aspect we actually have some degree of control over.
That aspect is technology.
Tech
On one of the last days of the trip, I went to a mall in Shanghai to buy myself a new phone. I specifically wanted to go to a Huawei store to also have a play around with their flagship folding phones and laptop.
I had a lovely shopping experience: I bought a £90 phone that works like a £500 phone; it came with a case and the Huawei worker even installed a few apps for me and did a proper check to make sure the phone worked and suited my needs. He installed language packs for me, made sure Android apps were properly configured, and had me try it out to make sure I was satisfied with it.
After buying the phone I spent some time playing around with the trifold phone which I’m sure many of you have seen online, and the foldable tablet-laptop hybrid MateBook Fold.
After playing around with them I realised a few things:
The use of technology in the West is a reflection of its economic base, and the same goes for China. Tech in the West is a messy, competitive, inefficient, fraudulent nightmare that depletes people’s energies and faculties, whereas Chinese tech is clean, cooperative, efficient and safe.
The Chinese government has actively moulded the direction of tech towards socialist goals and the betterment of people’s lives, a paradigm diametrically opposite to the Western profit paradigm.
WeChat (and AliPay to a lesser degree)
Most people who have been to China in recent years will have either WeChat or AliPay or both installed on their phone.
For those who aren’t familiar with these apps, they are so-called super apps that integrate a myriad of functionalities in one unique interface through the use of mini apps.
WeChat, for example, takes care of transportation, government services, doctor appointments, takeaway, social media, payments, and more. On a train, you can order takeaway to be delivered to your seat at the next station. You can book a DiDi (the Chinese equivalent of an Uber), you can book flights directly on the app, you can pay your bills, all with one login.
No matter where you are in China, you can use these apps to access all these services, with little to no friction.
Data privacy is guaranteed using something called an anonymous token system. The government verifies and validates your account, then sends that verification to companies, but with your personal data anonymised. All the companies know is that the user is verified by the government. This way your data stays in one place only, controlled by the state, and you still get the conveniences of the smart age.
Let’s compare that now to the UK.
As a foreign freelancer I have somehow accrued seven government gateway accounts, and two NHS numbers.
Half of my government gateway accounts don’t work; my settled status confirmation code portal glitches most of the time; and I need to give permission to US-based third party organisations to access my data just to be able to read my medical records.
I need the Uber app to book Ubers; I need the Ryanair, EasyJet and WizzAir apps to book flights and actually use the tickets; I need the Deliveroo app for food delivery; I need to set up an account for each different bill and disseminate my data to multiple different private companies.
Google, Meta and Apple are notably trying to build their own all-encompassing ecosystems for the West, but due to the nature of capitalist economies, they cannot achieve the level of integration that is possible in China. There is no centralised data repository, no secure, accountable data storage mechanisms, no nationwide coordinated development, no government-mandated collaboration between entities, no guarantee of privacy.
China is already miles ahead of any other country when it comes to tech infrastructure, but it’s not happy with just staying the course. Perhaps the most interesting tech development in recent years for me, more than the widespread adoption of AI, is Huawei’s newest operating system (OS), which pushes interconnectivity and a seamless user experience even further.
I got to try it in while we were there.
HarmonyOS NEXT
HarmonyOS NEXT is Huawei’s newest cross-device operating system. Built from the ground up without any Western hardware or software, it builds on the same principles of WeChat and AliPay, but takes them a step further:
- The OS is built in such a way that apps and services only need to developed once, and they work on all devices equally, from phones, to laptops, watches, TVs, tablets.
- All devices pool their processing power together and operate as if they were a unique supercomputer, meaning that open apps can seamlessly be moved from one device to another with a simple gesture.
- Apps can be deconstructed into something called “atomic services”. Rather than developing whole apps, developers can create single-function modules that can be put together with other modules to create new pipelines.
What this means is that all common functionality is only implemented once and shared across devices, apps and services. This means a huge reduction in development time, in bugs, in overhead, in memory usage, and a hefty gain in speed. This means that new functionality can be downloaded quicky and easily even in areas with bad internet connections, and apps only need to be downloaded once across all devices. It means that a user can start editing a 4K video on their laptop, continue on their phone and finish up on a TV, with all resources pooled to the in-use device. A phone call can be shifted from device to device without ever interrupting it. A flight booking can automatically trigger the creation of a calendar event and create a travel itinerary with public transportation routes, restaurants on the way and any other relevant information.
There is a lower barrier to entry, as once a user learns how to use an app on one device, they can use it on any device.
Because all functionality is centrally coordinated, competition amongst developers is reduced, and functionality can actually be shared. After all, why reinvent the same identical wheel for the millionth time?
Outcomes
What we are seeing is “Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country“, as Lenin said, taken to a whole new level. We are seeing advanced technological development paired with dialectical materialist analysis.
And the outcomes couldn’t be clearer:
COVID
China’s Zero-COVID policy managed to contain COVID deaths to around 5,000 before it was forced to open up again because of the inaction of the rest of the world. As soon as the policy was terminated, thousands of excess deaths were reported almost immediately, with many more to come.
What allowed the policy to be enacted was China’s tech infrastructure.
Their pre-existing infrastructure made it so that people could use existing apps they already had accounts for (WeChat and AliPay) to track infections and people’s movements. Anti-China pundits would use this as an example of China not respecting the human right to privacy, but I personally would put the right not to die above the right to be in public spaces while sick and contagious.
Compare that to the US or UK, where there were no widespread enforced measures, and self-reporting was a big part of contact tracing. Tech efforts were attempted by private companies, but the lack of infrastructure and widespread adoption made it impossible to have anything remotely comparable to China’s response. Millions died and millions more are now disabled and struggling, with no end in sight. The spread was not curbed in any meaningful way, and Big Tech companies were allowed to continue unabated with their terrible privacy practices.
Another field where China is excelling, aided by tech, is energy.
Climate and Energy
While the West was busy criticising China for its use of coal in industrial production, something which the West has been doing long before China, China was gradually building the conditions for clean energy production that now put it atop the world in every single metric to do with green energy.
Just to give an indication of its progress, China is on course to produce more solar energy by 2030 than the US consumes altogether.
China’s sprawling tech infrastructure and centralisation allow it to coordinate its energy generation, distribution and infrastructure building in pursuit of a full green transition.
No other country in the world can compare. China can deploy infrastructure and coordinate operations at scales and speeds that no other country can match due to its distributed governance structure.
In the first half of this year alone, China has installed more than twice as much solar capacity as the rest of the world combined, and is leading a number of energy projects around the world – particularly the Global South – via the Belt and Road Initiative.
Europe’s renewable energy transition is now fundamentally dependent on Chinese technology and manufacturing, with 98% of solar energy using Chinese infrastructure.
85% of global battery cell manufacturing takes place in China.
During our trip we had the chance to experience China’s power grid in action. We visited the 100MW Molten Salt Tower CSP Plant in Dunhuang, a massive solar park with 12,000 panels that rotate to capture sunlight depending on the sun’s location. That light is reflected towards a molten salt tower that absorbs the heat and powers a steam turbine generator to generate electricity, with leftover molten salt stored in a dedicate tank to meet energy demands after sunset.
We also saw the JISCO Smart Grid and Localised New Energy Consumption Demonstration Project in Jiayuguan, where we got to see the control centre for Jiayuguan’s energy grid, and got to see in person how energy is distributed using extensive data collection and AI.
Another field where a tech-powered dialectical approach was used is poverty alleviation:
Poverty Alleviation
While the West was busy building anti-homeless architecture and sending law enforcement to tear down homeless encampments, China launched its poverty alleviation program.
Through China’s targeted strategy, it managed to lift around 800 million people out of poverty in under 10 years, achieving the complete elimination of extreme poverty.
This effort was only possible through extensive planning, coordination, technological development and absolute dedication.
The CPC built a unified poverty alleviation big data platform for each county, and one outlet for each town, assigning one leading figure in each village, opening one terminal and keeping one record book for each household, fostering a contingent of workers devoted to poverty alleviation, and building a social security network in the poor regions.
The government expanded internet access and services to poor areas, as well as expanding internet financial services and developing online education programs. It also invested heavily in transforming and upgrading rural power grids. Average power outage time in rural areas was reduced to about 15 hours per year. From 2013 to 2015, China planned and implemented access to electricity for every citizen. Solar PV power generation was part of the poverty alleviation program. Poorer areas were prioritised in planning energy development projects. This has raised incomes of the poor, prompted economic development and made their lives much better.
Unlike the West, China’s framework for combating poverty was based on planning and sustainable development, not top-down charity.
Conclusion
What China has accomplished is simply beyond what is possible in any capitalist country right now.
China was not responsible for the conditions that made it provide cheap labour to the West, but it used those conditions to embed itself in the global market and develop its productive forces to become a superpower in a vast array of fields.
China was not responsible for the climate disaster enabled by the West, but it leveraged dirty energy to get to the place it is in now, where it is enabling a green transition for everyone. China is the only reason humanity a fighting chance against climate change.
Those who criticise China for not being socialist enough do it from a static, idealistic point of view; they lack the understanding of dialectics that underpins every Chinese decision; and they ultimately implicitly blame China for what the external forces did to it. In a globalised capitalist world, developing countries cannot be held to different developmental standards, or they will never dig themselves out of the hole they were buried in.
But those who do support China need not bother criticising Westerners for their insistence on so-called “ideological purity”. There is nothing impure about China’s socialism. Dialectics is about contradictions, and contradictions are by their very nature – contradictory. There can be no purity without impurity.
As Marxists in the imperial core, it is our duty to learn from China, work with China, combat the reactionary slander that still permeates our very own movement. Anyone who is concerned about poverty, ecology, quality of life, etc simply cannot afford to ignore what the most important country in the world is doing.
But communists in China have state power, and can actually work towards goals of common prosperity backed by their own government.
As communists in the West, we are at odds with our power structures, and cannot rely on platforms outside of our control that put us at significant risk for the work we do. This is why we should be building our own platforms, and collaborating on them.
Marxists in the tech sphere, all around the world, should take the unique opportunities that come with this specific moment in time where the biggest economy in the world is socialist and access to tech is more democratised than ever to build platforms for knowledge building, dissemination and coordination.
We should move away from outdated modes of party building and knowledge dissemination, and make use of the many technological advances that have characterised recent years.
We need to move away from Western proprietary platforms for our work and build digital dual power.
We need to move away from the anarchistic conception of decentralisation as the solution to our problems.
We need proletarian centralisation and organisation to fight Western state power.
China ran a 4-minute mile, it’s our job to follow suit.
