by Zoë Pollock
The Communist Party of China recently announced their ranks have swelled to 80.3 million, about the same population of Germany. Today the party celebrates its 90th anniversary; Damien Ma examines their growth:
The CCP has increasingly evolved into an elite establishment political machine, attracting the highly educated and ambitious. It is often viewed as something of a "career insurance" for newly minted college graduates. … Having spoken to some students over the years, I never got the impression that they were signing up for any ideologically driven purpose. To them, it felt more along the lines of entering into the realm of one of those exclusive and elite clubs at an Ivy League university.
(Photo: An emblem of the Communist Party of China is seen on the Tiananmen Square on June 30, 2011 in Beijing, China. By Feng Li/Getty Images.)
The Dish 