Conclusion: Two ‘World Outlooks’

In his 1937 essay, ‘On Contradiction’, Mao Zedong wrote of two opposing ‘world outlooks’. One was the correct ‘materialist dialectical’ view that takes all phenomena in the natural and social worlds to be the outcome of contradictions. The other was the incorrect ‘metaphysical’ view affirming the existence of transcendent properties such as truth and natural rights. Developed by CCP ideologists over subsequent decades, the idea that all political developments result from clashes between two opposing forces continues to suffuse CCP theory and policy. It is a view of politics that leaves no room for individual human agency, principled middle ground or actions taken in good faith. It renders human intentions irrelevant in the understanding of political actions, whose character is instead defined by which ‘force’ they form part of – that is, which side of the ‘contradiction’ they are on – at the particular time they occur. A 2013 film produced by a PLA propaganda unit and leaked online reminded observers of the ongoing dominance of the materialistdialectical world outlook in Beijing in Xi’s ‘New Era’. Titled Silent Contest (较量无声), the film depicted a vast conspiracy among Western governments, civil society and citizens coordinating consciously or