After the Mask: On Zong Qinghou and the Theater of Power

Zong Qinghou was never a "national entrepreneur."

His mouth was full of "Communist China," as if he carried the fate of the nation every day; but in his heart it was only profit, pursued by any means.

This is the role of the outer circle of the Dragon Lords: to perform for the masses, to pretend to care about the country, while in truth acting as a disposable glove.

Their mission is not to create value, but to maintain the illusion — to convince people that if they obey the rules and act with virtue, they will live well.

And the people truly believe it. They learn thrift, obedience, and endurance, training themselves into "well-behaved citizens."

The result: the more obedient, the easier to be harvested; the more virtuous, the easier to be exploited.

Zong's famous question — "Are Tencent's servers made in China or in the U.S.?" — was never about technological independence. It was just a line in the script.

The purpose of the scene was to make the audience believe someone was watching out for them.

The reality, of course: his family was already in America, and his wealth already in U.S. dollars.

Behind the mask, the world is brutally simple: On stage: Communist China. In the heart: profit above all. In the audience: ordinary people trained to believe the illusion.

Zong Qinghou is not an exception. He is only one face in the troupe.

The true logic of rule is a theater sustained entirely by illusion.