Commentary July 1 marks the centenary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It also marks the timeline of the first agenda on Xi Jinping’s Chinese Dream—building a well-off and prosperous society by 2021. While the CCP-led China has transformed from Mao to Xi in the last 100 years, China still battles to have a favorable global image. Domestically, the Party has expanded in strength since 1949, but its revolutionary spirit pivoted on “proletariat image” has increasingly taken a “bourgeoise form” in the 100 years—taking a departure from Mao’s agrarian-based outlook. This transition runs contrary to China’s foundational spirit—the communist or rather socialist ideology. However, China justifies the transition by calling it “socialism with Chinese characteristics.” Owing to this ambiguity over the ideological image of China, one needs to ask: Is “communist” only in its name and not in spirit? As Richard McGregor posits that “The Party is …