Beach rules

FEW beach resorts would boast of promoting “core socialist values”. The seaside town of Beidaihe, the nearest sandy getaway to the Chinese capital, Beijing, is not so bashful. Local media laud its barrage of propaganda designed to boost values such as harmony and friendship.The fanfare is because Beidaihe is home to a walled, heavily guarded compound where China’s rulers usually take a working holiday in early August (see ). Yet it is likely that this year, amid the orange-roofed villas, harmony and friendship were in short supply. Communist Party rules require that a cohort of leaders retires at the party congress in the autumn of 2017. There is speculation that the looming changes to China’s leadership are causing a struggle that reaches right to the top.