China to America: Shut up and listen

[I think not]

Look on the bright side, you will have many tales to tell your grandkids. Thanks for the stories and the time you put into them.

I think alot of what you say is people striving to make a decent living. When their economy gets better, so will they.

 

[Machjo]

Look on the bright side, you will have many tales to tell your grandkids. Thanks for the stories and the time you put into them.

I think alot of what you say is people striving to make a decent living. When their economy gets better, so will they.

Not entirely true. The cost of living is also quite low, thus it's not as bad as some might think. One big problem, of course, is wealth redistributin, with much of it in the hands of a few. This means that there is a certain social pressure to keep up with the Jonse's. Some of the corrupt whom I've met are wealthy businessmen and government officials. So how do material conditions explain that? What about school headmasters scamming parents? They're not poor either, are they? It's not about wealth, it's about education. They're education system, I've seen it. It's extremely materialistic in nature.

 

[Machjo]

Oh, but as for things getting better, I do agree, things are. More and more people are realizing the problem, more talk about it, more concern for their future. On the one hand, they are optimistic about their economic future. but there is an incresing concern for the price to pay in terms of their nation's dignity in the process. More Confucius schools are opening up, the government is increasingly turning a blind eye to them, perhaps realising they're needed. Buddhism, Taoism and Islam are making a strong come back. Christianity and the Baha'i Faith are booming too. People are thirsty for an ideal, for reality, as opposed to constant facades. So yes, they are definitely waking up. And that's a very positive sign.

 

[BitWhys]

RE: China to America: Shu

any signs of the middle class carrying political weight yet?

 

[Machjo]

Re: RE: China to America: Shu

any signs of the middle class carrying political weight yet?

This might sound strange comming from a Candian, but I actually disagree with China granting too much political freedom yet. And most educated Chinese are with me on this one. First off, democracy per se is nothing more than a system of govenrment, neither good or bad in its own right; government policies would decide that. Should China grant democracy, here are some of the problems which would certainly arise:

1. Ethnic tensions. With the Han forming 90% of the population, it's celar that government policy would overwhelmingly reflect their culture. At the moment, the government does make efforts to recognise minority rights to some extent at least, despite many Han complaining that it's not fair to grant minority groups such rights. So without a doubt, ethniccity would come to the fore with a vengeance, and China is not as homogenous as one might think, ethnically speaking.

2. With all the corruption in the nation right now, elected officials would simply mean more votes to buy and sell! This would probably increase, not decrease, the corruption we see now.

I would say forget political rights for now, and focus on other more basic human rights first, along with a major restructuring of their educational philosophy. Then, and only then, will they be ready for more political freedom. As for the middle class, they're all entwined in the system themselves, just like the rest of them. So effectively, while this might come as a shock to you in Canada, even those Chiense who disapprove of their government's policies will still support it for the sake of internal stability while simply criticising policy alone. In fact, criticism of government policy is on the rise in Chinese media, but of course criticism of the government itself is a big no no.

Any politician wasting his breath promoting democracy in China right now is sadly ill informed of the reality on the ground, and just how much support the current government has even if people don't like its policies.

 

[jimmoyer]

Machjo, I would strongly suggest you submit some
of your observations to newspapers or magazines
for publication.

Highly interesting, and thought provoking.

Especially submit a one-pager to Newsweek in
America. They have this one page called MY TURN
and it is open to anyone.

I do believe China's slow (some may say "glacial")
approach to democracy is highly recommendable.

 

[Machjo]

Re: RE: China to America: Shut up and listen

Machjo, I would strongly suggest you submit some
of your observations to newspapers or magazines
for publication.

Highly interesting, and thought provoking.

Especially submit a one-pager to Newsweek in
America. They have this one page called MY TURN
and it is open to anyone.

I do believe China's slow (some may say "glacial")
approach to democracy is highly recommendable.

When I have a chance, thanks. And my pleasure. I'll just say that despite all it's problems, I've actually come to love China. What more can I say. Despite all the materialism, there still is an amazingly gentle streak in their collective personality, and I admire that alot.

 

[Machjo]

One thing about publishing in foreign publications; it's often taken the wrong way. For instance, youll have the biggots suddenly saying all Chinese are like that. Fact of the matter is, foreign-born Chinese are usually as shocked about this stuff as anyone else. this has nothing to do with the Chinese per se as from what I've heard, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan don't even come close to what's going on the mainland. Then we'd have others blame it all on communism. Well, communism is not directly responsible for this, so certainly is indirectly. Communism is based on a particular materialist philosophy tought across the mainland. Needless to say, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao managed to escape such a system of education, with their systems having remained more confucianist in their approach.

Yet even blaming it on communism is not the whole truth. Communism itself is a western creation in more ways than one. Most obviously, marxist philosophy itself was born in the West. Beyond that, however, two Opium Wars followed by additional invasions and ransackings of China ( Let's face it, the Chinese really got a whippin' in the last 200 years!), the Chinese eventually had to look to whatever would rid them of colonialims once and for all. These wars created firtile ground for the fanatically anti-colonialist streak in Marxist philosophy to take hold of the hearts and minds of the Chinese people. Add to that that Christian involvement in the Opium Wars associated that Faith with colonialism and savagery. The pacifist streaks in Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism were also partially blamed for China's defeat. This all contributed to a certain anti-religious stance in the nation reinforced by the already attractive marxism and it's opium of the people theories to free China once and for all. Strange as it might sound, the west contributed just as much as the Chiense themselves in creating many of the problems in current China.

So I suppose if I were to publish anything of the sort, i'd want it to be detailed enough so as to ensure it can't just be used as a sledge hammer by biggots to defame Chinese culture as just so "commie" and evil and stuff. Too many stupid people in this world to just write a simple article. Definitely if I should do this, I'd really want to choose my words carefully.