For the past few months I've been living in China trying to make sense of everything around me. I've watched workers demolish dozens of apartment buildings down the road from me in preparation for building newer, more efficient structures as part of a movement toward sustainability and making China "green." From what I've gathered, the people living there were given perhaps one or two weeks' notice to vacate the premises before a wrecking ball came smashing through their living room.
As the Chinese government inexorably pursues its long-term development goals — various "five year plans" and pieces of legislation dictating how, where, and at what speed China should develop — I can't help but get the feeling people are being left behind. The current mindset of the government is that, first and foremost, everyone should have the opportunity to improve themselves financially. While it's an admirable goal, and as close to a declaration of capitalism as I've heard from them, other details are not dealt with.
First, poverty is not only common in China, for many it's a fact of life. Most Chinese citizens would argue to the contrary, bringing up the oft-quoted “400 million.” That's the number of people the World Bank estimates have been lifted out of poverty since China began a series of reforms in 1978 under the direction of Deng Xiaoping. It's an incredible number, certainly, but judging China's progress by that metric alone ignores the approximately 80 million still in poverty by World Bank standards.
The real concern here is that this isn't poverty as it exists in the United States, where social services like food stamps and Medicaid are available. This is the sort of poverty where you can't even afford to eat and where scrounging through garbage is one of the more viable means of sustenance. It can't be argued that this doesn't happen. I live in Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan Province, and I see it on a regular basis. I've seen greater economic disparity in the streets of Kunming than I've ever witnessed in the United States. This is to be expected to a certain extent, as urban opportunities are always more diverse than in rural areas. That being said, it's gut-wrenching to see a crippled man dressed in rags beg for alms while Porsches and BMWs with dark-tinted windows drive past.
Many westerners are horrified by China's flippant dismissal of the concept of human rights. We see activists jailed for promoting democracy, the beloved Dalai Lama declared a despot, and prisoners and those awaiting trial often tortured and abused. We cry foul, and demand that China align its values with ours. Herein lies the problem: from the Chinese perspective, this isn't a matter of human rights, though admittedly it's still something of a foreign concept here. It's whether or not China should succumb to the demands of the West.
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Article comments
1 - AChineseReader
Don't see how the past cannot be escaped. You have a valid point, but didn't make your point well.
If you want to write about this theme, read some history of imperial China. Hint: the (vicious) cycle, ie, how 1st generation seizes power, 2nd and 3rd make China a world (as was known) power, and then the inevitable decline and finally self-destruction. The cycle usually repeats itself every 300 years.
So you westners are afraid of a rising China. Let me tell you what: China is always there; the last 150 years were but one of its downtimes. Pity you gold-haired barbarians are crying that a peril is coming. You have been accustomed to dominating the world, with your ideology, your science, etc, and you are confident that what is yours is always right. No, you are wrong. You (White Judeo-Christian descendents) are just a short-sighted, self-righteous, ignorant, calculating bunch, not holier than anyone else. Now your time of bullying, pillaging, robbing, raping, exploiting has past, and you have made your wealth and found your conscience, you are here lecturing us, telling us to behave, totally unaware of your still dirty, unwashed hands. We'd been playing with international politics even before there were a Europe, when your ancestors were being ravaged by the Romans.
Wake up to the truth. Taiwan, Tibet, South China Sea, they are nothing but your tricks to trip China. Better do your capitalism, make money, build your army, and generally accept that West dominance is but a chapter in human history, which may well be turned over in the future. But China will always be there, surviving Egypt, Greece, Macedonia, Persia, Rome, Charlemagne, the English, the Mayans, you name it.
See I'm not a fervent nationalist without the least idea of what and who you are and have been. I myself wonder how I turned from a sycophant of the West to a nationalist as I am. Interesting. Call this my manifesto, my confession.
Read more. Make money. Marry a woman. Don't lecture.
2 - DaddyWorksFromHome
I enjoyed your article. Is visited China back in the early 80's through Macau and saw only bicycleso on the roadd and an occasional rototiller pulling a wagon loaded with goods the most interesting thing I have ever seen. Your article brings back memories.