Mainland China
August 8
Happy Birthday Isabella! Isabella is Eunice's daughter.
Give China a Chance
Today is Isabella's birthday (Eunice's daughter and a Chinese) and also the opening day of the Olympics hosted by Beijing. Since China bashing has been such a popular pastime by both liberals and conservatives in the United States, and since the Olympics are starting today, I thought I should come to China's aid somewhat and put China in perspective.
It bothers me when people take advantage of the chance to bash people who do not have much of a chance to answer back. Immigrant bashing (people who cannot vote), the bashing of "lurkers" on message boards, even the anonymous bashing of teachers by students, and bashing foreign nations without understanding much about the nation, all fall into that category. China bashing falls into the last subcategory. No nation is more abused in this way, among citizens of the U.S, than China. First of all, I have to admit, being married to a (Taiwanese) Chinese woman, I love the Chinese people as a whole, and by extension, China itself as well. There is much that is wrong with China and its government, but there is much that is good about China and its government, as well. Speaking of contextual thinking, we need to take China in context. Usually, we only hear bad things about China. If it were some other nation, they would probably hate us Americans, but the Chinese still respect us and even like us as a people, to a degree.
Let us take a logical look at American opinions of China.
Issue number one: the one-child policy and China's use of resources. Americans decry China's one-child policy, an admittedly heavy handed but well-intentioned policy, while at the same time, complaining about China's increasing use of resources due to industrialization, driving up gasoline prices, for instance. Has the average American ever heard of "having it both ways?" Can they spell h-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y? Tragically, apparently not. If not for the one-child policy, China's large population would be even larger, and puting far more strain on resources.
Issue number two: Capitalism vs. Communism. The United States is a Capitalist nation, and China is a Communist nation. Correct? I'm afraid not. Both the United States and China are Capitalist nations, as they currently exist. My recent series of posts comaring Communisn and Capitalism relates to this issue. In fact, China, which currently is a Capitalist fascist state, is probably doing Capitalism better than the U.S, which is currently a Capitalist state moving in the direction of fascism while being in total denial about it. If things continue going the way they are, they will probably end up pretty much buying out America. (See the "Rove-World" post.)
Issue number three: Human rights (lefts?). Yes, China has many human rights problems, but so does the U.S. Remember, China currently has about 1.3 billion people compared to about 300 million in the U.S. Yet China probably does a better job of feeding its 1.3 billion citizens than the U.S. does of feeding its 300 million. To the Chinese, food is a human right, and something which is the responsibility of the government. Meanwhile, the U.S. is holding hundreds of people for years without charges at Guantanamo Bay, just because they are middle Eastern and have the appearance in the minds of "Bushian" U.S. officials of being potential terrorists or "enemy combatants." (I never got the fact that Guantanamo Bay being in Cuba, by the way; I thought Cuba was a communist, "unfriendly" nation.)
Issue number four: Freedom vs. Centralized Control. Here, there is a clear contrast between the two nations, but in the end, perhaps not as great as it seems. The U.S. grants its citizens considerable freedom, by and large, while China exerts considerable central control. However, China also grants its citizens freedoms, on a more localized level. China even has local democracy and elections. It is true that China likes its people to know who is in charge. And those who anger China's government risk persecution. But freedom and its limitations are put of the human condition (a future post topic), and as such, something which government can influence but not control. Freedom is not only freedom of action, but freedom of thought and feeling. When looked at this way, there is not that much difference between the United States and China in terms of freedom. Furthermore, when it comes to freedom of action, there could be too much of a good thing, and we are seeing it in the U.S. and perhaps even in China with the emergence of Capitalism. In order to merit freedom of action, people need to be responsible for their actions. Unfortunately many Americans do not take responsibility for their actions. This is another area where China beats us by and large. In China, there is a notion of social responsibility built into the culture of the Chinese. China is by and large, a collectivist culture. But such is not the case in the U.S. It is everyone for him/her self, at least according to the Republicans and libertarians who seem to be steering our policies. On a personal note, there is much talk of internet censorship in China. A few years ago, Eunice and I used to correspond by email with a Chinese teenager named Yanling. His ability to write in English was impressive, and our emails were never censored, going either direction, even though I often wrote about politics. Yanling is now in college in China.
Issue number five: Personal morals. Perhaps due to the overabundance of behavioral freedoms, especially among young people in the U.S., many Americans are morally out of control. Teenage promiscuity, sexually transmitted infections, unwanted and unplanned pregnancy, drug abuse and addiction, homicide and suicide rates are all particularly high in the United States. All of these problems are much less common in China. Could too much freedom being granted to people who are too young to handle it, be the reason for these problems? I think so. But poor socialization and moral instruction practices, as well as poor role models, could also contribute to these problems. In any case, the United States lags way behind China in the personal morals area, and it is not just among young people. Many parents in the U.S., as mentioned above, are poor role models for their children. Even in middle adulthood, many Americans continue to take advantage of others, and act only in their own self-interest, as members of a "me" society. It is true that there are many Chinese who take advantage of others, especially with the relatively unregulated Capitalism of recent years, and China does have its criminals, but China being a "we" society, such behavior is probably are not as widespread in China as in the U.S.
Issue number six: International Relations. China has been investing and helping to build infrastructure in parts of the world where the United States is conspicuously absent, such as Africa and South America. It is true that the Chinese government does expect access to resources and financial gain as a result of its investments, but they also appear to be benefitting the nations in which they are investing, by peacefully helping to build infrastructure. Alas, the same cannot be said of the U.S. Our current foreign policy seems to consist primarily of invading and occupying other nations militarily, building and/or occupying military bases in other nations around the world. In building a sort of Capitalist empire, and stupidly attempting to use force to spread Democracy, the U.S. has managed to lose the goodwill of the world, especially during the current Bush administration. China, meanwhile, continues to peacefully work with other nations, and is basically no military threat. If anything, due to the hard work and commendable work ethic of the Chinese people, China is an economic threat, but we in America only have ourselves to blame for that.
While you watch the Olympics from China, please keep these points in mind, a keep an open mind and broad perspective concerning China.