Published: October 1, 2009
“Ours will no longer be a nation subject to insult and humiliation. We have stood up.” These were the words spoken after turmoil and as long truggle, with a lot more struggles to come in the future. These were the same words that inspired billions of Bros to stand up and take their responsibilities owed to a great nation.
This, of course, was referring to the 60th national celebration of the founding of People’s Republic of China. Turning the clock back 60 years, it was a Red state that westerners fear for the power of some billion hardcore Communist believers. It was a land of ideology, the land of the poor, and the land of a group of very industrious people, as shown in history, who have way too many kids and way too little food. Nationalism swept the country and it’s youth as the government painted a picture of a glorious future, with moral high ground and the communist ideology.
Today, the same kind of pride swept through the heart of Chinese, with valid reasons as well. People had band together, turned from a backward country into a country with international standing in a short time. It has become a formidable power, an export behemoth with a voracious crave for natural minerals and U.S. Treasury Bonds. The once inefficient SOE (State Owned Enterprise) have become lean, mean, capitalist fighting machine that have corporate, political and diplomatic muscles (subject to argument). The private sector is healthy and stable enough to attract foreign investments with tremendous room for growth if the government implements better policies. China today, needless to say, is a force to be reckon with.
Behind all this glory is a far darker image. The political landscape remains opaque and sometimes seen as repressive under the party’s leadership. The economic growth has led to a huge social and income disparity. The social safety net is relatively small. The income per capita is still well behind other developed countries (roughly about 1/6 the income per capita of a developed country). It all adds up to misery. The greatest problem with in Chinese society today, as put in the words of Zhang Ming, a professor of political science at Renmin University in Beijing, is:
“There is no ideology in China anymore. The government has no ideology. The people have no ideology. The reason the government is in power is because they can say: ‘I can make your lives better every day. I can give you stability. And I have the power.’ As long as they make people’s lives better, it’s O.K. But what happens on the day when they no longer can?”
The country is running on capitalism, but it’s long accepted that capitalism is amoral and have its flaws. Material incentives can not go on forever to please a group of people who are fundamentally progressive. There should be an ideology, backed by morality, that drives growth, social responsibility and prosperity. As of right now there is no prevailing ideology as the one that can solve all the problem. However, since solving all the problem meant perfection, and humanity can never attain perfection, it’s perfectly understandable that it’s unreachable. At the same time, since it’s not perfect, that means there will always be room for improvement. For a nation who is unwilling to subject itself to insults and humiliation, perhaps the best thing it can do is raise up, take the lead and improve the world as a whole. Hopefully, someday, this would become the celebration of humanity.
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