Under Deng Xiaoping, China began a period of massive economic reform which has culminated in the beginning of rapid economic and developmental expansion. Mao's leadership never really advanced the country much; his agricultural policies were an abysmal failure that led to a 1959-1961 famine in which it is estimated over 30 million people died. The last decade of his rule was marred by the Cultural Revolution, a period in which Chinese people went bezerk destroying their own cultural heritage, famously one of the oldest civilizations in the world. Instead, it was Deng Xiaoping who instigated the manufacturing boom which led to the epiphet 'Made in China' becoming a common sight on manufactured goods.
These days, it's more than just plastic boxes and toy cars that come out of Chinese factories; goods as sophisticated as iPods and other electronics are made in the 'Workshop of the World'. China is the world's second largest economy after the USA, and a leading world exporter. One would assume that, in a single party state under the watchful eye of the Communist Party, the wealth would be even distributed between the 1.3 billion people.
This is not, and has never been, the case. There exists a chiasmic gap in China between the rich and poor which is only widening as the country's gross domestic product grows year on year. Rural areas across the vast country remain invariably poor and archaic, while the skyscrapers of Shanghai house ever wealthier residents. In China, you need money to get ahead. Rich people can also circumvent certain laws; for example, the fine for breaking the One Child Policy is easy to pay for a wealthy person.
In reality, therefore, China is a capitalist autocracy. It is also no secret that China has an incredibly poor human rights record. The aforementioned One Child Policy has been criticised for forcing women into abortions at nine months pregnant. Efforts to suppress national identity in the autonomous regions of Tibet and Inner Mongolia have included genocide, surviellance in such sacred areas as monasteries (with imprisonment and torture of all who resist) and cultural assimilation bordering on ethnic cleansing. Jobs created by plundering the natural resources of the regions go to the Han Chinese; any Inner Mongolians or Tibetans seeking good jobs are forced to abandon their cultural identity, language, and religion in order to do so. Buddhist festivals are now dominated by Chinese military processions. The list of atrocities goes on.
On the other hand, China is a country so vast, both geographically and demographically, that perhaps a government where things can be done quickly and efficiently is necessary. In my opinion, the need for a One Child Policy was desparate in the 1970s, and a democratic process may not have been the most efficient way of implementing the policy. If one compares China, its economic development and current political situation, to its closest rival in terms of population - India -, it is clear that the Chinese government has done a better job of developing the nation. China has a history of autocracy, from Qin Shi Huangdi to Wu Handi, and it has yet to shake this off. For all of Mao's purging of the old during the Cultural Revolution, this fundamental aspect of Chinese government remains.
In a modern world where dictatorships are succumbing, one by one, to the ideals of democracy - as the recent Arab Spring has shown us - China's autocracy will eventually have to relax if it is to survive. The government and army may be large, but a united Chinese populace would overwhelm even the most firm handed Party official.
It is my personal view that a country as large and diverse as China would not be effectively governed by a system that replicates the European/American one, with its endless debates and demagogism, but I also feel that the current authoritarian, paranoid and elitist government, lurking behind a paltry Communist facade, will need to reform itself. All the immaculately dressed government spokesmen claiming China does not abuse human rights do not convince a soul. For all of its modernisation and economic expansion, China's political institution is a remnant from the 20th century, an artefact from a bygone age, in much the same way its Imperial one was this time a century ago, when it was abolished, the difference being that China in 2011 is far stronger than Qing in 1911, but really equally outdated. But, because of the economic strangehold China has on the west, and the social and political strangehold it has on its own people, change seems like nothing more than a distant idyll.
No comments:
Post a Comment