J-10
11-06-2007, 04:34 AM
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/11/06/in_china_better_rich_than_red/
In China, better rich than red
By H.D.S. Greenway
November 6, 2007
THE VIEW across the river at the skyscrapers of Pudong, where only muddy fields had existed 20 years ago, or the sight of jolly crowds of Chinese tourists carousing in the impossibly quaint streets of Lijiang in the hills of Yunnan, called to mind the once-startlingly revolutionary slogan that changed China: "It doesn't matter the color of the cat as long as it catches mice."
The phrase, attributed to Deng Xiaoping, was revolutionary because it directly contradicted Mao Zedong's dictum "better red than expert." The old devil Mao had unleashed countless ideologically driven campaigns that had brought China to its knees. Being red was what was important, not whether you knew anything.
What Deng did with his cat analogy was to reel back ideology in favor of practicality, to take human nature as he found it rather than trying to create a perfect socialist man, culminating in another of his aphorisms: "To get rich is glorious."
And many Chinese have done just that. According to press reports, China now has 106 billionaires, second only to the United States. There were none in 2002. During the recent party congress, the Chinese press and television repeatedly claimed that China had the world's third largest economy, after the United States and Japan. Twenty years ago it ranked 29th.
Before he came to paramount power 30 years ago, Deng had been purged twice for being an "unrelenting capitalist roader." Today, one would have to say that's just what he was. "Build socialism with Chinese characteristics," Deng said. But it is hard to see where the socialism fits in anymore, now that a market economy is in force. Gone are the blue-suited masses who had to kowtow to "Mao Thought" in an Orwellian state. Income is certainly not equally distributed. The glitz and glamour of the new Shanghai sharply contrast with ox-drawn wooden plows in the countryside.
If anything, socialism means the control of the Chinese Communist Party. Deng, no democrat, feared China might disintegrate as did Mikhail Gorbachev's Soviet Union , even though Deng recognized, even before Gorbachev did, that communism was impractical. But he equated democracy protests with chaos, and he had seen enough of that in the Cultural Revolution. "Our people have gone through a decade of suffering," he said, and "cannot afford further chaos." Deng may have said that "socialism and a market economy are not incompatible," but he also said "socialism does not mean shared power."
The rising political expectations that followed Deng's economic and social reforms were squashed in Tiananmen Square 18 years ago. And any perceived challenge to state power is just as ruthlessly suppressed by Deng's successors. But for all of that, the last 20 years have been the best China has had in the last couple of centuries. China's rocket to the moon seemed timed to crown last month's party congress, and its plans for the Olympic games seem like the preparations of a debutante to celebrate her coming-out party.
Yet China's leaders seem as desperate to keep the tag of socialism attached to their society as American politicians are to avoid the socialist label when they discuss plans for national heathcare and the like.
It was unavoidable in a country so huge that China's problems would be outsized too. Extreme pollution stalks its cities and ravages the countryside. Rapid changes are unsettling society, lack of regulation is hurting its exports, and its demand for commodities to fuel its driven economy is affecting the markets of the world.
An interesting phenomenon is China's efforts to virtually acquire Africa. Chinese interest in Africa goes back to Zhou Enlai's efforts in the 1950s. But recent investments in a continent that so much of the rest of the world has written off as hopeless has little to do with ideology, and everything to do with business.
China has no interest in Africa's politics, it was explained to me by a Chinese academic. What China wants is Africa's commodities and hopes to enter into a mutually beneficial relationship with Africa to get them.
Chinese wonder at the Bush administration's zeal to promote democracy, even by force - prompting a Chinese friend to say that there were only four ideology-driven countries left in the world: Cuba, North Korea, perhaps Iran, and the United States. Desire for a more representational form of government may still beat in China's breast, but for the moment China's energies are concentrated on catching mice.
In China, better rich than red
By H.D.S. Greenway
November 6, 2007
THE VIEW across the river at the skyscrapers of Pudong, where only muddy fields had existed 20 years ago, or the sight of jolly crowds of Chinese tourists carousing in the impossibly quaint streets of Lijiang in the hills of Yunnan, called to mind the once-startlingly revolutionary slogan that changed China: "It doesn't matter the color of the cat as long as it catches mice."
The phrase, attributed to Deng Xiaoping, was revolutionary because it directly contradicted Mao Zedong's dictum "better red than expert." The old devil Mao had unleashed countless ideologically driven campaigns that had brought China to its knees. Being red was what was important, not whether you knew anything.
What Deng did with his cat analogy was to reel back ideology in favor of practicality, to take human nature as he found it rather than trying to create a perfect socialist man, culminating in another of his aphorisms: "To get rich is glorious."
And many Chinese have done just that. According to press reports, China now has 106 billionaires, second only to the United States. There were none in 2002. During the recent party congress, the Chinese press and television repeatedly claimed that China had the world's third largest economy, after the United States and Japan. Twenty years ago it ranked 29th.
Before he came to paramount power 30 years ago, Deng had been purged twice for being an "unrelenting capitalist roader." Today, one would have to say that's just what he was. "Build socialism with Chinese characteristics," Deng said. But it is hard to see where the socialism fits in anymore, now that a market economy is in force. Gone are the blue-suited masses who had to kowtow to "Mao Thought" in an Orwellian state. Income is certainly not equally distributed. The glitz and glamour of the new Shanghai sharply contrast with ox-drawn wooden plows in the countryside.
If anything, socialism means the control of the Chinese Communist Party. Deng, no democrat, feared China might disintegrate as did Mikhail Gorbachev's Soviet Union , even though Deng recognized, even before Gorbachev did, that communism was impractical. But he equated democracy protests with chaos, and he had seen enough of that in the Cultural Revolution. "Our people have gone through a decade of suffering," he said, and "cannot afford further chaos." Deng may have said that "socialism and a market economy are not incompatible," but he also said "socialism does not mean shared power."
The rising political expectations that followed Deng's economic and social reforms were squashed in Tiananmen Square 18 years ago. And any perceived challenge to state power is just as ruthlessly suppressed by Deng's successors. But for all of that, the last 20 years have been the best China has had in the last couple of centuries. China's rocket to the moon seemed timed to crown last month's party congress, and its plans for the Olympic games seem like the preparations of a debutante to celebrate her coming-out party.
Yet China's leaders seem as desperate to keep the tag of socialism attached to their society as American politicians are to avoid the socialist label when they discuss plans for national heathcare and the like.
It was unavoidable in a country so huge that China's problems would be outsized too. Extreme pollution stalks its cities and ravages the countryside. Rapid changes are unsettling society, lack of regulation is hurting its exports, and its demand for commodities to fuel its driven economy is affecting the markets of the world.
An interesting phenomenon is China's efforts to virtually acquire Africa. Chinese interest in Africa goes back to Zhou Enlai's efforts in the 1950s. But recent investments in a continent that so much of the rest of the world has written off as hopeless has little to do with ideology, and everything to do with business.
China has no interest in Africa's politics, it was explained to me by a Chinese academic. What China wants is Africa's commodities and hopes to enter into a mutually beneficial relationship with Africa to get them.
Chinese wonder at the Bush administration's zeal to promote democracy, even by force - prompting a Chinese friend to say that there were only four ideology-driven countries left in the world: Cuba, North Korea, perhaps Iran, and the United States. Desire for a more representational form of government may still beat in China's breast, but for the moment China's energies are concentrated on catching mice.