Secrecy and Expediency: Chinese Political Culture

This Op-Ed from the New York Times highlights some of the flaw of Chinese political culture, some flaws being that of "expediency and secrecy" as this article says. After a train crash killed 39 people in Wenzhou, the Chinese government had the system up and running the next day, all the wreckage piled carelessly on the side. The Chinese government instructed the media not to place too much emphasis on this accident, saying that anything regarding this accident should be about "great love in the face of tragedy." The Chinese people continuously argued about the issue, making it front and center. Something that the government clearly did not prefer at the time. Only after all of the pressure from the people and the media, did the government take this matter more seriously. As the article states

"At the very heart of all of these questions — and indeed of the tragedy itself — is a government that refuses to be held accountable for its decisions, and that admits no criticism when criticism might make the difference between bold vision and monstrous folly."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/opinion/29iht-edbandurski29.html

Protests and the Future (Political Culture)

First off - Here is a really cool interactive timeline detailing some of the major events in China's last ten years.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2012/mar/23/china-decade-change-interactive-timeline

If you look at the timeline, you will see more and more and more events under the "unrest, dissent, and politics" section. Now this may just be because of the growth of the 24 hour news cycle... or it could be a signal that there are some major calls for change in China that could be signaling a change in the Chinese people's political culture.

The following article from 2012 describes some of the changes in Chinese political culture and awareness. The protests signal a change in the people's viewpoint of government:

"If there's economic development it's not given by the government; it's [the people's] own labour and entrepreneurship. It is not the government that is creating wealth. It's society."

This change in belief, as quoted from the Guardian article linked below, signals a change in thought, belief, and thus political culture. The people are coming to value new ideas on top of the ones instilled in them culturally by Mao and Confucius.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/18/china-challenges-next-generation

The past ten years as shown by the timeline signal a new change and the following articles urges for more in the next ten years. Only with time will we know how China will respond to the growing protest movements, new social awareness, and changing political culture.

Education in China (Social Lens)

For low-income families anywhere education is the key to success later in life. Especially in China, an entire family's health and stability can depend on a child's ability to get an education, find a high paying job, and support their parents when they retire. Since China's one-child policy was implemented, there has been a growing elder population and a much smaller youth population. The result? One child who must support two parents when they retire as well as pay for their own lives and possible family.

Cost for education is especially high in China. Little government financial aid is given and scholarships are hard to get. Oh, and did I forget to mention? Cost for a year in college amounts to 15 months of a rural parent's average earnings.

It's a high stake game in China: investing in a child's education means forfeiting possible retirement funds at the hope that the child will find a job because of their high quality training.

The article below from the New York Times (possible bias...) describes one rural family's situation in China.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/business/in-china-families-bet-it-all-on-a-child-in-college.html?pagewanted=all

Education is the foundation of society. Therefore, when examining China through a social lens, it is vital to examine the importance placed on education - which is obviously quite a bit. However, this article at least points to the fact that education is valued for parents for mostly economic and possibly some cultural reasons.

The Effect of the Melting Arctic Ocean on China (Economic Lens)

As many have heard recently, the ice that currently has made the North Pole and Arctic Ocean unnavigable is melting at a pace that a route will soon be available to make trade possible between China and Europe over such a route. The melting ice also means opportunities for oil and natural resources which are suspected to be in reserve under the ice sheet. As this offers significant economic opportunity, China sees vast opportunity available with a possibility of lowering costs and CO2 emissions because of a shorter route.

Below linked are two articles. One is a biased source from the one of the most popular Chinese newspapers, the China Daily, which according to Wikipedia publishes the official policy of the People's Republic of China (wikipedia article linked here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Daily). On a side note, I was inspired after writing my last post about censorship/propaganda/newspapers in China so I thought it would be interesting to see both perspectives of the issue here. The other article is from the UK newspaper, the Guardian, and discusses the issue from a less biased viewpoint - even discussing the "rocky relationship" (anyone get the reference?) between Norway and China as well as China's controversial interests in Greenland.

China Daily article: http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2013-03/14/content_16308665.htm
Guardian article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/18/china-arctic-mineral-investment

And just because the global warming is connected to all of this, here is a picture of some sad polar bears on a melting iceberg.

Anyways, the Arctic ice sheet melting opens a lot of economic opportunity, though, as the Guardian article suggested, could possibly cause some political conflict as countries compete to gain control of the sea passage and resources. However, if China gains control, it will in no doubt grow even more as a world economic power.

Newspapers in China (Political Lens)

Although we take the right of speech as a given in the United States, in China it is not so. In fact, individual rights in general were not incorporated as we know them when democracy in China first began to take root. In fact as we learned in class, Liang Qichao, the writer that introduced democracy in China, believed that "there was no difference between individual interests and public interests; individual citizens were granted rights in order to better strengthen the state" (the full article is linked here - http://www.tsquare.tv/themes/essay.html).

Taking this into account, it is no surprise that government severely limits freedom of speech through censorship in the People's Republic of China. Newspapers especially are a highly censored and controlled form of media.

The following BBC Q&A article addresses China's growing newspaper industry. Unlike many developed countries, the circulation of newspapers is actually increasing. It's largest newspaper, Reference News, has more papers circulating then the Wall Street Journal. The press is becoming more focused in lifestyle and entertainment (similar to the US). Sometimes it is prone to yellow journalism tactics to discredit other papers. However, all newspapers can only run with approval from the government. Recently, a Chinese newspaper, Southern Weekly, protested the censorship and propaganda policies of the Chinese government - asking the top propaganda official to step down. To read more about this, see the second article linked below.

BBC Q& A - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20970543
Guardian - Southern Weekly - http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/14/china-censorship-southern-weekly-incident

Looking from a political/governmental lens, censorship is the way that the government controls information and prevents its legitimacy from being questioned. Withholding information gives the government more control over the people and can elicit their support in a much more convenient question. With censorship and propaganda, it is near impossible for the media (and newspapers) to fulfill their role as the government's "watch dog." Hopefully, in the coming years, China will relinquish its tight control on newspapers and the freedom of speech.

Is China really that serious on corruption?

Corruption begins with C and so does China.  It is undisputed that in the past, corruption has secretly been a major part of Chinese society.  Now, with new president Xi Jingping, corruption may finally be coming to an end--a slow end but an end nevertheless.  The question remains though on how hard Xi can crack down on corruption without losing his support.  If he doesn't crack down corruption quick enough, he could lose the support of his citizens but if he pushes his Communist comrades to give up their power too quickly, he will lose their support.  In essence, Xi Jingping will have a balancing act on what to do in order to do what he promised in his speech to end corruption.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-21231198

Tax Reform for China

China has decided to reform their tax system and some people just aren't too pleased with that.  This new tax system is aiming to boost a sector that creates more jobs, less dirt, and almsot as much output as industry does.  This specific reform extends China's value-added tax (VAT) to a variety of services.  This reform has quickly spread to other cities and neighboring provinces.  The tax now contributes a quarter of its revenues to the Chinese government and so far, has eased taxes by about $6.4 billion dollars.  Many businesses have begun complaining because their taxes have increased significantly.  Is this China moving towards a more capitalistic society?  We'll just have to wait and see.



http://www.economist.com/news/china/21572802-chinas-most-underrated-sector-benefits-undersold-tax-reform-better-service-game?zid=306&ah=1b164dbd43b0cb27ba0d4c3b12a5e227