Get Your Head (And Heart) Ready for China’s Contradictions
January 11th, 2007
There’s a well known saying among those who write about China: “After you have been in China for a week, you think you can write a book. After you have been in China for a month, if you are lucky you might be able to muster a short article. After you have been in China for a year, you keep silent.” The point of this quote is, the more you learn about and experience China, the more you realize it has too many faces, it is too complex a place to master, and you have too much to learn. Many of you (all of us?) will return from China with more questions than answers. If so, that’s okay and natural. It’s also, in my view, the way true education should work and is one of the ways a truly educated person learns to view and experience the world. Happily for us, our goal for this trip and course does not require us to become experts on China, but to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves, the global economy and our ability to operate effectively within it.
In China CEO: Voices of Experience from 20 International Business Leaders, attorney Norman Givant (Managing Partner, Shanghai office, China Practice Group, Freshfields, Bruckhaus, Deringer Law Offices) reminds us that China’s booming economic development has taken place despite the messy, chaotic, and confusing backdrop of the transformation from a communist to a socialist and market-based system. He very insightfully notes, “[Unlike many Westerners] the Chinese have no problem at all in living with contradictions. Their question is: Does it work over time?” He points to Shanghai’s’ remarkable growth as an example. “Look out the window: you see a prosperous, dynamic city that has grown tremendously in the last 20 years, and it grew primarily by ignoring the contradictions [e.g., the poor shanty hutongs/alleys that exist next to a five star hotel or world class skyscraper] and focusing largely on economic development.” (Page 205) Simon Keely (Head of the Hewitt Asia Leadership Center, Hewitt Associates China) echoes a similar tune: “China is full of contradictions. Here we are a socialist country, but it’s one of the most competitive places on earth.” (Page 115) Well stated. Both men clearly “get” and understand this facet of China. I don’t think this means the US is not a place of contradictions, but the China hands I call friends seem to suggest that in China the contradictions are deeper and more disturbing than most places.
For more great examples of some of the contradictions in China that will mess with your mind and tug at your heart, check out following recent Wall Street Journal [subscription may be required] and NY Times articles [subscription may be required]:
Entry Filed under: Pre-Departure, Shanghai, China, Misc., Post Trip Wrap-Up re: China
2 Comments Add your own
1. Morgan O'Hara | December 21st, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Some of the Chinese contradictions I take pleasure in – like being able to balance apparent opposites such as humility and strength, and patience and speed (taken from China CEO book description).
Others – like government-backed automobile companies churning out the cars that increasingly pollute China – are more problematic.
One of the articles spoke of Zhang Tao, 20, who sends home $115 of a $128 monthly check. I don’t know how that’s possible. These workers don’t complain about backbreaking work, or cramped rooms with no heating, or the fact that they can’t even take showers. They just want their paycheck so they can send it home. But too often they’re stiffed. And then there are women like Ms. Zhang, forced into prostitution because she didn’t have a residency card, and her words: “Little by little, you have to get used to it.”
You don’t have to get used to it. But it seems the easiest way to lessen these contradictions is through economic growth. Now that’s a contradiction in and of itself. The same phenomenal growth which catapulted Shenzen also led to “environmental destruction, soaring crime rates and the disillusionment and degradation of its vast force of migrant workers.” Not very good. Still, that wealth also led to a middle class, “and over time, the quiet, well-organized challenges of the newly affluent may have the deepest impact on this country’s future.”
It seems the trick is increasing the middle class. Poor people have the threat of uprising as their only leverage, and the dream of entering the middle class as their only hope.
2. Andrea Muntzel | December 29th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
“I build these things, but I have never been inside” –Mr. Wei
Since I began learning about China, I have been constantly reminded of the inconsistencies and contradictions that characterize the country (if you haven’t already, see the November 14th, 2008 post “Incredible China Pics..” for an awesome visualization of this idea). Although other countries also possess a degree of inconsistency, China is in a unique limbo between a capitalist economy and a socialist government. My favorite quote from the articles was the one above by the migrant construction worker, Mr. Wei. China as a country is going through this enormous growing process but the majority of the people in China are still working in miserable conditions for 24 hours at a time, doing dangerous and strenuous work, for less than fifty cents an hour. That is, if they even get paid. Besides the fact that China has provided the world with all of its manufacturing needs, I think all eyes are on China because everyone wants to see what will happen to it. A balancing act can never last forever and it seems like China has began teetering on its last leg. Several of the articles reveal an eminent paradigm shift; the environment is straining under the weight of China’s pollution, the people are rebelling against the government that keeps them quiet, and the working class is getting tired of the inequality constantly forced upon it. China will either continue on this path of success and growth, or it will crumble under the need for flexibility and change. I think the answer lies in the government’s ability to use these circumstances. It’s apparent that socialism is becoming a problem. There are no ‘checks and balances’ to ease corruption in public officials. This isn’t to say that the government must become democratic… rather, even just allowing freedom of speech would help to prevent some of the corruption by shedding light on it. The people want the government to work in its best interest so if they hear about corruption, they will act out against it. Eventually, this would cause the corruption to ease up, if not disappear completely. This is evident in the article about Mr. Liu and his investigative reporting. Ultimately, this wouldn’t solve all of China’s problems, but it might be a step in the right direction.
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