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The Beijing Olympics were an eye-opener. It showed me two things:
1. Chinese people are content, happy and eager promoters of the status quo in China
2. China is determined to lead the world
Here is an interview on Bill Moyers' show of a (Chinese?) American. The whole interview is well-worth watching (there is also a transcript) since Philip Pan makes intelligent, honest, analysis of China's current status.
Of course, one thing that showed me that he is still a Chinese at heart was this interaction:
Bill Moyers: Here's something we didn't hear about during the Olympics, Philip. A report by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington that the growing U.S. trade deficit with China cost our economy 2.3 million jobs over the last seven years. Are these lost American jobs subsidizing a communist regime?Yes, and the lives of American workers, who are literally sacrificing their livelihood to improve the lives of these foreign, continents-away Chinese, are getting worse.
Philip Pan: Well, these lost American jobs are being replaced by jobs in China. And these jobs are taken by people who are even worse off than American workers, and who are, you know, this is a tremendous opportunity for many of these Chinese workers. Their lives are improving.
I wonder if American companies see their greedy maneuvers in this light?
Some salient points from the interview:
- Although the wages in China's factories are really low, they are high enough that its employees can feel satisfied that they are some making progress from their previous lives - usually the harsh fields of the Chinese country-side. This candy-coated slave labor system will not incite discontent (and labor unions).
- China has opened up its markets, but still runs along the same authoritarian system that kept its communist regime alive through several decades. This blatant authoritarian/market system is eagerly accepted by many Chinese, including successful business people
- The government is playing the "patriotism" card when it convinced people to continue accepting is neo-Communist system.
Which goes along my long-held view that the Chinese are content to maintain the authoritarian, collective culture that has been part of their tradition for eons.
Which doesn't make China a viable world leader.