Reflections from China

September 25, 2002

China is an enigma, a paradox. The country with the longest, and one of the richest histories in the world, has had its past vanquished with “the great leap forward” of some fifty years ago, yet the one-party system that promised it would surpass the West cost its people millions of lives.

Today we can see a different kind of leap forward. Shanghai is a sprawling mega-city of 14 million people with a skyline for the 22nd century. Yet, up close, this façade covers the old China, ramshackle garage-door type storefronts that somehow give their keepers a wage. And in the midst of this bustling city where buses, cars, taxis, bikes, motorcycles, and pedestrians vie for position with little regard for traffic lights, overhead on one central street looms a giant billboard proclaiming their message to visitors from all over the world:  “Peace, Friendship, Cooperation, Openness.”

And in Guilin, a world-class tourist attraction, because of its wonderland-like “gum drop” shaped hills that dot a 100 square km area along the Li River, tour buses and groups abound in the midst of a housing and hotel boom. The singular, free-standing 300 million year old limestone formations, shrouded in mist, are a totally unique natural wonder, as well as the source of classical Chinese landscape paintings. Guilin, too, has undergone its own transformation, but solely because of, and to support, its primary industry, tourism.

So I wonder, how much longer will this country be able to remain loyal to its one-party system? And, how can it even be considered communist today? It is a paradox to me. Capitalism, at least free-enterprise, appears to be the rule in the urban and tourist areas. Yet in the rural, traditional farming areas, China is still very much like all the other developing nations of the world, barely surviving. Has urban China recognized, as the former Soviet Union did not, what it takes to really survive in this modern world?

China is a country that, in its own way, and in a way different from the U.S., is already a microcosm of the world. The cultural revolution almost succeeded in obliterating the traditional culture, yet it survives, and much like Native American culture, is not only reviving itself, but is now encouraged by the government. In a small traditional handicraft shop in Guilin, the manager, a member of the Dong minority group, proudly tells us of his peoples, as well as the Miao, Zhuang, and Yao peoples, cultural heritage as expressed in their intricate, brightly colored embroideries that he sells to help them maintain their traditions.

China is as much into the 21st century as the rest of the world. When we think of the westernization of the world, that may be a huge misnomer. It seems to me, as I am just beginning to make my way around this globe, that it is not that the East is becoming westernized, but that the world is becoming globalized, and that this is all part and partial of our collective evolution. To think in terms of westernization is also a bit egocentric, as in eurocentric. We live in an age when no one, no where, on this earth can afford to be centric in any way. It feels like the time has come to begin to think globocentically.

What really makes China not a paradox is its people. One brief example: we visited a university in Guilin, and over 20 eager, enthusiastic Chinese students, almost one for each of us, greeted us, ready to give us a tour of their campus and practice their English with us. After many exchanges of questions both ways, as we wandered around the campus, noticing other students, the buildings, and the freshman, or newcomers, both men and women, undergoing part of their one month military training on the campus courtyards, I asked our student guide what she thought about modern China and its rapid growth over the past decade or so. She answered, “Each one of us is different, depending on our upbringing.” Some like the ultra-modern Shanghai, and are comfortable with free-enterprise, and others are not. Then she said, “One of my teachers put it best, ‘no personality, no country.’” At the end of our visit, she and her friends gathered around us and we all exchanged email addresses.

The awakened giant

Has a heart beating to the

Rhythm of a new world.