Sun, Oct 03, 1999 page6

• Editorial: A wake for Chinese culture

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  The Chinese writer Lu Xun (魯迅) once said, "Chinese people possess both a strange egotism and pathetic sense of inferiority; they feel very proud and mighty when they talk about their nation, but they feel very humble and miniscule when they talk about themselves." China has just spent more than100 billion RMB to celebrate the fifty years of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The celebration has puffed out the pride of the Chinese leaders standing on the top of the Gate of Heavenly Peace, but made the Chinese people appear even more dwarfish in comparison.

  Undoubtedly, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has made some significant achievements during the past fifty years. However, it has also brought unprecedented miseries and sufferings to the Chinese people. According to the estimation of a number of scholars, a total of 30-40 million Chinese died during this past fifty years as a result of man-made famines, score settling and political struggles. Without external enemies or civil war, these people died at the hands of their own fellow countrymen. Surely history can have no other example of a country so amazingly self destructive. The Chinese people, however, even now do not dare to examine their painful past or question their government. Where else are people so submissive? North Korea perhaps.

  China is a great nation in terms of its population, territory, economy, military strength and diplomatic clout -- though it should be said that much of the world's perception of China's strength comes from the inflated figures China itself provides. Nevertheless Western countries have fallen under the spell of such massaged statistics. Executives of multinationals remain spell-bound by China's vast market, even though reality proves that, just like de Gaulle's famouse comment about Brazil, China remains a classic case of "the triumph of hope over experience."

  The truth of the matter is statistics and figures do not necessarily speak in favor of China. China with a population five time greater then the US, has a GDP only 20 percent as large. The average per capita GNP is about US$730 which ranks 81st among all countries in the world. In the UN's human development index, China's ranking falls outside of the top 100.

  China contributed merely 3 percent of the total world trade volume in 1997, about the same as South Korea and less than the Netherlands. Despite the hype about the Chinese market, less than 2.54 percent of US exports go to China, about the same as the US exports to Australia and Belgium -- and less than the US exports to Taiwan. Japan sends only 5.1 percent of its exports to China, about 25 percent less than Japanese exports to Taiwan.

  The ancient Greek and Roman cultures have submerged and vanished in the current of time. Among the ancient cultures, only the Chinese culture remains. However, the Chinese have thoroughly and brutally devastated their own culture, only fragments have survived. In terms of philosophy, literature, films and art, the vitality exhibited by Taiwan and Hong Kong -- small in size and limited in human resources -- far surpass China today. All that is left of Chinese culture today to celebrate the fiftieth birthday of the PRC is a skeletal ruin and old men's memories.

  In recent years, China's society and economy have both undergone significant changes. However, the Chinese government system remains unchanged. Such a gigantic and complicated country is still run by a small group of people through a secretive policy-making process. The Chinese leaders maintain a power equilibrium through endless political struggle. It is something of a miracle that this kind of anachronistic Leninist party is still capable of remaining in power. But it can only be a fantasy to expect this party to turn China into a demoractic modernized country.
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