If this century is to be the Chinese century, then China will have to reinvent itself.

Material wealth can satisfy only for so long.

Leadership is not the outstanding hallmark of a mob of sheep, and if originality and inventiveness and ingenuity are to flourish a thousand, nay, a million times over, then a certain measure of autonomy and freedom must be allowed for. Committees have little to offer that's original.

"For things to stay the same, things just have to change." - Lampedusa

Classified Ads.

Gentleman, military, oriental, 5'2", seeks interesting times w/ American lady. No time wasters. Must like grayhounds.

Classified Ads.

Woman,Military,American,6'6"Obese,living in Interesting times, now looking to waste time.

Wouldn't know a Greyhound if it bit me.

Also,where is the Orient? Have I had a war there yet ( How else do I know Geography ?)

Re My Classified Ad.

I have just been told that the Orient is to the North of Austria.

Silly me, I knew that all along!

I'm not too sure you will find them, Mr Hennessy.

"Old China hands like me will be looking for signs of heat and smoke"

Personally, I suspect that the changes that are occurring may be evidenced in a different form to that which an "old China hand" might be watching for.

It is true, historically, that "heat and smoke" have been the signals of change. But maybe that is another thing that has changed.

"Young Chinese people are similar to young people everywhere. They are honest and idealistic. The saddest thing to observe, however, is how quickly their own society corrupts them after they leave university. It’s the only way for them to succeed or survive. All the fight was knocked out of them at Tiananmen Square."

Tianenmen Square was more than eleven years ago.

What has struck me most forcibly with the vast majority of young Chinese I have met over the past five years, is how proud they are of their country. In particular, they have the strangest (to me, that is) feeling of gratitude to the system that created their new prosperity.

This is to a considerable extent exacerbated by their observations on the system that, they assess, has massively failed the rest of the world.

That is, democracy.

Democracy, as seen through their eyes, is not a particularly attractive process. And given the results it has delivered recently, not especially worth standing in front of tanks for.

And you might also, if you think it through objectively, be able to see where they get this notion...

Brian, I hope your article is proven correct.

shrode "Material wealth can satisfy only for so long."

are you serious?

this is a joke obviously

Those who envision a political revolution in the style of Tiananmen would be the catalyst for change in China would do well to remember that the protesters at Tiananmen square were predominantly protesting against Government corruption rather than agitating for democracy per se (except insofar as that's one option for combating corruption).

The article has some good points, particularly comments regarding how few Chinese care about politics.

The catalyst for change won't be a desire for democracy. As with Tiananmen, the issue's always been corruption. Something which a mere democratic facelift won't solve.

The media is the answer. It's remarkable how few Chinese are aware that the primary approach of Western media is through unrestrained criticism. There's a good commentary by a Chinese journalist on that issue here:

http://opinion.globaltimes.cn/commentary/2010-07/554056.html

The first few paragraphs seem to pay a degree of lip service to the notion that the West is to blame, but read on.

A critical media is more crucial to combating endemic corruption than a democratic system. A democracy is sure to fail if media are timid and/or tools of the state.

It's tough given how deep the concept of guanxi runs in Chinese culture. What we consider bribes aren't considered that way in China. This makes separating the corrupt from the others an arduous task, especially considering that by western standards, damn near all officials would be considered corrupt.

On the other hand, it's tough to moralize when for many, their paycheque is far from sufficient.

In any case, if China is going to see positive changes, I don't see democracy as the first ingredient. Maybe someday. I don't share the cynicism of some posters regarding democracy a failure of sorts, nor do I think the recent recession was an indictment of democratic, capitalist systems, quite the contrary. China is both a house of cards and a mirror maze. Living there's made me more grateful for Western checks and balances.

I suspect the reason why we're seeing comments like the General's, is that some Chinese are aware that loosening control of the media might be a better first step.

I have had the benefit of reading Exodus to Arthur, by Mike Baillie, a Dendrochronologist, and the fascinating part of that book, is the Chinese references. This fellow has charted the rise and fall of Chinese Empires, which rose and fell at the same time as major disasters in the west. The Chinese believed that an Emperor had a mandate from heaven, and at about the time of Exodus, some 1500 years more or less BC, a mighty empire in China fell and was replaced.

Dendrochronology is the study of tree rings. There are some bristlecone pines in California, that have been alive over 4000 years, and the growth rings in them tell a fascinating story. They detail major ecological disasters, recorded in China, and date them accurately. Baillie submits that comets or such like, have visited the earth, and wiped out extremely large segments of the population at times, and that when this has happened, forces have caused widespread death and destruction.

For example a two year drought marked the end of one Chinese Emperor. Two years drought was enough to starve a huge number of people, and the people believed the mandate from heaven was withdrawn from that Emperor, and a new one was installed.

The events coincided with events recorded in the Holy Bible as happening in the Middle East. A fascinating read, and with some lessons to us all. The Chinese are seeking Christianity, if I can believe reports I hear. Bibles are scarce and shared surreptitiously, but I have heard word that up to 100 million Chinese are now Christian. Christianity is democracy, so who knows what will happen. Interesting times indeed

Despite the use of impressive words such as dendochronology, it still comes down to making historical comments from tree rings on the other side of the world. Which, frankly, is about as logical as using voodoo or bird entrails.

It's true that there are house churches cropping up in China, but there's been a similar drift to other religions. The muslim religion has had a stronger foothold in China for many years given that minority groups such as the Hui follow it.

Among those I've spoken to however, with the rise in religion the rise in skepticism follows. Most people here haven't been exposed to religion so they don't have the same filters that western people take for granted.
Those who seek to preach and convert have found this useful, but in most cases it seems to backfire and result in further distrust of foreigners in general.

Actually, I think those who try to take advantage of the fact that the local people haven't been exposed to religion, are reprehensible. It's not fair to expose others to just one religion and claim it as absolute truth.

All this religion bizzo complicates matters.

"Oriental Gentleman, 5'2", military bearing, seeks interesting times w/ American lady. No time wasters. Must like grayhounds and crying out God's name weekday nights and Politburo Members names at weekends."

There. That should do it.