Learn About China from Someone Who's Been There...

by Joe Pulcinella

...not from Fox Snooze or any other source that dismisses them as a third-world nation. Strike-the-Root published an amazing article that is timely and should be read by anyone who hopes to ever have a handle on world affairs and where the US ranks in it.

My first visit to China was in May this year. I can recall, on the plane from Singapore, wondering what level of bureaucratic intimidation awaited me at Beijing's Capital Airport. Well, I was in for a shock. Instead of a typical "shakedown" as in the good ole' US of A, I was politely received with no inspections, no body searches, no snide comments asking "what are you doing here?", and no fingerprints or ID photo taking required!

For some reason, my expectation when arriving at the world's largest bastion of "Communism" was to be given the third degree. But it never happened.

But wait! Where's the communism that we're always hearing about?

I was able to have an interesting "political" conversation over dinner--with the help of one of the guests who could speak English. I moved the discussion on to politics and communism. I asked what they thought of it all. There was a surprising sense of "Oh, that? We don't believe it." One gentleman I was talking to was a newspaper columnist--and gave me a rundown on why the free market was China's future. He was a no-holds-barred capitalist. Then there was the "odd" comment, when touching on international affairs, that Mao Zedong was like Bin Laden. I thought about that for a while--but couldn't decide if this was a favourable or unfavourable comparison. I have heard that same comment more than once since being here.

I don't doubt that we in the US enjoy a few freedoms different than what our Chinese counterparts enjoy such as the ability to have a site like LibertyGuys. But at what price? And what are the trends? According to this article and Adventure Capitalist, Jim Rodgers, China is moving toward what we consider freedom while the US is trending away.

Posted 12/7/2004 3:28:58 PM by Joe Pulcinella

sm: Seems to me that the problem with the Chinese students is the US politicians, not the Chinese! Bua, ha, ha, ha!

Posted 12/8/2004 6:23:54 AM by Joe Pulcinella

You guys obviously didn't read the article. One of the very first statements was that for those already living there, some problems still exist. And I did state that it was still a dictatorship and that basic civil rights have no weight. However, I am very interested in the trend. And for a chunk of the world economy as big as China, we'd do well to pay attention to it.

The moral of the story in my opinion? Nothing can destroy communism like capitalism. I applaud Chinese leaders to the extent that they have NOT hampered the free market. But I do realize that they are still authoritarians and as such they have incredible latitude to do much harm to their citizens on a human level (and still do on a regular basis).

Posted 12/8/2004 6:15:47 AM by Joe Pulcinella

My own feeling is that the propaganda value of these reports cannot be underestimated. And the official "population control" policy of the Chinese government still requires forced abortions of "surplus" children, and results in female infanticide. So I'm not buying it, yet.

Posted 12/7/2004 5:16:27 PM by Vince Daliessio

My experience with people from China (significant numbers as graduate students) does not match the rosy conditions listed above. In fact I know of some that went back for vacation and were not allowed back to the US.

Posted 12/7/2004 4:22:19 PM by sm

I have one other point that I should make clear. Since the Chinese people have no say in who is elected as their chief executive equivilent, the capitalist trend they now enjoy depends on a benevolent dictator. There is no guarantee that the next gang of leaders won't be communist hard-liners that will plunder this new wealth as it is forming and destroy the whole system.

However, I would tend to think that since this experiment has gone on for so long and has been visibly so much more successful than the full-blown communist model, it may be difficult and undesirable for them to revert back.

Posted 12/7/2004 3:46:45 PM by Joe Pulcinella