Category Archives: IS-336X

China is one of the most unique and complex cultures and civilizations in the world. With a vast and complicated history, it comes as no surprise that it is very difficult to fully learn and comprehend Chinese culture. Chinese culture is filled with subtext and historical influences, requiring multiple aspects of the culture to be thoroughly analyzed. A great example would be Chinese political philosophy. One aspect of Chinese political philosophy is referred to as “minben”. Minben is the current political philosophy that is practiced by the CCP today, but it’s roots are in 600 BCE Confucianism. This is seen in how at the heart of the philosophy is the belief that the relationship between the state and the people is paternal, which is exactly what Confucius argued for in 600 BCE. Without studying the tenets of Confucianism, it would be hard to assume that the current political philosophy of China has such ancient roots. While its been difficult, throughout this summer, through class discussions and readings and blog posts, I have been able to gain a better understanding of Chinese culture. While Chinese culture is difficult to fully comprehend, I was able to learn a great deal about Chinese phonetics and the themes of love and marriage.

While I am by no means an expert on the Chinese language, I did learn some fascinating aspects of Chinese phonetics. From my Fallows presentation, I gained an interesting perspective on Chinese phonetics and how it interacts with the culture. From a phonetics standpoint, I thought it was fascinating how Chinese verbs are structured. In the Chinese language verbs have only a singular form, and do not change tenses. When I first read this, I had a difficult time comprehending this, as the English language mandates the verbs be able to change tenses otherwise it would be impossible to speak the language correctly. The Chinese take great pride in the fact the verbs, and the language as a whole, is simplistic. In the Chinese language there is no need to memorize countless tenses, rather it allows for Chinese learners to focus on the more difficult aspects of the language such as the hundreds of characters.

The example that Fallows gave was the phrase “I sang a song”.  In English, tenses are used to identify the time of the action. In Chinese, the speaker needs to add context words (yesterday, today, tomorrow, etc..) in order to express the time of the action (Fallows, 22).  The Chinese version of the phrase “I sang a song” then becomes “昨天我唱歌” (Zuótiān wǒ chànggē) (Ibid). Translated verbatim, this means “Yesterday I sing song”. As an English speaker, I can not imagine speaking without tenses, as tenses are integral for us to communicate.   However, there is some similarities between the Chinese language and the English language. Just like the English language, the Chinese language has it’s own aspect word. An aspect word is a ending that, once a placed on a word, stresses that the action is continuous and is being down right now. The Chinese aspect word is “zai”. (Fallows, 23)

Connected to culture standpoint, I believe that tense-less verbs are connected to the Chinese view on life. After analyzing the word “爱 ” (Ài), translated to “love”, a trend I noticed was that the Chinese tend to think and emphasize the present. Fallows describes a passage from a story that she read  in which the author wrote “love in Chinese means a being, a situation, a circumstance. Love is existence, holding past and future”.(Fallows, 21) When I read this quote I view it as representative of the Chinese view on life, which means that life itself is a situation. Prior to taking this class, I thought the Chinese outlook would be focused on the past, in particular the Century of Humiliation, and the emphasis would be on avoiding repeating that era. However, after reading Fallows and from class discussions, I view the Chinese outlook on life as focused on making it in the present.

Another phonetic rule that was astonishing was the importance of tones.  In the Chinese language, the tone of each syllable determines everything. This has caused hundreds of tense, albeit humorous, interactions between foreigners and native Chinese speaker. Fallows described just how much of a difference tone can make on an otherwise identical word. The word she chose was “bao”. Apparently, putting a high tone turns the word into “包” (Bāo) meaning “parcel”. A rising tone turns the same word into “雹” (báo) meaning “hail”.  Thankfully the English language does not have this problems, as tones serve to indicate emotion not the meaning of words. In class, we discussed how this leads to confusion among native Chinese people themselves as it has hard to understand the different accents as is, and with the importance of tones, the difficulty only increases. We saw this in “To Live” as the movie had Chinese subtitles even though it was released in China. The reason being that the actor of Fuegi had a thick northern accent t, that only a portion of the country understands.

One aspect of the Chinese culture that stood out to me was the romance culture divide. One of the unique aspects of the spread of Western culture, in particular American culture, is the romance culture. The romance culture has hit South Korea’s youth tremendously, and it seems to have taken root amongst China’s youth. From my Fallow’s presentation I learned that tje older generation a focused on arranged marriages (for political reasons not love), while the youth are embracing the romance culture and the belief that you marry who you love. The divide can best be seen in the public parks in China. Throughout China’s public parks, most notably in the big cities, the older generation (parents/grandparents)  has established “marriage markets””.  In these “marriage markets” parents shop through hundreds of ads, looking for mates for the children.  These ads contain everything from the perspective mate’s height and weight to their profession. On the other hand the youth stroll through the parks holding hands and openly displaying affection.

Marriage Market in Shanghai

Much like the rest of China’s culture it is important to read between the lines in order to find the real importance behind the divide. The marriage divide is representative of the ideological divide between the generations, and is a problem lurking on the surface. The older generations want to keep the culture of the CCP and the old conservative ways. The older generation sees the westernization of the youth as a tragic turn of events, as many still believe the CCP anti-Western propaganda and view the cultural invasion as an attack on their Chinese identity. The youth on the other hand, welcome westernization and view the Americanization process as a good thing so long as it’s managed. This divide spills into the political realm as the older generation is content with the status quo as they have lived with the Mao’s constant revolutions and turmoil, and view the status quo has stable and providing wealth. The youth are becoming ingrained in westernization  and are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the current political system, and wish to pursue more liberal freedoms.

Overall, while I still have a lot more to learn in regards to Chinese culture, one of the things I do understand is the common themes of love and marriage. I also learned that given China’s complexity, it is vital to take into account it’s history and you must read between the lines, even if at first it seems like nothing is there. I look forward to continuing my study of Chinese culture, as there is still so much left to learn.

Bibliography

Fallows, Deborah. “Dreaming in Chinese“. New York.  Walker Publishing Company, 2010.

http://i.cdn.travel.cnn.com/sites/default/files/styles/inline_image_624x416/public/2011/09/30/f.jpg?itok=Yt_xxskD

The documentary Under the Dome was an eye opening documentary. One of the things that surprised me was the clarity and honesty the Chinese environmental bureaucrats were. I was expecting that the bureaucrats would toe the CCP line and try to put on a display that everything was operating according to plan and that there was no need for concern. Rather than doing that, the high level officials admitted that they were essentially powerless and were at the mercy of industries. This seemingly runs contradictory to everything the Chinese state is supposed to represent. Instead of being a government capable of standing up for the working class (at the heart of communist theology), it is openly out that the state is at the whims of the elite business class. It would come as no surprise if this came back to haunt the CCP once the environmental crises becomes too much to handle. There is evidence that the crises is escalating dramatically as cities that never felt the effects of pollution are starting to feel it, and the ultimate source of concern is now the big cities, such as Shanghai and Beijing, are starting to become over-polluted.  The environmental crises poses a bigger threat the CCP than the stagnating economy because the smog and awful air quality affect the Chinese people (in big cities and rural areas alike) directly and serves as a constant reminder of the Chinese state to inadequately provide for the people. Also the environmental crises brings external action, mainly by the US, and the CCP will likely continue to be challenged to reform as the environmentally conscious West seeks to implement their agenda.

The documentary Please Vote for Me contained great symbolism regarding Chinese democracy and Chinese political thought. As China begins the transition to democracy, it’s growing pains are going to serve as a great test for China and the CCP. In the documentary the 3rd graders quickly learn how to manipulate the democratic process to gain an edge. We saw this in Cheng Cheng’s backdoor political tactics (staging the booing to his opponents talent show performance), and in Lei’s bribery. While it was entertaining  to see kids practice Machiavellian tactics, the underlying reality is that Chinese bureaucrats and politicians are using similar tactics, and it has stymied the development of the Chinese people and Chinese democracy.  In addition to this, we saw the influence that being a governmental employee can have on the success of not just the individual but their families as well. As a police officer, Lei’s father was able to secure perks, and has been schooled in politics allowing him to bolster his family and son’s status. In terms of democracy, with the current political culture of China, it is difficult to imagine that a western style democracy will form. Given the data we were presented, Chinese political culture dictates a paternalistic relationship between  the state and people. Politically, this causes the people to obey and trust the state, to an impressive degree (90% trust central govt, 71% trust corruption laden local governments). In order for a democracy to rise, there has to be discontent among the people, in particular the middle class. The current data proves that the Chinese are overwhelmingly satisfied with the current system and there is no reason to change.

Beeson’s research provides some hope and fear for the future of the CCP.  Beeson begins by crediting East Asia’s rapid economic growth and successes on the presence of powerful, and authoritarian states practicing state-run capitalism. In addition to this, there currently is a “democratic recession” in which the liberal capitalist states are losing ground to the illiberal state-run capitalist states and that it is no longer inevitable that the west, in terms of western political and economic models, will beat the east. This clearly bodes well for the CCP as, if Beeson proves right, the success of the authoritarian state-run capitalist model will forever legitimize the CCP’s rule and would greatly increase their political capital, allowing them to pursue domestic and international goals easier. The continued success of the CCP module also serves to stifle domestic dissent, as the Chinese people have shown that they are willing to overlook the tremendous negatives with the system (corruption, censorship, etc…) so long as the economy keeps producing. Beeson goes on to write that the “democratic movement” that was thought to eventually hit East Asia, most likely will never materialize. Beeson claims that the mounting economic, political, and environmental challenges will result in people sticking with the status quo as the economic rewards of the status quo outweights the potential costs of reform.  The counter-point to this that it is unlikely that the rapid economic development will continue considering the sheer amount of resources needed, and the current pressure to go green is only going to serve to limit the amount of resources, thus stifling economic development. With a limited economic development, it is plausible that the calls for reform will grow louder and louder. If Beeson’s claim, that Southeast Asian states have missed their chance to take part in the East Asia boom, is correct then China’s power is greatly increased in the region as it limits the opposition greatly.

The Chinese Mayor raised some very interesting points as well as questions. One thing that stuck out to me was the power allotted to town mayors. In the United States it is impossible to imagine that the Mayor of Lexington could almost unilaterally order a construction project as massive as the City Wall, with little interference from the outside. In addition, the forced relocation was messy with some receiving housing but also many were left to fend for themselves. This highlights a key problem in the Chinese political system. That is being local governments abilities to pursue policies that they simply can’t afford too. It was mentioned in the documentary that Datong was not a major metropolitan city that had the luxury of outside investments, but rather it was a city for the poor. Taking this into account, the fact that a mayor of a poor city could embark on multiple extravagant and costly construction projects even though it would mean allowing the city to become drowned in debt is a serious problem for the Chinese bureaucracy as it only takes a couple of ambitious mayors and provincial authorities to cause China, as a whole, to face a debt crises. We see this with the bleak current state of Datong, as the $3 billion debt is preventing actual economic development and Geng’s cultural investments have been stopped in their tracks. Interestingly, it was remarkable to see that Geng was focused on the distant future as opposed to being a status quo mayor, with his focus being solely on advancing his own status in the party. Typical Chinese mayors and local officials tend to focus on the immediate presence as the constant shuffling by the party of mayors incentives quick fixes not investments.

Zhu’s article on corruption raises many future problems for China. China’s inconsistencies in regards to their corruption crackdown, is yet another sign that China needs to guide it’s reform efforts not necessarily on corruption but on the system itself. The current system only serves to delegitmize the Chinese government. With the Chinese government unable and or unwilling to go after corrupt high ranking officials, the government’s legitimacy is eroded in the eyes of the people because rampant corruption greatly effects not only the way the government is viewed but the way it functions. If a government is corrupt it is delegitmized in the eyes of the populace as it no longer represents their interests but the interests of a select elite. In terms of effectiveness, the corruption in China has reached a point in where the central and local government can no longer function effectively. Instead of providing services to the people, government bureaucrats act as agents of special interests resulting in the Chinese people essentially losing their government, as the government can not fulfill its basic duties to the people.  The extraordinary level of corruption serves as proof that it is the system, not necessarily the individuals, that need to go. The current system fosters corruption as the massive bureaucracy calls for a massive amount of bureaucrats. With a bloated bureaucracy it is not illogical for there to be rampant corruption. If China were to scale down the bureaucracy and streamline the government at all levels (current system has multiple departments doing the same thing), then they could lower the number of bureaucrats and make corruption easier to identify, and root out.

The Uyghur discontent in Xijinang province has the potential to be catastrophic for China and more notably, the CCP. As mentioned in Hasting’s article, the Chinese state has taken 3 distinct policies to deal with the secluded Uyghurs. At first the state focused on using economic and social development to please the Uyghurs, then they brutally cracked down on Uyghur dissent, and then they joined the United States’ counter-terror program following 9/11 (used the Uyghur’s Sunni Islamic religion to tie them with Al Queada) and were able to effectively seclude them more. While this has succeeded in the sense that the Chinese government can better monitor the  Uyghurs, the reality is that the Chinese state is making a mistake by isolated them. Isolating the Uyghurs will succeed in solving the CCP’s current political goal of preventing collective action by the minority group, however by sending the Uyghur resistance underground the Chinese state is inadvertently hardening the resistance and forcing extremist views to take hold. The CCP should not only pursue policies of economic development in Xijinang province (as to alleviate poverty), and should focus on providing the Uyghur youth employment opportunities not just in the state, but in the party as well. Doing this would foster a sense of loyalty to the party and state, and would cause the Uyghur youth and the CCP to become inter-dependent on each other, thus revealing tensions.  However, the Chinese state has still focused on secluding the Uyghurs. This poses a risk to the stability of China as the Uyghur resistance has the potential to explode in violence as it is reminiscent of the Chechnya-Russia conflicts.

The documentary Petition highlighted the central problem facing the CCP. The problem is that the CCP is slowly losing the people. It can be argued that since the CCP has based its legitimacy mainly on economic development, it has turned a blind eye to the very real problems of systemic corruption, bureaucratic incompetence, lack of accountability and mistreatment of the people. Throughout the documentary there were countless tales of the Chinese government not only ruining lives, but ending them. The fact that the problems in the Chinese system directly ruined the lives of the petitioners is one that should give the CCP pause. While the CCP doesn’t practice traditional communist ideology, the reality is that a good portion of it’s legitimacy is derived from the people. In particular, the CCP needs the people to believe that the National People’s Congress and the People’s Republic of China is just that. In other words, it needs the people to believe that the state and the party belong and are accountable to them. The incompetence of the Petition Offices and the astonishing level of corruption at all levels of government, serves to de-legitimize the CCP and the state as belonging to the people. This is seen in how near the end of the documentary the petitioners are seen denouncing the CCP in song. If the story of the petitioners spreads and their numbers grow, it could lead to the fall of the CCP as it would become part of the dynastic cycle.

Stockman’s research revealed an interesting finding. I was surprised to have found that Chinese newspapers that are commercialized are viewed as more trustworthy by the Chinese populace and they are quite common. This surprised me because, while the CCP is opening up and is careful to avoid being the sole distributor of news as to, I would still have though that Xi’s anti-openness campaign would have been especially hard on the news industry.  With Xi’s recent consolidation of power, it would make sense that the news industry would have quickly fallen to become a puppet for the CCP’s propaganda arm. However, the relative defiance of the Chinese media, is possibly a precursor to further openness and could possibly  open the door to more criticism of the CCP. If the Chinese media is able to continue gaining more and more Independence, it would cause trouble for the CCP as the depth of corruption and incompetence would go public and cause the trust and confidence the Chinese bestow upon the CCP to disappear.

The film To Live contained multiple symbols regarding the CCP and the reality of the effects of their programs, most notably the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. The overarching theme of the movie is that Mao and the CCP  united China (it was the communists that reunited Fugui with his family), and at first was a savoir for the Chinese people, but over time the CCP went too far in their revolutionary programs and the result was despair, and death for the Chinese people. Before delving into the multitude of symbols used in the movie, it must be pointed out the Fugui is a symbol for China itself. The life of Fugui, in essence, represents the life of China. The film’s starts off by using Fugui’s struggles (losing his house and family) to claim that prior to the establishment of the PRC, China (represented by Fugui) was taken advantage of and left homeless in it’s own home. Long’er taking advatage of Fugui represents big money/capitalist interests taking advantage/robbing China. In regards to the Great Leap Forward, the film claims that at the beginning of the program there was initial success (communal kitchen had a surplus of food), but then two events happened that highlighted the reality of the program. The first was the scene in which Fugui hits his son to avoid being viewed as incapable of being able to control his child, and the second was the death of his son. The first scene is claiming that the CCP had the country living in a state of fear (always being watched), the second is more direct as the death of Youqing was caused directly by a high ranking CCP official. This is symbolizing the deaths directly caused by the CCP during the Great Leap Forward. The death of Fengxia, being caused by the purge of doctors by the Red Guards, was once again the film claiming that the CCP was directly responsible for the deaths of millions of Chinese by allowing the red guards to go too far and purge Chinese society of key classes.