China 80 years later

In his essay Eastern and Western Ideals of Happiness, Russell described a China that was  mild-tempered, adhering to Confucianism, and treating each other well. When I read those descriptions, I fee like visiting another world, a golden age that is lost forever. China today is none of the above. I cannot help contemplating on all that was lost.

It was true that Confucianism had deep influence on Chinese society before 1949, where people followed the traditional lifestyle, respected their elderly and were courteous to each other. All that was changed by the deliberate destruction from Mao and his communist party upon taking over China. The communist ideology did not tolerate any ancient competing philosophy like Confucianism. Neither did they tolerate Taoism, Buddhism or any other belief. All of these are considered as heresies by the communists.

Communism ran against the traditional value of China. Instead of respecting your elderly, you are supposed to hate your father if he was a landlord and therefore a member of “reactionary class”. In numerous political campaigns launched by the Chinese government from 1949 to 1976 (the year Mao died), fathers and sons were turned against each other, siblings are supposed to report on each other, and husband and wife split up. The communist party demands absolute loyalty from individuals, which means turning against your family members. The toxic relationship is particularly prominent at workplace, where your co-worker can report on your “reactionary speeches”. During the anti-rightist campaign in l957, more than 1 million people were sent to labor camp, based on the report from their co-workers on their reactionary speeches. Such campaign was organized by the government to root out the so-called rightists. (Among those who were sent to labor camps where my grandfather and my step-father .)

In fact, Confucianism was the biggest enemy of the Chinese communist party. During the Culture Revolution (1966-1976), Confucianism temples were destroyed, effigy of Confucius were burned, books were banned and the newspapers published articles ridiculing and vilifying Confucius almost daily. This hysteria was almost comparable to the vilifying of Dalai Lama by Chinese media today. Apparently there was deep fear from the government that Confucianism teaching may win over the heart and mind of the ordinary people. Children grew up in that period were told that Confucius was a bankrupted landlord, a wanderer who unsuccessfully lobbied the kings for his political proposals, and a downright reactionary who wanted people to live backward lives. The school textbooks had cartoons ridiculing him, and stories that made fun of him. As a child at that time, I could not help wondering: Why do we spend so much time on criticizing a man who lived 2000 years ago? He seemed so remote. Today I realized how much fear the government had for this ancient man.

Mao’s reign of China for almost 30 years has left its deep scar on Chinese society. The basic value of Confucianism is mostly destroyed. The change is irreversible. Today if you visit China, you don’t see anything remotely close to Confucianism teaching. On the surface the Chinese norm of politeness was still there, but the basic values such as honesty and kindness are gone. China has become a cynical society where everything goes. Given the lies of the government, the deep corruption and unfair judicial system, people do not value honesty any more. Cheating and lying almost become business norm. A friend from Malaysia once complained to me that her firm had very bad experience with Chinese counterparts, who did not respect the term in contract at all.

If Russell visits China today, he would be shocked to see how China has become the opposite of Confucianism, and how much it became the worst version of primitive capitalism. Money is God and the only God. In chasing profits, fake products pop up every day: poisoned rice, chicken injected with water, flour blended with lime, milk powder laced with melamine. Fake medicine and fake money are widely around. Greediness is revered as ingenuity.

In addition to the value system, the idyllic lifestyle described by Russell is also gone forever. Up until early 1990s, the Chinese society is slow-paced and idle. Lack of material goods and job mobility keep people in the same town and with the same neighbors. At that time, bicycles were major transportation tools. I still remember watching a fleet of bicycles every morning passing by my windows, where people went to work in the local factory. It’s our rush hour, with a lot of energy and its purposefulness. Other than that, the street was mostly quiet. All you hear is occasional jingling of bicycles bells. As I visited China 10 years later, cars filled the street. People were rushing everywhere. Horns and engine noise filled the air.

Chinese men now work longer hours than almost any western nation. The daily working hours continue until 8pm and after that you are supposed to socialize with your customers. It’s common for a man coming to home at midnight every day, when his child already goes to bed and wife is asleep. The long working hours in China now is quickly catching up with Japan and South Korea. One Chinese businessman I know came to bay area to take vacation. He said it was impossible for him to take vacation in China, where everyone is working all the time. The fanatic work pace create family problems. One of my relative with a small business almost never gets to see his son at dinner time, and never goes to his son’s school parent meetings. The boy’s schoolmates teased him and said he did not have a father. The boy was in tears. Marriage broke up upon such long absence from home. The divorce rate in china jumped several folds in the last decade, and has reached 40% in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

Is there a place in China where Russell’s description is still alive today? On broad level, Taiwan is more adherent to Confucius teaching than mainland china. Since the nationalist party fled to this island from mainland, they established a traditional Chinese education system. Books of Confucius are required readings for school children in Taiwan. The basic ethic rules are maintained. Visitors to Taiwan from mainland China remarked that Taiwanese are much kinder, more generous and tolerant. The basic courtesy and respect were maintained in Taiwan. It’s fortunate that the gist of Chinese culture is preserved in this island nation, escaping the wrath of communist hurricane.

In mainland China, you can probably find some pockets of Confucian legacy among small isolated towns. In Southwest China’s Yunnan province, you can visit a small town where people have tea together in the afternoon, visiting their neighbors and trading stories. Tourists from big cities in China come here to enjoy a leisurely vacation. It’s a lifestyle people in big cities have left behind.  Such places become rarer and rarer.

Commerce and insatiable desire for better living conditions such as electricity, running water and TVs have transformed most Chinese villages. The more you desire, the longer you work. As machinery replaces bulls that plow the field, as motorcycles replace the walking bare foot, as cell phones reach normal households, the society is deeply transformed and the old lifestyle is gone forever.

There are two things I deeply miss in that old lifestyle. One is clothes made at home. My mother used to buy a beautiful piece of cloth, then draw lines and cut it into pieces. She worked on our old sewing machine at night, with its hum I fell asleep. In a few days, I had a brand-new clothes to wear. However, clothing and fashion stores mushroomed in China by early 1980s. Well-made clothes became so cheap to buy, my mother no longer made them at home any more.
The other thing I miss is preparing dinner at home for Chinese New Year celebration. I remember it was a magic time when we watched adults turn those flours into beautifully shaped dumplings, meatball rolling in the boiling oil. Today, people don’t make dinner at home for Chinese New Year any more. The rapid development of restaurant business has made it more economical to have New Year celebration outside home. The joy of making dinner at home is gone. In its place is a private room in a restaurant when waitress brings dish after dish, and Coke and Pepsi are served as major drinks.

Today’s China is bustling with energy and speed. The new high-speed rail has shortened the trip from shanghai to Beijing from 17 hours to 11 hours, and another rail will further reduce it to 5 hours by 2011. China is almost exactly like the United States in late 1920s, growing and prospering, albeit chaotic and irreverent.

Confucianism has a comeback in mainland China, related books are sold and lectures are given on TV. Temples were restored and the birthplace of Confucius was designated a national heritage. The need for spiritual fulfillment has driven young Chinese to explore Confucius teaching, along with Taoism and Buddhism. Confucius is recognized in China again as a great philosopher and educator.

Despite an industrialized lifestyle, China is getting in touch with its root again. Let’s hope that the thousand-year-old Confucianism will bring morality and harmony back to China again.