To Shop is Patriotic
Early in December Ethan and I went to Beijing for a couple of days. Ethan had been invited to speak at a conference organized by the National Poverty Alleviation Bureau to celebrate 30 years of Gaige Kaifeng (Reform and Opening), the policy initiated by Deng Xiao-ping in 1978 that launched China’s economic transformation.
I love going to Beijing because it brings back memories of the year I spent as a student there at the People’s University in 1985-86. Much as I love Chengdu, Beijing was my first home in China and I am very fond of the city. Of course, these days it is barely recognizable from the low-rise, ramshackle communist capital it was back then. These days I completely loose my bearings among the vast, glittering boulevards of hotels and luxury brand shopping malls, but the moment I can turn down a side-street thronged with busy Beijingers and bicycles, I know where I am again.
The conference was a surprise. We were expecting a programme of predictable, tedious speeches from government officials congratulating themselves on their success in fighting poverty. That was exactly how things started, but after 4 or 5 men in suits had read out bombastic statements of that type, an elderly man with a long wisp of a Confucian beard took the stage and turned it all upside down. He delivered a speech in the quavering tones of Chinese opera, which grabbed the attention the students, NGO workers and government officials in the audience. I wish I could have understood all of it, but his main point was that the whole world is inter-connected and China forgets this at its peril. No matter how much China has achieved over the past 30 years, the country cannot rest on its laurels, not just because of the poverty remaining in China but the rest of the world as well. He talked at length about the current economic crisis and warned against Chinese people taking any satisfaction in America’s woes. He said that if America suffers, China will suffer as well and it is China’s duty to save America! Now that China is poised to become the world’s economic powerhouse it has a responsibility for the economic health of all countries, not just its own people. He was making a very serious point, contradicting the schadenfreude that has pervaded much of the commentary about the crisis, and his humorous delivery ensured that the audience really took notice.
We were impressed, and went on to be equally impressed by several of the speakers in the next session, who were senior academics from universities and government research offices. A couple gave predictable, boring addresses but three or four stood up and delivered thoughtful talks in an engaging manner.
One reiterated the theme of inter-connection, argued for policies supporting rural enterprises and emphasized the need for education, in particular for the system to allow greater creativity. His most memorable line, echoing Deng Xiao-ping’s famous “To get rich is glorious”, was “To shop is patriotic”, and he exhorted the audience to get out there and spend money to support China’s manufacturing industries. I feel well-equipped to go along with that one.
The speakers contradicted each other with enthusiasm. The next man took issue with the education argument, asking how it would be paid for, and said he was opposed to solving problems by formulating new policies. He argued that 80% of rural households in China are still primarily agricultural, only 20% are running small businesses, so the problems they face are related to farming or livestock management, not business development.
Another speaker contradicted the elderly man who had started the day, by saying it is impossible for China to save America, just as it is impossible for China to solve its poverty problem in the short term, because it is a long-term problem with complex historical roots. For example, the pro-urban strategy that has been employed over the years, such as controlling the price of grain to benefit city dwellers while penalizing the farmers. Yet another took this line further, explaining how all his life he had studied and believed socialist economic principles based on the Soviet model, but his observations had led him to realize they were incorrect and the only solution for building wealth was to allow free markets. He said it was a mistaken assumption that market economics neglect the poor, how could this be true when so many people have been lifted out of poverty since economic reforms began in China, but that more market freedom was necessary, such as lifting controls on grain prices to benefit poor farmers.
Later in the day there were plenty of tedious speakers, mostly giving presentations of the “ten points about poverty alleviation in such and such a county” variety. Several used power point, but in a way that made their talks even more soporific, by presenting huge blocks of tiny Chinese text on each slide and reading them out on a monotone. Ethan’s presentation gave the perspective of a ‘lao-wai’ (foreigner) on 30 years of reform and opening, as he has been coming to China for 27 of those years. He had put a lot of time into preparing his speech in Chinese and it was well-received.
The conference did include a good deal of self-congratulation, and not without good reason. Part of the purpose was to celebrate the successes of the past 30 years, during which time more people have been lifted out of poverty than at any other time in human history. But coming back to Beijing 23 years after I first arrived there as a student, what was most compelling to me was the way the speakers critiqued policy failings and openly discussed problems that are as yet unsolved. That really represents reform and opening.
I love going to Beijing because it brings back memories of the year I spent as a student there at the People’s University in 1985-86. Much as I love Chengdu, Beijing was my first home in China and I am very fond of the city. Of course, these days it is barely recognizable from the low-rise, ramshackle communist capital it was back then. These days I completely loose my bearings among the vast, glittering boulevards of hotels and luxury brand shopping malls, but the moment I can turn down a side-street thronged with busy Beijingers and bicycles, I know where I am again.
The conference was a surprise. We were expecting a programme of predictable, tedious speeches from government officials congratulating themselves on their success in fighting poverty. That was exactly how things started, but after 4 or 5 men in suits had read out bombastic statements of that type, an elderly man with a long wisp of a Confucian beard took the stage and turned it all upside down. He delivered a speech in the quavering tones of Chinese opera, which grabbed the attention the students, NGO workers and government officials in the audience. I wish I could have understood all of it, but his main point was that the whole world is inter-connected and China forgets this at its peril. No matter how much China has achieved over the past 30 years, the country cannot rest on its laurels, not just because of the poverty remaining in China but the rest of the world as well. He talked at length about the current economic crisis and warned against Chinese people taking any satisfaction in America’s woes. He said that if America suffers, China will suffer as well and it is China’s duty to save America! Now that China is poised to become the world’s economic powerhouse it has a responsibility for the economic health of all countries, not just its own people. He was making a very serious point, contradicting the schadenfreude that has pervaded much of the commentary about the crisis, and his humorous delivery ensured that the audience really took notice.
We were impressed, and went on to be equally impressed by several of the speakers in the next session, who were senior academics from universities and government research offices. A couple gave predictable, boring addresses but three or four stood up and delivered thoughtful talks in an engaging manner.
One reiterated the theme of inter-connection, argued for policies supporting rural enterprises and emphasized the need for education, in particular for the system to allow greater creativity. His most memorable line, echoing Deng Xiao-ping’s famous “To get rich is glorious”, was “To shop is patriotic”, and he exhorted the audience to get out there and spend money to support China’s manufacturing industries. I feel well-equipped to go along with that one.
The speakers contradicted each other with enthusiasm. The next man took issue with the education argument, asking how it would be paid for, and said he was opposed to solving problems by formulating new policies. He argued that 80% of rural households in China are still primarily agricultural, only 20% are running small businesses, so the problems they face are related to farming or livestock management, not business development.
Another speaker contradicted the elderly man who had started the day, by saying it is impossible for China to save America, just as it is impossible for China to solve its poverty problem in the short term, because it is a long-term problem with complex historical roots. For example, the pro-urban strategy that has been employed over the years, such as controlling the price of grain to benefit city dwellers while penalizing the farmers. Yet another took this line further, explaining how all his life he had studied and believed socialist economic principles based on the Soviet model, but his observations had led him to realize they were incorrect and the only solution for building wealth was to allow free markets. He said it was a mistaken assumption that market economics neglect the poor, how could this be true when so many people have been lifted out of poverty since economic reforms began in China, but that more market freedom was necessary, such as lifting controls on grain prices to benefit poor farmers.
Later in the day there were plenty of tedious speakers, mostly giving presentations of the “ten points about poverty alleviation in such and such a county” variety. Several used power point, but in a way that made their talks even more soporific, by presenting huge blocks of tiny Chinese text on each slide and reading them out on a monotone. Ethan’s presentation gave the perspective of a ‘lao-wai’ (foreigner) on 30 years of reform and opening, as he has been coming to China for 27 of those years. He had put a lot of time into preparing his speech in Chinese and it was well-received.
The conference did include a good deal of self-congratulation, and not without good reason. Part of the purpose was to celebrate the successes of the past 30 years, during which time more people have been lifted out of poverty than at any other time in human history. But coming back to Beijing 23 years after I first arrived there as a student, what was most compelling to me was the way the speakers critiqued policy failings and openly discussed problems that are as yet unsolved. That really represents reform and opening.
posted by Cat Platt at 2:44 pm
1 comments
