Weekly Thoughts #4: Communist China and Capitalist...China

If there's a way to generalize society, consider this: Collectivism and Individualism. A collectivist, in most cases, is a firm believer of sacrifices for the greater good, for society. An individualist, on the other hand, follows his passion, decides his own future, and hopes for a happy life by finding what is best for him - society, you come after me. Polar opposites, huh.

China is a country that has experienced both of them in the past century. In Mao's China, workers and students were very devoted to the welfare and sufficiency of the state (I mean, Mao). The collectivist mindset that was encouraged during this time period created a generation of Chinese that was readily sacrificing crop yields to the state. It also created a generation that was almost blindly patriotic to the Communist Party, believing that it was an obligation to dutifully meet expectations set by the Party in order to please Beijing and Mao Zedong.

When Deng came into power, trickles of Capitalist reform were introduced, making China a developing nation following the American model, resulting in an Individualization of China. With an influx of Capitalist ideas, Chinese cities began seeing foreign investment as well as small groups of people becoming richer than the rest. Deng was famous for saying that "being rich is not a sin". Under this new leadership, large scale migrations from villages to cities began to increase noticeably. Money became the primary desire of many, and the people who earned their wealth were respected by the people around him.

Had Mao been alive, he would have not considered China the moving-toward-socialism country that he envisioned. China today is as Capitalist, if not more capitalist, than the United States. It is where the cheap goods it manufactures are exported worldwide. Its cities are commercial hubs. China is indeed, the centers of the commercial world today that is run by a Communist government.

In Capitalist China...

This new status has created a generation of consumers, entertainment-seekers, and fervent individualists, completely unrecognizable from their forbears. Streets previously decorated with pro-communist banners have turned into fancy shopping districts. Soldiers in the Chinese army today are not addicted to Mao's Little Red Book, but soap operas. And while the Communist government continues to emphasize unity by suppressing freedom of speech, Chinese bloggers find ways to challenge it.

Two, very different Chinas - their similarity is that they are both the "People's Republic of China". The previous China strived for unity in times of hardship, equality and the elimination of class struggles. The latter has created a "Generation ME", full of Chinese youths aspiring to be actors, CEOs, simply trying to find what's best for themselves.

In my opinion, Chinese collectivism, which had created miracles during the Five Year Plan, yielded great results in the Korean war - that China that Mao believed would continue to prosper, is now history, if not dead.