by Scott Eaton via FlickrJohn Pomfret describes how the position of the US among Chinese intellectuals has changed from critic less admiration to the current disillusion. Pomfret quotes one of his commentors.
3) China's OK, I'm OK. China’s real successes since 1989 - a doubling, almost tripling of GDP and significant advances in individual rights (something almost totally overlooked in the recent coverage of China) - sparked a widespread sense of patriotic pride among the Chinese. (Note to skeptics: The biggest demonstration in Tiananmen Square after the ’89 crackdown occurred on July 13, 2001, when the IOC awarded China the Olympic games. And it was spontaneous.)
And finally, 4) Get off my back, or what Alec called "collective ennui" toward Western "lecturing and chastising" about China. As the great Chinese blogger Hong Huang says: "I am tired of people treating me like I live in a concentration camp." This alienation has brought many Chinese in the elite to the conclusion that while their one-party system doesn’t deserve three cheers, it could, like ours, deserve two. And it's convincing others - in Africa and the Middle East - as well.
(I have overlooked this interesting item, but fortunately,
Jan van de Bergh linked to it on his
Facebook account. Jan is posting continuously interesting links to other articles.)
No comments:
Post a Comment