`Sanshi er li, Liushi er ershun` (At 30, I stand up, while at 60, my ear became an obedient organ for the reception of truth).
-Confucius (Ancient Chinese philosopher)
The People`s Republic of China turned 60 on October 1.
`Zhongguo renmin zhan qilai le (The Chinese people have stood up)`, Mao Zedong proclaimed 60 years ago from the ramparts of Tiananmen on October 1.
But as Confucius had remarked more than 2,500 years ago, the Chinese did not really stand up till 1979, when it turned 30.
In the three decades before that, the country was ravaged with famines, border wars with almost all its neighboring nations, the horrors of the Great Leap Forward and the great proletariat cultural revolution, in which more than 36 million people were prosecuted and several hundred thousand petit bourgeois, small chieftains, petty landlords and intellectuals were murdered by the state.
Many committed suicide. Prominent among them was Lao She, the great novelist and story writer.
`Beggars were also needed to be killed, because they did not live on their own labor`, Mao Guangrong, an octogenarian recalls the first three decades of the new China in his recent interview to the Guardian.
More than 20 million people died in that period, and the country`s economy was in tatters. Economic output fell by over 30 per cent. As the architect of modern China, Deng Xiaoping, put it: this period `had created an entire generation of mental cripples`.
Till the 1970s, India was doing far better than China in most of the economic parameters, and a former Indian diplomat had then smugly declared that it would will take years for Beijing and Shanghai to match Delhi, Mumbai or Chennai.
Today, forget Indian cities, Shanghai has more skyscrapers than New York and London combined. The People`s Republic towers over India not only in infrastructure, GDP or economic growth but in almost every other index.
Thanks to its reform and open door policy of 1978-79, China is now tipped to become the second largest economy in the world by the end of this year, leaving Germany and Japan way behind.
But all is not well with the country, where rampant official corruption prevails.
In a recent survey, a majority of Chinese people declared that harlots or prostitutes were more trustworthy than government officials. This survey was not made by any adverse foreign media, which the Beijing authorities could describe as `Spitting venom against China.` The survey was run by their own Xiaokang (Health) monthly, a sister publication of the bi-monthly Qiu Shi (Seeking Truth) -- the mouthpiece of the central committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
The survey revealed that the five most trustworthy social groups in China in descending order were: Peasants, religious workers, prostitutes, soldiers and students. And the five least credible groups in descending order were real estate developers, government secretaries, brokers, performance stars and government directors.
Distrust of central government officials went up from 60.1 per cent in 2005 to 95.2 per cent this year. Trust in local government declined from 59 per cent to 70.2 per cent, with most respondents accusing local party officials of distorted versions of the truth to earn promotion and accolades from their senior party leaders.
More than 42.12 per cent respondent did not believe the central government officers much, 31.17 per cent said they did not believe them at all, 21.72 per cent showed very little trust in them while only 4.98 per cent trusted them completely.
It is thus not surprising that when a six year old student was recently interviewed by the Southern Metropolitan Daily reporter about her career aspirations, she naively but tellingly replied: `to become an official`. What kind of officer? `A corrupt official because corrupt officials have a lot of things,` she explained.
Her interview is still available on Youtube and Youku, which is surprising given the Chinese media censorship, where Facebook, Twitter, Fanfou and sometimes even gmail is blocked. Responding to this interview, many bloggers declared that `the ugliness of graft, corruption and life has already tainted young Chinese minds.` `Socialism has issued a new version of `The Emperor’s New Clothes`, said another posting.
Chinese President Hu Jintao has publicly remarked that that corruption is one of the greatest threats to the legitimacy of the Communist Party rule. And the party seems to be waking up to this threat.
`Clean government` was the theme of the 4th plenary session of the 17th CCP Central Committee meeting which was concluded recently. According to another communist party mouthpiece, Liaowang (Outlook Weekly), party authorities were clearly aware that corruption among the cadres had seriously affected the party`s image, and that this was the main cause of disaffection among the masses.
Graft has been woven intrinsically into the basic fabric of Chinese society. Outsiders marvel at the way Chinese officials turn millionaires and even billionaires overnight.
Last month, the Communist Party of China has also announced last month that it was investigating a member of its ruling authority, the party’s Central Committee, for corruption in the nation’s nuclear industry. Xinhua reports stated that one of its chief officials, Kang Rixin, was suspected of embezzlement and bidding irregularities related to the construction of nuclear power plants.
In 2008, China was ranked 72 out of 179 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. Prominent corrupt officials range from top CPC Shanghai Committee Secretary, Chen Liangyu to the former Beijing mayor Chen Xitong. To its credit, the Chinese government has also dealt very harshly with obviously corrupt leaders, and several of them have been executed.
Li Peiying, former head of a huge state-owned Capital Airports Holding Company, was executed August 7, six months after he was convicted on bribery and embezzlement charges involving more than $14.6 million. Many high ranking public officials up to the level of Governor of a province have been executed earlier for corruption.
Today, many Chinese remember Mao Zedong not only for liberating them 60 years ago, but for being very harsh with corrupt officials. Despite accusing him of blundering with his over ambitious policies, people in China still venerate him for being complete ruthless about graft and bribery. Many in fact want his birthday to be declared a national holiday.
Just like Confucius predicted, Beijing seems to be waking up and listening to the real truth at 60.
But will it take another 30 years before it starts acting on what it hears?
'Nervous China may attack India by 2012' | Special: 30 years of reforms| video: China celebrates 60th National Day | More reports from China
(The views expressed here are the author’s, and do not reflect those of Sify.com)
(Dr Yukteshwar Kumar is Course Director of Chinese Stream at University of Bath, United Kingdom. Before joining University of Bath, Dr Kumar taught at the University of Delhi, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan and JNU in different capacities. He has also served as a Nehru Fellow at Peking University, China (1999-2001) Probably the only Indian today to teach Chinese in a top western University, Dr. Kumar has also interpreted for top Chinese and Indian leaders including the Chief Justices of India and China, the Foreign Minister of China, and the Chief Ministers of Bihar and West Bengal. He has also contributed numerous articles in both Chinese and English for various English and Chinese papers and journals and is the co-author of a book on learning Chinese.)
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