China in the News

This past semester has been a learning experience in more ways than one. Once again, today proved that lots has happened in Hong Kong and China these first four months.

• Edison Chan sex scandal made huge news in Hong Kong in January.
• Brief flu outbreak in Hong Kong before spring break brought back fears that are still very much alive here-- thanks to the avian flu and SARS.
• Protests in Tibet caused a media frenzy and worry among officials in Beijing.
• The Olympic Torch Relay faced protests in numerous cities, including San Francisco.
• Mr Ma, opposition party candidate (and Harvard grad), won the presidential elections in Taiwan. News was popular here because Mr Ma was also born in Hong Kong.
• Train collision in Southeast China killed 70 people in April-- "one of the deadliest" according to media reports.
• And most recently, a huge earthquake near Chengdu in Sichuan province killed thousands yesterday.

I'm not sure if any of those news stories are uplifting, but then again, I'm not sure if any media reports about China are uplifting. It's hard even in Hong Kong to get a realistic picture of China-- economically, politically, socially, environmentally, etc. The easiest way to learn about China is from the students at UST from the Mainland. Most of their stories are about school, family, friends and culture. If someone asked me to tell them about the US, I likely would talk about the same things.

So I've come to understand China as a place, like the US, that has definite room for improvement. By no means should you "hate China" though.

I'm going to assume that if you think Asians (as a stereotypical whole) are smart and hardworking, then you might wonder why their country is in the state it's in. But then again, if you consider that their government is just as concerned with power and money as ours is, it may not seem like such a contradiction. Take environmental issues for example. The US is just now beginning to take small steps toward environmental protection and sustainability despite the fact that we could have been doing this years ago. And now people get upset with the Chinese for not taking the same measures even though the incentives toward change are not the same.

Look at Wal-Mart. They've recently changed their slogan from "Always Low Prices" to "Save Money. Live Better." to align with their sustainability campaign. Great for Wal-Mart (trust me, I'm happy about this!) but Wal-Mart wouldn't be taking these steps if it wasn't saving them money by cutting costs or making them more money by changing consumer perceptions. It's all about incentives.

As it is set up right now, I think there are certain people in China that are making a small fortune as the system stands today. With environmentalism as an example, until someone or something challenges that power, what's the incentive to change?

So as onlookers is it our job to protest, bad-mouth and boycott? Maybe. But even better, it should be our job to understand the underlying causes for these problems. The only bad thing is that money and power are just the beginning.

China's history should prove that international pressures, when not aligned with internal forces, do little to stimulate healthy change. International pressures just make China mad and more likely to turn inward. Well, at least that's what I learned in class. I'm still trying to get first-hand opinions, but the Mainlanders would rather talk to me about fun stuff... and the Democratic primary.

(Go Barack.)