The mural behind me was created by the contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang, who is renowned for his gunpowder explosion artwork. Cai is a native of Fujian Province, but lives in the United States. His work is highly sought after around the world, from Saudi Arabia to Japan. In fact, Cai identifies himself as an international, and not Chinese, artist. He is a symbol of the rapid globalization process that turns many Chinese natives into citizens of the world. The mural is titled Odyssey of Yeung Cheng Journeying to Distant Places, in reference to the movement of the cosmopolitan Chinese today. In the last chapter, we saw how Chinese society came to a standstill during the tumultuous cultural revolution. Now we will learn how China was able to transform itself from a third-world country in the 1960s, to the largest economy in the world, in the short span of a half a century. With the passing of Mao Zedong in 1976, Deng Xiaoping, the twice-purged former Secretary General of the Chinese Communist Party, managed a stunning comeback to rebuild the country. Famously stating, it doesn't matter what color the cat, the one that catches the mouse is a good cat. He identified four modernization goals for China. In agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology. Economic development was of the utmost importance. Deng even suggested that a little capitalism is not a bad thing. As a result, China adopted an open door policy, and provided special economic zones to attract foreign investment. The first Sino-US joint ventures were Coca-Cola, Reynolds Tobacco, Heinz, and American Express. The Chinese labor force is ideally suited to profitability, as it is technically competent, willing to receive lower wages, and hardworking. Remarkably, from a modest volume of exports of $4.7 million to the US in 1971, in 15 years, China's export exceeded its US import by $1.67 billion. In 2011, China is the largest holder of US debt at $1.7 trillion. Along with the opening of trade relations, Chinese intellectuals expanded their contact with the West, and began questioning the relevance of Marxist ideology to contemporary society. Wong Roshe whose 1978 travel impressions of America we read in the previous chapter, questioned the meaning of alienation and humanism in a socialist society. Astrophysicist Fong Lee Chu went so far as to say that the socialist movement has failed, and that a complete westernization is the only way to save China. Deng, at times, would encourage such ideological reexamination. But when conservatives repudiated such discussions as spiritual pollution, he switched his position for fear of of political instability. Wong, Fong, and other liberal intellectuals were subsequently dismissed from their posts. Undoubtedly, the most contentious issue between the United States and China is in the area of human rights. China considers human rights treatment a domestic issue, and resents foreign intervention. This is true on their perspective on Tibetan autonomy, as well as on the sovereignty of the Spratly Islands, and on Taiwan. But the most dramatic demonstration of the difference between the two countries, was June 4th, 1989, Tiananmen Massacre, or Incident, or Crisis, as it is variously called. Earlier that year, the students turned a mourning ceremony for the deceased liberal reformer and party general secretary Hu Yaobang into a democracy protest movement involving hundreds of thousands of citizens. Students from the Central Arts Academy constructed a statue of a woman holding a torch in her outstretched arms, known variously as the goddess of democracy, the spirit of democracy, or the goddess of liberty. The government, at first conciliatory, turned hard-line when students refused to disperse. On June 4th, the government troops opened fire on the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. Because of official denial of shooting, the death toll is estimated from hundreds to thousands. This tragedy shook the party to the core. The American government imposed sanctions on China, granted political asylum to the leaders of the movement, and passed the Chinese Student Protection Act in 1992. In 1999, American fighter jets bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, killing 3 and injuring 20 Chinese nationals. Despite the American government's apology that it was a tragic accident caused by an erroneous identification of target by the CIA, where the planes were trying to strike a Yugoslavian military target nearby, most Chinese, from governmental officials to the people on the street, saw it as a conspiracy, a premeditated act of barbarism. But it is fair to say that Chinese from all social classes harbor a certain American dream. We witness today that many high government officials send their children to study in the US. Wealthy entrepreneurs invest in America, sometimes as a way to obtain immigration visas. The well-educated pursue advanced degrees in America. And the young married attempt to give birth in America. At home, the Chinese have embraced American popular culture with open arms. The most popular American television shows in China are Growing Pains, Friends, and Disney cartoons. Many textbooks in the two most prestigious tertiary institutions, Tsinghua University and Beijing University, are from America. Today, Tsinghua University requires all freshmen to take an English summer camp after their first year. And the instructors are from the US. In 2013, 103,427 Chinese students studied in American graduate schools, and about 93,768 attended American undergraduate institutions. I conclude this chapter with the words of a Chinese doctoral candidate in sociology at Princeton University in the 1980s. “The great democratic revolutions of history such as the American or French revolutions all took as their goal freedom, that is to say natural rights, the right to liberty. Individual liberty implied that each person was free to carry on a business and engage in trade, free to retain the wealth obtained from a business and trade, and free from being expropriated by the powerful. Western freedom means that everyone is equal before the law.” If we agree that people vote with their feet, then it is fair to say that the Chinese people still regard America as the land of opportunity, freedom, and equality. Next, we will look at the different developmental experiences of Taiwan and Hong Kong.
