China Dérive: The Future of China |
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| Written by Adam J. Smith |
| Wednesday, 18 August 2010 00:00 |
Photo: Adam J. Smith
I came to understand this recently when I visited a friend in Tokyo, who explained to me that she thinks people in Japan feel lost. Lost because everything is developed, everybody knows what they are doing and how they should live their lives; in essence, there is nowhere else to go. I've sometimes felt this about my home country of England: people feel generally bored because everything is in its place, and there is nothing else to do but apparently enjoy life. China, in contrast, is still defining itself and developing its own model of modernity. Almost all Chinese I spoke too were excited about the future and were prepared to work day and night to make themselves, their company, and their country a success. While this optimism is refreshing, my stay in China made several issues apparent that may halt the development of this nation and disallow people to continue believing that China will be the new global superpower. The issue of dishonesty and all of its manifestations in the form of 'saving face' and governmental corruption present a huge barrier for China's continued progress. Unfortunately dishonesty -- or let's say illegitimacy -- seems to be ingrained within Chinese culture in the same way a strong work ethic or respect for authority is. While I accept this as a cultural difference I found it increasingly more difficult to deal with the implications of dishonesty that the Chinese take as just a part of ordinary life like been sold fakes masqueraded as genuine or having my employers lie to me. Corruption is rampant, and it's not just the odd 10RMB here and there to jump the line in a restaurant, it's serious and life threatening. A study of Chinese government officials was conducted last year by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and, according to the commission, 106,000 officials were found guilty of corruption in the form of accepted bribes, stolen money, or performed operations within their locality to benefit themselves or their family. The average provincial official has the opportunity to launder literally millions of tax yuan and accept bribes from large companies that wish their exploitation of workers or pollution of the environment go 'unseen' by the government. 
Photo: Adam J. Smith
Another obstacle that may stand in the way of China's development concerns energy. China is developing and urbanizing upon the assumption that the oil and coal fiesta they are currently enjoying will continue and inevitably support the infrastructure that is now in place. It has been suggested that the overwhelming scale of Chinese cities are utterly inadaptable to a change in fuel or fuel distribution. It's amazing how quickly China has become car dependent and rather frightening. While other gas guzzling nations face problems, the problems in China will surely only be more intense due to the country's devastated environment, disappearing rivers and water sources, desertification, lack of natural resources, and the inevitable shortages of everything that will shake the largest population in the world. The issue of water supply is a crucial concern the Chinese government now grapples with. Chinese water sources are being polluted, clogged up with damns, and are disappearing as demand for more food (especially meat which has become more affordable for Chinese whose salaries have risen in recent years), and urban growth, which are literally sucking China dry. A changing climate is also switching the traditional patterns of rain in some crop producing regions. What if China were to run out of water? Desalination of sea water is expensive and requires cheap and plentiful supplies of energy to provide a reliable source of drinking water. There may not be the supplies of energy in the future either. 
Photo: Adam J. Smith
The pretence that China paints itself as a 'peaceful' nation, one that the Chinese continually remind me about, I believe to be naïve. The potential power and will for China to walk into any neighbouring country in search of food, fuel, water and living space is unnerving. China is currently amassing the largest navy fleet in human history, maintains a collection of nuclear weapons, recently built two aircraft carriers, and holds the largest army in the world. Who knows what they intend to do with all of this military infrastructure and equipment? I get that feeling that if China becomes the world's No.1 superpower, we'll look back upon the days of America's rule with nostalgia. Concerning the mammoth problems China faces, many implications are left open. The Chinese are proving to be highly industrious in the face of such problems. As Thomas Friedman has stated in a number of articles and book The World Is Flat, the thirst is immense within China to not only catch up -- technologically, industrially, and economically -- with primarily the United States and also other developed nations but then to take over. This desire always strikes me when I visit a university campus in the UK. The library will be full of Chinese students and the student union bar will be full of British students. Friedman has expressed with some concern that the West, now feeling entitled to a high standard of living, may see its wealth disappear if we do not take note of this newfound competition from China. While America is flagging in the need to create a green economy and green jobs, it might be China that holds to task the challenge of pioneering the mass development and implementation of green technologies. China's continually degrading environment actually presents an opportunity in disguise to lead the world in this vision of a new clean energy economy. If China's problems are not turned into opportunities for change, the consequences might be grim. There is mass discontent at corruption within the government. Many within government in China are getting immensely rich off the back of poor migrant workers and labourers. Officials are literally terrified of an uprising or revolution that would stop them from continuing to exploit the Chinese population. Personally, I feel the potential for political chaos in China is immense, either caused by inequality, dissatisfaction with government, police exercising a level of control that is unacceptable, water, food or fuels shortages or any combination of these things. I certainly don't want to be around in China if or when this kicks off. Adam J. Smith is a British ex-pat living, teaching and writing in China, while exploring the changes taking shape in this nation For videos and more information visit: www.adamjsmith.net. RelatedThe BP Oil Spill and Corporate Social Responsibility Reflections on Environmental Crises Dreaming of a Cleaner, Greener Future: An Open Letter to all Members of Parliament
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