Changing China – growing pains
Much is written about the titanic growth of China on the world stage, the impact it’s having on increasingly frail Western economies, and the environmental effects of being the worlds’ factory. Such commentary is often based on old stereotypes, and certainly fails to explore beneath the skin of this hugely dynamic country. This article provides a snapshot of how China is trying to create a higher value economy as part of its long term vision to become a major world player.
China has no interest groups seeking to influence political decisions for their own economic benefit. Instead, it has a common communist ideology structured around relatively open market policies. Chinese entrepreneurs and business leaders have a strong enthusiasm for building the national brand in all areas, which is seen as the cornerstone of its commercial revival. Whilst parts of the older generation still hold onto some feudalistic tendencies such as a bureaucratic mentality and poor motivation, most Chinese people now have a dynamic vision that’s dedicated to improving living and work standards for them and their fellow citizens. In fact patriotism has become the most important incentive for people to work hard in China – a quality much lacking in the West. The Chinese openly recognize areas where they lack knowledge and technologies, but with such a determined collective will to progress, they’re sure to succeed.
China’s prevailing Confucianism philosophy has proved to be inherently incompatible with the country’s modern economic development outlook. The growing lack of belief in Chinese minds has caused just as many problems as the breakdown of organized religion in the West. What’s more, the concepts of individuality, consumerism and technicism have taken effect in a profound way to transform the Chinese lifestyle and self-image. Western corporations see the Chinese market simply as a golden goose, with huge profit potential from so many new consumers. But Chinese consumers feel torn when faced with foreign brands everywhere, like Adidas, KFC, Starbucks, Dior and so on. These brands have squeezed Chinese pockets considerably by their aggressive marketing tactics and powerful allure, bringing with it some rather new and unwelcome personal finance concerns. This globalization has certainly improved life for many Chinese citizens, but China has actually suffered severe internal damage as the move to a more competitive open market economy brings cut-backs and resource efficiencies. The strong cultural and economic influences from the West have to some degree conquered China. So it’s easy to see why the Chinese are working so hard to change their status in the global community – from made in China to designed in China.
Chinese society traditionally has no class structure, but they do love to be as superior as possible. This gives foreign corporations an easy marketing tactic of emphasizing status and nobleness in all their messaging. If British nobility is one of tradition and etiquette, the Chinese noble tendency would be one of vanity – socially infectious and totally at odds with the established Confucianism moral values such as loyalty for your king and practices of kinship.
Generally speaking, Westerners are liberal and forthright, whereas the Chinese are conservative and humble. But the Chinese are not narrow-minded, for they pursue the values of humanism and harmony, including congeniality between family members and between human beings and mother nature. You could say if oil paintings symbolise Western affluence, then ink paintings symbolise the Chinese pursuit of peace and steadiness.
The Chinese Government and people are mindful of their weaknesses in terms of economic effectiveness, environmental issues and financial stability, but Western history shows that socio-economic development is neither easy nor quick. Mistakes will be made, but these will be tempered with great achievements too. For example the culture of consumerism and profiteering we’ve build in the West has brought huge rewards and problems in equal measure. Indeed some of the social effects in particular are proving a major challenge for most developed nations to resolve. China is certainly adopting some of our capitalist tendencies, but they’re taking full advantage of this rare opportunity to shape their future as they want, and not simply mimic the path taken by the West.
In my opinion our Western media often reports on the ideological transformation in China with a very negative tone – fearful that China is trying to take over the world, steal our jobs and reduce our developed economies to nothing. In fact China has helped us maintain our high profits and lifestyles, and without it we would most certainly sink. The authorities in China are simply trying to focus their resources, policies and attention towards the care and prosperity of their huge population. China’s growing strength and influence has been accompanied by many bitter experiences, but it’s a country where everyone is united in working hard to achieve a better China and a better world.
