Chapter 16 12. Exploring individualism in China

One shortcoming of a human rights foreign policy is that human rights are not as deeply rooted as the human sense of justice, which was thus monopolized by self-righteous revolutionaries against American preaching in the Soviet Union and China.Leaders in the Kremlin have warily embraced some Western thinking on human rights, while those in Beijing have never.Before Christianity and Roman law told us that everyone has an immortal soul and the right to freedom, China had a unique tradition of achieving benevolent government through benevolent actions.Confucian morality emphasizes human responsibility rather than rights, and sees it as the glue that keeps society harmonious and stable. Individualism is even a pejorative term in the People's Republic of China.In fact, although the world believes in the idea of ​​human rights, it is restricted by the cultural environment.Human rights thought advocates the supremacy of law and legal procedures; while Maoists cannot tolerate the existence of law, and even despise the majesty of law.They praised Mao's moral code of conduct and saw our civil rights as the political expression of great material wealth, consistent with the sacrosanct right to private property.Therefore, China does not need this kind of thinking.The Chinese individual is related to the state and society in a different way.

People have long been interested in the differences between Chinese and Americans, which are as fascinating as the differences between men and women, only more complex and less discernible.The Chinese have seen many negative examples on the streets and in the news media in the United States. It is difficult to determine whether they have learned anything about our moral values ​​from them.Chinese people have a longer history of living in groups than us, maybe we should learn from them material ecology and personal self-discipline.Buddhism and Confucianism taught them that social instability is primarily caused by human desires, which is what our consumer advertising, tourism, health and sex industries are all about.We use our talents in the name of individualism, but this is exactly what China, which is full of collective spirit, wants to avoid.

However, individualistic beliefs are at the core of American culture, and those Americans who are not confused by culture shock in China want to seek friendship in China, hope to exchange ideas and opinions, and enjoy the unique experience in China.For the organizers of China's new order, this behavior is bourgeois and threatens to subvert and poison people's thinking.Just as in the 1990s, Westerners competed to see who could get the closest to Lhasa before being driven out of Tibet, so now foreigners who go to People's China are also competing to see who can best communicate with a Chinese comminicate.

Orville Schell joined an American tour group of 20 people aged 18-60 and visited China in 1975.Together with the tourist group, he visited Beijing, Yan'an, Xi'an, the hometown of Chairman Mao in Hunan and Shanghai, and he also stopped working in the factories in Shanghai and the farmland of the Red Flag production team in Dazhai, Shanxi.This outreach to the "mass" of Chinese civilians, organized by the Hinton family (Boutney College, Vermont), has long been a PRC foothold in the United States (Bill Hinton's Turning Over became a A classic introduction to China's land reform in the 1940s).At that time, Shell was 35 years old, proficient in Chinese, had studied history, and worked as a reporter in Vietnam and other places for two years.

Of all the books on China I have read since 1972, The People's Republic is one of the best, and Schell has earned a reputation among his American counterparts for it.He did not describe the major events encountered during this trip, but focused on describing his private contact with the Chinese and his impressions arising from it.He had difficulty exchanging ideas and seeking friendship with the Chinese.First of all, the United States is very far away and unknown to the Chinese, so they are not interested in the United States.To make matters worse, the Chinese seem indifferent to the unique American personality that focuses on personal choice, self-image and personal experience.On the contrary, the Chinese are collectivists, as if they are eager to converge with the other party. They value the group over the individual, follow the rules and do not overstep the rules, and always get satisfaction from the praise of the group and government leaders rather than from the achievement of personal goals or other personal enjoyment.This concept of diluting the self and realizing self-satisfaction in the collective is certainly not a whim, but the result of China's emphasis on Confucian family collectivism for centuries.Now, China emphasizes "serving the people".

This selflessness lacking in individualism is difficult for Western journalists to understand.Scheer pointed out that his Hong Kong counterparts deliberately exaggerated the dirt in China to cover up their impure outside world.For example, they always report the amateur prostitutes in Beijing and Shanghai who only make money from foreigners, but in fact, in general, there is almost no prostitution in China. "China's purity is intolerable to those who live in a society full of crises and competition... Therefore, we can only present China full of greed, lust, selfishness and self-satisfaction to the world."

On the way from the dormitory to the factory, Xie Er met a beautiful girl with bright eyes, Shao Feng (transliteration).A man and a woman being alone in public is often considered a date.Shao Feng found that Bai Ji was in a "one-on-one, the guy meets the girl" situation, so she asked a female companion to go with her, so that she felt at ease.Later, in the theater, Shaofeng accidentally sat next to Shell.Schell wanted to get more involved with her, but his Chinese partner who came with him immediately saw the problem and changed seats with him.Scheer can't help wondering whether the Chinese "have learned to resist sexual attraction, while the Western capitalist world is centered on it and thus becomes secular." "Americans always try to get the Chinese to talk more about personal relationship issues. They will ask a full house of commune cadres and officials, and hope to get answers to questions about premarital sex." Schell believes that Chinese avoidance of sex is a "A question of values ​​rather than sexual repression".He found that "people are very forthright in relationships" and "they don't have the time or the encouragement to have fun."

People adopt the same evasive attitude towards national political issues and decisions, and only those policies that have been decided are widely discussed (in the past, the masses were not allowed to participate in politics, and now they are still very cautious).Scheer said the Chinese prefer to discuss "solved issues rather than discussing issues that are being discussed."Unresolved issues cannot become news topics. Only those issues that set the tone, especially those that are in line with the party line, can be discussed with confidence and boldness.It's like knowing the plots of old movies like the back of your hand, but never seeing novelty works appearing.We realized that these inventors of paper, printing, and books, and examiners of officials, had long ago learned to wait for the official established teaching materials, rather than to give lip service to premature opinions on current affairs.Scher concluded: "What the Chinese talk about the most is precisely what they have the hardest time doing. The Chinese talk a lot about criticizing authoritative thinking...but they are very submissive in the face of authority, and they hardly dare to act rashly."

In a store in Dazhai, Xie Er met Mr. Huang, a fruit tree expert who was "decentralized" to work.He's smart and funny.Shell had a nice conversation with him and asked to arrange to speak with him again.That night, instead of going to the movies, he was writing at home, getting ready for bed.Suddenly, the overhead lights came on, and a cadre in charge told him that his meeting with Mr. Huang had been cancelled, and that since Schell was ill, he could stay at home the next day and not go out.Schell realized that he was too inquisitive and "always wanted to be alone instead of sticking to the set schedule".

This review is of Orville Scheer's In the People's Republic (New York, Random House, 1977), published in the May 12, 1977 New York Review of Books and another book by Scheer Beware of These Foreign Guests: East and West Clash (New York, Four Corners, 1981), New York Review of Books, April 16, 1981.