Chapter 31 Postscript

Two points must be said about the works discussed in the chapters of this book.First, these works dealt primarily with China as seen by Americans, discussing what American businessmen, diplomats, missionaries, and soldiers were doing in China or what American journalists were experiencing in China's life and revolution.Second, each of these works confronts the difference in the status of individuals in the two societies in different ways.There is no doubt that this focus on what we now call human rights reflects the enormous efforts Americans have made to promote human rights abroad in order to defend them at home.In fact, the freedoms Americans have long enjoyed seem increasingly irresistible to the onslaught of technology, which always finds new ways to incorporate Americans into a single computerized economy and society.During the hundred years of missionary work after 1830, God did not completely dominate the lives of Americans, and missionary missions were sent abroad mainly to improve the difficult situation of the church in the country.The modern nonsectarian human rights cause is in the same state today: it must be supported both at home and abroad.

How far does this belief in the United States separate us from China?This is an elusive and patiently analyzed question, since the Chinese are generally more collectivized than Americans because they are usually part of families and associations.From the perspective of individual behavior, we must see that Confucianism emphasizes responsibility, while Westerners emphasize rights.To what extent does the Confucian belief in the continued perfection of the Chinese resonate with the Christian perspective?To what extent can the Confucian humanism of China's traditional privileged classes become a major part of China's new mass culture?Is a Confucian communism really emerging in China?

Regardless of the conclusion, we can expect that the consensus reached by the Chinese will be conservative, and they will support the interests of the country and society rather than personal interests.So, in the late 1980s, we might still be on one side or the other in the continuing struggle between party authority and individual freedom of expression. In 1987, this struggle took the form of student demonstrations for "democracy", whatever the concept of "democracy", which led to the repression of "bourgeois liberalization" tendencies and the "Bourgeois liberalization" was denounced as "spiritual pollution" from abroad.

Undoubtedly, those Americans who are interested in China are likely to sympathize with Chinese intellectuals rather than those officials.However, to avoid oversimplifying the issue, we should be aware of certain background factors that favored these officials. The first is that the pace of change in China has accelerated. The changes that took place in the mid-1980s would have been unimaginable, if not dreamlike, at least in the 1970s: township entrepreneurs got really rich; Molecules can now argue about various political institutions; writers and artists are experimenting.China's cultural world is full of great vitality, and it seems that the creative talent that has been suppressed for decades is now bursting out.The talents of the Chinese are also displayed internationally.However, this creative development has also led to many problems, for example, in production and trade, individual initiative contributes to corruption.It is not easy to improve a command economy with some characteristics of a market economy, and the policy of introducing foreign technology and capital through joint ventures has been restricted.Deng Xiaoping's open door policy achieved great success, but after 8 years of great practice of economic reform, the students demanded political reform, thus threatening the state power of the Communist Party of China. Half of the 40 million party members joined the party during the Cultural Revolution, and among them, Maoist party members may try to change course.

The most difficult factor to evaluate is the mood and state of the Chinese Communist Party.How far can the Chinese Communist Party loosen its authoritarian grip while retaining power?Can it truly transform from governing according to Mao's teachings to governing according to the constitutional legislative process?If any revolution is just, so is the uniformity demanded by rural collective life, let alone the Communist Party.One cannot, then, expect the Communist Party to tolerate dissidents.In Mao's China, political dissent was tantamount to treason, a crime more serious than theft or murder.It is impossible to separate policy from patriotism and tolerate opposition.Today, the ancient Confucianism is deeply rooted in the system of the Chinese Communist Party; leaders rule by wisdom and always right; theory and practice are unified, and policy is a form that reflects the characteristics of leaders, so attacking policy is attacking the ruling group .Even today, many political prisoners in the People's Republic of China are undergoing reform through labor.In general, torture is strictly prohibited, but the Chinese concept of political crimes, legal procedures, and labor reforms allows the deprivation of habeas corpus rights; constant extraction and use of insults, reduced rations, solitary confinement, handcuffs, and equivalent Criticism and other methods among citizens of the same status, so that prisoners can obey in thought and behavior.This underdeveloped state of law is one of the reasons why Chinese students strongly demand "democracy".Of course, Chinese students are only a small special class, which cannot be compared with American students at all.They billed themselves as heirs to the ancient tradition of scholar-government.As potential government officials, they are the guardians of national interests, and depending on the situation at the time, they must make a political gesture even if they are not present.A carefully selected group of Chinese international students study in American universities with excellent grades, but this does not change the difficult conditions they may face when working in China.Their concerns are unlikely to coincide with ours.

Yet now more than ever, we Americans have a role, and perhaps a good role, in China's development.