Chapter 17 1. Construct a strong Chinese discourse

When I visited Berlin in March 2014, a BBC program called "Freedom 2014" happened to be broadcast on TV.In the program, a Canadian astronaut took a photo of the night view of Berlin taken from outer space during the "Cold War" and said: "Look, the bright part is West Berlin, and the dark part is East Berlin. This is a free and democratic country and a dictatorship. It’s the difference between countries.” It’s already the 21st century, and many people in the West still see the world in a highly ideological way, and they still regard China as a “magnified East Germany”, which is almost ridiculous.In fact, from the moment we arrived in Berlin, we felt: Compared with Shanghai, Berlin is much "dark". Its airport can be described as "rudimentary" and its city can be described as "empty". Its night view can be described by the words "too far worse than Shanghai".Of course, Germany still has a lot to learn from China, but the absurdity of this "democracy and autocracy" discourse is beyond doubt.

In the process of China's rise, there is an unavoidable hurdle, which is Western discourse.The Chinese love peace and never want to cause trouble. They just want to live their lives well and live a prosperous life.It is a pity that "the tree wants to be quiet but the wind does not stop". Due to the influence of the Western media, even if you are an ordinary Chinese student studying in the West, ordinary people there will ask you, why are there so many human rights issues in China?Why doesn't China carry out political reform?When will China become a democratic country?Although China is the most progressive country in the world, the country where people's living standards have improved the fastest, and the country where people are most optimistic about their own future, the media dominated by Western ideology is full of prejudice and negative reports on China. The blind political self-confidence of Westerners is still caused by the shadow of the "end of history". Therefore, we must point out the Western discourse, deconstruct the Western discourse, point out the unwiseness and absurdity of this discourse, and at the same time, we must construct China's own The discourse system, to explain China's affairs clearly, to the people of the country, and to the world.

Today China has become a veritable "world's second child" and may become the world's largest economy in the near future.However, it is not easy to be the "second child in the world".The United States has brought down two "world's second children", first the Soviet Union and then Japan.The former is opposed to the ideology of the United States, and the latter is in line with the ideology of the United States. However, the United States finds it difficult to accept that it has become the "world number two", and it is very afraid of losing its position as the "world number one".Judging from the various strategic deployments of the United States over the years, it has stepped up various "checks and balances" against China.As the hard power gap between China and the United States has narrowed, it has increasingly used soft power to contain and hinder China's rise. In 2011, then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote an article "America's Pacific Century" in "Foreign Policy", expressing the U.S. considerations: "Compared with our military power or economic size, what we as a country need The most powerful assets we have are our values, especially our unwavering support for democracy and human rights."

In terms of "soft power", the United States mainly adopts two methods against China: "internal checks and balances" and "discourse checks and balances".The so-called "internal checks and balances" is to cultivate and support hostile forces within China, including "Tibet independence" and "Xinjiang independence" forces, various dissidents and "opinion leaders", and to cultivate and support pro-Western intellectual elites and media public opinion in China.The so-called "discourse check and balance" is to use Western discourse as a weapon to continuously set up various issues that disintegrate the hearts of the Chinese people and to deceive the Chinese public, in order to finally realize some kind of "color revolution" and plunge China into chaos or even disintegration, so as to end without a fight. A subdued soldier.There is no concept of "being kind to others" in the political culture of the United States. As long as it is beneficial to the interests of the United States, "being evil to others" will be the norm.While the hard power of the United States continues to decline, the United States has stepped up its soft power offensive. We must have a clear estimate and understanding of this, and we must not replace firm and powerful countermeasures with our own wishful thinking.

This method of "internal checks and balances" and "discourse checks and balances" has achieved certain results.Although China has become the world's second largest economy and is on its way to becoming the world's number one, some Chinese people under the influence of the United States and Western forces have never stopped public opinion of bad-mouthing and abusing the Chinese system, which has led to a considerable amount of Chinese knowledge People in the world and the media follow the American model everywhere.This worship of the American model makes them hostile and slander all the achievements China has made.Regarding the problems existing in China, they have to put the outline on the line. Everything is a system problem. It is best to tear down the "Forbidden City" and build the "White House".They obstinately paint a dark picture of a country that has risen the fastest in the world and improved the lives of its people the most. This is unfair and of course unpopular.For a large number of problems in the United States and the West, they help to cover up the mistakes.

Without words, one cannot really rise, because without one’s own words, even if one does something right, it will be regarded as doing wrong, or in a transitional stage, and will eventually switch to the Western model, although the Western model has long been in the midst of crisis.Without the rise of discourse, the great dream of the rise of the Chinese nation may be fooled by Western discourse, and all previous efforts will be wasted.Back then, the German fascists who were armed to the teeth could not destroy the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, but the words of the United States and the West could destroy them. We must remember this lesson.We must not be fooled by such superficial Western discourse and fall short of success.We have solved the problems of "starving" and "being beaten" today, and now it is time to solve the problem of "being scolded".We must make up for this shortcoming as soon as possible. This is a major issue related to China's long-term stability. We should have a sense of urgency and establish China's own discourse system as soon as possible.

If you don’t have words, you will be very passive. Talking about human rights with the West is a bit like reporting work. Tell them that our human rights and democracy construction are making progress. However, because China is at a different stage of development, many aspects are still not up to your level. .Talking about human rights in this way is still talking about human rights in the context of Western discourse, and it will only become more and more passive.We must take the initiative, go beyond the rigid Western discourse system, and respond to the provocations of Western discourse with Chinese people's own cognition and discourse from the perspective of human conscience.If the United States wants to talk to us about human rights issues, we welcome them very much, but we must first tell the United States: We believe that the biggest violation of human rights in the 21st century is the Iraq war launched by the United States. The most conservative estimate is that this war has directly caused at least 100,000 people The deaths of innocent civilians and the displacement of millions of civilians.We should question the United States in this way: "The war in Iraq killed so many civilians, which is a large-scale violation of human rights. You should at least explain this issue to the international community and the Iraqi people. Does China talk about human rights?” I think such words are not just to condemn and ridicule the United States, but also to state the facts. When we talk about human rights in this way, we will not only win the support of the Chinese people, but also the majority of people in the West and the world. Support, because the vast majority of people in the world oppose the Iraq war launched by the United States.

Without your own strong words, you will have no determination and responsibility, and you will not be able to defend China's core interests, and you will even be at a loss on many issues.In the past period of time, many of our government departments could only follow the "public opinion" manipulated by Western forces, such as "Internet" and "Weibo", which is an example.As we all know, various methods of "watering", "watering" and "deleting posts" have caused the Internet and Weibo to lose its fairness long ago.In the past few years, this situation in China even felt strange to many foreigners. In 2011, the American "Foreign Policy" magazine simply published a long article, calling the "People's Republic of China" (the People's Republic of China) the "Rumor People's Republic" ( the People's Republic of Rumours). "A man-made rumor named Qin Huohuo was caught after spreading more than 3,000 rumors. This is unthinkable in any other country. He and the dark forces he represents want to "overturn" China. In Western countries, you create three times If you spread a rumor, you will definitely be arrested. Over the years, things like Qin Huohuo have happened too many times, and it was not until after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that they began to be reversed.

I remember that a massacre of children occurred in Fujian in 2011, which alarmed the people of the country. The whole country arranged police forces to protect the school. I was still in Europe at the time. My intuitive reaction was that Chinese campuses suddenly fell to the level of frequent tragedies in American campuses. This is not true. too likely.I have always believed that Chinese campuses are among the safest in the world, and this has so far been a simple fact.However, the domestic public opinion at that time, including the mainstream media, more or less blamed these tragedies on the current social injustice in China, which is really puzzling.If this kind of discourse can be established, then does the numerous school shootings in the United States, which are much more tragic than those in China, mean that American society should have collapsed long ago.If this explanation can be established, then the “9.11” terrorist attacks in the United States and the Moscow subway bombing in Russia in 2010 were caused by deeper social injustices, but the mainstream discourses in the United States and Russia consistently attribute such acts to terrorism.

There are frustrated people in any society due to various reasons, and a very small number of them may turn into extremists.Regardless of whether the society cares for him or not, he always hates the society and even takes revenge on the society in extreme forms.There have been such people in the past, there are now, and there will be in the future; China has them, Switzerland has them, and the United States also has them, even more than China.Any civilized society should give unanimous condemnation to the actions of such perverts, because their actions have exceeded the bottom line of human civilization.However, due to the lack of words, many of our media and public opinion are completely influenced by populism. Not only do they not condemn this kind of behavior, but they use it to exaggerate social antagonism and confrontation.

China is in a period of rapid rise, and Chinese society is also undergoing unprecedented changes.Various interest adjustments naturally brought about some moral anomie, psychological imbalance and other problems.The Chinese media should assume social responsibility, treat these issues with a fair, objective, and calm attitude, and guide the society to take the path of benign adjustment, instead of resorting to irrational populism.Populism is an extremely popular "popular carnival". It doesn't care about the right and wrong of the matter itself, it doesn't care about rational thinking, it doesn't care about the long-term and overall interests of a nation, but only cares about emotional catharsis. Chinese society is essentially a peaceful and kind society.While the West Orleans tsunami in the United States and the Haiti and Chile earthquakes immediately followed massive looting and other criminal activities, China's Wenchuan earthquake, which was ten times the size of them, did not.No matter how many problems China has, it is still in the best period of its own development. It is entirely possible for us to analyze various social problems realistically and find solutions on the basis of the Chinese culture of peace and kindness. .We must not repeat the mistakes of populist discourse, and must not take the path of social confrontation advocated by some Western forces. We must not turn a highly cohesive China into a society full of class struggles. The Chinese people's century-old dream of becoming rich and powerful finally fell short.China is undergoing unprecedented social changes. As long as we uphold the spirit of rationality, we will be able to successfully pass through the relatively difficult period of social transformation and usher in the comprehensive rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. China has become the world's second largest economy.If we continue on the path of success we have found, we will soon be the largest economy in the world.At such a stage of development, more than ever before, we need to use our own words to clearly explain to the people of our country and the world where we come from, where we are going, and where we are going, and confidently respond to China's achievements, problems and concerns at home and abroad. All doubts about the future.We can no longer avoid any outside doubts.We must strengthen the construction of Chinese discourse, we must build a comprehensive, thorough, and strong discourse system.The so-called "comprehensive" means that our words must be able to comprehensively explain China's achievements, problems and future; The so-called "strong" is to respond strongly to the challenge of Western discourse. The West accuses China of being a strong discourse, and domestic pro-Western forces abuse their own country and system. It is necessary for us to strike back forcefully. Our ruling party has formed many discourses of its own, from the important thought of "Three Represents" to the scientific outlook on development, etc., which are all important components of the Chinese discourse system. These discourse systems play a vital role in building the consensus of the whole party. , which is of great significance to China's establishment of road confidence, theoretical self-confidence and institutional self-confidence.But these discourses alone are not enough. We also need to innovate in the content and form of discourse, build a large discourse system including folk discourse, academic discourse and international discourse, and build a down-to-earth, academic content, and international discourse. The larger discourse system through which society communicates and dialogues. Chinese scholars need to be completely liberated from the rigid Western discourse. The great practice of China’s rise has already surpassed the interpretation ability of Western discourse. This practice calls for the construction of China’s own discourse.We should learn from all the beneficial knowledge of the West, but we must not lose ourselves. It is useless to be the "megaphone" and "wage earner" of Western discourse. The characteristic of the West is to recognize power, including hard power and soft power. When hard power is strong, he will really respect you, and when soft power is strong, he will also respect you. I personally think that political discourse is the core of soft power.One is to deconstruct Western discourse, and the other is to construct Chinese discourse.In this process, there will be necessary confrontation, which cannot be overcome. Only through confrontation can we communicate better in the end.In the West, if someone asks you a sharp question and you avoid answering it, then you lose, and the country you represent loses.Therefore, I advocate confidently responding to the provocations of Western discourse, and gradually establish my own discourse system in the process. If you explain things in China clearly, you can also explain things in the world clearly.Our soft power audiences, especially many overseas audiences, are generally more confident, some out of religious beliefs, some out of ideological beliefs, and some are brainwashed by Western media, so many people are blindly confident, inexplicably confident , I like to teach China a lesson, but I can't stand a confrontation. In a real confrontation, it will be broken at one point. On the eve of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, I was attending an academic conference in London. A BBC host asked me if I could participate in a debate on "people's power". I said no problem, I would definitely attend.In the discourse of the Western media today, the so-called "people's power" refers to the "color revolution". They also invited an American scholar who studied the Polish Solidarity trade union and a Turkish scholar who studied the "Egyptian Spring".The host is very senior and a bit arrogant.Before the debate officially started, she asked me a question: Professor Zhang, do you think there will be another 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China?I said, I wonder if you have ever wondered why the West's political predictions about China are always wrong?I can't recall a single time it was right.I said, I have subscribed to your country's "The Economist" magazine for 15 years. If I were asked to rate it, it can only get a C-- for the prediction of Chinese politics. It's not as good as I can predict it by myself.After the debate started, she asked me, how do you define "people power"?I said that this concept has almost become synonymous with "color revolution" in the Western media, that is, the people rise up, and often with the support of Western forces, to overthrow a government, but China has a very good idiom called " Water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it.” "People's power" is like water, it can carry a boat or capsize it.In the "color revolution", the people rebelled and overthrew the regime. This is "capsizing the boat", but the people can also "carry the boat". China's rapid rise in the past 30 years is a classic case of "water can carry a boat". The 1.3 billion Chinese people have mobilized and invested in an industrial and social revolution that will change their own destiny.In just over 30 years, the living standards of most Chinese people have improved rapidly, and the face of China has undergone earth-shaking changes. The Chinese people and an outstanding and capable ruling team have achieved a highly benign interaction, creating a great miracle of China's rise. And this miracle will continue, China will surpass the United States to become the largest economy within 10 years. The American scholar present probably had never seen such a confident Chinese, and said in surprise: "The Chinese scholars around me told me that China faces too many challenges, and the one-party system is no longer able to deal with these challenges. Exclude China from collapsing." I said, "You are probably surrounded by a group of dissidents who are always looking forward to China's collapse, but this kind of prediction about China's collapse has been said too much, how many people in the world still believe it? "I suggested that she spend time studying Chinese history. I said: "China has a history of four thousand dynasties, and a good 'dynasty' has a lifespan of at least 250 years, which is longer than the history of the United States. Today is the best history in China. Therefore, China’s rise today is still in the initial stage of its rise, and more exciting stories are yet to come.”

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