Chapter 30 7. Compared with the world, how does China score?

As I said earlier, China's development path has also brought about many problems.If these problems are not actively addressed, China may beat itself up.But again, if we mess up our own position and think that these problems mean that the sky will fall and the country will lose the country, this will also defeat ourselves.Although there are many problems in China, China is still in the best time since 1949, the best time in the past 300 years.If we can place China in an international context and make some horizontal comparisons, it may help us to better affirm our own achievements, understand our own problems, and thus reach a higher level.

There are various approaches to international comparisons.Most scholars like various polls and authoritative data, but the more places they go, the more they feel that many judgments based on common sense can also explain the problem clearly, or even more clearly.This reminds me of the "Big Mac Price Index" published by the British "Economist" magazine since 1986.Per capita GDP (gross domestic product) is still widely used around the world to compare the level of economic development of various countries, but "The Economist" said that the comparison is possible, but the method used for this comparison is questionable because it uses official It is difficult to reflect the true value of a country's currency by calculating the currency value converted from the exchange rate.So "The Economist" suggested: Instead of using the official exchange rate to compare, you might as well use the "Big Mac" price of McDonald's in each country to verify the actual purchasing power of each country's currency, and then make a comparison.For example, in the "Big Mac Price Index" published by the magazine in the first half of 2007, the price of a "Big Mac" in the United States was 3.22 US dollars, while in China it was 1.41 US dollars (converted according to the official exchange rate). Equivalent to China's US$1.41 value, so China's yuan is fully undervalued by 56%.

On the surface, this evaluation method seems to be a joke, but when you think about it carefully, the price of the "Big Mac" is indeed a comprehensive reflection of a series of different price coefficients (beef, flour, cooking oil, cheese, clerk wages, Store lease and other price factors must be converted into), McDonald's stores are located in more than 100 countries, so this "Big Mac price index" is often quoted. Inspired by this, I visited various countries and observed some phenomena, compared them with the situation in China, and then scored my own impressions.I also use the exaggerated word "index" to summarize my overall impression for horizontal comparison.Of course, this kind of scoring is purely my personal subjective impression and one-sided opinion, and it is only for the reference of interested readers, and it is absolutely not intended to be imposed on others.It's like meeting a stranger, and after some conversation and contact with him, you can always get some impressions of yourself.Personally, after traveling to so many countries, I believe in judgments based on my own experience and accumulated knowledge.Here I selected 7 projects from 15 countries to score my subjective impression.The highest is 5 points and the lowest is 1 point.The seven items are: (1) idlers (2) slums (3) bookstores (4) soldiers (5) taxis (6) law and order (7) queuing.

Here are my preliminary conclusions: "Idlers" refer to young people with nothing to do on the street. This "index" can roughly reflect the employment and unemployment status of a country, and even the development potential of a nation.The pace of life in China's big cities is fast, and there are few "idle people", as if everyone is busy with something.Unemployment is low in Switzerland, giving the impression that everyone has something to do.The pace of life in big cities in the United States is fast, and social competition is fierce, but the black districts are obviously loose and there are many idlers.There are surprisingly many "idle people" in India, which shows that the country's population policy is weak and the unemployment rate is high.There are a lot of unemployed people in France and Greece, and there are also a lot of people who have nothing to do, especially the North African immigrant areas outside Paris.Here are my comparison results:

5 points: China, Switzerland 4 points: US, UK 3 points: France, Israel, Brazil, Argentina, Vietnam, Russia, Turkey, Greece 2 points: Egypt, India 1 point: Kenya Most developing countries have slums, which do not refer to ordinary shabby houses, but to the kind of shabby shacks that can't even be seen at a glance, basically without sanitation, water and electricity facilities.In developing countries, a large number of rural people have flooded into cities. Because they cannot afford the expensive housing prices, they set up sheds on roadsides, riversides, and hillsides, forming slums over time.The living conditions in these slums are unimaginably harsh: the shacks are generally made of scrap iron sheets and asphalt felt, there is garbage and dust everywhere, and the open stinky gutters are full of all kinds of filth.India's slums are the largest in the world, and more than half of the residents in its big cities live in slums.The slums in Africa are the scariest in the world. If you enter without the police "escort", you will be ransacked and cannot get out.In developed countries, slums have basically disappeared.Through more than 30 years of reform and opening up in China, slums and shanty towns have been greatly reduced. This is a remarkable achievement of China's reform and opening up.Slums can also reflect the number of people living in absolute poverty in a country.My impression of the ghetto is as follows:

5 points: Switzerland, UK, US, France, Greece 4 points: China, Russia, Argentina 3 points: Turkey, Israel 2 points: Vietnam, Brazil, Egypt 1 point: India, Kenya Wherever I go, I like to visit bookstores. Bookstores can reflect the cultural literacy of a nation.I pay more attention to the number of bookstores, the types of bookstores, the taste of bookstores, and the number of customers in bookstores.Developed countries generally do better in this regard.Especially in London, Paris and Manhattan of New York, in addition to many large bookstores with comfortable environment and comprehensive services, there are also a large number of personalized bookstores, second-hand bookstores, professional bookstores, specialty bookstores, etc.The bookstores in African countries are the most pitiful. There are few bookstores, small stores, and few customers. Generally, there are only some textbooks for primary and secondary schools, and they also sell stationery. The locals can't afford it.How to improve the educational and cultural standards of the people is a daunting challenge facing Africa's development.Without such progress, Africa's renaissance may be difficult to achieve.China's bookstores are making rapid progress, especially in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, where there are many large bookstores and specialty bookstores, which can be scored as 4 points, but in general, we still have not enough bookstores focusing on humanities, literature, and art. Personalized bookstores and special services have yet to be developed.The common feature of bookstores in emerging economies is that they are mainly practical books, and most of the bookstores in China are the same. Books on college entrance examination questions, computer technology, and stock trading account for half of the country.This probably also reflects the characteristics of emerging economies. Most people are busy learning skills and "recharging" in order to change their status quo.However, with the development of the economy and the improvement of living standards, people's cultural and spiritual pursuits will become more and more abundant, and there will be more and more requirements for different books and bookstores.The popularity of our bookstore is the most prosperous in the world, which shows that our country is going upwards, and there is always hope for a nation that loves books.I rate the bookstore "index" as follows:

5 points: UK, US, France 4 points: Switzerland, Greece, Argentina, Israel 3 points: China, Russia, Turkey, Brazil 2 points: Vietnam, Egypt, India 1 point: Kenya I like to observe soldiers, whether it is watching a country's three-service honor guard performance, or watching the military demeanor of soldiers on the street.I always feel that every move of a soldier can reflect certain characteristics of a nation, even a kind of national spirit.The army with strict military appearance and discipline gives people the feeling of combat effectiveness.Loose and loose soldiers are always reminiscent of a defeated army that is vulnerable to a single blow.For example, every move of the Turkish soldiers gives people a sense of style.The behavior of Greek soldiers seems to be loose, and I have seen them smoking with their sleeves rolled up.If these two historical enemies fight, I guess the Greek army will be defeated. In the summer of 2007, Greece encountered a rare forest fire in decades, but the army was delayed, which probably confirmed my impression.Israeli soldiers look more casual than Turkish soldiers, and there are many female soldiers, which has become a unique landscape of the Israeli army.The personal quality of the Israeli army is very good. I once talked with some young officers of the Israeli army. They can speak some English and know professional skills.I have also seen many Egyptian soldiers standing guard in front of the embassy, ​​asking people for cigarettes and drinks.If there is a war between Egypt and Israel, it may not be easy for Egypt to win.

I once visited the US Pacific Headquarters in Hawaii with a Chinese delegation, and I also visited the US Army Corps of Engineers, and I saw many very skilled US soldiers.I have also seen the changing of the guard of Russian soldiers in Red Square in Moscow. They are very professional and handsome, but I have also seen slightly drunk Russian officers on the bus. I feel that the military discipline of the Russian army is a bit lax.Chinese soldiers can always leave a deep impression on people.Among the foreigners I know, the one who praised the Chinese army the most is the late well-known American writer Harrison Salisbury. He walked along the Red Army’s Long March in 1984 and wrote the book "The Long March: Unprecedented Wen's Story" became a bestseller in China that year.Later he visited China, and I stayed with him for more than a month. He told me many times: The quality of the Chinese army is one of the best in the world.Our soldiers are strictly disciplined and well-trained.Every time I see the People's Liberation Army dispatching disaster relief on TV, I am always very moved.In Geneva, I often hear non-governmental organizations criticize the UN peacekeeping force, because the peacekeeping force comes from all over the world, and the quality varies, but for the Chinese peacekeeping force, all I hear is praise.In the past, I didn't fully understand the exact meaning of the "people's army". Later, after traveling a lot in third world countries, I realized that many poor countries have empty treasuries, little military pay, and no political education. Sound boiling.The following is my impression of soldiers from 15 countries:

5 points: China, UK, US, Turkey 4 points: Russia, France, Israel, Switzerland, Vietnam 3 points: Greece, India, Brazil, Argentina 2 points: Egypt 1 point: Kenya Wherever I visit, I always take a taxi, so observing the service and management level of taxis has become a hobby of mine.I even think that the service and management of taxis can reflect the governance level of a place to some extent, including the governance ability of the government, the management ability of the company, the degree of corruption, etc., and can also experience the folk customs of a place.When taking a taxi, there are many things to observe: the condition of the taxi, the quality of the driver, whether the service is standardized, whether there is a meter, whether the meter is used, whether the driver is killing people, how to kill people, and so on.In short, a lot of tricks can be realized by careful observation.One of the characteristics of taxis in developing countries is that there are many "illegal cars". As soon as you leave the airport, many people will pull you into his taxi, which shows that the culture of disorder still prevails in these places.The "Charter of Passenger's Rights" is posted on the back of the driver's seat in the United States. You can tell that this is a country ruled by law with too many lawsuits and too many lawyers.If you forget to tip an American driver, the driver will slam the door of the car as a protest. At that moment, you realize that this is the base of capitalism after all, and tipping is too important to the driver's income.In countries like India, there are meters on taxis, but they are rarely used. The driver opens his mouth to give you a price. If you say you want to use the meter, he will ask you for air-conditioning fees, luggage fees, etc. anyway. You pay.This is very similar to the political reality in India. There is a complete legal system in name, but everyone can always find 10,000 reasons not to abide by it.In some countries in Africa, taxis are a little too scary to take. In addition to the horrible condition of the taxis, there have also been many robberies by "black cars".

Where you can hail a taxi on the street, it must be a country full of competition and vitality, such as China and Vietnam.Where taxis need to be booked by phone, it must be a country with limited competition and a lot of social benefits, such as many European countries.The former type of countries focus on the convenience and rights of consumers, while the latter type of countries focus on protecting the rights and interests of drivers. Which one is better depends on your perspective.In a country like Kazakhstan, any car on the road can be used as a taxi. As long as you wave your hand, the car will stop, and then the two parties will negotiate a price and go on the road.This shows that the market economy in these places is not yet developed, but it also shows that the people's sentiments are relatively simple, and the trust between people is quite high.Among the big cities in China, I feel that the taxi service and management in Shanghai is probably the most standardized in China so far.If Shanghai is listed separately, it can be rated as 4 points. The overall level of taxis in China is probably at the middle level in the world: it is obviously better than the general developing countries, but still not as good as developed countries.Here are my taxi impressions:

5 points: Switzerland, UK 4 points: United States, France, Greece 3 points: China, Turkey, Israel, Brazil, Argentina 2 points: Vietnam, Egypt, India, Russia 1 point: Kenya To see whether a place is safe or not, I use the simplest method, which is to see whether you can walk safely on the street at night.There is a sense of security in most places in China, and it is basically not a problem for girls to walk alone at night in big cities.Frankly speaking, in most countries in the world, this is a luxury, and I hope the people of the country will cherish it.The United States has boasted about its own system, but the social security in the United States is the worst among developed countries. I really don’t know which big city in the United States can freely walk on the street at night (except for some areas that the police focus on guarding) outside). In 2010, the US Cable News Network (CNN) listed the ten cities with the worst law and order in the world, and the United States accounted for two.The ten cities are Baghdad in Iraq, Caracas in Venezuela, Karachi in Pakistan, Detroit in the United States, New Orleans in the United States, Juarez in Mexico, Cape Town in South Africa, and Moscow in Russia.The social security in big cities in France and other Western countries has obviously declined, but the security situation in the whole country is generally not bad.After the recent so-called "Arab Spring" in Egypt, the social security situation has deteriorated sharply.The gap between rich and poor in Brazilian society is too large, and most of the population is concentrated in cities, so social security has always been one of the biggest social problems in Brazil.The crime rate in African countries is extremely high. A friend from South Africa told me that what impressed him the most during his visit to Shanghai was that after a dinner party, girls could wave at will and hail a taxi to go home. ", "Don't talk about girls, men don't dare."The following are the public security impressions of the countries I visited: 5 points: China, Switzerland, Turkey 4 points: Israel, Vietnam, UK, France 3 points: United States, Russia, India, Greece, Argentina 2 points: Brazil, Egypt 1 point: Kenya Queuing is a kind of basic civilization, which embodies the cultivation of a nation and a culture of doing things well.It should be said that in most countries, queuing has become an internalized common custom.Among Western countries, the Germans and the British are the most serious about queuing, first come, first served, clearly, even if there are only two people in line.The French are not bad at queuing, they just look a little more casual, but even if everyone seems to be standing or sitting casually, everyone knows who is ahead of them and will never do things in front of others.My impression is that the Indians and us Chinese who have the worst queues, even if there are only three or five people, are often scrambling to be the first.Even if you line up, people are often close to each other, for fear that others will intervene, and it is not easy to be graceful.What is causing this problem?Probably due to historical population pressure and long-term relative shortage of resources, the mentality of scrambling for the first place has gradually been internalized. Coupled with the lack of cultural education of citizens, the problem has become more serious.In recent years, the queuing situation in big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai has improved significantly, but we still need to make further efforts.Here is my queuing index: 5 points: UK, Switzerland, US, France, Greece 4 points: Russia, Argentina, Israel 3 points: Turkey, Brazil 2 points: China, Vietnam, Egypt, Kenya 1 point: India To sum up, in my 7 horizontal comparison items, China scored as follows: Military: 5 points Law and order: 5 points Idlers: 5 points Slums: 4 points Taxi: 3 points Bookstore: 3 points Queuing: 2 points From this I have a few thoughts: First, in today's world, without a strong national defense, it means that a nation does not have its own backbone.Without a strong national defense, Hong Kong cannot be taken back, Tibet will split, and Taiwan will become independent. The superpowers can use any excuse to make things difficult and blackmail you. Just like the invasion of Iraq, the army marched in, as if entering no man's land. There is a shadow of power behind the slogans of "human rights" and "democracy". In the century after the Opium War in 1840, thousands of unequal treaties in the West overwhelmed the Chinese.At that time, in countries like Britain and France, Japan could set up embassies, but China could only set up legations.Even in 1945, tens of millions of lives were exchanged for China's victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan. When British Prime Minister Winston Churchill talked with other Western leaders, he still used that dismissive racist language when referring to China.But when the Chinese People's Liberation Army fired violently at the British frigate "Ziying" that invaded the inland waters of China on April 20, 1949, the history of China was rewritten, and the subsequent Korean War established China's status as a world political power .The Chinese army has fought against the armies of major countries in the world and has created brilliant records.Such an outstanding army in a developing country is extremely rare in the world. In 2008, the performance of the Chinese army in the earthquake relief work once again won the respect of the world. Second, Deng Xiaoping has said many times that if he has any major, it is military.As a leader who has commanded thousands of troops, he understands why our army can fight. He has seen from the rise of the Chinese army that our nation has the ability to stand on its own among the nations of the world.This ability has given him, and our people, more confidence in the rise of our nation.In today's world, what many third world countries lack is this kind of self-confidence.Without self-confidence, there is no ability to think and act independently. The result is often only to accept other people's words, listen to other people's instructions, copy other people's models, and end up miserable.There are also some countries that simply pin all their hopes on the charity of others, and in the end they become helpless idiots.For an economically backward country, without national self-confidence, it cannot develop. Third, our social security situation is generally relatively good, which reflects the great achievements of national governance, especially for a country like China that is undergoing a period of great social transformation.Better social security also has a certain relationship with our cultural heritage.I always talk about this example: 20 million people were affected by the Wenchuan Earthquake, but no major vicious crimes occurred. However, in the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans in the United States, there were hundreds of vicious crimes.Although there are various problems in our society, on the whole the people are honest and peaceful, which is the fundamental of our civilization and the most precious resource for our cultural and moral construction. Fourth, we are a country with a large population, but relatively few people have nothing to do. This shows that our economic development has driven employment, and that our people have a tradition of striving for self-improvement. This is the hope of our nation.The substantial reduction in our shantytowns shows our achievements in eradicating poverty and the great improvement in people's living conditions.Of course, we still have many problems in this regard, which need to be seriously resolved.The level of our taxi management and service is generally higher than that of other developing countries, and also higher than that of countries with transitional economies such as Russia and Ukraine, but still lower than that of developed countries, which shows that there is still huge room for improvement in our work. Fifth, our bookstore is at the middle level of the world, which is not in line with China's status as a cultural power with a long history.With the development of the economy and the improvement of people's living standards, people's requirements for cultural life have been rising.We must intensify our efforts in cultural construction, and may consider putting forward the concept of "building a country with culture" at an appropriate time to guide our cultural construction and soft power development.Not long ago, the Chinese government clearly stated the grand goal of vigorously promoting the development of the cultural industry and building a culturally powerful country, which is very encouraging. Sixth, the difference in our queuing is embarrassing.The Chinese nation has many advantages, such as hard work, thrift, self-improvement, etc., but like all nations, we also have our own shortcomings.For example, our civic culture foundation is very weak.Civic culture means that everyone is polite, demeanor, the way of a gentleman, gentle, courteous and frugal.Civic culture and civic culture are interlinked. In political life, civic culture is manifested as civic culture, which emphasizes rationality, tolerance, the rule of law, and respect for different opinions.Not queuing is not just a bad habit, it also reflects a certain disorder in our culture: the noise and quarrels in the public, the personality insults and language violence on the Internet, and the articles of many scholars are seriously irrational .India has poor queues, so the quality of democracy in India is also low. The government is procrastinated and inefficient at all, and its development lags far behind China.From this, I thought of China's democratic construction.Our democratic construction must be designed and promoted based on the fact that the disordered culture in Chinese society is still relatively serious. Of course, China will catch up in this regard.I remember someone commenting on China's achievements and problems like this: In terms of hardware, you can compress the achievements of the West for two or three hundred years into 50 years, but in terms of software, it is impossible to do so quickly.That's a fair word, but let's hurry up.When the civic culture is improved, people are more likely to feel comfortable, and the society is more likely to be warm and harmonious.We still have the profound heritage of Chinese culture, once activated, it will become a huge driving force for people to be kind. This was fully reflected in the 2008 earthquake relief: our people showed so many public morality and benevolent deeds that moved the world .In order to welcome the Olympic Games, Beijing has launched a series of solid corrective actions against the bad habits of Chinese people such as not queuing, and has continued to this day. This is commendable and realistic.I hope that our whole society can take action to activate our nation's tradition of gentleness, courtesy and thrift, and correct our own bad habits; as long as we persevere, there will be results, and eventually our country will be able to stand in a civilized, harmonious, rational and democratic image In the forest of nations in the world. I also hope that in the process of promoting civic culture and the construction of a harmonious society, we might as well use the scoring method to make some horizontal comparisons.We can consider establishing a group of more credible polling agencies, let the public rate the performance of our various places and departments, and then make horizontal comparisons. This is also a kind of citizen supervision and democratic construction.For example, which city has the best queues?Which city has the friendliest citizens?Where are the people most educated?Where is the most respectful place for people with disabilities?Which place has the best public facilities?Which local government is the most efficient?Where is the worst corruption?Some impression rankings are published every year.This can motivate cadres and citizens in various places to pay more attention to the collective image of the region and department, learn from others' strengths and make up for their own weaknesses. If we persevere in doing so, our society will definitely become more warm, harmonious and civilized .