Some reflections

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October 30, 2007

A common first impression about China focuses on the rapid change. In fact, this might qualify as a pre-impression because foreigners come here primed, by Western media reports, to see a society undergoing dramatic transformation. Evidence is all around; that nearby city block, that last year housed restaurants, small retail stores, a traditional pharmacy and a middle -aged man squatting on his haunches and hand sewing shoes in need of repair? Gone. The area is now surrounded by a 6’ high concrete block wall and preparations are underway for yet another luxury housing complex to be erected, more fuel for the hyperactive real estate market. Why even our department chair has advised us to invest in Guangzhou real estate, you can’t lose (I was always taught by my father that when someone tells you you cannot lose, it is time to hold on to your wallet).

Other signs include the growth of fast-food outlets (McD and KFC are ubiquitous) and the growth of the average Chinese waistline. Obesity is becoming a significant public health problem at the same time that the final decimation of the old State-provided health care system is making access to needed care more difficult. Fashion has changed tremendously from the days of Maoist drabness and young women manage to maneuver themselves down the street in stiletto heels and postage stamp sized miniskirts without tripping or exposing themselves.

Among our students there is a frantic worry about the future, concern about being able to get a good job so as to justify the huge expense that their families’ undertook to provide their education. They are reminded each day that the old certainties of Maoist China are gone forever and they are skeptical about the national leadership and their promise to build a “harmonious society”. Rather, they are constantly reminded of the continuing focus on economic growth and the severe environmental, social, and psychological toll this focus is extracting. Social problems increase and grassroots efforts at addressing them are squelched, even small steps that seem to pose no threat to the hegemony of the Party. The recent every five year meeting of the Communist Party drew yawns from those we are in contact with, a mixture of cynicism and acceptance that would be familiar to any observer of the American scene. The chance of Hillary Clinton enacting comprehensive health care reform is about equal to Hu Jintao’s offering concrete steps to clean up the environment; so ordinary citizens in both countries walk away from political involvement and try to figure out a way to bring some sanity and comfort into their lives. For a small number of students, there is an embrace of what I would call philosophical Christianity, the notion the Jesus was anti-capitalist, that the values of Christianity provide some bulwark against the rampant focus on material goods. With the embrace of market capitalism (“To be rich is glorious”, Deng Xiao Ping) an ideological vacuum has been created and the limitations on political dissent has led to this acceptance of Christian values, while remaining atheistic at its core.

This week, as part of a 3-week focus on problems for women (that is to say those problems that affect women disproportionately) my class is focusing on domestic violence. China has wonderful laws against “intimate partner abuse” and since 1949 has made significant strives in improving the situation for Chinese women and their role in “hold(ing) up half the sky”. But partner abuse goes on, there are great cultural and social impediments to properly addressing the issue and sometimes even discussing the reality is met with opprobrium and worse from governmental leadership. Some recent local efforts to set up safe houses for victims of abuse were short-lived and the All China Women’s Federation (the “mass organization’ for women) acts more to squelch reform than to facilitate it. A group of Canadian researchers, seeking to look into domestic violence here in Guangzhou, have been unable to identify any victims, although this type of violence is a regular and ongoing experience for females of all ages. A Chinese activist reports going out to the countryside and asking male farmers if there was any domestic violence and they quickly answered that it did not exist. She then asked if they ever beat their wives and they laughed and said “of course, everyone beats their wife”.

In this area and in many others defying reform, China remains wedded to ideas of the past, the “Four Olds” (customs, ideas, practices, and culture) that the Cultural Revolution sought to eradicate. Confucius and his patriarchal ordering of the world has had an official rehabilitation and in fact the harmonious society theme of the past 5 years is taken from his writing. The cultural preference for male children results in sex-selection abortions and 119 males born for every 100 females. In rural areas, if your first child is a girl you are allowed another chance for a male child. Abortions based on the gender of the fetus are reported to be widespread, if illegal. One of my female students told me that her father would “lose face” if he had to live without a male child, that it would be a reflection on his virility. She told me all this smiling and laughing, and it appeared to be the mirth of someone embarrassed by the old ways of the older generation, but not embittered.

Along with the demographic imbalance of males and females there is a resurgence in “concubinage”, rich men keeping women in different cities or areas of China exploiting the economic insecurity women experience in the New China. Many women are forced to take jobs in the factories that produce many of the products exported to the West, working in prison camp like conditions with lengthy hours, missed paychecks and ruthless treatment from the owners. Efforts to provide them with some legal protection, things that are guaranteed by the law, are stifled, and they endure hardships unimaginable to consumers buying their products. Some resort to prostitution and the daily indignities, incidents of exploitation, and danger to their self that such activities present.

Incidentally, we have seen first hand the complete bankruptcy of so called “Corporate Social Responsibility” efforts. The self-imposed standards are unenforceable, they are gamed by all parties in the process, and they take away from government the responsibility to assure safe working conditions for workers. It is our strong conviction that only worker-led demands on governments, whether in China, the US, or Sweden can assure their health and safety.

These assaults on the dignity and well-being of women are more generally seen throughout the population as the forces of unrestrained economic growth trammel on the protections afforded by the Communist Party in the past and utilize the most reactionary aspects of Chinese communist and traditional cultural tropes to justify their actions. Just as in the West, change that is going to receive the approval of the ruling elites will be change that furthers the unrestrained growth of capital, while demolishing social protections that might provide a small amount of grace and certainty to the bulk of the population.

Having said all that, it needs to be remembered that real progress has been made. The China of 2007 is a much improved place for women (and men) that the China of 1907 (and 1947, 1957, and 1967). China has made many mistakes along the way, but who hasn’t? Daily we are reminded in contacts with our students and others on campus that a new generation is emerging and they are eager to learn about the world, learn how to make their country a better place for themselves and their compatriots, and are confounded by the drive towards economic growth at all costs. Ellen and I believe that our presence here is a small help in this process and we have recently expanded or activities. As I write this, I have just received a report from Ellen, who is on an out of town visit to another school of social work, that she has been warmly received by the local representatives of the All China Women’s Federation and there appear to be some openings. Who knows when and where one of these seeds we are planting will sprout?

Last week we met with 30 students who were interested in having a discussion group; when we entered the room we weren’t sure what was expected of us, sometimes they just want to listen to the foreigner talk, but no, these students were more demanding and are eager to learn how to end some of the abuses they see before them while maintaining their culture and values. At the same time, we were told by several in attendance that they saw Mc Donald’s as a positive force in Chinese society, the bathrooms were clean, the lines were orderly, and that it was going to force local restaurants to improve their standards. As always, paying attention and not reacting serves us well. With Eli’s help I have done a bit of research on the matter and will walk into tonight’s group eager for the exchange of ideas.

I am beginning to ramble, so I am going to end this. Comments, as always, are strongly solicited. I don’t think I will fully understand what is going on until I get some distance.

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Photos

Dancing with the Revolutionary songsters
Ellen, Becky, Jane and I took a day in the large park. We heard the amplified sounds of Revolutionary songs and found this group. They beckoned me to join them and I did a small piece for international solidarity!

Well, they would have been buddies, right?
This scene confronted us on a street, the other gentleman is, I believe, Sun Yat-sen, a local guy who made good.

Off we go to a reception at the US Consulate General
It is a complicated story, but the food was excellent (where does he get that imported Parmesan) and there were some opportunities to have some good discussions with members of the board and staff of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Much more complicated was the shopping for clothes, Ellen a dress, me a jacket and tie!!

The air has been a bit filthy
After a two week period of blue skies and clear horizons (the monsoons drove the filth away), the usual noxious soup of Guangzhou has returned. There are two nearby bridges across the river, separated by about 1.5-2 miles. On this day, you could not see one from the other, quite foul and unappealing. And they call Guangzhou the "City of Flowers".

This is a utiity shed in the park
Just about the perfect setting for a small home for those downsizing, sweet little pond, plantings and care taking built in, who could ask for more.

Street sweeper
There are many people sweeping the streets which, for the most part, are kept quite clean. Face masks are not as frequently seen as in Japan but they do appear.

Cake decorator
Very elaborate cakes are available, they look very correct, the taste is something else. There is a growing problem with diabetes here and these highly refined foods are part of the problem, the "starvation gene" that has served the Chinese so well during the times of scarcity, are not reacting well to the new found wealth.

Trying to make a living
For every new multi-millionaire that the economy is producing here,, there are millions of people left behind, left without health care, pensions or decent places to live. No one is starving and homelessness is not apparent (lots of doubling and tripling up).

Comments

[Marrisa]

moving words
Stuart-- Your updates are so moving to me. You give the personal side to what we hear on the news, totally depersonalized. The pictures make the world of China real to me, here in Vermont. On another note, I heard a guy, didn't get his name, who was in your neck of the Chinese woods, who wrote an article about industrialization for The Atlantic this month. Sounded similar to all that you are saying. Take care, and thank you for the updates. Marrisa