China Is a Global Power!

2011-02-08

Bartłomiej Magierowski

For around ten years now, we have become accustomed to the statement that China is a superpower, that China is an economic powerhouse. But has anyone really stopped to think why we came to this conclusion? Is it because of China's size, the territory of the Middle Kingdom, or perhaps its population? No, what we always mean is economic and military power.

Do we have any reliable, accurate and truthful data that allows us to state that this largest country in Asia is truly so powerful? In reality, we do not have such data, because most information, statistics, calculations, reports and official statements are classified or censored. The Chinese authorities can easily manipulate figures and use propaganda. We (foreigners) often think that the communist government deceives only ordinary Chinese people, without even realizing that China deceives the entire world!

Millions of businessmen have fallen for simple marketing tricks, or rather propaganda, promoted by the Chinese authorities. Visiting places such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, or even smaller cities like Ningbo and Xiamen, they believed in the Chinese economic miracle. They admire modern office buildings, renovated factories and beautiful shopping centres. Journalists, reporters and bloggers travel in a similar way. Even when they visit smaller towns or poor villages, they treat everything as folklore and an interesting curiosity. Few writers or commentators try to understand the problems of rural China; they are unable to listen to ordinary people and see the ordinary, difficult and grey everyday life of Chinese citizens. Instead, almost every foreigner visiting China remembers the Oriental Pearl Tower, beautiful five-star hotels, delicious Chinese food, passionate nights spent with an Asian beauty... We seem to have forgotten only one thing: all these "delights" were served to them on a silver platter by the Communist Party of China. What truly fascinated us was Chinese power, not a young Chinese woman with charming eyes!

In China, nothing happens by accident. Every aspect of an ordinary Chinese person's life is strictly controlled by the Party. This is why the Party has practically created an army of young women, many of whom have little or no education. A huge number of them, after some basic training, can work in factories. Another group consists of attractive and well-built young women who, for reasons that are difficult to understand, are encouraged to move to cities and search for "happiness" there. You do not need to be a sociologist to guess what happens to many of these women. Many become prostitutes, and as we know, their services are often used by foreign businessmen, diplomats and investors. It is a simple way of attracting foreign capital. Would an average German or Canadian travel halfway around the world just to see a few factories? Often it is a necessity, but if a businessman can spend his free time with a charming Chinese woman from a poor village in Hunan or Sichuan province, he may have an additional reason to visit China more frequently. The Japanese used a similar strategy in the past; in fact, this seems to be a feature shared by some Asian countries — just look at Thailand, where sex has almost become a national service.

Of course, the pure and flawless Chinese Communist Party cannot legalize prostitution, but it remains a secret weapon controlled by the police and criminal groups. It is one of several tools used to attract foreign capital. Such women do not only sell their bodies; they also generate profits for local hotels, cafés, bars and restaurants. Just look at the famous Nanjing Road in Shanghai, where groups of young women approach naive foreigners, taking them out for expensive meals, entertainment in bars, and eventually disappearing after collecting commissions from the owners of the places they visited with their "foreign boyfriends". I once asked one such girl what her job involved. Her answer was simple: "I go out for dinners." However, we should not imagine that these women live in luxury apartments and have hundreds of thousands of yuan in their bank accounts. Most often they simply send part of their income back home to support their families in rural areas. Their parents usually believe that their daughter works as a waitress, assistant or cashier.

Let us return to the essence of business visits to China... Many foreigners visit Chinese factories, but none of them will actually talk to the workers. Even Apple knows that the workers assembling their iPods and iPhones work in excellent conditions, and that the huge Foxconn corporation follows all rules, standards, human rights regulations and labour laws. So where did the series of twelve worker suicides at this factory come from? Why is photography forbidden there? Why are security guards present at every corner, and why does entering require special permits? Of course, this can be explained by modern technology and trade secrets. However, it is worth remembering that these wonderful devices are assembled by workers who earn the equivalent of around 400 PLN per month, are intimidated, will never discuss their working conditions with outsiders, and especially not with foreigners. In practice, it is a 300,000-person labour camp endorsed by Western corporations such as Apple, Sony, Dell and HP! Of course, nobody will say anything negative about Foxconn or Apple, because the authorities of Shenzhen (and therefore the Communist Party) make excellent business deals with them at the expense of young workers.

This is a very specific factory — but we can also look at ordinary production plants. A young translator or sales representative hosting foreign guests does not have to tell them about workers' problems, their working hours or health issues. A businessman from Europe or the United States usually does not investigate such details either, and often does not even visit the production line. If he is interested in anything, it will usually be machinery and production efficiency rather than exhausted and frightened workers. The unpleasant air, smell of dyes or poor lighting will not bother him either, because he only walks through the production hall for a few minutes. But what about the workers who spend 10–12 hours every day in such difficult conditions?

The Party has thought of everything — foreign delegations are supposed to admire new technologies and huge production halls. They should be taken to a good lunch or dinner, entertained with pleasant conversation about any subject, but never discuss labour rights, production safety or simply human rights. Workers are not allowed to organize independent trade unions, and rebellious individuals can quickly be replaced by new, frightened and obedient employees.

Another trick that has impressed many foreigners is education and healthcare. An average foreign visitor sees beautiful schools, modern hospitals and armies of polite, smiling nurses. Without looking deeper into the details, they simply assume that the authorities take excellent care of society. The Party provides beautiful schools and modern hospitals! However, they often fail to notice that even a simple bandage in such a hospital must be paid for. As soon as you enter, you hear the noise of printers preparing bills and invoices for medical services and medicines. A Chinese doctor will do absolutely nothing without prior payment. Young Liu visited a doctor to have a dressing changed after finger surgery. The procedure itself was not a problem, but after speaking with the doctor she had to go downstairs, pay at the cashier, and purchase the service and one metre of bandage. Only after presenting the stamped receipt was the treatment carried out.

The education system looks very similar. The children of migrant workers in large cities practically have no right to attend local schools. A family must have official residency in Shanghai or Shenzhen to send their children to school, and even then there are still various fees. The costs are much higher for people from outside the city. Many rural children will never have the opportunity to study at universities; they remain a minority and find it difficult to compete with children from wealthy urban families.

Therefore, from the outside, every school and hospital can look impressive. Naturally, the situation is much worse in rural areas, but foreign investors and international correspondents rarely visit those places.

An average businessman from Poland will also be impressed by the network of highways stretching from Beijing to Shanghai, and all the way to Guangzhou and Shenzhen. It is worth remembering, however, that every section is paid, and in some provinces travelling 100 km costs around 20–40 PLN. The condition of the roads may be impressive, but the costs are covered by ordinary citizens, transport companies and carriers. The same applies to airports and railway stations. Despite strong competition among airlines, prices continue to rise every year. They are still relatively low compared with Europe, but this is mainly due to cheaper fuel and the huge number of passengers. Almost every aircraft is now practically 100% full; there are no empty seats. Foreign visitors are also impressed by high-speed trains. The truth, however, is that the government would never subsidize unprofitable connections. A ticket from Shenzhen to Guangzhou (only about 100 km) costs around 40 PLN, and trains leave every few minutes, always full of passengers. Such railways are certainly profitable!

In cities such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Shanghai, it is impossible not to notice the beautiful parks. Again, we may be amazed: how wonderful the Chinese authorities are, creating such beautiful parks and installing exercise equipment. Every visitor from outside China may not realize that parks are also a simple way to control how citizens spend their free time. The origins of urban parks are connected with the government's fight against the Falun Gong movement. In order to discourage elderly people from practising this group's exercises, simple exercise facilities were provided in parks instead. Besides, parks are excellent places for young people to relax after a hard day at work: group dancing, badminton, yoga, taiji and wushu. This is practically the only entertainment available to ordinary Chinese citizens. Factory workers certainly cannot afford late-night trips to bars, expensive taxi rides or holidays in Thailand or on Bali. Nevertheless, parks attract ordinary citizens in the mornings and evenings, while also impressing foreign visitors.

Through such propaganda techniques, the authorities of the Middle Kingdom have easily won the hearts of many investors, politicians and foreign businessmen. After only a few visits to major cities, they will repeat together: "China is a great power!" Ordinary, anonymous people have no voice here. Some articles and books have been written about them, but they cannot bring local problems to public attention or organize protests. Foreigners' contact with Chinese society is mainly limited to the new class — wealthy, ambitious translators and businessmen who are able to speak English. They trusted Deng Xiaoping's idea of earning money and becoming wealthy. They are not interested in the fate of rural communities, the disappearance of traditional Chinese culture or minority rights. The most important things for them are profit, success and pride in their achievements. Such people do not need to complain, even if they work 10–12 hours a day, sit in offices for long periods or travel in crowded subways. They still believe in their own path toward success.

Who truly benefits from success? Only Party members and local authorities. Exactly as in the city of Yueyang. There, on the outskirts, people had part of their land taken away. Of course, they received compensation — but these payments are often ten times lower than the real value of the land. Where can they appeal? Practically nowhere. In theory, there are courts and administrative bodies, but complaints can harm not only the person who submits them but even their entire family. Local authorities built a five-star hotel in this area for their own needs, where they can invite new investors for dinners and karaoke entertainment. Two kilometres away, village life continues as usual. People drive three-wheeled vehicles that are supposed to imitate modern cars, and their survival depends on the prices paid for green vegetables. During the worst periods, one kilogram of such vegetables costs only around 30 groszy, despite requiring many hours of agricultural work. Farmers are practically deprived of modern equipment, tractors and irrigation systems. They walk barefoot or in damaged rubber boots through the fields, carrying watering cans and collecting water from polluted canals. Is this what economic power looks like?

If the Middle Kingdom is such a great power, why is there almost no social support for homeless people or the disabled? Why is there practically no unified insurance system? Housing prices in Chinese cities are comparable to those in the most prestigious districts of London or New York, while the quality of many Chinese apartments and their surroundings is simply terrible. Why does this economic giant not take better care of rural schools, where children study with almost no educational resources and everything depends on the initiative and ambition of individual teachers? Why can this great economic power not pay for the operation of a dying person? Why can it not deal with corruption, extortion and abuse of power? The truth is that China is like a huge dragon standing on wooden legs. According to economic analyses, numbers and statistics, it is a superpower, but in practice it is a country of disorder and injustice, where ordinary citizens have almost no rights or privileges, but have many obligations toward the state. These obligations are often treated as a debt owed to the nation, which Chinese people repay through overtime work in offices, monotonous factory labour or paying bribes (effectively replacing taxes) to local officials.

And this is precisely the secret behind China's economic success — a 77-million-member Party, together with local businessmen, global investors and politicians, becomes wealthy by using the labour of more than one billion citizens! We allowed ourselves to be deceived by Chinese propaganda and censorship. We trusted statistics and numbers, without looking at the lives of ordinary Chinese people — and their lives are often extremely difficult and monotonous. Do people really live this way in a country considered an economic superpower?