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China‘s Dreaming

By Melanie Yap
May 23 2013

 

 

 

 

At China’s National People’s Congress earlier this year, China’s new leader Xi Jinping outlined his vision for China’s renaissance. Evoking the imagery of the Chinese dream, Xi spoke of his vision for a strong prosperous and happy nation, which would provide opportunities and rewards for all those who worked hard.

It is still unclear what the Chinese dream will mean for China, the Chinese and the rest of the world. At this year’s London Asia Literary Festival, Jonathan Fenby author of Tiger Head, Snake Tails: China Today, How It Got There, and Where It Is Heading and Gerard Lemos author of The End of the Chinese Dream: Why Chinese People Fear the Future gave their thoughts on the Chinese dream and why so many Chinese are cynical about what Xi’s dream means for them.

Fenby contextualises this scepticism in the maelstrom of the enormous economic revolution which has unleashed untold social challenges. Continuing food safety crisis, smog covered cities and overflowing sewerages are just the outward signs of the brewing discontent. Given these issues, Fenby suggests that the large majority of Chinese dream of something very basic –  material wealth.

Lemos, whose first acquaintance with the Chinese dream was in 2006 when he developed an initiative in Chong Qing to create wish trees (where students wrote and hung their hopes for the future), agrees that most of China dreams of material wealth. In particular, they want equality of access to health care, education and employment, a difficult goal in an increasingly divided society.

This increasing income inequality has left many very cynical about the willingness and capacity of the Chinese State to improve their livelihoods and opportunities.

Both Denby and Lemos agree that it is perhaps the pervasive corruption in China that is the greatest barrier to economic mobility, as the masses can ill afford to pay the bribes required to access the best schools, healthcare and employment opportunities. As the elite and their children – the princelings of society, continue to play on their social connections, inequality, resentment and mistrust grows.

While Xi is very much aware of these issues and focused on improving living standards and cracking down on corruption, Fenby and Lemos doubt whether change is possible given the broader cultural and structural constructs underlying these issues.

Whilst outsiders may be concerned about what the Chinese dream means for the China’s geo-political power, Fenby and Lemos contend that most Chinese care little about China’s positions as a super power. Although the Chinese do want due respect from foreign powers, they are largely focused on their own individual empowerment. Their dream is unashamedly inward and materialistic. Nonetheless it is clear that in a nation of 1.3 billion, no dream can ever be contained. The ripples of the dream will surely continue to surge outwards.

Jonathan Fenby’s Tiger Head, Snake Tails: China Today, How It Got There, and Where It Is Heading is available in paper back from Foyles and your local independent bookshop at £9.37. A Kindle version is currently unavailable.

 

Gerard Lemos’s The End of the Chinese Dream: Why Chinese People Fear the Future is available in paper back from Foyles and your local independent bookshop at £9.34.

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