Posted on 12/30/2001 9:20:02 PM PST by super175
In the minds of the public, 2001 will go down as a banner year characterised by four big pride-generating, spirit-lifting events. But not everyone agrees on which four.
Some say they are the Communist Party's 80th anniversary on July 1, Beijing winning the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games, Shanghai's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum summit in October and China formally entering the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on December 11.
Everyone agrees on the Olympics and the WTO, but some dismiss the party anniversary, others Apec. Instead, they name China's first football World Cup qualification on October 7 or the successful staging of the University Games in Beijing in August.
A Beijing woman calling herself an "old wife" named security a headlining accomplishment of 2001. She said China had protected itself well enough to prevent something like the September 11 terrorist attacks.
"We've planned really well," she said. "That's our pride."
Since the attacks, China has cracked down extra-hard on suspected Muslim separatists in Xinjiang and joined the international anti-terrorism coalition.
The moral of all these events is the same: China had a crowning year that improved its standing in the world.
"China's position of power got stronger and stronger," said Qi Yan, a third-year student at Beijing No 2 Foreign Languages University. "Its position in the world got higher and higher."
People, spurred by the central Government, often express an angry inferiority complex towards other countries. Many think that because of its rich 5,000-year history, China has long deserved to be number one in sports and economics, but that various factors - such as the people's own lack of modern skills or the evil forces of the West - have held them back.
So those surveyed last week omitted a mention of the April 1 tiff between China and the United States when a US spy plane and a Chinese jet collided in international air space near Hainan Island. The Chinese plane crashed, killing pilot Wang Wei and giving him martyr status, while the damaged US plane was forced to land on Hainan. China held the crew for 11 days and let the US Government take the plane back, disassembled, in June.
Both sides still bicker over how much the US Government should pay China for housing the crew and for aircraft-related costs.
People about town also did not mention results of the Government's continued high-profile anti-corruption drive. These efforts saw former vice-minister of public security Li Jizhou given a suspended death sentence in October for accepting millions in bribes from Xiamen smuggling suspect Lai Changxing, who is in Canada fighting extradition.
Also in October, former Shenyang mayor Mu Suixin got the same sentence for taking bribes worth about eight million yuan.
Meanwhile, although some mentioned the Communist Party anniversary, few alluded to President Jiang Zemin's July 1 speech redefining the party mission as one for higher levels of society as well as the masses. He said the party would accept private business people as members.
The 2008 Olympic bid aroused pride because people see the Games as an honour for the host country. China lost the 2000 Games to Sydney, then went all out last year to impress the International Olympic Committee with talk of an environmental clean-up and business opportunities.
Beijing's University Games, in which China hosted 7,000 athletes for 150 events and took the most awards - 95 - were partly geared to proving the city could also pull off the Olympics, despite missing some key infrastructure, such as an athletes' village.
The Apec meeting, which brought presidents Jiang and George W. Bush together for the first time, gave people similar pride, as did the World Cup finals qualification, which after 44 years of failures was assured with a 1-0 victory over Oman.
"I'm most proud of the Olympics success, but the most important thing is entering the WTO," Beijing management student Wang Bing said.
The WTO might threaten China's present-day economy, but Mr Wang and others in his age group said it also should mean job opportunities for educated people.
People paused to think before naming China's challenges for 2002. Some predicted the economy would be able to cope with foreign competition and that the Government should steer it with new policies.
"Every industry, such as agriculture and services, will undergo huge changes," student Ms Qi said. "When students graduate, our potential will be great."
She wasn't the only person to sum up 2001 and 2002 in terms of her personal fortunes. Retired university professor Zhou Xixin said he could not immediately think of any major events from 2001 but that living and studying conditions at his school reflected his view of China. In 2001, as before, it "improved step by step".
This is surely a Chinese superiority complex...
Secondly...
People, spurred by the central Government, often express an angry inferiority complex towards other countries. Many think that because of its rich 5,000-year history, China has long deserved to be number one in sports and economics, but that various factors - such as the people's own lack of modern skills or the evil forces of the West - have held them back.
That about sums it up. They think it is all our fault.
The rest of us think China might have been relatively screwed up (on absolute terms) for most of its 5,000 year history, with only a few pockets of 'success' thrown in here and there. To them though China was all good until some Brits came along... yeah, whatever. The Brits and the CCP only added their name to an already long list...
Their problems are created by the system they have, cutting themselves off from the world, and nuturing ignorant thought about how the rest of the world thinks.
There is still this underlying problem if a miss-assessment of the overall situation of China. Underlying everything China blames America (or someone else) for a lot of its problems.
To them, before the Brits came China was just some happy go lucky, without problems place where people just danced in the streets and had a jolly old time. Then the westerners came and screwed it all up...
Part of the problem with their propaganda laden view is that the simple fairy tale-ization of old China.
1. ummm...Lack of skills? she said it, not me. 2.yep, those damn western devils. Hmm...seems like she's leaving out the oppression of the Government and the natural feudal tendencies of their own people amongst eachother as well as others.
Literal Translation for others: querimony to others when meet touble,don't think what wrong on himself
Ni hui shuo zhongwen ma?
THere are over 30 million muslims in China.
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