By Jaap Post
If you have been a member of VNC for some time, you undoubtedly still have a pile of magazines lying around, the China NU. A beautiful magazine, in which a wealth of information can be found. For ChinaNU+, Jaap Post reads them all again in the run-up to the magazine’s 50th anniversary and makes a very readable summary of them. In this issue we continue with volumes 31 to 35, the period 2006-2010.
Glory years
The years of the first decade of the new millennium are glory years for China. The accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the stormy development of the economy make China a place to be for Western companies. With the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 and the World Expo in Shanghai in 2010 as the icing on the cake. How proud the Chinese are that the Olympic Games are being held in China is shown, for example, by the fact that according to the winter 2007 issue of China, almost 3500 children of their parents NOW have the name Aoyun , the Chinese word for Olympic. China has already applied for the 2000 Games in 1993. Then China had to miss the Games. The main reason is the miserable human rights situation in China. The suppressed student protests (1989) are still fresh in the memory. In the second candidacy in 1999 for the Games in 2008, China starts a major promotional campaign, not only abroad but also domestically. For example, there is a special teaching program ‘Children teach their parents English’. In 2001, Beijing was awarded the Games. Human rights again play a role in the allocation. This time with the reasoning that the human rights situation and the democratization of China could be positively influenced if Beijing organizes the Games.
The Chinese language is also ‘in’
As China becomes more and more a part of world affairs, the Chinese language is gaining interest. In 2008, according to China NU, there are more than fifty secondary schools in the Netherlands where the subject of Chinese can be followed. Each school does this in its own way, but at the same time we are working on professionalizing the subject of Chinese. In 2012, the students of a school in Hilversum are the first to officially take the Chinese exam. A number of these schools also do exchanges. During one of those exchanges, Dutch students ask a student from Chengdu what hobbies she has. She does not understand the question. After explanation, she says she has no time for hobbies, she spends all her time on schoolwork. A surprising conversation for both parties.
To number three in the ranking
With economic growth of about ten percent, the Chinese economy is growing rapidly. Meanwhile, China has become third in the ranking of economic superpowers after the United States and Japan. This has become possible mainly due to the strong growth in exports from China. But that growth also causes friction. China NU discusses these frictions insofar as they relate to the relationship between China and the US. There are frictions in a number of areas, such as the trade (im)balance, product safety, the large foreign reserves held by the Chinese government and currency exchange rate policy. It is true that trade with China has brought the American consumer a benefit of $600 billion in the period 1996-2003, but there are drawbacks. For example, the American industrial hinterland holds China responsible for a 19% decline in American manufacturing jobs since 2000. America believes that China should stimulate its own internal market more. In view of these frictions, the two presidents, Bush and Hu, set up a ‘Strategic Economic Dialogue’ in 2006. The Americans are pursuing ‘new habits’; The dialogue should become a habit between the two countries.
One-child policy and the range of consequences
The government’s draconian one-child policy dates back to the early 1980s and is successful, in the sense that the number of children is falling significantly. Socially, it has profound implications for the lives of families and communities. In China NU articles about this are regularly published. This concerns the increase in the number of abortions, the death of babies right after birth, the sale and abandonment of babies and adoption by Western couples. Events that cause a lot of suffering. Suffering that has a long aftermath. Moreover, the economically and traditionally determined preference for boys creates a large surplus of men who cannot find a marriage partner. Adopted children go in search of their biological parents. China NU reports that a multicultural personality develops in adopted children. “Anyone who brings a child from China into their home must in fact be willing to bring a piece of China into their home. China must be able to be seen, heard, tasted and smelled in the house.”
Orphanages and children with disabilities
If boys in China come first and girls second, then nothing will come for a long time and only then will the children with one or a double disability come. The latter children have no economic value, on the contrary, they cost money and time that could also have been spent on economic activity. Many children with disabilities end up in an orphanage. This can be a private individual or a state orphanage. In contrast to the private orphanages, the state orphanages are not allowed to be visited by Westerners. In an article entitled ‘Writing with your feet to survive’, an editor of China NU talks about the volunteer work she has done in two private orphanages. Both houses are financially supported by BICCO (Beijing International Committee for Chinese Orphans), a local organization that uses sponsors from abroad. Thirty children live in the first orphanage who are supervised by seven caretakers. The second orphanage is in a nunnery, where forty children stay with eighty caring mothers: the nuns. In the state orphanages, a ratio of eighty children to one caregiver is the rule rather than the exception. The neglect of disabled children is the order of the day.
The word ‘canfei’ is no longer in use
In addition to disabled children, there are of course also disabled adults. According to estimates, there are 83 million disabled people in China. According to China NU, they used to be called ‘canfei’ or ‘handicapped and useless’. But that is a thing of the past. It is true that laws have been passed in recent years to improve the position of disabled people, but the practice is unruly. Disabled children are often recruited by gangs to beg and companies would rather pay a hefty fine than hire a qualified disabled person. Disabled people in China therefore face discrimination to a large extent. It is therefore of great significance that after the Olympic Games, the Paralympics are also held in Beijing. In preparation for these last Games, all kinds of facilities are being installed in the city for the participants in the Paralympics. Facilities that the disabled residents of Beijing can also use after the Games. During the Paralympics, the Chinese often can’t believe their eyes to see what impressive feats disabled people are capable of. The Paralympic Games have therefore made an important contribution to the emancipation of the disabled. “But,” ChinaNU concludes, “there is still much to be gained for China’s disabled people.”
Clinton’s wobbly pudding
In every issue of China NU there are reviews of books and films. The reviews alone make subscribing to China NU attractive. For example, ‘China, centre of the world’, a book published in 2007 by Garrie van Pinxteren, is discussed. It is thought in the West that economic growth ultimately results in political reforms and democracy. However, the author considers it more likely that the Chinese government will develop a typical Chinese system of views in which limited political freedom goes hand in hand with social order and great prosperity. In 2000, US President Bill Clinton predicted that in the current information age with modem and mobile phone, the democratization of China cannot be stopped. It would be impossible for the government to fully control the internet: “You might as well try to nail a wobbly pudding to the wall.” But according to Van Pinxteren, current developments show that China is further along in applying internet censorship than any other country in the world.
Also, not all books discussed in China are allowed to be read in China Nu. For example, according to the writer Wei Hui, her book ‘Shanghai Baby’ is banned because of the lifestyle described in it, which, according to the government, “… is focused on consuming, becoming famous, masturbation, hedonism. Everyone is focused on themselves and not on common ideals.” Wei Hui has now written three books and, despite publication ban in China, is extremely popular at home and abroad.
The author is Jaap Post; member since 2000, chairman from 2001 to 2008, currently advisor to the board and member of the Committee of Recommendation.
