China. The Hope And The Opportunity.
All Roads Lead to China just came out with a fascinating, but way too short, post on a few interviews of Shanghai's underclass. It is called, "It's All About Hope and Opportunity in China" and I urge everyone to read it.
All Roads' post touches on the sorts of things China Law Blog used to discuss a lot more often when when we first started oh so long ago.
I can remember writing a number of posts and comments where I would talk about how the Chinese are more like Americans than many realize. And how I have always felt far more "at home" in China than in what I see as for more hierarchical and formal societies like Korea and Japan.
The All Roads post brought back some fond memories for me of one of my longest and best China friendships. Excuse me for a rare burst of maudlin here, but it all goes back to a case I was handling in Qingdao where I and a Qingdao lawyer ended up spending the better part of two days together waiting for a ship to come in to Qingdao's port and then hunting it down once we heard it had arrived. We had a lot of time to talk and one of the things I will never forget about our conversation was how we both saw our countries so similarly.
We talked about how what we most liked about our country was how it was still possible for people from poverty to rise up and achieve just about anything. And of how this belief is so essential to the fabric of both our countries. This belief is our core. And this now very wealthy, exceedingly well educated Chinese lawyer knew of this from the heart as he is one of 13 children from a tiny village whose father had a 4th grade education.
We then talked about what most concerned us about our respective countries and we both again said that our biggest concern was how this was changing. We both talked of how the wealthy are starting to live in gated communities and send their kids to private schools and we both worried about the long term impact this might have on our countries' futures. Our two law firms eventually established a formal affiliation, but it has always been built more on our friendship than on any piece of paper.
All Roads' piece talks about the hopes of the financially downtrodden to do better by their next generation. CLB's Steve Dickinson is always telling me of conversations he has with waiters and waitresses and others in China's less respected jobs. And what he says reinforces what All Roads is saying. That these people believe their hard work will pay off in a better future, if not for them, than for their children.
When I was in college, I took a course on revolutions and the two things I best remember from that course (in fact, probably the only two substantive things I remember from that course) where that revolutions typically spring from the urban middle class (this is obviously less true of China than of most countries) and they spring from those who believe the elites have blocked the paths upward.
Rich, put me down as someone else who would love to see more of your street interviews.
Just a few random thoughts....
What do you think?
Comments
> CLB's Steve Dickinson is always telling me
> of conversations he has with waiters and
> waitresses and others in China's less
> respected jobs.
You mean KTV and massage girls, right?
Posted by: FL99 | October 27, 2009 1:48 AM
I second that. I finished reading the piece wanting more. Hell, with photos alongside the interviews it could be a whole social art piece or something.
Posted by: Jonathan | October 27, 2009 2:36 AM
Except China had that in the 50s as well, a domestic rocket program, domestic auto industry, a decent legal structure in the cities, then anyone with a brain cell was sent to "tiao fen" in the countryside for their re-education. I knew a very well educated lawyer, who had grown up in Taiwan, representing a firm in Shanghai. He was in Beijing and was waiting for a cab when an elderly cart pusher came up to him. They ended up having a very in-depth discussion in Chinese about legal theory and practice. No way a peasant, even reading books, could have had that conversation. The guy was most likely some former high level legal professional long ago who had been sent down and never got back up. Many Chinese intellectuals "died" during that time, some are still alive, too ruined to be able to come back and contribute.
Posted by: some guy | October 27, 2009 7:42 PM
Except for the USA, it's a part of the culture, a founding myth. In China, it's just an economic moment. Yeah, your rich lawyer friend thinks anything is possible, because for him, it was. For the previous generation, it wasn't, and it's a tough call whether the next generation will have the same chances.
I actually disagree strongly with this: "these people believe their hard work will pay off in a better future". I've never met anyone who thinks that here. Everyone I know thinks that *finding the right opportunity* will give them a better future. If you meet the right guy at college, you've got a great chance. If you happen to live in a village that is incorporated into a growing city (like my in-laws) then you're minted. But I've never met anyone who thought that honest labour was the way to get ahead.
Posted by: Phil Hand | October 27, 2009 11:16 PM
Not to unfairly plug any books here, but I'd have a read of Jung Chang's WILD SWANS for a good understanding of how a man who underwent the worst of the CR's ravages can still maintain an abiding love for all things Chinese. (Incidentally, I also read a passage about this in Leslie Chang's excellent FACTORY GIRLS yesterday).
Posted by: Adam Daniel Mezei | October 28, 2009 5:25 AM
"For the previous generation, it wasn't, and it's a tough call whether the next generation will have the same chances."
You can't really compare this generation with the previous one, the situation in China is completely different.
I'm not really sure why you would think the next generation would have it any worse. The Chinese economy will continue to develop at a rapid pace and there is so much development left to be done, it will take many more decades for it to mature like the developed countries. In an environment like that there is plenty of opportunity if you work for it.
"Everyone I know thinks that *finding the right opportunity* will give them a better future. If you meet the right guy at college, you've got a great chance."
In my experience with life in general usually hard work will lead to more opportunity, as long as you're smart about it (like taking extra time to learn more useful skills is one example).
"If you happen to live in a village that is incorporated into a growing city (like my in-laws) then you're minted. "
It's always been like that in industrializing nations. Villages never offered that much in the way of opportunities, so starting in the 19th century (in western Europe & the US) people moved to the cities where industrialization was generating more jobs. As low as factory wages are in China, many people still flock to them from the villages because it still pays better than farming. At least now village people have a choice to leave and go to the factory, compared with before when they just had to wallow in their poverty. Those factories aren't going anywhere for sometime.
Posted by: outcast | October 28, 2009 7:08 AM
I read both your post and all roads, and was fascinated. I heard this legend about an old man who wanted to grow crops, but there was a mountain in his land. So he took all his sons and they started digging in the earth in the hope of moving the mountain away from their land. Then another old man came by and asked them about it saying how the first old man could never move a mountain. The first old man responded: "I probably won't succeed. But my children, or my grandchildren will some day". At that point the heavens heard his words and sent two angels down to earth. The angels lifted and moved the mountain away.
That sounds very close, doesn't it?
Posted by: yotam ronen | October 28, 2009 9:37 AM
From the link "I don’t have so many strings attached and just want her to live a happy life; as to my boy, I hope he can be a government official someday, a big name who has power"
Posted by: Dennis | October 28, 2009 10:24 AM
"In my experience with life in general usually hard work will lead to more opportunity, as long as you're smart about it"
Outcast, many people work until they are sore every day just for their daily meal and some clean water. Working hard for the sake of working hard only gets you an early grave.
Having a good head on and keeping your eyes open for opportunities is a necessity, but everyone who has ever truly "made it" in the world has had to acknowledge that they were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.
And despite China's reforms, self-destructive pollution is already stunting China's economic growth.
Posted by: some dude | October 29, 2009 12:31 PM
"And despite China's reforms, self-destructive pollution is already stunting China's economic growth"
Higher pollution has always been due to industrialization, eventually it will improve.
"Having a good head on and keeping your eyes open for opportunities is a necessity, but everyone who has ever truly "made it" in the world has had to acknowledge that they were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time."
Isn't that true to some degree everywhere?
Posted by: Outcast | October 29, 2009 8:46 PM
I believe that the strength of the US lies in the belief, that the sky is the limit for what one can achieve. I feel a similar attitude here in China.
It is the belief in the ability to achieve that is key - how accessible dreams truly are, I cannot accurately say. I believe that status of one's family or nobility does not stifle small business in the U.S. as it often can in many parts of Europe. However, at the same time, the Gini coefficient, which measures the allocation of wealth in society (with 1 being complete inequality, and 0 being perfect equality) has seemed to increase in the US, which seems to indicate a growing divide between the extreme rich and extreme poor.
However, I am a bit worried that what stands in the way of this dream, this ability to rise above adverse circumstances is increasingly impeded by the growth of crony capitalism. The most obvious example of crony capitalism is the bailout of Wall Street, which resulted in large bonuses to be awarded in the financial industry, irrelevant of performance; at the same time, banks remain hesitant to lend to small businesses and families.
The key to growth and stability in both China and the US is the development and sustainability of a strong middle class. However, the more that crony capitalism expands, the less capital is accessible to small and medium enterprises. The expansion of crony capitalism not only crushes the ability of one to achieve one's dreams, it destroys the ability to hope, and renders the American Dream a hypocrisy.
There is a refreshing article about this concern (in China) that was published recently in Caijing --
http://english.caijing.com.cn/2009-10-23/110291625.html
Posted by: Paul Anton Schittek | November 6, 2009 6:53 PM