General OpEd Article

When nations go foraging for food, water, oil will they resort to force? Will the unit of exchange be military power?

Comment on a Global Times Editorial

India’s blackout offers lesson to China (Quoted in Full)

GT – ‘A large-scale power failure this week has affected half of the population in India. The most serious blackout in human history was not caused by any one factor, but actually reflects the overall level of India's development. Other developing countries including China can use the incident to reflect on their own problems.

Electricity powers a country's modernization. China's power generation volume surpassed the US' last year, ranking top in the world. India, ranking fifth, has a power generation volume one-fifth of China's scale, although its GDP is one-fourth of China's.

Power generation tests a nation's comprehensive ability, from basic energy production, transportation and power grid build-up to electricity distribution and dispatch. As power consumption further rises, society has to develop a consensus on developing nuclear power, hydropower and clean energy.

China needs to generate more power to support higher living standards. It probably needs to double the current power generation to sustain the country's modernization drive. But the difficulty involved in further expanding electricity production has been clearly felt.

Thermal power is limited by the accessibility of more coal and oil. Building more hydropower stations is facing stronger resistance from public opinion.

Prospects for developing nuclear power are even less bright after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown following the massive earthquake in 2011. The wind power industry, though growing fast, cannot be expected to play a major role in the country's power grid.

India is stuck in a dilemma, but China is also facing a developing bottleneck. Its per capita electricity consumption is still much lower than the level of developed countries, but the public is demanding the same living standards enjoyed by rich countries.

India has been plagued by frequent blackouts, prompting anger from the public. Successive administrations have failed to tackle the problem. In India, there is little possibility that the public will approve large-scale nuclear or hydropower stations. It is also restricted by primitive infrastructure.

China and India were at about the same development stage in the 1950s. Today, India's per capita GDP is less than one-third that of China's. The infrastructure quality is also vastly different. The difference lies in the policymaking ability and the implementation process of the two countries.

Where can China learn development experiences? It shouldn't be from the US. If China's population were to take up the American lifestyle, it would destroy the planet.

But China has to move forward to realize better human rights for its people. This means it must be rational in pursuing its dream.’

Comment: This is essentially about equality.

A theme of mine is that everyone is born with an equal right to an equal share of the world’s resources. Yet, the reality is much different. A child born in rural India or rural China has little hope of consuming on the same scale as child born in the ‘west’.

Equality demands that there be a balance.

The ‘west’ has to learn to consume less so the developing nations can lift the standard of their populations.

This is unlikely to happen, which can only lead to conflict, both internal and external.

Not only will oil become scarce, but also water and food.

Now, the unit of exchange to even out distribution and allocation is money.

When nations go foraging for food, water, oil will they resort to force? Will the unit of exchange be military power?

Let us hope that all countries can find a middle way.

ARCHIVE

General OpEd Article

 Facebook with Chinese characteristics

From and Editorial in the Golbal Times

Olympics can still bring simple joy to people

GT - ‘A unified view once dominating society has disappeared in many fields, replaced by clamorous voices reflecting different opinions.’

The old command and control all-powerful central government has been sidelined by social media.

It will take time for the Chinese people to find their voice and to use it constructively.

Social media is new in the ‘west’ and it is at times abused and often has un-intended consequences.

In China the social media and the freedom to express personal opinions are both new.

The central government knows it cannot stop this change, so it must harness it.

It is a basic form of democracy, a crude form and it will have to be refined to be constructive.

Facebook with Chinese characteristics.

GT – ‘China still has many facets that are different from the West. These differences, however, will not block its further integration into the world. The world is not Western-dominated, and integration doesn't mean being assimilated. Differences sometimes led to clashes, but throughout history, differences have generally been accepted and tolerated.’

China does not want to be a clone of the ‘west’.

I believe Deng Xiaoping wanted to use capitalism to create a more socialist China. He knew that China had to harness its resources and create wealth before that wealth could be re-distributed.

It is just 33 years into that plan, so it is yet in its infancy.

This century will see China come to terms with balancing capitalism and socialism. It is hoped it can live up to its name, the middle kingdom, and find a middle way.

Whatever, China is a growing force in the 21st century.

The world has a choice, assimilation or confrontation.

ARCHIVE

Justice is Blind

In China, too often, justice peeked

Comment on an Editorial in the Global Times

Gu’s trial will test principle of rule of law

Throughout much of China’s history, Justice has peeked, she has not been blind and the man on the Beijing rickshaw suffered.

In China, the average person does not have much faith in blind justice.

Fortunately this is changing. Slowly, but it is changing.

Helped, not a little by the power of the Internet in China.

As the Global Times article points out, there have been several high profile cases where the public demanded a fair trial, demanded that Justice keep her blindfold firmly in place.

GT - ‘The law should be the sole principle followed by the trial. No matter what impact the ruling will have, judges must be loyal to the law. This is a test of their commitment to the rule of law. Both the trial and the final verdict should reflect their consciences.’

The people of China are shining a powerful spotlight on the judges in this case.

However, it is important that all judges in China embrace a philosophy of blind justice. They should not have to have the powerful light of the public gaze on them.

From the smallest village to the richest suburb in Beijing justice should be impartial, should be blind.

This is one of the great reforms China has to accomplish.

Justice in the developed ‘west’ is not perfect, but in general it is impartial, everyone is equal before the law.

It is not the high profile case of Gu Kailai that is the test for China. It is the myriad of small cases that happen every day that is the test.

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General OpEd Article

 Comment on a Global Times Editorial

China sticks to independent political path

So, in my opinion, the old adage applies: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”

National confidence brought by rapid growth hasn't permeated into every corner of society. The high living standard of the West and certain political phenomena related to it are naturally attractive to Chinese.’

Some people in China are now enjoying a ‘western’ lifestyle. However the living standard for the vast majority in China is far lower than the ‘west’.

Thanks to the WWW, nearly everyone in China can now see for themselves the conspicuous consumption of the ‘west’. Many envy that consumption or aspire to it.

Many people in China see the ‘west’ as a place where their dreams of consumption can come true. They make the mistake of equating consumption with happiness.

Little do they know.

Little do they know that material wealth does not buy happiness. It often just buys a better class of misery.

You definitely do not need material wealth to be happy, to live a good life.

Western propaganda plays on this feeling in China that they are missing out. That the government in Beijing is not delivering. That perhaps the socialist model with Chinese characteristics if flawed.

After all, they can see what ‘western’ capitalism has achieved.

It is not until they live in the ‘west’ and see the underbelly of capitalism that they pine to return to China.

I fear the Chinese people, in particular the youth, are catching the ‘western’ short term flu. They do not look back to what it was like before 1949. They do not look back to before 1979.  

It is within those time periods that the Communist Party should be judged.

Yes, Mao made some horrendous errors of judgment, Deng’s capitalism with Chinese characteristics is not perfect, but they have lifted a nation of over a billion people out of poverty and made China one of the richest nations on the planet.

So, in my opinion, the old adage applies: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”

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General OpEd Article

Then every family of this planet will have an equal right to have children

In response to an Editorial in the Global Times (GT)

The one-child policy in China is often used by commentators in the ‘west’ as an example of extreme state control, of a violation of human rights.

Yet I suspect these same people are concerned about the environment, are aware that the economic philosophy of unlimited growth is unsustainable.

I am sure these people are aware that all the people of the world are entitled to an equal standard of living. Indeed, it could be argued that each infant is born with that right, but it is instantly taken away from many simply by dint of where the infant is born. For most in the world, their lot is poverty. For a select few, relatively speaking, their lot is a comfortable life consuming a disproportionate share of the worlds resources.

GT - ‘It is easy to see China has meagre resources per capita. The life of Western developed countries is appealing, but it is impossible to copy completely here. A huge population and limited resources means China needs more sense of planning in its development path. This is a reality we cannot evade.’

The Global Times does not defend the late-stage termination. It is acknowledged as a violation of Feng Jianmei’s human rights.

All large initiatives by any government in the world will throw up problems and at times unexpected negative outcomes.

That does not render the policy void, it simply calls for an adjustment of how that policy is implemented.

GT - ‘The enforcement of the one-child policy should evolve at a time when the public has higher demands of human rights standards. It needs to seek a population-control method with a minimum social price. Forceful approaches will have to be abandoned.

But the necessity of population-control policy should not be negated by the past mistakes made in implementing it. The policy was based on the deliberations of several generations of demographers.’

Utilitarianism v Individual Human Rights

All governments in all countries take a utilitarian approach. The individual is subject to laws that are to benefit what is perceived at the time as the ‘greater good’.  National laws cannot be made for each individual, those laws must be for the ‘greater good’. This means that a proportion of the population will not agree, and some will suffer consequences that can be viewed as a violation of their human rights. If enough people suffer a violation of their human rights, the law is usually adjusted.

GT - ‘Admittedly, the one-child policy is at odds with people's freedom of choice. Ideally, a family should be able to have as many children as it desires. That freedom is now limited.

But this has to be considered against China's massive population. Controlling its numbers is aimed at creating conditions for better human rights so that the current and future generations can have decent lives. In general, it is aimed at improving human rights, not the opposite.’

Eventually the world will have to address the issue of population control, particularly in under-developed countries. This will be an explosive issue as it cuts across cultural and religious boundaries.

Eventually we will have to evolve an economic model based on sustainable use of the world’s resources.

Then every family of this planet will have an equal right to have children.

In Response to an Editorail in the Global Times:

View family planning in a balanced way

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General OpEd Article

This is how Kaixin Sees the Affair of Mr Chen

And Below is how the world and China sees the affair Mr Chen

Advice for Chen Guangcheng, From a Fellow Passenger

 
By DANIEL C. CHUNG

ON Saturday night, I returned home from a business trip in China, on a flight made extraordinary by the presence of another traveler, who was leaving his country for mine: Chen Guangcheng.

I sat in the row directly behind the family of Mr. Chen, the blind human rights activist who had been admitted to the United States to study law at New York University, and their American handlers. I wondered what I would say to Mr. Chen if I had the chance. (There was no such opportunity; I suspected that his handlers — who unlike Mr. Chen’s two well-behaved children bounced out of their seats with unusual frequency, alerting anyone nearby that something unusual was afoot — would have intercepted any attempt at conversation.) I imagine other passengers wondered the same thing; as the Chen family exited the plane, the cabin of United Airlines Flight 88 filled with spontaneous applause.

The first thing I would tell Mr. Chen would be to take his time before making any public observations on America and China. In China, he was a leading human rights lawyer and dissident, and his insights will no doubt be of great interest and value to us all. But in the United States, he is perhaps not so different from my late father, Kai Lai Chung, who came here in 1944 on a scholarship and received a Ph.D. in math from Princeton — and who later in life became blind, as Mr. Chen is. Even with TV and the Internet, he is unlikely to understand or know our country and society very well at first.

Why such advice? Because I am worried that Mr. Chen and his family will be used as political fodder, by the Obama administration or by politicians of either party trying to advance the “how great we are versus how bad China is” theme we hear so often as America works through its cooperation/competition with China on commercial, environmental, strategic and countless other issues.

Having traveled frequently to China for business and pleasure for over three decades, I have seen the remarkable transformation that has lifted hundreds of millions of Chinese out of poverty. I have seen my own relatives move from rough village housing — cooking and heating by coal, no telephone, and questionable running water — to modern (if simple, by American standards) apartments.

In my first visit, as a teenager in 1975, I saw my father lead some of the first mathematical discussions between Chinese and American scholars after Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger began to normalize Chinese-American relations. In the 1980s, as my father’s eyesight failed (but not his will to educate Chinese students), I accompanied him as he saw old friends who had survived the Cultural Revolution. On my own, after a clerkship for the United States Supreme Court, I visited Tiananmen Square, a few months before the crackdown on the democracy protests.

Despite smog, urban blight, the persistent poverty of migrant workers and other challenges, my impression is that the Chinese seem happier over all. They increasingly recognize, and sometimes regret, the social price of economic transformation, but feel that the benefits outweigh the costs. When Mr. Chen does speak out, I hope it will have great impact. It is in his role as observer and critic, whether his stay in the United States ends up being long or short, that Mr. Chen can make the most of the spotlight that has been placed on him (a spotlight that will surely fade over time, as it has for other notable dissidents).

Mr. Chen has articulated serious criticisms of China’s politics and government. But he might do well to think about, and perhaps educate us on, the similar obstacles we Americans face. We have our own dynastic “princelings,” whether in electoral politics or corporate boardrooms. Our air may be less polluted, but we seem unable to do our part to pay for efforts to slow global warming. Though independent, our press, particularly the broadcast media, focuses on distractions like the John Edwards trial more than on the corrupting influence of money in campaign finance and the legislative process.

While the American system of government may be less subject to bribery and overt nepotism than China’s, in many ways our capitalist economy and democratic politics are dominated by “too big to fail” corporations and public-sector bureaucracies — institutions far less monolithic than the Chinese Communist Party, but similarly influential and unaccountable. China’s government is indeed authoritarian, but it has achieved much in a short time as a result of its ability to analyze, debate and then act to address problems from poverty reduction to infrastructure creation. All of this has been achieved without relying on debt. Our diverse society is a source of greatness, but the dysfunction of our politics — the vanishing of the political center, the inability of elected representatives to find common ground on urgent problems, the triumph of bluster over reason — is a growing source of weakness.

Mr. Chen’s coming to America is a great thing. His reflections on China could become a prism for Americans to better understand our own future. It would be an odd but welcome triumph if an awkward diplomatic incident became a path to greater discussion and understanding. The relationship between the United States and China will be, for better or worse, the most important influence on world affairs for decades to come. Much of our strength in the past has come from the assimilation of immigrants into the United States and our nation’s openness to change. Today, we need to summon that strength and openness again to help America assimilate in an increasingly multipolar world — perhaps, with a little help from Mr. Chen.

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The New  York Times

Dissident China Lawyer, in U.S., Voices Fears for Family

Chen Guangcheng also expressed concern about the friends and dissidents who aided his escape in April from a home that the police had turned into a virtual prison.

Brother of Chen Guangcheng Escapes Guarded Village

Chen Guangfu, a brother of Chen Guangcheng, slipped through a security cordon and went to Beijing, said a lawyer who met him there.

1. 

   Chen Guangcheng's Plea for Protection Deepens a Crisis ...

   Facing criticism amid fraying relations with China, American officials privately acknowledged missteps in the handling of the Chinese dissident ...

2. For China, Chen Guangcheng's Exile Is One Less Headache ...

   Once exiled, nettlesome prisoners of conscience, like Chen Guangcheng, almost invariably lose their ability to grab headlines in the West and ...

3. China Opens Way for Dissident to Come to U.S.

   Chinese officials will allow Chen Guangcheng to travel to the United States with his family, American officials said, but Secretary of State Hillary ...

4. Chen Guangcheng Case Much Discussed in China, but Cautiously ...

   Chinese citizens have had to tread carefully in discussing Chen Guangcheng, the dissident who sought refuge at the United States Embassy.

     
5. 

   Chen Guangcheng's Final Escape?

   Chen Guangcheng has escaped from Chinese government detention before — and he was severely punished. But this time, the world is ...

6. David W. Chen

   Recent and archived news articles by David W. Chen of The New York Times.

    
7. 

   Chen Guangcheng

   I want to come to the U.S. to rest,” said the dissident lawyer Chen Guangcheng, speaking from Beijing to members of Congress by way of a ...

8. Chen Guangcheng Assisted by Chinese Authorities for U.S.

   Chen Guangcheng, whose flight to the American Embassy triggered a diplomatic crisis, said Tuesday that Chinese authorities have begun to ...

9. Chen Guangcheng

   Washington must use all of its influence with China to ensure the safety of this courageous activist.

10. In the Chen Case, Collateral Damage

    As high-level negotiations swirled around the fate of the human rights advocate Chen Guangcheng, several members of his inner circle of ...

1. 

   Chinese Activist Chen Guangcheng Escapes House Arrest in China ...

   Chen Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer, was said to have sought refuge at the American Embassy in Beijing, potentially complicating matters ...
2. 

   Flight of Chen Guangcheng, Chinese Rights Lawyer, Thrills Dissidents

   Chen Guangcheng's rush for freedom from house arrest was made possible by a small network of people, risking detention, who used code to ...

3. China Blocking All Mention of Chen and His Daring Escape ...

   China seems to have issued a gag order to prevent any mention of Chen Guangcheng and his daring late-night escape from house arrest.

4. What Chen Guangcheng's Arrival in America Means

   5 days ago ... Chen Guangcheng arrived at Newark's Liberty International Airport on Saturday night, a face-saving sign of a maturing superpower rivalry ...

5. Advice for Chen Guangcheng, From a Fellow Passenger - NYTimes ...

   2 days ago ... The dissident should take his time before making public comments on America and China, so he is not used as political fodder.

The Wall Street Journal

• 

  Two Big Stories, One Conclusion: China Has No 'Legal System'

  The illegal harassment of Chen Guangcheng and the reign of Bo Xilai in Chongqing each in their own way signal the fundamental weakness of Chinese law and the extent to which it serves as a tool to maintain the Party’s control of Chinese society.

Global Times

Asia Times Online

Chen hands Beijing a hollow victory
As Chen Guangcheng settles in New York, Beijing can rest assured that its efforts to minimize domestic fallout over the blind activist's escape have worked well and that Chen is effectively silenced. However, this Pyrrhic victory does nothing to address the deep-rooted corruption in local politics that Chen suffered imprisonment and torture to agitate against.
- Kent Ewing

1. Asia Times Online :: Chen's switch spoils daring US dance

   4 May 2012 ... With news reports that legal activist Chen Guangcheng has agreed to be resettled inside China with his family away from his tormenters in ...

2. Asia Times Online :: Chen case exposes a shared weakness

   10 May 2012 ... Chen case exposes a shared weakness. By Benjamin A Shobert Amid all the fury , conjecture and confusion over what to make of blind legal ...

3. Asia Times Online :: Chen case hints at crack in old consensus mold

   6 days ago ... BEIJING - The case of the blind dissident lawyer Chen Guangcheng, who at the beginning of May escaped strict surveillance to escape house ...

4. Chen hands Beijing a hollow victory - Asia Times Online

   1 day ago ... Chen hands Beijing a hollow victory. By Kent Ewing HONG KONG - Blind activist Chen Guangcheng is safely ensconced in New York, and both ...

5. The anatomy of Chen's change of heart - Asia Times Online

   12 May 2012 ... A risky and hasty deal negotiated by the US State Department had led to the departure of Chinese rights activist Chen Guangcheng from the ...

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"Even when I am burned down to ashes, my love for China will not change."

Ji Xianlin (季羡林; August 6, 1911 – July 11, 2009)

Ji attended Sanhejie Primary School and the No. 1 Middle School in Jinan, then Shandong University. In 1930, he was admitted to Tsinghua University as a major in Western literature. In 1935, he went to University of Göttingen as an exchange student, choosing in 1936 to major in Sanskrit and less well known ancient languages, such as Pali, under Professor Ernst Waldschmidt receiving his Ph.D. in 1941, and studied Tocharian under Emil Sieg. In 1946, he returned to China, becoming a professor at Peking University under the recommendation of Chen Yinke, and began a long career as one of China's greatest scholars of ancient Indian languages and culture, during the course of which he made discoveries not only about such things as Buddhism's migration from India to China, but also more mundane cultural changes, such as the spread of paper and silk making from China to India.

Ji founded the Department of Eastern Languages at Peking University soon after his arrival, becoming dean of the department and pioneering the field of Eastern studies in China, and authoring 40 articles and 13 academic papers in the next three years. In 1956, he was elected commissioner of the Chinese Academy of Science's Department of Social Science.

During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), he secretly translated the Ramayana from Sanskrit into Chinese retaining the poetic format, risking the punishment which befell those convicted as "intellectuals". In 1998 he published Memoirs from the Cowshed, his account of his life during that period, which attained great popularity in China.

In 1978, Ji became vice president of Peking University and director of the Chinese Academy of Science's Research Institute on South Asia. He also served as chairman of various professional organizations, including the Chinese Foreign Literature Association, the Chinese South Asian Association and the Chinese Language Society. During this period of his career, Ji published 11 academic books and over 200 papers in more than ten academic fields, including Chinese cultural research, comparative literature, and Sanskrit.

In 1998, he published a translation and analysis of fragments of a Tocharian Maitreyasamiti-Nataka discovered in 1974 in Yanqi.

In addition to his translation of the Ramayana, Ji wrote seven books including a short history of India, and a history of Chinese cane sugar. The Ji Xianlin Collection consists of 24 volumes containing articles on ancient Indian languages, Sino-Indian cultural relations, Buddhism, comparative and folk literature, essays, translations of literary works, etc.

Despite deteriorating health and eyesight, Ji continued to work. In the summer of 2002, he was hospitalized for a dermatological condition. He died on July 11, 2009 in the No. 301 Hospital, Beijing. His son, Ji Cheng, said that Ji died of a heart attack.

Fundamental beliefs

Ji maintained that "Cultural exchange is the main drive for humankind's progress. Only by learning from each other's strong points to make up for shortcomings can people constantly progress, the ultimate target of which is to achieve a kind of Great Harmony."

Ji's philosophy divides human culture into four parts: an Eastern group consisting of Chinese, Indian, and Arabic-Islamic culture, and Western culture, consisting of European-American culture. He advocates a greater degree of cultural exchange between East and West, in order to rejuvenate both cultures, and from the mid-1990s, he actively participated in discussions on the cultural problems between the East and West, based on the same ideology. This differs from the Eurocentrism predominant in China, as elsewhere.


He is quoted as saying,

"The river of Chinese civilization has kept alternating between rising and falling, but it has never dried up, because there was always fresh water flowing into it. It has over history been joined by fresh water many times, the two largest inflows coming from India and the West, both of which owed their success to translation. It is translation that has preserved the perpetual youth of Chinese civilization. Translation is hugely useful!"

Awards

On Ji's 94th birthday, August 6, 2005, the China Confucius Foundation opened the Ji Xianlin Research Institute in Beijing, as a special institution for the research on The Studies of Ji Xianlin, with notable scholars such as Tang Yijie, Le Daiyun, and Liu Mengxi as senior consultants.

In 2006, Ji received a lifetime achievement award from the government of China for his contributions to the field of translation; accepting the award, he stated: "The reason our Chinese culture has been able to remain consistent and rich throughout its 5,000 years of history is closely linked to translation. Translations from other cultures have helped infuse new blood into our culture".

On January 26, 2008, the government of India announced that Ji had been awarded the Padma Bhushan, the first time it was awarded to a Chinese person. According to Xu Ke Qiao, an expert on Sino-Indian cultural communication at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, "A lot of what Chinese know about India's tradition and culture has come from Ji. He translated from the original Sanskrit and rendered them in poetry in Chinese. It is a tremendous achievement covering most of his life." This has been cited as an example of growing friendship between the two nations. Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee personally presented the Padma Bhushan to Ji on 6 June 2008. Mukherjee paid a visit to the ailing 97-year-old Ji, who is the first Chinese to receive the honour, at a military hospital where he has been staying and presented the medallion and award certificate.


Personal life

Ji was also highly regarded for his moral values, character, and personality. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao is reported to have told Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Ji was his mentor.

Ji was an unabashed patriot, saying, "Even when I am burned down to ashes, my love for China will not change." As a student at Tsinghua University, he signed a petition to Chiang Kai-shek to oppose the Japanese invaders in Nanjing. As an impoverished but brilliant student, he said, "I haven't disgraced my country; my scores are the only comfort that I can give to my motherland."

Ji cultivated the unassuming appearance of a farmer or worker rather than a prestigious scholar, wearing bleached khaki suits and cloth shoes, and carrying an old leather schoolbag; he is also similarly reputed as treating people of all walks of life with equal respect and sincerity. He has opined that the meaning of life lies in work, and he avoided distractions which would have detracted from his working time; in order to do one's work, however, he believed that one must stay healthy, so he exercised for his health. He is reported as having got up at 4:30 AM, breakfasting at 5:00 AM, and then beginning to write. He once said that he often felt compelled to get up at this early hour to work. Nevertheless, he wrote with great speed and efficiency, completing his famous essay "Forever Regret" within a few hours.

Often cited as fearless in his pursuit of academic truth, shown not only by daring to translate Ramayana during the Cultural Revolution, but also by his 1986 article, written against the advice of his friends, "A Few Words for Hu Shi", who at that time was in disrepute and whose work was shunned by most scholars. Ji, however, felt that academic progress required acknowledging not only Hu Shi's mistakes, but also his contributions to modern Chinese literature. His article was sufficiently convincing to many scholars that it caused a re-evaluation of the development of modern Chinese literature and the role of Hu Shi. (WikiPedia & ChinaCulture.Org)

Ji Xianlin's Personal Charm

Though a reputable professor of Peking University, Ji Xianlin saw himself as one of the people, he was always dressed in a bleached khaki suit and a pair of cloth shoes, with an old leathery schoolbag in hand. He was always inconspicuous whenever he was in a crowd. As some people have said, Ji Xianlin, was always modest and easily accessible. He looked like an ordinary worker or an old farmer. However, this unassuming old man won widespread admiration and respect.

A philosopher once said, "Greatness lies in commonness." Ji Xianlin personifies this truism. He is a common human being, and his greatness lies in one character, "真"（truthfulness）, which makes up his unique personality charm. 

Ji Xianlin always treated all kinds of people with sincerity. He was a caring person who loved his family, relatives, friends, teachers, and students dearly. He still remembers those illiterate farmers who played with him during his childhood and especially respects anybody who, like him, are kind and honest. 

Ji Xianlin is also well known for telling the truth. As early as in 1986, he wrote an article titled "A Few Words for Hu Shi (a famous but very controversial scholar)" which shocked the literary circles. At that time, Hu Shi was seen as a "negative example," and no one dared to touch this "forbidden area." Though some of his friends try to persuade him from doing such a risky thing, Ji Xianlin, thought the evaluation of Hu Shi was not only a problem of personal appraisal, but also had significant academic implications. He felt it necessary to tell the truth about Hu Shi. In other words, Ji's view was that even if Hu Shi did make mistakes, his contributions to modern Chinese literature should not be ignored. His article won the affirmation and support of a great many scholars, breaking a path for the re-evaluation of the nearly century-old development of modern Chinese literature. Ji Xianlin was a firm and faithful patriot who showed enormous love for the magnificent mountains and rivers, the long history, and rich culture of his motherland.

A Lotus in Weiming Lake

Anyone was acquainted with Ji Xianlin knew that he was an affectionate man with a mild temperament. Ji, however, often said that he was a withered and dull tree, which was left with only the trunk and branches but no flowers or green leaves. This is due to his research subjects being often considered by others as "outragious" and his books, as "mysterious." He strongly expresses his desire for flowers and leaves to grow on the tree!

In fact, none of the people who had contacts with Ji ever thought him dull or uninteresting. In real life, Ji was warmly and sincerely attached to all living things.

As Min Weifang, the Secretary of the CPC Committee of Peking University, said, "Ji's heart was not only filled with China, but also the East, and even the whole world. All his life, he was committed to the spreading of humankind's culture and spirit. His life is like a book that can enlighten mankind's wisdom and purify people's hearts.

国学大师季羡林谈人生 Ji Xianlin PT1

国学大师季羡林谈人生 Ji Xianlin PT2

国学大师季羡林谈人生 Ji Xianlin PT3

Following Ji Xianlin's River West, Then East

By Andrew Sheng

Eastern thought offers a valuable perspective of economic and ecological issues, proving that culture ebbs and flows

This past summer holiday, I finally read a 2006 book in Chinese written by the grand, old man of Chinese cultural linguistics, Professor Ji Xianlin (1911-2009). The title of his book crystallizes his view that culture and civilization are like a river that flows east for 30 years and then west for the next 30.

His main theme is that even though the tide of economic dominance and intellectual thinking has been western since the Industrial Revolution, the tide has already started turning East. By extension, he is warning this generation of Chinese intellectuals, who are infatuated with western technology and science, not to forget their Chinese cultural and intellectual roots.

At a time when the world is preoccupied with the possible decline of the West and the rise of the East, and especially a potential Clash of Civilizations, an intellectual giant's thinking on Chinese culture – a thinker whose thoughts are relatively unknown in the West – is particularly relevant.

Professor Ji cannot be accused of being a parochial Chinese nationalist. Born in 1911, he studied western languages and culture at Xinghua University, and from 1935 to 1946 pursued research into Indian languages and culture at Groningen University in Germany. He was fluent in German, English and several Indian languages.

On returning from Germany, the famous educator Hu Shih appointed him to a post as first lecturer in eastern languages at Peking University. He later rose to deputy vice principal at Beida, earning a reputation as a leader in the field of translation and Chinese culture.

Professor Ji translated the historic Indian epic Ramayana into Chinese during the height of the Cultural Revolution, when the study of foreign things was politically taboo. Zhou Enlai and other leaders often consulted him for his deep, independent insights into the importance of cultural exchange, particularly with India.

Professor Ji realized that you cannot be a translator if you are not a cultural interpreter. His book is an historic and philosophical journey that explores the relationship between culture and civilization, the interaction between eastern and western cultures, and the future path of Chinese culture.

In his view, Chinese culture is like a long river that's full when it floods and low during periods of drought, but never completely dry. The reason is that it is always replenished with fresh water.

Chinese culture has been profoundly replenished twice in history: Once by the Indian-Buddhist culture, and more recently by western culture and technology. These rejuvenations relied critically on effective translations. Thus, translation is the key to keeping Chinese culture evergreen and open.

Like French historian Ferdinand Braudel, Professor Ji does not see culture as static, but as a dynamic interchange (or, as some say, mutual borrowings) between civilizations, even as each civilization keeps its own, original character. Culture is not necessarily a zero-sum game, wherein if the West is not bright, the East is bright. But the trend is cyclical. All history is the history of cultural interchange.

Professor Ji divided the world into four great cultures: China, India, the Middle East (including Egyptian, Babylonian, Arabic and Islamic cultures) and western culture (including Greek, Roman and European/American culture). Eastern culture incorporates the first three groups, but western culture has dominated since the 17th century.

According to Professor Ji, there is only one key difference between western and eastern cultures: intellectual tradition.  Eastern culture is distinguished by its comprehensive nature, whereas western culture is analytical. Classic Chinese thinking based on "Man and Nature are One" is the essence of eastern comprehensive thinking. This is similar to the ancient Indian Vedic philosophical and religious belief that Brahman (universe) and Atman (self) are one and the same.

What does the Chinese phrase "Man and Nature are One" mean? In Professor Ji's words, the western analytical approach breaks down one large issue into its component parts (one into two), whereas the comprehensive eastern approach is to integrate two into one.

Using his colloquial terminology, the western approach is to heal the head when there is a headache and fix the foot when there is pain in the foot, whereas the eastern approach is to fix the foot when there is a headache and to fix the head when there is pain in the foot. You should look at both trees and the forest. The distinctive characteristic of eastern comprehensive methodology is to look at systems as a whole, with complete connectivity and inter-relations. Western analysis is exactly the opposite.

The concept of "Man and Nature are One" originated with the Book of Changes (I Ching), which traditionally dates to 2700 BC. There is a problem here with translating the word "nature," since the Chinese word "tiandi" strictly means heaven and earth. Some translate the phrase "heaven and earth" as "fate," whereas Professor Ji's direct interpretation is that "heaven and earth" means "nature" and "man" means all humanity. Hence, to him, the relationship between "heaven and earth and man as one" is the relationship between man and the natural world. The Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi (circa 370 BC) said, "Nature and I co-exist, so I am one with nature."

Where does sustainable development fit in the framework of eastern thinking? In the 1990s, there was a trend among Chinese reformers to promote the idea that only by developing science, technology and the economy can growing environmental problems be resolved. Professor Ji takes the opposite view. He thinks science is not the only solution, since without a value system, the search for a solution is like a directionless ant without antennae. In his view, it is the system-wide, comprehensive eastern approach of "Man and Nature are One" that should drive the search for environmental sustainability. Thus, Professor Ji revived the debate over how to integrate environmental sustainability and economic growth within Chinese cultural tradition.

My readers know that I have increasingly advocated system-wide thinking in the context of studying current financial and economic problems. Indeed, following the recent global financial crisis, we have become aware that financial problems are inseparable from ecological problems: Both stem from the same root issue of excessive human consumption of Mother Earth's limited resources, with leverage being the source of funds spent on over-consumption.

The mainstream economics profession is still using fiscal and monetary tools and concepts developed sometimes as far back as the 1930s, based on Keynesian or Friedman free-market thinking, to solve problems of the 21st century. Partial analysis of system-wide problems of global governance and markets with limited and limiting national control is failing. The bulk of the modern academic and professional economic profession is still trapped in the old mindset.

In every crisis, we have seen repeatedly this problem of fighting the issues of the present with the tools of the past. Professor Ji quoted the Chinese Republican philosophy Liang Qichao (1873-1929) as saying that to use the old (Qing Dynasty) mindset for practices in the new republican system would be impossible.

Actually, there is one strand of western science that is rapidly evolving toward the eastern approach, although this is still not yet western mainstream thinking. This new area is environmental science, which has re-discovered the need for a "holistic world view, seeing the world as an integrated whole rather than a dissociated collection of parts," according to Californian physicist and systems thinker Fritjof Capra, who first explored the Chinese origins of modern physics in his 1975 book, "The Tao of Physics."

Capra understood that Western analytical thinking was dominated by the mechanistic world view of Descartes and Newton. This view persists in dominant, neoclassical economic thinking. Capra compares and contrasts western self-assertive thinking and individual-centered values with eastern integrative thinking and social values.

Both Professor Ji and Capra were basically heading in the right direction. The dominant logical, linear and mechanistic approach is partial and does not add up when considered against the whole system. The sum of partial analyses always adds up to a fallacy of composition. There is consistently a failure to see the global economy and ecological system as dynamic, inter-dependent systems, with complex interconnectivity and feedback mechanisms, and driven by values and incentives that the old paradigm can neither explain nor well predict.

The biggest blind spot for the old paradigm is an assumption that man, through science, has conquered nature. Failing to see that nature and man are inseparable, some decided that ecology does not matter. But wanton exploitation of natural resources would ultimately lead to mankind's destruction, as he destroys his own environment.

The eastern philosophical idea that man and nature are one evolved as ancient Asian experiences accumulated, including natural disasters and human failings. What eastern philosophers have failed to do in the modern world is explain using western science and technology terms what the values of "man and nature are one" mean in daily practice. This is why western scientists often treat eastern philosophy as mystical and without scientific basis.

Of course, linguists and cultural specialists like Professor Ji are not ecological scientists nor policymakers. He may not have the tools of modern science and technology, but he is surely right that a value system must drive science and technology, not the other way around.

This debate over values driving the economic model has become crucial for the current debates about corporate social responsibility, and putting the planet and people ahead of profits. In stark terms, the most "profitable" businesses are those that pollute and exploit people the most. How to restrain wanton capitalist profit-making and balance this with social equity/justice and ecological awareness is what one ecologist calls the triangle that includes capitalism, socialism and environmentalism.

The current debate in China over GDP fever demonstrates the social costs of blindly pushing for fast growth as a solution to all social problems. Eastern philosophy would suggest that it is neither fast nor slow growth that matters, but what counts is the golden mean of sustainable growth. In the broader sense, sustainable growth means not only sustainability with the environment, but also what is sustainable for one's neighbors.

One reason why the world has gotten into both financial and ecological crises is the failing of mainstream economic thinking. The hedge fund manager and market philosopher/philanthropist George Soros created the Institute for New Economic Thinking in order to try and force economists into new ways of thinking more applicable to the 21st century.

The major failure of mainstream economics is the way in which national income (GDP or GNI) calculations almost completely ignore natural resource depletion costs, and have under-priced pollution and other externalities.

The economic argument that market prices are the best allocators of resources is not wrong. But if market prices have not factored in the depletion of water, fossil energy and other natural resources, as well as the hidden costs of pollution and carbon-warming, then the current set of market prices, driven by incomplete information and speculation, cannot be right. It's not that the market or state intervention are wrong, but the standards for measuring prices and costs upon which the market and state act are wrong.

Life is about change, and change comes from interactions between man and man, and man and nature. A new paradigm is necessary, and chances are it will integrate the old.

Thus, my view is that irrespective of whether the rivers flow East or West, what happens is that when they meet the sea, they form a new body of water. This is not a matter of the East dominating West or West dominating East. History will make that decision. Meanwhile, the evolution or emergence of a new paradigm will come from a blend of eastern and western thought.

I Ching emphasizes that change comes from the confluence or competition of opposite poles, ying and yang, East and West. Out of opposites emerges a new system or paradigm. Life will thus always evolve from different, competing perspectives.

In other words, eastern scientists trained in western technology should not forget their own value systems. Western philosophers and ecologists are increasingly aware that their present paradigms should change for a more complete, comprehensive view of the world.

My perceptive Indian friend Rajiv Kumar commented that 30 years ago, when China embarked on market reforms, only capitalism could save China. Today, at the height of the western financial crisis, only China can save capitalism. This may be a poetic exaggeration, but there is no doubt that the rise of China has posed unanswered questions for the global geo-political balance, as well as important questions about whether the Chinese model of growth is ecologically sustainable.

In my view, Professor Ji has contributed greatly to this important philosophical debate. My translation and interpretation of his ideas may be faulty, but surely the wider availability of his work in English and other languages will encourage an important discourse between East and West.

(Used with the kind permission of Andrew Sheng)

From Asian to Global Financial Crisis: An Asian Regulator's View of Unfettered Finance in the 1990s and 2000s

Andrew Sheng - Author

This is a unique insider account of the new world of unfettered finance. The author, an Asian regulator, examines how old mindsets, market fundamentalism, loose monetary policy, carry trade, lax supervision, greed, cronyism, and financial engineering caused both the Asian crisis of the late 1990s and the current global crisis of 2008-2009. This book shows how the Japanese zero interest rate policy to fight deflation helped create the carry trade that generated bubbles in Asia whose effects brought Asian economies down. The study's main purpose is to demonstrate that global finance is so interlinked and interactive that our current tools and institutional structure to deal with critical episodes are completely outdated. The book explains how current financial policies and regulation failed to deal with a global bubble and makes recommendations on what must change.

Reviews:

"In this fascinating study, Andrew Sheng combines the insights of a well-trained macroeconomist, a hard-nosed financial supervisor, and an astute inside observer of Asian politics and culture. The result is a broad-ranging, occasionally idiosyncratic, and always thought-provoking analysis of the Asian financial crisis; and a trove of lessons for thinking about the current global crisis." ― Sir Andrew Crockett, JP Morgan Chase

"There can be no-one better placed than Andrew Sheng to explain the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s and its links to the credit crunch we are now enduring. His deep knowledge of the dynamics of Asian economies is complemented by an insider's understanding of the networks of global finance. The result is a fascinating panorama, full of valuable insights." ― Sir Howard Davies, London School of Economics

"Andrew Sheng brings his extensive Asian and global regulatory experience and his analytic and expositional abilities to bear in this remarkable book. The bulk of the book consists of a fascinating and hard-hitting account of the Asian financial and economic crises, which is an essential read. As a bonus, the book is enriched - as is the reader - by Sheng's insightful analysis of the current financial crisis and its ramifications, with which it concludes." ― Stanley Fischer, Governor, Bank of Israel

"Andrew Sheng's knowledge of financial events and institutions in East Asia make him the quintessential insider. But this book is much more than a chronicle of the period from the great Asian crisis of 1997-98, up to and including the present global crisis. Nowhere will one find a more insightful analysis of this period, in particular of what happened in the impacted debtor economies of Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, and Malaysia, but also of the destabilizing financial events in Japan as their principal creditor, which so greatly aggravated the 1997-98 crisis." ― Ronald McKinnon, Stanford University

"Until now, there have been very few books that have compared the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s to the current global financial crisis that has also greatly impacted Asia. Mr. Sheng has a rich and unique experience in the financial sector that enables him to systematically analyze both financial crises. This book will enlighten us and deepen our understanding of the roots of the crisis, and help us in our scientific outlook on development." ― Liu Mingkang, China Banking Regulatory Commission

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The life of a 13-year-old in rural China

Those who live in flourishing cities may find it hard to imagine the life in a remote mountain village.

Wang Leimei, 13, lives with her parents and six-year-old brother in a rundown cottage in Xialao village in Xundian Hui and Yi autonomous prefecture in Southwest China's Yunnan province, where life is much different to the hustle and bustle of the city.

There is no traffic to be seen or heard near their small cottage which has no furniture except for a small table.

Every morning during summer vacation, Wang Leimei gets up early to study for an hour before helping her mother prepare the breakfast.

After eating, she helps with farm work in the mountains where the family plant potatoes for a living. "My best childhood memory is that mom and dad had bought me a Miao skirt after selling potatoes," Leimei said.

For most adults that would be a grueling day, but Leimei and her mother then cross over two mountains to start their next task of mowing the grass for horses.

In the evening after they return home she learns needlework from her mother and feeds the pigs after supper.

Leimei recently graduated from primary school and will go to middle school 20 kilometers away from her home when her summer vacation ends. She hopes to pay back her parents by diligent learning.

Wang Lemei, 13, reads books in bed after waking up in Xialao village in Xundian Hui and Yi autonomous prefecture in Southwest China's Yunnan province.

Wang Leimei helps her parents do homework.

Wang Leimei and her parents eat breakfast.

Wang Leimei and her family head out to do farm work.

Wang Leimei does grueling farm work.

Wang Leimei and her mother mow the grass for horses feed on a mountain.

Wang Leimei carries grass home for horse feed.

Wang Leimei cuts wild vegetables for pig feed in the courtyard.

Wang Leimei learns needle work from her mother.

Wang Leimei climbs up a tree to pick apples.

Wang Leimei plays with her friends in the courtyard.

Wang Leimei's family photo,

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China's Eight Principles for Economic Aid

China's Eight Principles for Economic Aid and Technical Assistance to Other Countries (Jan 1964)

1. The Chinese government always bases itself on the principle of equality and mutual benefit in providing aid to other countries. It never regards such aid as a kind of unilateral alms but as something mutual.

2. In providing aid to other countries, the Chinese government strictly respects the sovereignty of recipient countries, and never attaches any conditions or asks for any privileges.

3. China provides economic aid in the form of interest-free or low-interest loans, and extends the time limit for the repayment when necessary so as to lighten the burden on recipient countries as far as possible.

4. In providing aid to other countries, the purpose of the Chinese government is not to make recipient countries dependent on China but to help them embark step by step on the road of self-reliance and independent economic development.

5. The Chinese government does its best to help recipient countries complete projects which require less investment but yield quicker results, so that the latter may increase their income and accumulate capital.

6. The Chinese government provides the best-quality equipment and materials manufactured by China at international market prices. If the equipment and materials provided by the Chinese government are not up to the agreed specifications and quality, the Chinese government undertakes to replace them or refund the payment.

7. In giving any particular technical assistance, the Chinese government will see to it that the personnel of the recipient country fully master the technology.

8. The experts dispatched by China to help in construction in recipient countries will have the same standard of living as the experts of the recipient country. The Chinese experts are not allowed to make any special demands or enjoy any special amenities.

Premier Zhou Enlai's Three Tours of Asian and African countries

After the Bandung Conference, relations between China and other Asian and African countries grew ever stronger, and the exchange of visits between their leaders became more and more frequent. In order to further consolidate and develop the friendship between China and these countries, Premier Zhou Enlai made three official and friendly tours of Asian and African countries.

From the end of 1956 to early 1957, Premier Zhou Enlai and Vice-Premier He Long made a tour of eight countries: Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Burma, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal and Ceylon. Premier Zhou called that a tour to seek friendship, peace and knowledge. Since the tour took place soon after the "Suez Canal War" and the Polish and Hungarian Incidents, Premier Zhou explicitly stated China's position on those major international issues in his talks with the leaders of the above-mentioned countries. He emphasized that the colonial people's desire for independence must be realized, that the policy of peace and neutrality of the nationalist countries must be respected and that there must be no interference in the internal affairs of any country. He pointed out in particular that as relations among the socialist countries were of a new type still lacking in experience, they could not be termed perfect and completely normal, and it was vitally important that those countries should all the more observe the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence in their mutual relations.


In the spring of 1960, Premier Zhou Enlai and Vice-Premier Chen Yi toured six Asian countries: Burma, India, Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam and Mongolia. As the visit came right after the first armed conflict on the Sino-Indian border, foreign forces unfriendly to China attempted to exploit the situation to sow discord between China and its neighboring countries. Premier Zhou used the tour to fully express China's sincere desire for amicable and good-neighborly relations with its neighbors. During Premier Zhou's visit to Nepal, the two sides signed the Sino-Nepalese Treaty of Peace and Friendship and Exchanged instruments of ratification of the Agreement on the Question of Boundary between the two countries. During Premier Zhou's tour in Mongolia, the two sides signed a treaty of friendship and mutual assistance between China and Mongolia, an agreement on economic assistance and another on scientific and technological cooperation.

From 13 December 1963 to 5 February 1964, Premier Zhou and Vice-Premier Chen Yi toured ten African countries: the United Arab Republic (currently Egypt), Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana, Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia. Immediately thereafter, from 14 to 26 February 1964, they visited Burma and Pakistan and , together with Vice Chairman Song Chingling, they visited Ceylon from 26 to 29 February. This tour of 13 Asian and African countries was a major milestone in the development of friendly relations between China and other Asian and African countries.

During the tour, Premier Zhou exchanged views with the leaders of the countries concerned and reached extensive agreement with them on such questions as opposing imperialism, colonialism, racism, expansionism, safeguarding world peace, strengthening unity among Asian and African countries and promoting the friendly relations between China and other Asian and African countries. Premier Zhou stressed that international issues should not be decided by a few big powers alone, the newly-emerged Asian and African countries which have stood up are playing an increasingly important role in world affairs; therefore, it runs totally against the historical trend to ignore the independent will of the newly-emerged Asian and African countries and attempt to write off the status of those countries; all countries in the world, big or small, strong or weak, are equal; anyone who adopts the practice of the big domineering the small and the strong bullying the weak is doomed to failure.

What should be pointed out in particular was that while in the United Arab Republic Premier Zhou put forward the five principles guiding China's relations with the Arab countries, and in Algeria the five principles guiding China's relations with the African countries.

In brief, the five principles guiding China's relations with the Arab and African countries were as follows:

a. China supports the Arab and African peoples in their struggle to oppose imperialism and old and new colonialism and to win and safeguard national independence.

b. It supports the pursuance of a policy of peace, neutrality and non-alignment by the Governments of Arab and African countries.

c. It supports the desire of the Arab and African peoples to achieve unity and solidarity in the manner of their own choice.

d. It supports the Arab and African countries in their efforts to settle their disputes through peaceful consultations.

e. It holds that the sovereignty of the Arab and African countries should be respected by all other countries and that encroachment and interference from any quarter should be opposed.

These five principles represented the concrete application of the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence and a development of the Bandung spirit. Premier Zhou repeatedly stressed that mutual economic assistance among the Asian and African countries was the kind of assistance between poor friends who were in the same boat pulling oars together.

While in Ghana and Mali, the Premier put forward the following eight principles for China's aid to foreign countries:

a. The Chinese Government always bases itself on the principle of equality and mutual benefit in providing aid to other countries. It never regards such aid as a kind of unilateral alms but as something mutual.

b. In providing aid to other countries, the Chinese Government strictly respects the sovereignty of the recipient countries, and never attaches any conditions or asks for any privileges.

c. China provides economic aid in the form of interest-free or low-interest loans and extends the time limit for repayment when necessary so as to lighten the burden of the recipient countries as far as possible.

d. In providing aid to other countries, the purpose of the Chinese Government is not to make the recipient countries dependent on China but to help them embark step by step on the road of self-reliance and independent economic development.

e. The Chinese Government tries its best to help the recipient countries build projects which require less investment while yielding quicker results, so that the recipient governments may increase their income and accumulate capital.

f. The Chinese Government provides the best-quality equipment and material of its own manufacture at international market prices. If the equipment and material provided by the Chinese Government are not up to the agreed specifications and quality, the Chinese Government undertakes to replace them.

g. In providing any technical assistance, the Chinese Government will see to it that the personnel of the recipient country fully master such technique.

h. The experts dispatched by China to help in construction in the recipient countries will have the same standard of living as the experts of the recipient country. The Chinese experts are not allowed to make any special demands or enjoy any special amenities.

These eight principles fully give expression to the sincere desire of China in seeking to conduct economic and cultural cooperation with the newly-emerged countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The thirteen-nation tour enhanced the mutual understanding between China and those Asian and African countries, promoted the friendly cooperation between the Chinese people and the peoples of Asia and Africa as well as the cause of solidarity against imperialism and contributed to the peace, stability and prosperity of the Asian and African region. In particular, the five principles and the eight principles set forth by Premier Zhou established the basic norms governing China's relations with all the other third world countries.

China's foreign aid - China Daily detailed analysis

Chinese workers help build the African Union Convention Center in Addis Ababa, capital city of Ethiopia, on January 27. The seven-story building is expected to be completed at the end of this year.

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People’s Daily: Focus on growth; follow 'China Road'

As President Hu Jintao’s keynote speech celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is being widely studied among Chinese people, the People’s Daily has written a series of front-page commentaries which provides important guidelines for the public reading and assimilation.

Chinese political analysts have looked into the commentaries, and summarized five key lines of policy that should reflect the mainstream thoughts of China’s leadership.

The foremost idea among the People’s Daily commentaries is: China must concentrate on economic development to provide all possible solutions to the problems the country is facing. Though China has attained a lot already, but the ruling Party and the people must not feel complacent. The Party should unswervingly follow the policy of achieving economic prosperity for the vast majority of the people, through vigorously and scientifically growing economy.

Secondly, the CPC must keep learning to be an advanced governing party, which knows to the heart the global trends, particularly the place where China stands among nations, and tries its utmost to be clean, efficient and competitive. It must always be responsive to the people, and win their trust by delivering what the people aspire.

Thirdly, the Party leaders and the Chinese people should keep modest and humble, not content with the huge economic gains China has realized in the past 30 years since late leader Deng Xiaoping initiated the epoch-making reform and opening. There remains a huge distance before China reaches the top of the mountain.

Fourthly, China should stick to Deng’s policy of reform and building a modern socialist country with Chinese characteristics – the so-called “China Road”.

The last policy guideline is that the ruling CPC and the country must cater to young people, as they will hold the flag of China’s hope and future. The youth are asked to learn the knowledge, sharpen their capability, and willing to contribute their efforts to China’s continuous modernization and strengthening.

(Reprinted in Full)

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