The main crux of China's problems

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The Main Crux of China's Problems

Xin
Zhang

East
Asian
Area
Studies

University
of
Southern
California

2

CONTENTS

Introduction

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Case
1:
Story
of
Wu
Lihong,
a
Chinese

Environment
Fighter

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Case
2:
People’s
protest
against
Fujia

PX
chemical
factory
in
Dalian

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16

Prologue

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The
Case
of
Fujia
PX
Chemical

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Case
3:
Toxic
Water
Pipes

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Discussion

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Corruption
–
Not
only
an
issue
of

official
behavior
but
a
problem

deeply
rooted
in
people’s
daily
life

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Losing
trust
–
government
and
it

policies
are
more
like
a
form

of
entertainment
after
a
meal

for
Chinese
people

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34

Virtues
–
Who
cares
about
others?

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A
complicated
mixture
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Everything
is
connected
and
interplayed

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Conclusion

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Bibliography

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3

Introduction

The year of 1943 witnessed the beginning of haze attack, the so-called ‘Gas
Attack’, in Los Angeles. In October 1954, the city was enveloped in haze for a whole
month, causing many problems to people – airplanes could not take off or land, students
were forced to stay at home, and more than 2000 road accidents happened in one day.
Two years later, a survey result showed that nearly 95 percent of Los Angeles residents
had suffered from the so-called ‘Smog Complex’ – stinging eyes, cough, headache and
even vomiting. A fight with haze was launched in the city since then. After more than 50
years of research and control, the air is finally clean again. As a girl who graduated from
USC said, ‘One day I suddenly found out that there were mountains far away north to the
campus. For such a long time studying in USC I never knew there were mountains that
we could see from the campus.’
1
Today, 70 years later, China is playing out the same
scene as Los Angeles was in 1950s. From Beijing to Guangzhou, from Sichuan to
Shanghai, the whole mainland of China is sinking in brown haze, and the situations in
Beijing and Shanghai are particularly serious. Currently Los Angeles is still one of the
most polluted cities in America, and its Particle Pollution PM2.5 is around 25.
Then let us take a look at cities in China. In February this year, PM2.5 in Beijing
was more than 800
2
, and the measuring instrument in Shanghai just exploded. According
to the scientists there, the instrument would explode when value was more than 1000.

1

Fei, Wang. Oriental Morning News, "Briefs External," accessed March 2, 2014. http://www.china-
up.com:8080/international/message/showmessage.asp?id=2131.

2

"Beijing Air Pollution: Real-time Air Quality Index (AQI)," accessed March 2, 2014.
http://aqicn.org/city/beijing/cn/.

4

The Chinese economy has been rapidly developing and achieved remarkable
accomplishment. The whole world began to look at China with new eyes since the
financial crisis in 1998, when so many capitalist and developed countries could not
survive the disaster but China did. Its market economy and socialism with Chinese
characteristics became a profound part of its hard power and soft power. All over the
network media, paper media and word of mouth are amazing figures of Chinese
economic development. In 2012, China’s GDP reached 8.227 trillion dollars
3
, ranking the
second in the world; China’s total volume of import and export in the same year was
3.867 trillion dollars, second only to the US. However, from another point of view, GDP
per capita in 2012 was only 5,432 dollars, ranking the 87 in the world
4
. The “China
Environmental and Economic Accounting Report” published in 2012 pointed out that in
2009, the cost of environmental degradation and ecological destruction in total was
1.39162 trillion dollars, 9.2% increasing from a year earlier, and accounting for 3.8% of
the GDP
5
.
What needs more attention, however, are the problems and obstacles standing in
the way of maintaining the development and reducing negative side effects at the same
time. These latter are accumulated in the long process of economic development during
which people are prevented from seeing these negative things happening, and there is no
way for these problems to be solved in a short run under China’s unique, extremely
complicated and unwieldy bureaucratic system.

3

The World Bank, "GDP (current US$)," accessed February 12, 2014.
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD.

4

China Online, "Rank of Per Capita GDP 2012," last modified January 16, 2013, accessed February 12 ,
2014. http://www.cn1n.com/economy/wnp/20130116/05152307.htm.

5

"China's environmental pollution loss is more than GDP growth," last modified February 02, 2012,
accessed February 12, 2014. http://news.sina.com.cn/green/news/roll/2012-02-02/092323870609.shtml.

5

Every problem adheres to and restricts the solution of other problems. Little effect
would be seen if we try to solve them separately, but a more drastic way would definitely
bring massive impact and severe, or even unpredictable results. The government can
never admit that it is able to afford that kind of aftermath.
This thesis consists of three parts. In part one I will use three special cases to
bring up the discussion of the problem of corruption in China from both top-down and
bottom-up perspective, emphasizing the fact that Chinese people are losing trust in the
government because of corruption – not only the corruption of officials, but also the
corruption that penetrates into daily life. In the second part I will describe the
phenomenon and give several examples of Chinese people losing their moral dimension
and conscience. The third part will be an analysis of the combination of social problems,
corruption and the lack of morality, the connection and interplay of varieties of factors
that make the problems arise and difficult to solve.

Case1: Story of Wu Lihong, a Chinese environment fighter.

One thing that is necessary to highlight before describing this case is that it shows
almost all the problems I mentioned above. It is about a badly polluted lake in China,
which has been treated for nearly twenty years but unsuccessfully, because of the
complication of the Chinese bureaucratic system, the detachment between the central
government and local governments, the corruption that floods each and every segment
of the system, people’s indifferent attitude and their loss of Chinese traditional virtues.
Now let us come back to the case.

6

I initially did not go to see Mr. Wu Lihong, and the reason was very simple —I
was afraid. I am a most ordinary member of the most ordinary Chinese people, having no
power to protest any of our government’s policies. Having majored in politics, I am
aware of problems of our society and our government, I am worried about our polluted
water and air and our country’s future. However, I also have my own life and family,
which I would never jeopardize.
On August 10, 2007, Wu Lihong got a 3-year sentence for ‘extortion’, and his
family, namely his 15-year-old daughter and his wife, were also being watched. Wu was
set free in 2010, but remains under surveillance. This is the reason for my fear of going to
see him. I would be immediately watched if I got in touch with someone who had been
watched for several years as an anti-government protester. What was worse, my family
would also be involved, which was what I was worried about most. My graduate thesis
could not be a reason to get my family into political trouble. Therefore after thinking
twice I made the decision of not going. Nevertheless I could not tell Mr. Wu the truth
since I was afraid of hurting his feelings.
Now here in this thesis, I would like to make a confession that I lied when Mr.
Wu called me to confirm my arrival in Suzhou. I told him that I was too sick to make the
trip. I was indeed sick then, because of the polluted air and the freezing temperature,
suffering a trachitis, bad a cold and a fever. However, I was already in Ningbo, a city not
far from Wuxi, getting ready for the interview.
In the end, the conversation between Mr. Wu and me happened a month later
when I was in Los Angeles. Because of the 16-hour time difference, I got up at 5 o’clock

7

in the morning to call him so that it would not be too late for him to rest. From the other
side of the Pacific Ocean, Mr. Wu told me his story.
Taihu, located in Wuxi, a small beautiful city in Jiangsu Province, in eastern
China, is China’s third largest freshwater lake as well as an important ecological
preservation area. It has been a factor in the local economic development of the city of
Wuxi since the reform and opening up. Wuxi is a land south of the Yangtze River, whose
traditional economy centered on rice and fish. It is a place of great scenic beauty.
Willows are dancing in the breeze and smaller lakes are everywhere around
neighborhoods. On the lake Taihu are pink lotuses and big green leaves, and in the lake
are fish and shrimp playing with each other. Women do washing by the lake, with their
children running and laughing all around. This image is not merely my imagination or
the pictures in books, but the real Wuxi or any other towns south of the river before
1990s. The Taihu area was like this twenty-five years ago, and Taihu was the water of
life for the villagers around it. Wu Lihong was one of them.
In 1989, the water among fields was crystal-clear when the 22-year-old Wu Lihong
was working in the fields with his father. A few days later he saw a stream of dark red
water flow in to the water among fields from far. At that time few people had ever heard
of ‘environmental protection’, and no one noticed the unusual color of water, not to speak
of thinking of the problem of pollution. People then would never know that one day in
the future their living environment would be destroyed by their dreams of economic
development. The problem that is so closely bound up with their daily lives today was so
unfamiliar and distant from them at that time.

8

Wu Lihong, however, was not one of the majority. He suspected the seriousness
of what he saw and had a bad feeling about it. . In 1991, Wu saw more and more
different colors of water flowing among the fields. The water was becoming more and
more turbid and had a light pungent odor. Wu could stand it no longer and started to go
up along the water to search for the reason.
After days of research Wu found out clearly where exactly the water in different
colors came from, and he got angry. The truth was that there were a few factories
upstream discharging sewage, resulting in the pollution downstream.
‘That’s going too far! I will complain to the government about it, for our water!’
He was just an energetic young man who was not aware of what situation he would be
facing in the future. Twenty years later, Mr. Wu still had the same mindset. ‘I am a
descendent of the State, a land of plenty, and this is why I must stand up and speak up.
My thinking is very simple.’
Wu started to negotiate with the factories, hoping for a satisfying response, but
several efforts led to repeated disappointments. He realized that this kind of negotiation
would not make any difference.
I asked him what specifically he had done at that time, and he answered,
‘I simply wanted to work with my fellows in the village to convince the government to
deal with the dirty water, but both my fellows and the government did not listen to me. I
also went to the factories to tell them that they should not be destroying the environment,
and they did not listen to me either. No one understood me. People said that they needed
the factories to run well so that they had jobs to support their lives. The villagers had no
sympathy for me, and the factories and the government lied to me, so I felt very sad.’

9

He then took photos of the sewage and anonymously sent them to the authorities
of the town, the city and even the province to complain about the issue. Soon after,
officials appeared to investigate the factories. Seeing the turnaround, Wu’s heart was
filled with a feeling of achievement. However, nothing changed after the investigation.
More and more small-scale factories appeared and discharged sewage into the water.
Wu was frustrated and began to wonder whether he should keep on doing this thing. He
gave himself a quick and unhesitating answer — yes, he should definitely do this, until
the problem was solved.
From 1991 to 1997, Wu Lihong devoted himself to environmental protection for
seven long years. During this period of time he wrote plenty of anonymous letters
reporting the local and the nearby towns’ and cities’ factories’ illegal activities affecting
the environment. His behavior shocked some large polluters, but they had no way to find
out who did it. ‘They were in the light, and I was in the dark. I hid very well.’ Wu said
with self-mockery, ‘but something bad happened. They always tried to hide their illegal
behavior, so officials from the government could not find any evidence during their
investigation. There were several mass incidents, and the police detained all the people,
including me. But I never lost my heart. I kept on reporting to the central government,
and tried to convince our villagers to protest to the local government and the factories.’
In October 1998, the central government eventually gave serious attention to the
environmental issue in Taihu area and ‘Condition Zero Action’ began as a management
strategy of Taihu. Wu said that he felt the turnaround was finally coming. ‘I have the
responsibility to disclose the truth since the government gave so much attention to it.’ He
got in touch with the headquarters of the action and guided the journalists of the team to

10

the factories. Many chemical factories were exposed and punished during the action. The
team also presented the proposal ‘protecting Taihu, preventing pollution’ to the central
government.
Wu Lihong’s fame as a defender of environmental protection spread beyond his
hometown to other places. Nearby cities invited him to specifically fight against
pollution. However, it was also his fame that made him a thorn in certain factories’ and
government departments’ eyes. ‘Children in my family are very young, and they are
victims of water pollution. Villagers around me, including my relatives, my friends and
my schoolmates, die one after the other because of cancer. I watch them fall down and I
am really sad. I tried to convince the government, including Jiangsu province government,
but it was useless. I was being watched and offered money, but I did not care about being
watched and I refused to be bought.’ Wu told me on the phone.
To prevent Wu from continuing to complain, the leadership of the town promised
him a six-million-yuan business. The manager of a local large chemical factory promised
to give him a twenty-million-yuan business. There also fancy houses offered to him by
some enterprise. He refused all of them and said that he would never accept money
tainted by polluters. He would feel much more secure and comfortable making twenty
yuan a day by working hard.
The Wuxi government valued Wu Lihong’s fame and gave him a position in the
environmental protection administration. However, he left after two years. Why?
According to his words, it was because ‘something is wrong with Chinese bureaucratic
system. You cannot speak if you are a cadre. Well, you can speak, but you cannot tell the
truth. For instance, there are a hundred cadres in the government. I am telling the truth

11

but the other nighty-nine cadres are not, so they are always trying to put me down and
expel me. I was not happy working there. I have my faith and ideal, so that is not the
place where I belong.’
His behavior and ideas were not understood or accepted by most people. A Civil
servant in China is one of the best jobs that people dream of, having enjoyment of
welfare benefits and stable lives. He just voluntarily gave it up. However, Wu always
believed that he did what he should do and that it was absolutely worth it. He said,
‘I saw the water around chemical factories was more and more polluted, and I wrote
complaint letters to report it to the central government. I wrote thousands of letters, and
one of them eventually was given to Premier Wen Jiabao.’ Wen came to Taihu area as
soon as he got the letter. However, during Wen’s inspection tour in Taihu Wu was put
under house arrest by local government. The sewage around chemical factories was
changed to clean water, and a few fishermen were sent by the government to fish by the
side of the lake.
After Wen’s inspection tour Wu Lihong was accused of deceiving the Premier.
He was quite upset and kept on collecting samples of sewage. He asked several PhD
students to help him test the water to prove that it was polluted. He had repeatedly gone
to Beijing to petition. He also cooperated with a television station to film a documentary
about environmental protection, named ‘ The Handprints of Love.’ President Hu Jintao
watched it and made an instruction saying that the pollution in Taihu area must be
eliminated. He then sent a team down to the area for investigation, and the result turned
out to be the same as what happened Wen Jiabao’s inspection tour.

12

Wu Lihong, again, was accused of deceiving the president of the country. By this point,
Wu let out a sigh and repeated what he had said many times,
‘Alas, I feel so disappointed…’
Under pressure, the factory, where Wu was working after leaving the
environmental protection administration fired him, and the excuse they gave was ‘absent
from meetings with factory’s managers.’ He was not satisfied with the excuse and went
to the manager of the factory demanding to know the real reason, and was warned,
‘Environmental protection is not your business. Why should you worry about this thing
that even the government does not worry about?’
What was worse, his wife was fired a few days later, and his other family
members also got into trouble. All the people around him began to complain and warn
him not to pursue the matter, or they would lose their jobs innocently. ‘People in this
world are busy with their own businesses. We have no time and energy to think of the
public environment,’ they told him.
The only thing that Wu Lihong insisted on throughout was never giving up, which
fomented resentment of more enterprises. They tried to force him to yield by threat,
intimidation and violent attack. In August 2003, Wu was badly beaten by people hired by
a local chemical factory, which was one of the largest taxpayers in town. It was quite
predictable that the local police termed it as only a ‘general security case’ and never
pursued it further.
Wu’s eight-year-old daughter once got a call from a stranger, saying that someone
would strike off her father’s hands and feet. Wu kept silent for a while after telling this,

13

and then he said, ‘I saw one day on my way home that there was a poster on the wall with
words threatening to put me into jail, and it was made by our local police chief.’
He laughed and kept on talking in a ironical way,
‘You see, Chinese public security bureau is underworld and the public security men are a
gang of hooligans. But I was not scared of them, and I must tell the world of their
ridiculous behaviors and actions. There are so many abundant cities around the Taihu
area. None of them was a ‘National Environmental Protection Model City’ decades ago
when there was no pollution at all. Now the model cities are everywhere even though
sewage is flowing among the fields. I brought pictures of the sewage and bottles of
samples of the water to the news media, local government and the State Environmental
Protection Administration. I told them that decades ago this water was clean and was our
life water, but thanks to the chemical factories that are making contributions to the
economic development, we could not drink the water any more. How could the central
government call these cities models? According to my knowledge, it is because the
officials in central government collude with the local ones, so that all of them can make a
fortune. They are fooling us ordinary people, so I must expose them, and accuse them!’
Wu’s voice became emotional and excited. He repeatedly accused the local
officials who colluded with the polluters as well as officials from the central, and he was
the only ordinary person who dared to do this. It was too huge for the local leadership to
tolerate, and they had a private talk to him, telling him not to ‘get us into a place where
we could not eat and sleep well, or we would make an excuse and put you into prison.’
Wu’s fellows in town persuaded him to leave at night. They earnestly told him
that the local government was unreasonable, so escaping immediately would be the best

14

way to save himself as well as his family. He nevertheless refused because he believed in
what he was doing, and he would never run away. Facts proved that this time the
leadership was not just threatening him. Seven days after the talk, a hundred policemen
besieged his house at night and surrounded him and his family.
‘They tied me up and hung me up in a little room. It was like in the movies. They
beat me so much that blood was all over my body, and they burned my arm with
cigarettes. You can still see the scars on my arm. For six days and five nights, I was
beaten everyday and had no food to eat. They said that I was a part of anti-government
and anti-China forces. After two hundred days they accused me of ‘extortion’ and kept
me in jail for another three years.’
Wu was always worried about the problem of pollution when he was in jail. After
three years’ life isolated from outside, Wu expected to see improvement of water quality
when he was set free. However, there was no improvement at all but worse pollution.
Five million people’s health became endangered and two million people had no drinking
water. ‘I saw a lot of flowers along the road. People’s lives are jeopardized but they
would rather spend a significant amount of money on those things than controlling
pollution.’
The only consolation would be his fellows’ changing attitude toward his efforts
on environmental causes. Few people understood or sympathized with him sixteen years
ago when Mr. Wu just started his action of environmental protection, but sixteen years
later, after seeing more and more people around them falling down because of cancer
brought by water pollution, they realized that Mr. Wu was right. Money, cars and houses
are meaningless when compared with health and life. People currently are becoming

15

more and more supportive to Mr. Wu. He convinced one of his friends to finance an
environmental protection ad in the New York Times. ‘It is impossible to put such
advertisement on our domestic media. I therefore asked my friend if he would like to pay
for that, and he was moved by my sincerity.’ The advertisement appeared in the
newspaper on January 23, 2014. It was about protecting the environment, cleaning the air
and saving the earth. ‘The whole Mainland China does not have a clean city, or a clean
river. I have to ask international society to help us if our government does not care about
our environment.’ Mr. Wu said.
Currently corruption and pollution are the first two tasks on the list of the central
government. Data shows that today Beijing, the capital city of China, and several other
cities, are not inhabitable for people because of the haze smog. Water pollution is also
hazardous to people’s health. There is no way to solve the problem of pollution
efficiently without eliminating corruption. Making profits and getting promotions are
always the first two things that the officials in Chinese bureaucratic system think of. On
this basis alone, do they consider doing something that might be helpful to solve public
problems? Wu said, ‘Most environmentalists, for instance, are not really devoting
themselves into environmental protection. They are top students graduated from top
universities, and they can speak different kinds of languages. These fly all over the
world to attend conferences and get varieties of funds and awards. Besides this they do
nothing. I have done a lot of meaningful things, and I am forbidden to go abroad. I have
only a small role compared with those environmentalists, but my actions have shocked
our president and our premier and they came here to see what was happening. I have been

16

put into jail for years and I am still being watched because of this business. They are just
enjoying their positions.’
Both Mr. Wu and I believe that the official environmentalists in China display the
characteristics I have described above. Their life goal is to get richer and more powerful
instead of making contributions to building a better living environment. They are the ones
who have the funds and power to control pollution and improve the environment, but the
first and most important thing in their lives is enjoying what the funds and power have
brought to them. What is more, the loss of morality is not just happening to official
environmentalists, but is also widespread among ordinary people, as I will describe.
Even though more of Mr. Wu’s fellows are becoming supportive, a large number
of them are still not aware of the seriousness of the problem. ‘I was very unhappy when
having dinners with my relatives and friends during New Year vacation. All they were
talking about was that someone was surfeited with good clothes and good eating, living
an affluent life, or some one bought an Audi or BMW. They got mad at me when I tried
to say something about social virtues, politics or environmental protection.’ Mr. Wu
complained with frustration. Mr. Wu is still fighting for a better living environment even
under surveillance and pressure. He cannot sleep well when the water flowing outside his
window is still being polluted.

Case 2: People’s protest against Fujia PX chemical factory in Dalian

Prologue

17

It was half past six in the morning. The window was open a little bit. A new day started
in quietness and no one had yet awakened. I was sitting in front of my little window,
seeing the world outside showing the color of morning. It was a best time for recalling.
The memories of my childhood, which were similar to ones of Mr. Wu, came into my
mind. My birthplace is Dalian, a prosperous coastal city in China, but my ancestral home
was a small village in Benxi, an industry city in the northeast of China. My grandparents,
an uncle and two aunts are still living there today. Fifteen years ago it was a poor, small
village with only hundreds of people living there. In my memory, five yuan then was
quite a lot of money to my grandparents. Villagers got up early in the morning to farm
and return late at night. The harvested foods were not only for self-sufficiency but also
for bartering for other commodities. Everyone was friendly and honest with each other. A
long river wound through the village, with tall reeds standing along side the river. At that
time the water was clear and had plenty of fish and shrimp, the same scenery as was it in
the regions south of the Yangtze River I have mentioned above.
Women did their laundry and children were swimming in the river. I always went
to catch fish with my brothers and my grandfather then, and return home with a little
barrel of fish that we could bake for dinner. I am impressed me most is that I once caught
one of the ducks raised by my grandmother, and I ran with it in my hand all the way to
the river. I put the duck on the river to see it swimming, and I surprisingly saw that there
were two of them. Then I realized that it was its reflection in the river. I looked up, seeing
the whole world, including the green reeds, the blue sky and the white clouds, were
reflected on the river, which was so beautiful that I forgot to go home.

18

Thing began to change when I was fifteen. I went back to my grandparents’ home
and walked along the river, just as the 22-year-old Mr. Wu went along the water flowing
through fields, finding that the river became turbid and the fish and the rocks on the
bottom could not be seen clearly. I asked my families for an explanation, and they told
me that a mine was opened in the mountain, discharging all the dirty water into the river.
I was asked not to talk about this issue with other villagers since some of them are
investors of the mine. Even being not quite aware of words like ‘pollution’ or
‘environmental protection’ then, I suddenly had a bad foreboding that the clear river and
the happy days I had with it would never come back again. Later the facts proved my
foreboding right. Since then every time I went back there the river would be more
polluted than the year before, and it began to smell bad. The last time I was there was at
the beginning of 2012, and what was flowing across the village was a river of dirty
yellow ink with pungent smell. All the fish and shrimp had died and there would never be
a child swimming in it. These memories made me feel the same way as Mr. Wu did. I
realized the that what prompted him to stand out and protest was not only that he worried
about people’s health and life, but, more importantly, it was hard for him to watch the
river that he grew up with and loaded his memories of childhood was polluted and do
nothing. He could not just stand by and do nothing, by himself, because what was lost
was not only the quality of the water, but his whole wonderful childhood. There was
more heartache than disappointment watching the river being polluted.
However, I was not that brave to investigate the mine, to convince my fellows
around me to shut down the mine, to protest the local government or to expose the
investors. My uncle was one of the investors. What could I do? Writing this paper is the

19

only thing I have ever done, to express my opinions and feelings, which is totally
unhelpful to the polluted water and environment of my hometown.

The Case of Fujia PX Chemical

Fujia PX is a chemical factory that started in the year 2007 in Dalian and has tens
of tanks full of dangerous chemicals. On August 8, 2011, typhoon Muifa struck Bohai
Bay, the northeast of China where PX factory was located in, breaching one of the
factory’s protective dykes. The nearest two tanks with chemicals were only 50 meters
away from the breach.
6
The local armed police, public security and PLA were then
prepared for rescue and evacuation work. This accident attracted the local people’s
attention and caused a large-scale panic, because the breach highlighted the possibility of
a future storm or other natural or artificial event that might breach the tanks, flooding the
city with the highly toxic chemical. A small group of activists started to organize a sit-in
protest and demonstration by publicizing messages on Weibo, Tianya forum and other
social network platforms. A surprisingly large number of people made response to this
plan. On August 14, more than twelve thousand people went to the square where the local
government was located to support the sit-in protest voluntarily, and later a large-scale
demonstration began. People went across the whole city to show their anger to the
government’s permitting such a dangerous factory’s existence. The demonstration was
said to be the largest one since the Tiananmen Square Protest.

6

Wikipedia, "Dalian PX protest," accessed January 25, 2014.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalian_PX_protest.

20

As mentioned above, Dalian is my hometown…and August 13 is my birthday! I
went to the square and joined the sit-in protest the day after my birthday, as a present for
myself. Some of the people on the scene were holding posters and slogans with words of
anti-PX, some of them were shouting loudly toward the government building, and others
were singing songs. Some said that people in Dalian should have not been so scared since
it was just a breach and nothing happened. However, people were not suffering from
imaginary fears then.
On July 16 2010, the pipeline of PetroChina in Dalian exploded and tons of oil
spilled and flowed into the sea, and a second explosion happened on October 24, three
months after the first one, causing a huge pollution to the environment. A thick layer of
oil was flowing all over the sea, and the original white and golden sand beach became
black. The seafood then had a strong taste of oil, so people stopped eating seafood for
quite a long time. A series of environmental issues establish the bomb of people’s strong
anger and panic, and the incident on August 8 just set off the fuse. The 8-14 events
therefore was not acting on impulse, but a result of accumulation of growing discontent
and fear.
However, no matter how dissatisfied people were, and no matter how strongly
people responded to the event, a week later, everybody left it behind and went back to
their normal lives, and no one followed up the progress. Although at the end of that day
the mayor of Dalian stood on the top of a police car, promising to all people in front of
him with a loud-speaker that the PX factory would shut down immediately and relocate
as soon as possible, no one had ever traced whether it was shut down or relocated. As a

21

matter of fact, it was still working in 2013. Insiders revealed that it has been working for
more than a year in secrecy.
7

We can reasonably speculate that most of the workers in the factory are from
Dalian. The good secrecy means that no one of them has ever say a word of it, even
though they are still victims of pollution. Why is it happening? They need the job to
make money and support their families’ lives. They have the responsibility of taking care
of not only themselves, but also their parents, their husbands or wives and their children.
They dare not to tell the truth since it would make them lose jobs. How can we ask
someone to care about the environment when he/she is having a problem of survival?
However, there are always a few people belonging to minority, who care more
about public issues, such as environment, corruption or terrorism, than their personal
lives, or even their safety. These people are actually the same as everyone in China —
they are ordinary people without enough money or power to protest with governments,
and if they do they would definitely get in trouble. They nevertheless make the choice of
protesting and offering their safety and stable lives in exchange for a better society and a
better living environment.

Case 3: Toxic water pipes

On January 21, 2014, ‘Focus Report’, a news and commentary section on CCTV,
reported a case closely related to Chinese people’s health and daily life.
8
‘Focus Report’

7

Deutsche Welle, "Dalian PX program does not stop, local government breaks promise," last modified
January 21, 2013, accessed January 25, 2014. http://www.dw.de/大连ｐｘ项目悄然复产政府丧失诚信/a-
16538174.

22

is one of the most famous TV programs in China. It has received a favorable response
since its launch in 1994, because it can be said to be the only new program on CCTV that
dare expose dark side of the government and the society and tell the truths.
9
The edition
on January 21 is only one of the truths it has revealed, but the case is quite typical and
representative.
Water is indispensable in people’s survival and daily life. Almost every family in
China is using running water from pipes, which means that every person’s health and life
is bound up with these pipes delivering water. Strange phenomenon recently is happening
in Chinese water pipes markets – the market price of water pipes is 9,000 to 10,000 yuan
per ton, but the price of the raw material – polyethylene - that is used to make water pipes,
is about 13,000 yuan per ton. It is unreasonable to see the price of raw material is much
higher than that of products. This is not a single case but a common view in the whole
pipe markets in southern China. This phenomenon attracted ‘Focus Report’ program and
then several undercover reporters were sent to Jiangsu province to do investigation
secretly.
Jiangsu province has a long history of water pipes production and a large number
of manufacturers. An undercover reporter walked in a production room of a water pipes
factory, seeing what was all over the ground were not polyethylene particles, the normal
raw material of water pipes, which is white. Instead, there were barrels of particles in
different colors – some were livid, some were dark black, and the others are colorful.
Later on he found out that this was happening in every factory he walked in. The truth

8

"Toxic water pipe needs to be controled," Focus Report,
http://news.cntv.cn/2014/01/22/VIDE1390337291993384.shtml.
9

Wikipedia, "Focus Report," accessed February 25, 2014. http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/ 焦点访谈.

23

was that all of the factories, instead of using100 percent polyethylene that meets
standards, were using recycled materials mixed with polyethylene, to make water pipes.
Some of them were just making pipes using only recycled materials.
Through a series of conversations with bosses of different factories the reporter
learned that they would make pipes according to customers’ requirements, including
price and percentage of raw materials. Customers were mostly building materials
businesses and construction contractors who got the low-priced products and sold them at
high price and the high profit would be self-evident.
Now let us take a look at the true colors of these recycled materials. There is a
production chain that is not large but quite stable, including water pipe manufacturers and
recycled materials manufacturers. The reporter then went to a number of recycled
materials factories and saw scenes that were shocking and infuriating. There were three
different resources for the three different recycled materials – the colorful particles were
from recycled plastic water pipes, the dark black ones were from rubber that were peeled
off from cables and electric wires, and the livid ones were from medical wastes such as
infusion bottles and needles, and barrels that used to contain chemicals. When asked
whether the recycled materials from those barrels would be toxic, one of the bosses said
confidently, ‘this you should rest assured. We always wash the barrels with hydrogen
peroxide first, and then we make them into particles. This is the best material for water
supply pipes.’ Clearly these manufacturers have never taken people’s health or even life
safety in to consideration. Getting high profit and winning in the competition are their
priorities. One of the bosses said loudly, ‘how could we not use recycled materials? More

24

than 200 factories are using them. How could we compete with them without recycled
materials?’
These manufacturers who are making such water pipes that can cause heavy
damage to people’s health feel really proud of their wealth and success. They obviously
have become successful examples for other villagers. A boss of a big-scaled factory said
proudly, ‘many cities, including Fuzhou, Suzhou and Hangzhou, are ordering pipes from
my factory. Tomorrow we will deliver 40 million tons of pipes. We deliver everyday.’
Water pipes are installed underground, and their lives are fifty years; therefore it
is hard to test after their installation. The municipal water pipes main lines, and those
installed in neighborhoods are branches. Main lines and branches form a closed system in
which one pipe’s problem results in the damage of the whole system of an area.
According to the investigation, the current situation is that there are several systems that
are using toxic pipes. I cannot imagine how many people are right now endangered.
Mr. Wang, the secretary-general of the Pipeline Committee of China Plastics
Processing Industry Association, said in the interview that the sorrow of Chinese water
pipe industry was that the buyers were not always the users. As mentioned, the buyers of
water pipes are construction contractors, and the users are residents. Contractors do not
live in the residential community that they construct; neither do they consider the health
and lives of the residents. However, the real tragedy in my opinion is people’s
indifference toward each other and the loss of their ethical lines. Apart from the fact that
China has strict rules for making water pipes, no one has the right to hurt or kill for
money.

25

The current fact is that we have strict rules, but the phenomenon has been allowed
to exist for years. Every province, every city and every town has its own administration
for Industry and Commerce, Bureau of Quality and Bureau of Health, and none of the
factories has ever been investigated or punished. Why is such amazing thing happening?
One of the bosses told the undercover reporter, ‘local protectionism, of course. Our
factories are making contributions to the development of economy of both our villages
and our towns. Authorities’ investigations are just formality. As long as we pay taxes, we
are out of problems. Taxes must be paid on time!’
Another boss said more frankly, ‘you give fifteen thousand yuan to the Bureau of
Quality Supervision, and you are fine for the whole year. I have a list of the names of
people to whom I must give presents (money).’
The reporter then pretended to be an ordinary person and went to relevant
departments to report the problem. The answers were interesting. The administration of
Industry and Commerce said, ‘about the problem of water pipe we have more information
than you do, but it is not only our responsibility; more departments would be involved to
deal with it. This is quite complicated, and we cannot do it all by ourselves.’ The Bureau
of Quality Supervision said, ‘we would definitely give them heavy punishment with the
police if the problem really exists.’ The answer of the Bureau of Health was, ‘If you are
reporting hundreds of such factories, then just write them down here.’
The last time I watched the video, I clicked the pause button when it was showing
the boss who was standing with his hand on his waist saying proudly that he would
deliver 40 million tons of pipes the next day. I could only see his upper body without
head since the camera was hidden, but his pride was seeping from all over his body. I was

26

looking at the static image, thinking of those hands giving 50,000 rmb to authorities and
how those pipes were delivering water to thousands of households, and my heart was
extremely chilled. No one should ignore the importance of making money and economic
development, and the latter is so much more important since it is the basis of a country’s
survival. However, people should not making money at the cost of other people’s lives
and health. The reason those manufacturers have such behavior is because they do not
care about other people’s life and the life value, that they have no responsibility to people
and the society, and that they have no sense of duty that they are the owners as well as the
protectors of the country.

Discussion:

Pollution currently is the most serious problem that has the worst and widest
influence in China. As previously stated, the bad air condition makes Beijing a dangerous
place for people to live. In addition, an official report says that in China, pollution causes
two birth defects a minute.
10
Besides pollution, China is simultaneously experiencing
many other problems, for instance piracy and copyright issue, safety of food and
commodity products, and the famous long lasting corruption. Some of them are serious,
like problems of corruption and piracy, and the others could be fatal, like pollution and
food and commodity production safety.
Policies are subsequently made to separately deal with the problems – they
investigate big corrupt officials, and put them in jail; they punish manufactories that are

10

Pasternack, Alex, "In China, Pollution Causes Two Birth Defects a Minute: Official," last modified
February 2, 2009, accessed February 15, 2014. http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/in-china-pollution-
causes-two-birth-defects-a-minute-official.html.

27

making products not meeting policies and rules; they restrict cars in Beijing with the
even-and-odd-numbered license plates on alternative days to reduce emissions and
improve the air condition; they put signs on bus stops saying that please line up to get on
the bus and put signs on buses saying please offer your seat to vulnerable people.
Nevertheless, what we have to realize is that these problems do not exist separately, but
have mutual connection and interplay. They exist in reciprocal causation so that changing
one is probably going to change everything. Therefore we must consider all related
problems when we try to solve one of them.
The three cases above represent a common problem – in China, the cost of bribery
is much lower than that of obeying the rules or being punished. In the first case, those
chemical factories have to purchase expensive machines or technologies, which might be
millions of rmb, to clean the water, but it takes only tens of thousands of rmb to bribe the
authorities or pay for the punishment. So in the third case. The cost of producing pipes
would be tens of millions of rmb higher using 100 percent new raw materials than using
recycled materials. Taking the manufacturer who sold 40 millions tons of pipes as an
example, the cost would be hundreds of millions of rmb higher if he used 100 percent
new raw materials to make those pipes. In this case, no one would think twice to make a
choice.
People say that these manufacturers would stop producing dirty things if their
punishment was much higher than now. Sadly, both local law enforcement authorities
and local supervision departments are involved in the system of corruption, and thus no
one is implementing laws and rules. The environmental issue is one of the main negative
side effects of development. The characteristics of Chinese bureaucratic system make it

28

tougher to solve the problem. It is also a typical example of a problem whose failure to be
resolved is caused by a mixture of other problems. The most obvious part of this mixture
is corruption.

Corruption – Not only an issue of official behavior but a problem deeply rooted in
people’s daily life

Needless to say, corruption is the biggest and most age-old problem of the
Chinese bureaucratic system for hundreds of years. Words about this issue has been too
many, but they have never been enough, because it has never been resolved, but rather is
intensifying. At all times and all over the country, there are big or small corruption cases,
and while some of them might not affect the whole or wreck the country, still a least one
case happens every minute everywhere. No officials can break away from corruption.
For China, it is more like a profound, lasting and systematic phenomenon. One of the
most famous corrupt officials in Chinese history must be He Shen, an official in Qing
Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Qianlong, whose hoard of treasures filled his
home
11
. The most well known case in contemporary China should be that of Bo Xilai.
Nowadays the number of corrupt officials is countless. Anti-corruption
campaigns always headline the Chinese government’s and CCP’s every conference, and
is always considered the very first task of daily administration. Even so, the situation
never takes a turn for the better. It is well known that there is hardly any freedom of
speech for Chinese public media. We are seeing improvements of this situation, but

11

360 Library, "Chinese corrupt officials in history," last modified February 18, 2011, accessed February 8,
2014. http://www.360doc.com/content/11/0218/09/3313836_93978366.shtml.

29

staying away from taboos has been the instinct of public media. As a result, looking at
Chinese public media is not a way of learning the truth about Chinese officials, especially
high-ranking officials. If the fact that the very top prime minister has embezzled a
hundred million RMB is true, as is reported by foreign media
12
, why not allow local
officials to get some commissions and live a less sumptuous life? In Chinese bureaucratic
system, those on the bottom follow the behavior of those above in a very popular and
efficient way of getting a promotion.
Traditions and virtues have been for hundreds of years advocated by Chinese
people. Corruption is obviously not a virtue, but it has been a tradition of officials. Since
ancient times, Chinese parents hope that their children can grow up to be officers to make
a lot of money, other than working for the people or making contributions to the country.
The adage ‘winning promotions and getting rich’, as the mark of success, has been
widely spread throughout the history till now.
The current unstated rule is that each official position has its bid price, and the
price is in direct proportion to the level of the position. Everyone except the buyer in this
whole procedure has to get the money and the sum has to be satisfying, or the buyer
cannot get the position. It is unfair to ask someone who has spent such a fortune on
his/her position to be clean and honest after taking office. The money he/she spends on
buying the position counts on it to be earned back. It is said of officialdom, no one could
‘live in the silt but not be soiled ’. Those who are not willing to be stained have been
kicked out of the whole pond at the very beginning.

12

David, Barboza, New York Times, "Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader," last
modified October 25, 2012, accessed February 8, 2014.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/business/global/family-of-wen-jiabao-holds-a-hidden-fortune-in-
china.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

30

Money divides the whole officialdom into different cliques. Several officers are
tied together because of running the same official market. All of them would suffer
disaster if one of them is exposed. This leads to bureaucrats shielding as well as framing
one another. Most of the time the highest officer of a group would expel anyone who has
been or is going to be exposed. This situation is characteristic of local officialdom.
13

High-ranking officials in the central government reveal a different picture. Money
is not what divides them into groups since they are not directly running any markets.
Most of them are descendants of the older generation of proletarian revolutionaries, and
some of them are henchmen of Deng Xiaoping or Jiang Zemin. Those who oppose this
group of people are setting themselves against the founding fathers and heroes of our
country, but no discord is ever revealed between high-ranking officials in single-party
country.
14

We can say that the redundant and complex bureaucratic system and the unique
and adhesive interpersonal relationship result in corruption being entrenched and difficult
to eradicate. That Xi Jinping aggressively started his anti-corruption activities as he just
took office makes all Chinese people look at him and even the central government and
the party with new eyes, because anti-corruption in China is so knotty a task that needs
courage and bravery, even for the president of the country.
At the beginning of last year, Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at a
conference, saying that no corruption would be tolerated and each and every corrupt
official would be relentlessly punished by people and government. He said that the

13

Zhong Yu, "'Officer Market' and Chinese Politics," Modern China Studies, 1 (2006), accessed February
8, 2014. http://www.modernchinastudies.org/us/issues/past-issues/91-mcs-2006-issue-1/943-2012-01-05-
15-35-10.html.

14

Damin Network, "Do not hollow the Letter and Visit Bureau," last modified December 03, 2013,
accessed February 25, 2014. http://www.daminw.cn/news/shiping/2013-12-03/8178.html.

31

government would crack down on corruption regardless of ‘powerful tigers’ or ‘greedy
flies’, and there would be no exception in the face of party discipline and the laws of the
state.
15
The two metaphors attract many experts’ attention and piles of interpretations
come out subsequently. The ‘powerful tigers’ refers to people who are badly corrupted
or/and are in a high-ranking position. The ‘greedy flies’ are people who do not have a big
amount of corruption but their behaviors hurt the vital interests of the people in their
daily lives.
In the past, the Chinese government’s strategy of anti-corruption was “executing
one as a warning to others,’ and the executed one was always a high-ranking official.
Mao Zedong took the same strategy decades ago and killed Liu Qingshan and Zhang
Zishan, who were two famous corrupt officials then (source; citation). However,
currently this strategy is never effective. The unfortunate high-ranking ones are put into
prison or executed, and officials at lower levels are still living their leisurely lives
supported by people’s hard-earned money. What President Xi wants to express by this
policy, interpreted by Chinese experts
16
, is the central government’s ‘zero tolerance’
attitude toward corruption. Different from the missions put forward by previous
presidents, President Xi starts from pointing out the darkest side of the government and
CCP, instead of emphasizing the bright side, such as the ‘three representative’, the
‘scientific outlook on development’, and the ‘harmonious society.’ Some say that Xi is
taking advantage of anti-corruption to eliminate his rivals, and Bo Xilai’s case is a good

15
Phoenix Television, "Xi Jinping: cracking down on corruption regardless of ‘powerful tigers’ or ‘greedy
flies’," last modified January 22, 2013, accessed February 9, 2014.
http://news.ifeng.com/mainland/special/fanfu/content-3/detail_2013_01/22/21469050_0.shtml.

16

Guangming Online (GMW), "'Zero-toleration' to corruption," last modified January 25, 2013, accessed
February 9, 2014. http://politics.gmw.cn/2013-01/25/content_6501698.htm.

32

example, related to what I will further discuss below — the fact that Chinese people are
losing their trust in the government and CCP.
Going back to China, however, I heard different voices. The new policy has been
implemented effectively indeed, but at the same time has negative effects about which the
people complain from time to time. Local governments cancel bonuses, including holiday
bonuses and food of all officers including the lowest-ranking ones. A large number of
low-ranking officers in China count on their bonus to live a not-so-bad life, since the
level of their positions determines the amount of their salaries. Nowadays the price of
products is high, and much higher when it is a holiday, yet people’s income is growing at
a far slower speed. The abolition of bonuses probably is not able to be applied to those
who are high-ranking and corrupt, but it makes ordinary people’s lives less comfortable
than before.
Chinese markets have a custom of selling holiday shopping gift cards. People who
purchase the card will enjoy discounts. In the past many officials will buy cards worth a
huge amount of money to bribe higher-ranking officials. But since last year, the
government strictly controls the use of this kind of card since . Staff from the
Commission for Discipline Inspection are sent to markets to spot check people who use
gift cards. These people have to provide their personal information and the source of their
cards. Anyone suspected will be further investigated, and his/her cards will be
confiscated.
All officials get the information as soon as the central government publicizes the
policy, therefore no one would bribe others with a huge gift card. However, they can

33

easily buy twenty cards with five hundred yuan in each. People who accept bribes would
not use the cards themselves, because they are also aware of the policy.
Current reality shows that most of people who are spot checked by the
Commission for Discipline Inspection are ordinary people, and they purchase gift cards
to enjoy discount.
The new president’s anti-corruption action brings inconvenience to ordinary
people, and it is not effectively solving the problem. Anti-corruption that would have
been welcomed now turns out to be deepening the gap between the officials and the
ordinary people.
When I was back in China, one of my family members witnessed in a market that
a more than sixty-year-old woman was stopped by staff of the Commission for Discipline
Inspection for a spot check when she was checking out. She was asked about the source
of her card, and was required to provide evidence. The old woman pointed at the officer
angrily and said, ‘you leave so many corrupt officials not investigated, and come here to
investigate an old woman using a two-hundred-yuan gift card to buy vegetables. What are
you thinking about? The source of my card is none of your business, and you have no
right to ask me for evidence.’ The old woman was telling the truth. This anti-corruption
action will probably result in a situation in which the corrupt officials are still in power ,
but the quality of ordinary people’s life is going down.
Another policy requires every department and unit to eliminate the tradition of
having dinner together in restaurants.
17
This might restrict officials’ wasteful behavior,
however, it also deprives low-level staff of the right to have normal parties. As a matter

17

People Network, "Central enterprises cancel annual meeting," last modified January 29, 2013, accessed
February 10, 2014. http://energy.people.com.cn/n/2013/0129/c71661-20357580.html.

34

of fact, high-grade private clubs, other than normal restaurants, are the choice of high-
ranking leaders, and these clubs are not exposed in the scope of such investigations.
Wasteful behavior is not reduced but ordinary people’s normal entertainment is
eliminated. On the other hand, holidays and New Years are the time of restaurants’
earnings.
18
The implementation of this policy deprives them of the opportunity of making
money and results in a large number of restaurants’ closing down. Further analysis of the
situation suggests its probable influence on the national economy. The high price of
products and low income of ordinary people, and the unemployment caused by
restaurants’ closing down might reduce domestic consumption.

Losing trust – government and it policies are more like a form of entertainment
after a meal for Chinese people

Corruption makes the people lose trust and confidence in government, which has
a profound and far-reaching influence. The phenomenon of ‘everything is political’ in
China gives the Chinese government irreplaceable position in Chinese society and
people’s daily life. When the government loses its reputation in people’s mind, people no
longer cooperate with the government’s work, even when it is doing the right things.
There is no way for them to find a reason from their lives filled with political flavor to
support a government they do not trust.

18

Chinese Financial News, "Annual Meeting Loses weight, catering industry look for public," last
modified November 29, 2013, accessed February 10, 2014.
http://finance.china.com.cn/consume/syal/20131129/2010447.shtml.

35

The government’s policies and rules in Chinese people’s eyes are ‘floating clouds,’
which means that they are of no consequence, so they do not take them seriously.
Whenever the government issues a new policy, people’s first thought is that it would be
as ineffective as those issued before. It would be the front-page headlines in a variety of
newspapers and magazines for several weeks, and then nothing. Few good policies can be
implemented enduringly and in the right way. People consequently would not like to
positively cooperate with the government and its policies, but are distrustful and
indifferent. How can problems be solved in this situation?
Speaking of losing trust, a majority of domestic and foreign official media
attribute this to Chinese government’s dereliction of duty in controlling housing prices,
inflation and the growing gap of wealth. This is a great weakness of Chinese government.
However, to most of Chinese at the grass roots level, these are not the main reasons that
really matter. It is not a demand of the majority to buy a house, and people are not daily
focusing on inflation and rising prices since they influence people’s life in a more gradual
way. As for the gap of wealth, it is a scholars’ academic concern. The rich do not worry
about the poor’s miserable life, and the poor who are busy surviving their lives would not
be concerned about the rich people’s happiness. Consequently people’s losing trust in the
government is because of what is happening in their everyday life – corruption.
Chinese GDP is increasing greatly every year, but people are feeling their future
under the government becoming more dim and remote. Aside from incredibly high
housing prices, inflation and gap of wealth, each of their steps in life is hard, and the next
step is beyond their efforts and expectation. People’s disappointment in the government

36

has accumulated over a long period, thus the government’s winning back its people’s
trust and confidence will not be easy.
There is no way for Chinese people to express their dissatisfaction and
disappointment. The Letters and Visits Bureau exist in name only, collecting money from
local government sectors that have done bad things to people. Numerous peasants walk
there from their hometown hundreds of miles away, and end up being beaten and
detained, and sent back home by their local government’s officers who chase after them
all the way from their home to Beijing.
19
People can show their dissatisfaction by vote in
multi-party states. In China, however, there is always only one ruling party, whose top
priority is to maintain its dominant position.
The CCP and central government never forget to emphasize the importance of
democracy in conferences’ reports, by stating how big a step they have made every year.
When talking about this, most will mention the People’s Congress, with thousands of
people’s representatives getting together, electing the leadership, and participating in the
administration and discussion of state affairs. However, common sense tells us that the
so-called election is actually a “selection”, and most of common people are aware of a
new policy only after it is implemented. This kind of “democracy consciousness” is
cultivated among young Chinese in their school days. Student unions in Chinese high
schools and universities use the same method to “democratically elect” presidents and
other ministers. By this token, China’s democracy, although it has made some progress,
is still, to some extent, in name only.

19

Damin Network, "Do not hollow the Letter and Visit Bureau," last modified December 03, 2013,
accessed February 25, 2014. http://www.daminw.cn/news/shiping/2013-12-03/8178.html.

37

People in China therefore have not realized full freedom of speech and thought.
Obviously it is much safer for us to discuss dangerous political issues publicly than for
people in Mao’s era. We seemingly can freely discuss the behavior of our government
and CCP on public media, such as Sina weibo. However, the fact is that there are still
plenty of keywords that we cannot touch; otherwise our words, or even account, could be
deleted.
Coming up with his great ‘Reform and Open’ policy, Deng Xiaoping also said in
1980s that, ‘If you open window for fresh air, you have to expect some flies to blow in.’
As a result, Chinese government should be prepared for ‘swatting flies’ anytime.
20
In the
year of 1998, Chinese government initiated the ‘Gold Shield Project’, and it began
operations in November 2003.
21
The mission of the project was building a ‘Great Wall’,
named the ‘Great Firewall of China’, to protect Chinese people from all the information
that has negative influence on China or CCP. Right before the year of 2008, when Beijing
Olympic Games began, a number of foreign websites were blocked, such as
Facebook.com, Youtube.com and Twitter, in order to isolate people from the information
that the government does not want them to see, such as the information on Falungong,
Tibetan separatists or Dalai Lama. The Chinese government’s immediate reaction to
foreign media’s anti-communist comments is to block them, which in fact is negative and
useless. Unlike North Korea, the Chinese government presents itself as a democratic and
free one, and it consequently cannot block everything. People in this case are able to
break through the ‘great wall’ and visit those blocked website by using certain software.

20
R. MacKinnon, “Flatter world and thicker walls? Blogs, censorship and civic discourse in China,” Public
Choice 134 (2008): 31–46.

21
Radio Free Asia, "How China’s Internet Police Control Speech on the Internet," last modified November
24, 2008, accessed February 15, 2014. http://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/china_internet-
11242008134108.html.

38

The closer people get to the concealed information, the lower the credibility the
government would get.

Virtues – Who cares about others?

Another reason that problems are so difficult to solve is the fact that Chinese people are
losing their conscience, moral dimension, and their responsibility for the society and the
country.
Prof. Yan Yunxiang has documented the decline of civic virtue in his book
‘Private Life under Socialism:
‘Emotionality, desires, and personal freedom have become so important in
everyday negotiation and contestation among family members that an individual would
be unlikely to sacrifice his or her interests simply for the sake of reproducing the family.’
Prof. Yan argued that after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China,
the land reform and other revolutionary activity led to “the development of individual
identity and subjectivity, which is unbalanced and incomplete, because the newly
emerged individualism tended to emphasize individual rights and personal interests while
downplaying a person’s obligations to the community and other individuals. In the other
words, many individuals have lost a basic sense of civility and have thus become
uncivil.’
22
These words have become even more applicable to China nowadays. So many
problems that are hard to solve because of not only the side effects of economic

22

Yan, Yunxiang. Private life under socialism: love, intimacy, and family change in a Chinese village,
1949-1999. (Stanford University Press, 2003), 7-8.

39

development, but also the central and local governments’ dereliction of duty and people’s
not cooperating.
In China, people are taught the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation, including
comity, modesty, tolerance, thrift and fraternity and so on and so forth. However, the
question today is where are those traditional virtues? Over five thousand years, after
going through the multiple feudal dynasties, the status of a semicolonial country and tens
of years of war and revolution, the People’s Republic of China was finally established in
1949.
The first generation of China’s leadership who grew up from revolution brought
the spirit and thought of revolution into the nation building. From the 1980s, the reform
and opening up was launched vigorously in China.
‘While opening up new horizons for individual development in certain aspects,
the retreat of the state that started in the early 1980s also created a social vacuum of
moral values and behavioral norms that was soon to be filled by sweeping consumerism
and other values of utilitarian individualism of late capitalist society.’
23

Government’s policies specify the rules for chemical factories to restrict pollution
or for food production to ensure food safety, but these issues are more and more severe
and none of them has been solved satisfactorily. Why is it?
First, the country’s people are willing to do all they can, even jeopardize others’
health and lives, to reduce cost and make profits. Second, the country’s local corrupt
officials use the problems as huge opportunities to make a fortune. Chinese corruption is
a huge system with every level and every government sector being involved in it,

23
Yan, Yunxiang. Private life under socialism: love, intimacy, and family change in a Chinese village,
1949-1999. (Stanford University Press, 2003), 35-36.

40

including environmental protection bureau, bureau of quality supervision and bureau of
health. These problematic factories’ existence is their source of becoming rich, hence law
enforcement does not enforce laws, and inspection authorities do not inspect. However all
these problems are on the surface, under which we need to find out their root cause.
Factories not meeting the rules and corrupt officials trying to benefit from them
have a common and sole mission – making money, as much as possible and the more the
better, and other people’s health and life safety are not quite in their consideration. It does
not cross their mind that whether their behavior meets ‘moral standards’, or ‘conscience’.
Therefore the root cause of all these problems, including corruption, food and commodity
production safety, piracy and pollution etc., and failed governance, is that Chinese people
are losing their moral dimension and conscience, leading to a loss of respect and concern
for others and a lack of responsibility to the society and the country.
The famous case that an old woman accused a young man who helped her when she
fell down on the ground in the street, and the old woman won
24
, almost destroyed the
conscientiousness of Chinese society. Hearing the news that the young man had to pay
for ten percent of the old woman’s medical fee makes no one in China voluntarily help
old people without thinking twice. Things are going worse by some old people who
purposely fall down on the street, and ask for money from people who help them by
saying that it is the helper who pushed them down. October 19, 2011, a two-year-old girl
was hit by a van in the street in Guangdong. The driver stopped for a moment and
continued on, running over the girl again with the van's rear wheels. In the next few
minutes, eighteen passersby walk over and around, seeing the girl lying on the street

24

Netease News, "Man who helped the old woman who fell was fined 40,000 RMB," last modified
September 06, 2007, accessed February 15, 2014.
http://news.163.com/07/0906/05/3NMDBNR600011229.html.

41

bleeding without giving any help, until another truck ran over her again without stopping
or helping.
25
The case shocked the world, and each and every person who has learned the
news is deeply doubtful of Chinese morality and humanity.
The word ‘Sewer oil’, referring to the oil that recycled from waste oil collected
from sources such as restaurant fryers, sewer drains, grease traps and slaughterhouse
waste,
26
came into Chinese people’s daily life in 2010. Investigation showed that one
tenth of cooking oil in market is this kind of oil. It will be sold after being rudimentally
filtrated, boiled and refined. The cost of one kilo of sewer oil is only 0.3 yuan, which is
much lower than the market price 3 yuan and the price of normal oil 9 yuan. Obviously
the sewer oil is dirty, unhealthy or even toxic to people’s lives, whereas there are still a
large number of people using it to lower their cost and gain more profits.
27

Details in daily life are telling the reality that Chinese people are losing their
virtue line as well. Almost no vehicle stops when they see that there are people trying to
go across the street, except that the red traffic light is on. Most of the traffic jams are
caused by two vehicles getting stuck on a narrow road with no one willing to compromise
with the other. People never smile nor say hi to passersby, otherwise others might think
he/she is either abnormal or having some bad intentions. We are not good at caring about
other people’s feeling, health or lives, since we care too much about ourselves. People
care little about others and ignore others’ perspectives on them. Lack of self-discipline
makes us lack power of self-improvement. Nowadays Chinese people’s relative lack of

25

ABC News, "YueYue, Chinese Toddler Run Over in Street and Ignored, Dies," last modified October 20,
2011, accessed February 13, 2014. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/10/yueyue-chinese-
toddler-run-over-in-street-and-ignored-dies/.
26

Wikipedia, "Gutter oil." Accessed February 25, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutter_oil.
27

Andrew, Stein, "A close encounter with China's sewer-oil trade." Grist, last modified October 25, 2010,
accessed January 18, 2014. http://grist.org/article/food-2010-10-25-a-close-encounter-with-chinese-sewer-
oil/.

42

civility has been delivered to each and every corner of the world by Chinese travelers. A
famous story that happened recently is that a fifteen-year-old young man carved ‘ 到此一
游’ (Have visited this place) on the wall of the thousand-year relic Luxor Temple, when
he was traveling in Egypt. He also carved his name on it, which revealed his identity
uncovered by netizens in China.
28
Another interesting story is that, thirty people of a
travel group from China, regardless of repeated requests of airline staff, insisted on
keeping the recyclable steel tableware given out by airline stewardess. They did not give
up until their guide shouted that ‘please do not bring shame on Chinese.’
29
In addition,
numbers of foreign and Chinese tour guides complain about Chinese travelers’ bad
customs. They make a racket in public, seldom line up when they are visiting a display or
at a buffet, and always like to touch items on display. It is Chinese people who pick up
rare coral from sea in Maldives, which is illegal and forbidden, and it is also Chinese
people who tread on grass in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy, and have picnics
on it, which is also illegal and forbidden.
30

A complicated mixture – Everything is connected and interplayed

Technologies nowadays are creating a much more fast-paced, colorful and easier
life for people. People dream of getting to their destination as soon as possible wherever

28

Xinhua
News,
"Foreign
guide
complain
about
Chinese
tourists'
ten
misdeeds,"
last
modified
May
29,

2013,
accessed
January
25,
2014.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/overseas/2013-‐
05/29/c_124777438.htm.

29

Huanqiu News, "30 Chinese tourists on Singapore Airline try to take away knives and forks," last
modified August 28, 2013, accessed January 25, 2014. http://world.huanqiu.com/regions/2013-
08/4296777.html.
30

Sohu, "Chinese tourists eat on the lawn in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa," last modified October 04,
2013, accessed January 25, 2014. http://m.sohu.com/n/387608660/.

43

they are. In the past it would take people one or two months on steamship to travel from
China to America. Now a plane cuts down the time to a few hours. Decades ago the
universe and stars were the most inaccessible mysterious zone that people made hundreds
of imaginary stories to show their desire to go there. Now a spaceship sends people to
outer space in minutes. People are getting more and more curious, and want to obtain
results as fast as they can. This characteristic is completely and extensively embodied in
most Chinese people.
The five-thousand-year history of China equals to a long history of Chinese
traditions and virtues, which are carried by classic literary masterpieces. However, people
are so busy catching up with others in this digital, informational and rapidly working
society, even from a very young age, that they forget these traditions and virtues. Starting
from kindergarten, kids are requested by their parents to learn English (they might be not
able to speak their mother tongue very well), dancing and/or playing piano. The time of
school is filled up with exams and more exams. Students study hard to get a higher grade
rather than to learn more knowledge. After graduation from college, finding a decent job
is on the top of the list. Learning on or from the job is not for enriching oneself, but for
promotion and higher salary. Almost no one has the time to spend days reading a classic
literary masterpiece. Books on the shelves of bookstores are becoming thinner and
thinner, and fewer people probably even look at them. A series of books named ‘A Very
Short History of XXX’, including ‘A Very Short History of Europe’, are warmly
welcomed everywhere.
People with more money and higher position are less willing to spend their time
thinking of virtues and what is right or wrong. What is running in their minds day by day

44

is how to make full use of their positions to gain the biggest profit and simultaneously to
keep their positions safe, and how to get promoted, after benefitting from the current
position, to gain more profits. This is also a part of the popular fast-food culture. People
want everything to be visible, touchable and easy to obtain, including money and power.
They do not like, much less enjoy, the process of cumulating knowledge, experience
and/or fortunes. What they like and enjoy is to live a life with material satisfaction as
soon as possible.
Another characteristic of contemporary Chinese people is to ignore issues that
have no instant and/or direct negative influence on their lives or that might do harm to
their lives. As a result, facing problems of corruption or pollution, the popular thought is:
as long as my family and I am alive and living a life as normal as it always is, and the
second day has no big difference compared with the first day, then I can do nothing about
the one yuan rise of price or one yuan cut of salary, or the color of the sky today is a little
greyer than yesterday. Chinese people have a quite wide scope of tolerance. The only
thing they consider necessary to do is taking care of themselves and their families. Why
do they have such indifference and negative attitude toward the society and the
government?
All Chinese people are aware that it is useless to oppose local governments and
officials as ordinary people, and there is no safe way for them to inform the central
government of their problems. People like Mr Wu who make big noises may get in
trouble because local government would not allow the noises to be heard by the central
government. Their families’ and their own safety comes the first in any case. In fact, even

45

though they are not afraid of losing their safety or even their lives, there is little
possibility for them to make any change, let alone solve problems, so why bother?
The attitude of indifference and self-protection supplement each other. Chinese
people have low expectations and low requirements. It is enough just to allow them to
complain in private. There have been a few times people get together to protest, but their
enthusiasm could only last for several days, and after that certain period of time, most of
them would calm down and not care about the issue any more, even though the problem
is not solved. People’s personal lives are always more important than those issues. The
case of Dalian PX protest, which is also called 8-14 event, is a good example.

Conclusion

Mao Zedong was fond of saying that everything is always connected, and always in
a process of changing and developing. All the problems that China and Chinese people
are facing must confront the characteristics I describe above, and all the problems are
intractable because of these characteristics. The policy makers must consider all issues
that might be connected with the problem they are trying to deal with, and they must
predict as many as possible situations that might happen in the process of solving the
problem when they are making a plan. Another impressive point of Chairman Mao is that
everything has different sides and we need to grasp and pay full attention to the main
issue and its principal contradiction. The root cause for China having the problems I
discussed above and always failing to solve them is the problem of moral and quality
education.

46

In the village where Prof. Yan lived and did social research for decades, ‘human
feelings (Renqing, 人情)’ and ‘Guanxi (interpersonal relationship, 人际关系)’ were very
important social elements. ‘Renqing serves as an important standard by which villagers
judge whether one is a proper social person. In other words, it is renqing that gives
meaning to everyday engagements, interactions, and transactions among villagers.
Without renqing, life is less meaningful and people are dehumanized.’
31
These words in
the past could be applied to the whole country and its people. However, things have
changed a lot. Currently ‘renqing’ has been combined with individualism and materialism,
becoming a means by which people gain their own advantages, such as making more
money or getting a higher position.
It is hard for children to get good and proper moral education. This is the soil that
cultivates Chinese children and it has been polluted by teachers and parents with the
smell of money and position. A child’s life is like a piece of spotless white paper, on
which every passerby leaves a mark. The colors, patterns and words left on it decide what
kind of person he would be in the future. However, the passersby feel no responsibility
for it. An activity was launched few years ago in an elementary school in Guangzhou to
ask their children ‘what they would like to do in the future’, and many children talked
about their ideals of life in front of a camera. A six-year-old girl’s word shocked
everyone on the scene, ‘I want to be a corrupt official, because they can buy a lot of
things.’

31
Yan, Yunxiang, Private Life Under Socialism: Love, Intimacy, and Family Change in a Chinese Village,
1949-1999. (Stanford University Press, 2003), 39-40.

47

Dreaming of being an official and making much money is a normal and good
ideal of life, but it does not mean that one can give up the basic responsibilities of being
an official, and serving the people. The current parents’ and schools’ education teaches us
that the only criterion of success is to be rich and to let everybody know that you are rich.
Consequently it is not only officials who are losing their responsibilities as officials. Our
citizens are losing their responsibilities as the masters of a country, and our people are
losing their responsibilities as human beings.
If moral dimension were maintained, that old woman would not take advantage of
the kindness of the young man who picked her up and sue him for money. She makes
everyone doubt morality and kindness and leaves more and more old people that need
help alone with no one giving them a hand. She hurts all Chinese people.
If the responsibility for the society were maintained, those manufactures would
not use medical waste and barrels that had held chemicals to make water pipes. They
would think that if they did, innumerable people’s health and lives would be put in
danger and then they were the initiator of evil that had no difference with murderers.
If the responsibility for human beings were maintained, bosses of those chemical
factories would not discharge toxic water into lakes and rivers form which people get
their irrigation water and drinking water; those drivers would think of the fact that they
once come to this planet, they have the responsibility to protect it for both themselves and
others, and would stop driving private cars for a period of time to help reduce emission,
instead of buying two cars only because of the odd-and-even-number rule so that they can
drive every day and simultaneously show off their wealth.

48

If any of these responsibilities were maintained, government officials would
fulfill their duties – serving, helping and improving people’s lives, and not turn a blind
eye to serious problems or try their best to make a fortune from them.
I believe that the most important and fundamental way of solving problems facing
China is people’s, especially children’s moral education. Everyone must realize and
firmly believe that they are responsible for not only themselves but also other people, the
society, the country and the whole world. If they are not capable of making contributions
to science, life or thoughts as what Einstein, Edison and Socrates have done, then living a
normal life and loving people around them will be the best contribution they can make. If
they are not able to do so, then doing nothing can also be a kind of contribution.
Children in their most innocent period of lifetime should be educated that in life
money is important, but responsibility and love is at least equally important. Living for
oneself is reasonable, but it does not give people the right to hurt others, which is the
most basic rule of being a human. A battlefield with weapon costs people’s lives, whereas
this battlefield without gun in China costs people’s soul. The current mission is to regain
the positive spirit and moral quality of the Chinese people. Will it succeed? I cannot say.
END

49

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