China’s Agony of Defeat

Most westerners see the backwardness of China (in its recent history and at the present day) as its own making, and the west bears no blame and has every right to shout at the Chinese for whatever it does not approve. The Chinese see many of their problems, at least partly, as the result, or derivatives, of foreign interventions, from the two Opium Wars to the Japanese Invasion. The repeated episodes of military violence imposed by foreign powers on China have changed the trajectory of China history profoundly. In the two hundred years leading up to the end of WWII, the west experienced unprecedented industrialization and globe-control, where as the Chinese experienced defeats, deprivation, humiliation, and internal collapses. The vicious cycles of events pivoted into national hysteria during Mao's rein.
It took a very wise and determined man, Deng Xiaoping, to steer China back on track. He concluded that economic power determines everything else, and he mapped out a set of successful strategies to make sure that China would not be once again be distracted from its single-minded national wealth building by internal and external events. Deng Xiaoping summarized everything into "development is the hard truth". The Chinese people have thrown their support behind this grand idea and have devoted themselves to it for the past thirty years.
This is why the Chinese people are willing to live with and to tolerate the present-day imperfections and shortcoming of their country. They recognize, correctly, that if the country can stay on course of strong economic development, everything else may have a chance to be resolved gradually. Without strong economic growth, nothing else, be it multi-party political system, freedom of press, human rights, or social equality, would matter much.
West nations should recognize this unique Chinese experience and give China time and space to unwind. The Chinese people deserve several episodes of positive experience interacting with the foreign powers; such experience would serve as antidotes to their historical humiliation. The Beijing Olympics provides one such opportunity to do just that.
Too bad many in the west, including some who posted in this forum, are so self-righteous and short-sighted, they choose to be mean and domineering, in the spirit of their colonial ancestors, rather than be magnanimous and fair-minded.

China should have a listening ear and work with love and not hatred for their pasts.
They should stop harrassing, arresting and detaining Africans in their underground prisons in Guangzhou especially.
I believe human rights is the key and it should not be begged for because its the people's right.

I quite agree with the authors grand knowledge about China and it's idealogy.
Lets take for instance, the clamp down of forigners by the Guangzhou immigration police and the police in general, foreigners are being battered and taken to their underground prison awaiting deportation on payment of $2000 usd.
This is mostly targeted on blacks especially Africans doing business in Guangzhou; Churches, restuarants, apartment etc have raided by these so called police without an atom of human rights.
Something positive should be done.

Redone - more like well done. Your English is as superb as your thinking. Indeed all nations in the world have flaws, have problems, and only by reaching across the aisle as you have done can we walk together into a cooperative and prosperous future. You not only stimulate my mind, but you give me hope as well.

???What made the Tibet protests such an affront to so many Chinese was the timing???
IF you'd wathced what those so-called peace-protester had done in the "peaceful" demonstration, you would not come to this conclusion. i think you american government, any governemnt in the world, will do the same thing to those thugs,wolves wearing cassock. And you call Dalai Lama gentle? sigh...

To "nowisthetime": I am Chinese too, but your response, which is sensitive, irrational, just verifies the writer's arguments. Instead of saying "Americans are stupid", of course they are not, in general, you should point out what arguments in this article make sense, and what don't. I would argue, for example, the write failed to point out that Chinese are deeply proud of the past history before Opium War. In addition, Chinese assume they should be a supreme power, and this assumption makes us think the western doesn't have the qualification to criticize us. Of course, in wester culture, they don't think they need to qualified to criticize others. In this sense, the writer don't understand confucious well. The conflicts between western and chinese culture won't be resolved by an aritcle, but it doesn't bother me at all. Deep in my heart, I acknowledge the achievements the western made/is making. We had our glory, and we will have the glory again. "No need to prove" is the Chinese way.

To "nowisthetime": I am Chinese too, but your response, which is sensitive, irrational, just verifies the writer's arguments. Instead of saying "Americans are stupid", of course they are not, in general, you should point out what arguments in this article make sense, and what don't. I would argue, for example, the write failed to point out that Chinese are deeply proud of the past history before Opium War. In addition, Chinese assume they should be a supreme power, and this assumption makes us think the western doesn't have the qualification to criticize us. Of course, in wester culture, they don't think they need to qualified to criticize others. In this sense, the writer don't understand confucious well. The conflicts between western and chinese culture won't be resolved by an aritcle, but it doesn't bother me at all. Deep in my heart, I acknowledge the achievements the western made/is making. We had our glory, and we will have the glory again. "No need to prove" is the Chinese way.

Let me see if I get this straight - so the author writes an article that says (quoting a Chinese person!) that Chinese people react irrationally, even hysterically to anything that even resembles criticism.

And so the message board fills up with Chinese people reacting irrationally, even hysterically to something that that slightly resembles criticism. And they think this proves him wrong?

Just......wow. Can somebody explain this to me?

In the endless river of history, our life time is but a blink of eye.
You know what caused decay of China since late Qin Dynasty?
Self complacence -- something which dwelling deeply in the minds of American people!

china is not a young ,simple nation as the US, his history ,culture can't be understanded ,especially some guys like you, so please do not act as if you are a expert of china, ,please do not make any judgement unless you've lived in china more than 20years

"we tend to forget just how deeply implicated we are in how China came to experience and view the modern world."

What? I don't have anything to do with how Chinese act. That's their problem. If they need some collective coddling, they aren't ready for greatness. That comes from overcomming obstacles, not having them artificially removed. No one cares what your past is; they want to know what you're doing know. Life is too short.

"we tend to forget just how deeply implicated we are in how China came to experience and view the modern world."

What? I don't have anything to do with how Chinese act. That's their problem. If they need some collective coddling, they aren't ready for greatness. That comes from overcomming obstacles, not having them artificially removed. No one cares what your past is; they want to know what you're doing know. Life is too short.