ghoermann's blog/

I will travel to china next week for the 7th time. My daughter will join me on this trip. She has just finished school and will go to the university, this trip is my gift for her as a kind of end mark for her school and childhood, it is also a legacy for her and her generation.

I have nearly always visited the same place: the region between Shanghai and Nanjing. (I have never unterstood this urge to visit in a lifetime as many places as possible). I have read some books about china, I have read some classical texts, I read my daily news about china, I talk with my chinese colleagues about everything, I eat everything... Unfortunately I do not have the time to learn chinese.

Despite these efforts I am not shure that I have even scratched on the surface of chinese culture, but from what I know now about china, my respect for this country has grown and I think that China is not treated fairly in the western public. They are treated like little children: they get all kinds of good advices and sometimes threats. Fortunately, they are already too big to offer them an occasional beating. It reminds me of parents who treat their 30year old children as if they were still young.

I think it is time to be a little more modest on the western side. I also see the problems in china - starting with poverty, censorship... I also can see that in daily life, these problems do not play a big role. I can talk with my chinese colleagues about the same subjects as with my German colleagues. With many colleagues from other coutries (Africa, muslim countries) this is not possible. I can also compare chinese life to life in arabic countries and I must say that I would always prefer the chinese way to arab medieval societies. And last not least, a culture which has created such a "cuisine" cannot be bad by definition.

There are some things China has mastered which merit more respect. China was one of the communist countries with a very bloody history and we can compare their country with the other formerly communist countries, now in transition. (I will not mention countries which did not need communism at all to ruin their country). Russia is getting a new tsar. The Russian economy is not good because of their own effort but because of money for gas and oil. Freedom is decreasing day by day, poverty is not considered a problem at all, management by weapons and murder is a common method, they do not care at all about the environment.

China is on the other side: they have mastered the transition far better. They have created their own industry, they invest in education. Freedom, democracy and participation is still not perfect, but it is increasing, they also start to care for the environment. The new policy also cares about the poor people and the people living in the countryside. And last not least: the country did fall apart in pieces - China is still one country.

If it comes to human rights we have not the best tradition in the west. USA has killed the Alliende regime in Chile, Guantanamo still exists, they still support Saudi-Arabia where woman have no rights at all, they are killing innocent people in an unnecessary war in Iraq. Germany/Europe has a better but by no ways perfect policy. Actually I have the feeling that our policy makers would greatly welcome the chinese kind of internet control and censorship in Germany.

I work in environmental research, I have seen heavy pollution of air and water in china, I have listened to the discussion e.g. about the Three Gorges Dam - and I have changed my mind in favour of the chinese viewpoint. The critics maybe right, but in the same time they are also unfair and they do not offer a solution. I am pretty shure that my own government would have done the same project in the period of economic growth in the seventies if they had had the choice. In Germany we have used nearly all possible places for dams and water power - how can we deny this to other countries? I am also pretty shure that the style of dealing with the people in the inondation area would not have been very different in the seventies, including corruption. After the second world war, we had exactly the same development in Germany - economic growth came before environmental concern. Environmental awareness in Germany come up when we had enough money to afford envirnomental protection and when we had enough serious environmental problems - this is exactly what happens now in China.

I am working in a German University. All I have seen from our government in my whole professional career is less money for education. This proces is still going on - budget cuts, decreasing salaries at the universities. This also concerns the whole sector of culture - museums, libraries, theatres. Our politicians are throwing away our own culture. Last time in Nanjing I saw the new city library for the general public: It has 5 floors and there is an own reading room for German literature. I had tears in my eyes when I saw it (look at the pictures in my portfolio). It is also a shame that the rich culture and history of china is not covered at all in textbooks for our school children. They should at least have a rough idea about chinese history and culture.

My personal policy is not to stay quiet, say nothing and admire the great achievements of chinese politics. I am just pleading for a more open mind towards china. We also need more personal exchange, especially of young people - there are so many prejudices about the two cultures. The european development after the second world war has shown that communication and the exchange of students (and tourists) can contribute a great deal to a peaceful development of nations.

For the young generation i would add: it was the big task of my generation to unite Europe, the task of the new generation is to unite the world and create a peaceful development for everyone. China has to take a big part of the responsibility in this proces and I think that they can contribute a lot - not only money and people but also philosophy, art and culture. The 20th century was the century of western culture, many people think that this century can be one of asian culture. The 20th century has brought us two world wars and climate change - I think there is room for improvement.

Just as concluding remark: in the actual discussion about the chinese non-respect for intellectual property we should be aware of the fact that we have stolen chinaware, silk and tea technology from china.

Now I open the discussion - I am especially interested in echoes from chinese people and from people living in china.

Greetings from the department "learning from China": while we in the West have our mothers/fathers/womans day, China has identified another important group to celebrate: Yesterday was "teachers day" in China. Students at schools and universities etc. offer their teachers some flowers and a nice card saying "thank you for teaching us". You can even buy these cards in the shops. I must admit that I like the idea 8-)

teacher2 klein