According to the article "Bad Company" by Matthew Forney/Yinchuan, posted on Time.com 11/4/02, China's youth have gown increasingly violent. Teenage gang members hurl explosive devices at enemies, assault and rape citizens, and murder authority figures such as teachers. They have a taste for drugs, rock music, and believe they owe the world nothing. They also make up China's fastest growing criminal group.
Experts see a moral vacuum as the driving force behind this trend. Chinese youth are disillusioned with the ideals of Communism, and religion has been discouraged by the government. Divorce rates are rising, families are crumbling, and after-school activities and team sports are all but nonexistent. These children form gangs like their Western counterparts as a way of filling an emotional void. As a result, three-fourths of youth involved in crimes are also involved with a gang, many with ties to criminal syndicates. Shan Guangnai of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences commented, "With this many kids going bad, it looks to me like society is falling apart."
Unfortunately, the government does little to keep kids out of gangs. Since there are few juvenile detention centers, teen offenders are housed with adult criminals, which provides the teens useful contacts in the criminal world. These kids become the petty thugs who work for loan sharks once they're released. They learn new methods for beating and torturing clients who won't pay protection money, and while many say they won't kill, most agree that they would cut off fingers if necessary.
Some parents are able to afford to pull police strings on behalf of their children, but most are not. Once in the system, it is difficult for them to get out and go straight. They want to be important, to be a leader, but chose the path that sends them toward an uncertain future. For them, a violent death is often a foregone conclusion.
Based on what we have studied concerning China's youth, it appears that while they have more opportunities than ever, they are squandering their potential on lives of decadence and violence, of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Increased affluence of some has led to resentment by those who have not yet made it. The lax moral code encourages the pursuit of money above all else, and indulgent parents encourage sloth and laziness by providing for their able-bodied offspring long after they could provide for themselves (much like the spoiled children of America!).
Fortunately for China, this does not apply to all Chinese youth. As long as there are more children who are taught to value education above violence, and right from wrong, China will have a future. If the scale ever tips in the other direction, the entire society will implode. It's up to the parents to set good examples, and the youth to decide which path they will take.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
China: World Superpower?
China's incredible growth has led to some pretty incredible growing pains, as well. Stories of civil unrest, widespread unemployment, environmental disasters, and human rights violations fill the news. Why then, with all these weaknesses, is China still considered a contender for superpower status?
One word: greed. International investors are making incredible amounts of money utilizing the cheap, plentiful labor available in China. Social conscience and the environment are trivial concerns if making more money is at stake, so these issues are whitewashed by the Chinese government and are overlooked by those making an economic killing in China today.
The company for which I work has seen factories in America shut down and their equipment sent to China, where it will be operated for 1/15th the wage of an American worker. We send American workers (they get a bonus if they are willing to do it) over to China to teach them how to take their jobs away from them. We were told originally that the Chinese would only be servicing markets in Asia. This, of course, has not been the case. Plants will continue to close in America as long as the cheap Chinese labor can be exploited.
As long as there is profit to be made, China will be exalted. Once they reach the level where they are no longer profitable, they will be cast aside, much like Mexico and Central America (anybody remember NAFTA?), for the next big thing (India?).
It also cannot be ignored that China, in the meantime, has built up a strong military presence in Asia. With little concern for its own people or its own environment, how can China be expected to become a responsible player on the world stage? If China is going to truly succees, there must be an effort to address its obvious weaknesses. Otherwise, China's weaknesses will affect not only China, but the world as a whole.
Susan
One word: greed. International investors are making incredible amounts of money utilizing the cheap, plentiful labor available in China. Social conscience and the environment are trivial concerns if making more money is at stake, so these issues are whitewashed by the Chinese government and are overlooked by those making an economic killing in China today.
The company for which I work has seen factories in America shut down and their equipment sent to China, where it will be operated for 1/15th the wage of an American worker. We send American workers (they get a bonus if they are willing to do it) over to China to teach them how to take their jobs away from them. We were told originally that the Chinese would only be servicing markets in Asia. This, of course, has not been the case. Plants will continue to close in America as long as the cheap Chinese labor can be exploited.
As long as there is profit to be made, China will be exalted. Once they reach the level where they are no longer profitable, they will be cast aside, much like Mexico and Central America (anybody remember NAFTA?), for the next big thing (India?).
It also cannot be ignored that China, in the meantime, has built up a strong military presence in Asia. With little concern for its own people or its own environment, how can China be expected to become a responsible player on the world stage? If China is going to truly succees, there must be an effort to address its obvious weaknesses. Otherwise, China's weaknesses will affect not only China, but the world as a whole.
Susan
Sunday, March 2, 2008
More Power for SEPA
The article, "China Environment Agency Gets More Power" was posted to Google News on February 29, 2008 by Henry Sanderson.(http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5icPw8BwDs4EYOrcM2Xe3KOGqPw5gD8V44VN01).
This article describes how China's government is increasing the authority of its environmental watchdog agency in an attempt to slow the rampant pollution associated with China's rapid economic growth. SEPA is to be upgraded to a full Cabinet ministry with a bigger budget and more people, and is part of a government restructuring approved this week by the Communist Party leadership. As environmental problems are among the biggest that China faces, this action should help SEPA, formed in 1998, enforce rules that, in the past, were often ignored.
"SEPA in recent years has been trying to do a lot with very little," said Alex Wang, director of the China Environmental Law Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "The challenge that SEPA faces now first and foremost is insufficient resources and authority."
With Beijing set to host the Olympics in August, the world has been awaiting a response from China on how they plan to deal with the city's notoriously dirty air. It is estimated that China's air and water pollution cost about $100 billion a year — 5.8 percent of its economic output — mainly through health costs. The government spends 1.35 percent of the gross domestic product on environmental protection.
Despite its new powers, SEPA is still likely to face resistance from local governments whose first priority is to stimulate economic growth and protecting factories that pay tax revenues. Also, since local environmental officials will still answer to provincial or local governments, the new ministry is expected to be understaffed for the task policing the environment.
I agree that this is a huge step in the right direction for China, as long as SEPA is allowed to have some real authority, and that their new powers aren't allowed to evaporate following the Olympics this summer. I would probably beef up the staff in order to ensure that the policing tasks can be adequately carried out, and make sure the local governments are required to be on board. They need to be aware that not only will it benefit China to "clean up her act" and keep it clean, but the entire world will benefit as well.
Susan
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