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William Faulkner was born and lived in America's Deep South, a part of the world that counts the centuries of its tradition on the fingers of a single hand. For Faulkner's characters "the past is never dead. It's not even past." I often wonder if that famous statement about the heavy weight of the past applies to China, or if China will be content to invoke its past without really thinking about what its history entails.
If the response I got from a recent column on the misuse of Chinese history is any indication, China's past is alive, if not altogether well (see BW Online, 2/19/03, "Chinese History as Propaganda"). The letters, many of them quite thoughtful, ranged from adulation to harsh personal attacks. But all betrayed a concern with China's past and its relevance to today.
Let's go first to the attacks. It's clear from some of the brickbats that many people simply want sugar-coated history. Sure, when it comes to Chinese civilization, it's easy enough to present a glowing picture. But history needs to be probed for its lessons. Errors need to be acknowledged so that mistakes aren't repeated.
SHIRKING RESPONSIBILITY. Several writers were incensed that I had (in their eyes) attacked Chinese culture by dwelling on the violence of the Qin Emperor. One sympathetic reader pointed out that my shorthand version of the underbelly of Qin history had rather naively reflected views of writers who were trying to score their own historical points at the expense of the Qin.
Most of the others thought I was trying to undermine their entire cultural tradition. They correctly pointed out that Romans, Americans, and others have engaged in some pretty appalling violence, ranging from the slave trade to virtually wiping out Native Americans. The Japanese continue to shirk responsibility for the atrocities that took place during their occupation of Korea and China during the 1930s and 1940s. Schoolchildren of every nation don't learn much, if anything, about the underside of their country's history.
True enough. But it's beside the point. What I don't like -- and what I don't think anyone should like -- is lying about history to push forward a contemporary political agenda. Yet, for daring to point out the hypocrisy of the exhibition claiming that China's borders were more or less unchanged over the last several millennia, I am accused of "hating China" and opposing Chinese "unity." From there, it's a short, but perhaps inevitable, step to accuse me of being part of a "racist," "colonial," "anti-China propaganda machine" designed to keep the country down.
SUCCESS STORIES. China has a problem with its history. It's long and full of great achievements. But until recently, it has been a story of unfulfilled promise. Despite the extraordinary administrative and technological achievements that cross the ages, China wasn't able to make the jump to a truly modern nation-state. Its controlling state was unable to provide the flexibility needed for a more decentralized system to develop, one that could sustain high economic growth.
True, the depredations of Western powers led to the demise of the tottering Qing dynasty and laid the way for a brutal century of civil war and revolution. But China had unresolved problems with its imperial system long before the colonial powers came on the scene.
China has made extraordinary progress in the last quarter-century. Its record in pulling 200 million or more people out of absolute poverty since economic reforms began should go down as one of the greatest success stories of economic development in history. Raising living standards for hundreds and hundreds of millions more people, and giving them opportunities that would have been unimaginable a generation ago only adds to this extraordinary record.
CUT THE SACCHARINE. Only since the economic reforms of the past 25 years has China truly stood up. Only now is it beginning to take its place among the world's powers. But it's a journey that is not yet completed. Issues like the future of the Chinese Communist Party and its monopoly on power remain to be addressed. And they need to be considered carefully in the context of China's troubled political tradition.
Saccharine depictions of history that shirk the tough questions of China's past won't make the voyage any easier. As one reader, a self-described "overseas Chinese immigrant," put it: "If the country's past history is not being viewed objectively, where is the country heading in the future?"
Clifford is Hong Kong bureau chief for BusinessWeek. Follow his China Journal column every week, only on BW Online Edited by Beth Belton
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Copyright 2003, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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