More Thoughts on The Heritage and Culture of China

Chinese heritage and culture lends itself to the idea that no one is greater then the whole and that each individual has a role to play to benefit his or her family or area. The same can be said of Stalin’s communist ideas that Mao Zedong used. Each individual is an actor of the state and the individual is responsible to state. Each person knows their role and is content to carry out their job regardless of what it is. Now China does not adhere to its Communist doctrine the way it once did but they still hold true to those core principles. The most apparent evidence of the problem that democracy would bring to China is their constant battle with Taiwan that has declared itself sovereign from the Chinese government. Yet, one of our Chinese professors brought up the idea that if China had a true democracy then the people of China would overwhelmingly opt to go to war against Taiwan in order to maintain their control of Taiwan. As Americans we sometimes only see surface tension and are predisposed to believe that we have an answer for every situation. Once in China I realized that our way of government is not the only way to run a country. Yet, I still believe that a democracy provides the most opportunities for the people of that nation. It should be noted that our capitalist economy has somewhat permeated the traditions of China’s communist society. There are private corporations and private businesses and the single most important part of a capitalist economy which is competition. Individuals compete for your money and are willing to negotiate on the price if it will help sale their product.