The PRC government is the best thing that has happened to China in the past 2 centuri

[buzzerman]

The PRC government is the best thing that has happened to China in the past 2 centuries.

Even as you lambast them for their communism and dictatorial ways, remember that without them, China would have been disunited to this day. Without them, China would still be a nation of divisions, with warlords fighting against each other. The PRC government was the only party who manage to unite China within the past 200 years.

Yes they might be heavy handed but look at the past few decades since the 1970s. They have been building the foundations of the country, helping it grow at breakneck speed and lifting millions out of poverty and giving them better lives.

Democracy is the superior form of government and things can be greatly improved in the Mainland. But as you leash out criticisms after criticisms at the Mainland government, bear in mind that they have been responsible for opening China up, delivering post 10% growth for the past 3 decades, bringing millions of Chinese out of poverty, infusing technology and science into the country. Despite their shortcomings, the PRC government is not like R.Mugabe or Marcos, who are only interested in bringing misery to the masses. The PRC government brings hope, development and stability to the masses.

Without the PRC government, China would have never opened up its doors to foreign investment and to science and technology like it did in the 1970s; but instead, China would have continued its isolationist policy and rejected foreign trade, modern science and technology, something it has done since the 1800s. It would be a future of misery and further regression.

Without them, one can't help but think that even with democracy, China would just be another Bolivia or African nation, where leaders are changed and elections are held, but people are still dying of hunger.

Democracy will come one day. But what matters now is that China continues its growth path, stays out of trouble and reclaim its rightful place as the biggest economy in the world first.

From year 1 to year 1800, China and India have both been the biggest economies in the world. They were advanced civilisations back then who invented almost everything we used today - gas cylinders, paper, metal welding, gun powder etc. But the great divergence and industrial revolution in the 1800s have resulted in Western European nations leaping ahead by miles; while China and India languish in strife, close mindedness and poverty.

Now that China and India have both opened up, and technology and science is flowing into their borders, both countries will resume their places as biggest economies in the world within this century. It is unavoidable as both countries hold 40% of the world's population. They just have the people there.

But even 50 years from now when China and India becomes the largest economies in the world, the developed countries today like Japan, Australia, Singapore, Western Europe will still have a much higher GDP per capita, standard of living, wage and technology as compared to China and India because they are so far ahead.

China and India can have the largest economies but the average wage and standard of living of each person would still be relatively low compared to the most advanced nations. That is unavoidable as well, at least within this century.

The effects of the industrial revolution and great divergence have been mitigated when China and India opened their doors. And it almost seems like we are all going back in time, to where we were in the 1800s, when China and India were hegemonies.

People talk about the rise of China and India changing the world, but in reality, the world is just going back to its natural order before the Great Divergence took place in the 1800s.

But this time around, the world has changed. There is the EU and USA and Japan. There will never just be the world powers of China and India again.

Thanks for the read

[bookblogger]

Did you copy this from the China Daily?

[buzzerman]

No I wrote this myself. Had a bit of spare time and was thinking about China and India and decided to regurgitate my thoughts and write them out, and then examine them myself.

[bookblogger]

Thanks for that then, I'm sure everyone will appreciate it

[Freetrader]

I don't think there are enough hours in the day to dissect all the problems with your post; however, let's just assume that you are sincere and that this isn't another Xinhua write-bogus-propaganda-for-hire piece. You do however, parrot the party line of 'only the commies could keep China together'.

You make a lot of conclusions about how great the PRC government is; and seem to take it for granted that no other form of government could have kept China united (as if that were a good thing in and of itself; the Tibetans might not be so thrilled about that). I don't think that the examples of Bolivia and 'Africa' are really good examples of democracy, are they?

The fundamental truth is that China has had horrible government for the past 200 years or so. The KMT government arguably could have done a reasonable job of modernizing China but they never had a chance - they were trying to rescue the country from chaos, contain the communists, and fight the Japanese at the same time. The argument against the KPT is, essentially, that they weren't brutal enough.

The CCP has not had any problems in the brutality department.

Any conclusion that the CCP goverment is 'the best thing that ever happened' to China needs to consider the 30 or 40 million people who died as a result of the CCP screwing up the country and the economy. Any fair evaluation of the CCP rule needs to compare the relative successes of the past 30 years against the horror and brutality of the previous 30 (even ignoring, say, Tiananmen).

I think a fair assessment will give the CCP credit for some successes that may possibly balance the government-imposed diasters of the previous decades. I think though, that allowing China to open to the world enough to grow simply by osmosis is not really that great of an achievement; the difficult part is still to come. In the long run, only some form of representative government can be considered legitimate and responsive to the people. And representative government requires the end of CCP party rule. If they peacefully hand over power in a democratic election, I'll be the first to applaud them. But I ain't holding my breath.

[bookblogger]

it almost seems like we are all going back in time, to where we were in the 1800s, when China and India were hegemonies.

And where do you get this idea from?

[cookie09]

Any conclusion that the CCP goverment is 'the best thing that ever happened' to China needs to consider the 30 or 40 million people who died as a result of the CCP screwing up the country and the economy. Any fair evaluation of the CCP rule needs to compare the relative successes of the past 30 years against the horror and brutality of the previous 30 (even ignoring, say, Tiananmen).

while i agree with a lot of what you have said, i would direct your attack rather directly on Mao than on the CCP as a whole

[bookblogger]

while i agree with a lot of what you have said, i would direct your attack rather directly on Mao than on the CCP as a whole

Isn't that a total cop-out?

It's not Mao who is imprisoning those people who dare to protest about their babies' melamine-laced kidneys, for example.

[buzzerman]

I don't think there are enough hours in the day to dissect all the problems with your post; however, let's just assume that you are sincere and that this isn't another Xinhua write-bogus-propaganda-for-hire piece. You do however, parrot the party line of 'only the commies could keep China together'.

The fundamental truth is that China has had horrible government for the past 200 years or so. The KMT government arguably could have done a reasonable job of modernizing China but they never had a chance - they were trying to rescue the country from chaos, contain the communists, and fight the Japanese at the same time. The argument against the KPT is, essentially, that they weren't brutal enough.

Well, only the commies managed to keep China together in the past 2 centuries. It is a historical fact. Undisputable.

The KMT never managed to keep China together. That is another historical fact. Hypothetically, had the KMT won, could they have modernised China sooner?

Maybe, maybe not. No one knows the answers to such wild assertions.

But is the KMT run Taiwan significantly more advanced than Beijing or Shanghai today? Nope. So I would go for the "maybe not" option.

However, is Taiwan a more tolerable place to live in compared to the Mainland? Definitely. Better rule of law, human rights and more freedom.

But will such a system work in China? No one knows. After all, it is a country of 1.3 billion vis a vis 23million in Taiwan.

These are all fruitless thinking, since the KMT lost the war.

[buzzerman]

And where do you get this idea from?

I got that idea from history. It is a historical fact that China and India were the largest economies from year 1 to around year 1700-1800. And they were amongst the most advanced civilisations back then, if not the most advanced.