> The Arrogance with Chinese Stupidity -- China's Loyal Youth
>
> -- Micky's humble opinion: from author's words: "Educated young Chinese
> are therefore the biggest beneficiaries of policies that have brought
> China more peace and prosperity than at any time in the past thousand
> years", it is obvious reporters from the western media can also easily
> buy into the propaganda of the Chinese government. Even in the early
> 1900's, Chinese elite from well to do familys had enjoyed a living
> standard far above the world average. There were many cases of Chinese
> young men from rich family went to study abroad, had brought back brides
> of western beauties in the late 1800's and early 1900's. How many well
> known western beauty queens have married into new riches in China today? --
>
> April 13, 2008
>
> Op-Ed Contributor
>
> China's Loyal Youth
>
> By MATTHEW FORNEY
>
> Beijing
>
> MANY sympathetic Westerners view Chinese society along the lines of what
> they saw in the waning days of the Soviet Union: a repressive government
> backed by old hard-liners losing its grip to a new generation of
> well-educated, liberal-leaning sophisticates. As pleasant as this
> outlook may be, it's nai"ve. Educated young Chinese, far from being
> embarrassed or upset by their government's human-rights record, rank
> among the most patriotic, establishment-supporting people you'll meet.
>
> As is clear to anyone who lives here, most young ethnic Chinese strongly
> support their government's suppression of the recent Tibetan uprising.
> One Chinese friend who has a degree from a European university described
> the conflict to me as "a clash between the commercial world and an old
> aboriginal society." She even praised her government for treating
> Tibetans better than New World settlers treated Native Americans.
>
> It's a rare person in China who considers the desires of the Tibetans
> themselves. "Young Chinese have no sympathy for Tibet," a Beijing
> human-rights lawyer named Teng Biao told me. Mr. Teng -- a Han Chinese
> who has offered to defend Tibetan monks caught up in police dragnets --
> feels very alone these days. Most people in their 20s, he says, "believe
> the Dalai Lama is trying to split China."
>
> Educated young people are usually the best positioned in society to
> bridge cultures, so it's important to examine the thinking of those in
> China. The most striking thing is that, almost without exception, they
> feel rightfully proud of their country's accomplishments in the three
> decades since economic reforms began. And their pride and patriotism
> often find expression in an unquestioning support of their government,
> especially regarding Tibet.
>
> The most obvious explanation for this is the education system, which can
> accurately be described as indoctrination. Textbooks dwell on China's
> humiliations at the hands of foreign powers in the 19th century as if
> they took place yesterday, yet skim over the Cultural Revolution of the
> 1960s and '70s as if it were ancient history. Students learn the neat
> calculation that Chairman Mao's tyranny was "30 percent wrong," then the
> subject is declared closed. The uprising in Tibet in the late 1950s, and
> the invasion that quashed it, are discussed just long enough to lay
> blame on the "Dalai clique," a pejorative reference to the circle of
> advisers around Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
>
> Then there's life experience -- or the lack of it -- that might otherwise
> help young Chinese to gain a perspective outside the government's
> viewpoint. Young urban Chinese study hard and that's pretty much it.
> Volunteer work, sports, church groups, debate teams, musical skills and
> other extracurricular activities don't factor into college admission, so
> few participate. And the government's control of society means there
> aren't many non-state-run groups to join anyway. Even the most basic
> American introduction to real life -- the summer job -- rarely exists for
> urban students in China.
>
> Recent Chinese college graduates are an optimistic group. And why not?
> The economy has grown at a double-digit rate for as long as they can
> remember. Those who speak English are guaranteed good jobs. Their
> families own homes. They'll soon own one themselves, and probably a car
> too. A cellphone, an iPod, holidays -- no problem. Small wonder the Pew
> Research Center in Washington described the Chinese in 2005 as "world
> leaders in optimism."
>
> As for political repression, few young Chinese experience it. Most are
> too young to remember the Tiananmen massacre of 1989 and probably nobody
> has told them stories. China doesn't feel like a police state, and the
> people young Chinese read about who do suffer injustices tend to be poor
> -- those who lost homes to government-linked property developers without
> fair compensation or whose crops failed when state-supported factories
> polluted their fields.
>
> Educated young Chinese are therefore the biggest beneficiaries of
> policies that have brought China more peace and prosperity than at any
> time in the past thousand years. They can't imagine why Tibetans would
> turn up their noses at rising incomes and the promise of a more
> prosperous future. The loss of a homeland just doesn't compute as a
> valid concern.
>
> Of course, the nationalism of young Chinese may soften over time. As
> college graduates enter the work force and experience their country's
> corruption and inefficiency, they often grow more critical. It is
> received wisdom in China that people in their 40s are the most willing
> to challenge their government, and the Tibet crisis bears out that
> observation. Of the 29 ethnic-Chinese intellectuals who last month
> signed a widely publicized petition urging the government to show
> restraint in the crackdown, not one was under 30.
>
> Barring major changes in China's education system or economy, Westerners
> are not going to find allies among the vast majority of Chinese on key
> issues like Tibet, Darfur and the environment for some time. If the
> debate over Tibet turns this summer's contests in Beijing into the Human
> Rights Games, as seems inevitable, Western ticket-holders expecting to
> find Chinese angry at their government will instead find Chinese angry
> at them.
>
> Matthew Forney, a former Beijing bureau chief for Time, is writing a
> book about raising his family in China.
>
> Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company