Could the world's lone but weary superpower actually learn something from China? This is a question the Time magazine posted [1] when President Barack Obama began his first visit to China. The article said this is a time when China has ‘emerged as a dynamo of optimism, experimentation and growth’, while the US economy is foundering. This is a moment of humility for the US.
The article has identified five lessons from China’s success stories. Meanwhile, Xu Ben [2] (徐贲) and Tan Mintao [3] (谭敏涛), a Chinese scholar and lawyer respectively, has each written comments on these lessons in their blogs:
#1 Be ambitious
The Time magazine highlights the ineffectiveness of the US in developing and executing ambitious projects. Quoting one business consultant:
One key thing we can learn from China is setting goals, making plans and focusing on moving the country ahead as a nation. These guys have taken the old five-year plans and stood them on their head. Instead of deciding which factory gets which raw materials, which products are made, how they are priced and where they are sold, their planning now consists of ‘How do we build a world-class silicon-chip industry in five years? How do we become a global player in car-manufacturing?’
Xu Ben agreed:
在美国，所有公共开支和建设项目是不可能由中央（联邦）政府统一确定目标，制定计划的。一切拨款都必须通过国会或地方议会的批准，不是由某个领导或首长一拍板就能决定的。
In America, all public infrastructure spending cannot be coordinated by the central (federal) government. They have to be passed by the Congress or local assemblies, and cannot be controlled by the local chief.
Tan Mintao highlighted some possible reasons behind China’s efficiency in implementing ambitious projects:
中国强制拆迁的事件层出不穷，而且多是以行政权压制公民个人私权取胜，这种视公民权利于不顾的举动和做法，我想美国人恐怕想得到，但做不到，因为，你们有法律为公民撑腰。
Forced demolitions are common in China. Citizens’ rights are sacrificed in face of administrative pressures. I am afraid this heavy-handedness through the neglect of rights is impracticable for the Americans, because their citizens are protected by the rule of law.
#2 Education Matters
The second lesson is the strong emphasis placed by the Chinese government and families on basic education, crucial for the economic health of the country. Quoting William McCahill, former deputy chief of mission in the US embassy in Beijing:
Fundamentally, they are getting the basics right, particularly in math and science. We need to do the same. Their kids are often ahead of ours.
The article also quotes Nick Reilly, a top executive at General Motors in Shanghai:
It all starts with the emphasis families put on the importance of education. That puts pressure on the government to deliver a decent system.
Xu Ben mentioned some practical difficulties for the US to improve its education system:
教师与学区是有工作合同的，其权利充分受到法律保护，谁也不能命令他们无报酬地加班加点。因此，延长学期就必须增加教师的报酬，而这又必须通过正规的预算和拨款程序，得到全体选民的正式认可才行。
The teacher-school relationship is guided by contracts. With protection by law, no one can order teachers to commit to unpaid overtime. Therefore, lengthening of the school term has to be accompanied by rise in teachers’ compensation, which means a process of budget expansion and approval by all electorates.
Meanwhile, Tan Mintao pointed out the incompleteness of the picture:
中国对教育的投资，我想更多的集中在大城市，名牌大学，农村中小学的投入永远很少，少到农村学生处在教育的最底层…关注中国发展的人多集中在大城市，但中国的大城市却不完全代表中国。
China’s investment in education is focused on big cities and key universities. Rural primary and secondary schools never receive enough investment, pushing them towards the bottom of the education pyramid… Those concerned about China’s development tend to focus their attention on big cities, which is not a complete picture of China.
#3 Look After the Elderly
With soaring elderly population, the trend in the US will be more home care and less expensive nursing homes. Here, the article argues, the US can learn from China:
In China the social contract has been straightforward for centuries: parents raise children; then the children care for the parents as they reach their dotage… For millions of poor Chinese, that's a burden as well as a responsibility… Still, there are benefits that balance the financial hardship: grandparents tutor young children while Mom and Dad work; they acculturate the youngest generation to the values of family and nation; they provide a sense of cultural continuity that helps bind a society.
Xu Ben seems to disagree:
一胎化政策都落实几十年了，哪里还有什么 ‘大家庭’? 报道还说，中国人认为，将老人送入疗养院是一种耻辱…如果真是如此，哪里还会有那么多“啃老族”和无助贫困老人？
The one-child policy has been implemented for decades. Are there still ‘big families’? The article said the Chinese regard sending old parents to nursing homes as a shame… If this is true, why are we still seeing numerous helpless elderly and ‘parasitic children’ relying on their parents’ income?
While Tan Mintao approves of this Chinese tradition, he points out that the weak elderly care system in China is certainly a concern of most Chinese:
当中国人认为把老人送入养老院是一种耻辱的时候，我想，更多折射的是我们的养老体系还很脆弱，经不起风吹雨打，真正需要建立的社会救助制度还没有建立，那谈何让年轻人放心把老人送入养老院呢？
While the Chinese regard sending old people to nursing homes as a shame, I think this is more a reflection of the fragile elderly care system. With an effective social security system yet to be built, nursing home is simply not a reliable option for old people.
#4 Save More
Following the financial crisis, it is a consensus that the US needs to save more. Here again, China, a society that has practised personal financial prudence for centuries, is a model for the US.
Xu Ben points out what the Americans fail to recognize:
美国人似乎并不知道一般中国人为什么那么怕花钱。与其他消费相比，他们不能不面对更基本的生存需要：买房子、交学费、医疗费。美国人看来也不知道，也有不节俭的中国人，他们能花几十万，上百万买一条藏獒，并由奔驰、宝马、奥迪等几十辆名车组成的豪华车队接近家门。
Seems the Americans don’t know why the Chinese are so afraid to spend money. Compared with other consumptions, they cannot but worry about more basic needs: housing, education and health care. Americans also are unaware that there are lavish Chinese, spending a million to buy a Tibetan Mastiff, or a fleet of Mercedes, BMW and Audi for their own travel.
This echoes a point made by Tan Mintao:
这些喜欢储蓄的群众多是对未来生活保障缺乏信心的广大群众。
For the general public, saving much is due to a lack of confidence in future livelihood.
#5 Look over the Horizon
The energy that foreigners feel in China comes from a sense that it's harnessed to something bigger, the article reckons. That confidence has been lacking in America following the deep recession. As an American who has lived in China puts it:
China is striving to become what it has not yet become. It is upwardly mobile, consciously, avowedly and — as its track record continues to strengthen — proudly so.
Citing the Time’s article example of the child of a poor rural family rising to become a successful software engineer in Shenzhen, Xu Bin said:
希望千千万万其他贫困的中国农民家庭子弟也有同样的机会，到那时候，美国人向往的就真的不再是“美国梦”，而该是“中国梦”了。
I hope that millions of poor rural children will have the same chance. By that time, Americans will no longer admire the ‘American Dream’, but instead the ‘Chinese Dream’.