they liberalized their economy without liberalizing their politics. there could be no modern China without Deng Xiaoping.
I remember Slavoj Zizek relaying a story to an audience about some contact that he had in China who was close to Deng Xiaoping's daughter. According to his source, when Deng was asked what his proudest accomplishment was, his answer was him opening China to global trade without democratizing Chinese politics.
Libs like to think of the Tiananmen Square riots as being anti-communist but the truth is the movement sought communism alongside democracy. Deng Xiaoping resisted that instinct and so you have the China that stands before you.
In these times of doom and despair in the west, China is a beacon of hope for human civilization. Nevertheless, it's pretty grim to think about what they've had to do as a society to become that.
Nevertheless, it’s pretty grim to think about what they’ve had to do as a society to become that.
It is grim, certainly, but I think it stands out particularly because China ascended to the status of a developed nation within living memory. If we compare recent Chinese history to the labor conditions and repression which took place in the West during the industrial revolution, it doesn't seem particularly heinous. Not good - and I think it is shitty to handwave the backbreaking work required to become the capitalist world-market's mega-factory of choice - but honestly I'd be interested to hear about any other state which underwent an industrial transformation remotely on that scale without enduring even more brutal conditions.
they liberalized their economy without liberalizing their politics. there could be no modern China without Deng Xiaoping.
I remember Slavoj Zizek relaying a story to an audience about some contact that he had in China who was close to Deng Xiaoping's daughter. According to his source, when Deng was asked what his proudest accomplishment was, his answer was him opening China to global trade without democratizing Chinese politics.
Libs like to think of the Tiananmen Square riots as being anti-communist but the truth is the movement sought communism alongside democracy. Deng Xiaoping resisted that instinct and so you have the China that stands before you.
In these times of doom and despair in the west, China is a beacon of hope for human civilization. Nevertheless, it's pretty grim to think about what they've had to do as a society to become that.
It is grim, certainly, but I think it stands out particularly because China ascended to the status of a developed nation within living memory. If we compare recent Chinese history to the labor conditions and repression which took place in the West during the industrial revolution, it doesn't seem particularly heinous. Not good - and I think it is shitty to handwave the backbreaking work required to become the capitalist world-market's mega-factory of choice - but honestly I'd be interested to hear about any other state which underwent an industrial transformation remotely on that scale without enduring even more brutal conditions.