China: A Reality Check: Truth and lies in the Asian behemoth - a visit to China leaves the impression that the dictatorship remains firmly established

National Review, Sept 17, 2001 by John Derbyshire

WM: For very little, at the present time. Those things have no roots in our country, you know that. It's not as if we had them and then lost them. We have never had them. And Chinese people of the present day can remember all too well the chaos and the physical hardships of the recent past. They are glad for the relative comfort, security, and prosperity of their lives today. They are glad to see their country's voice being listened to with respect in world councils. They are glad to see our national rights being asserted, after they were trampled on for 200 years. Sure, we know the Communists are corrupt, cynical, and cruel; but we give them credit for getting at least some things right- things that matter to us ordinary Chinese, in our everyday lives. And a nation must be governed, you know. If the Communists don't do it, who will? The dissidents you admire so much? Who can't even agree among themselves on what day of the week it is? Who have never run anything bigger than a student debating club? Please. Do you think it's easy to govern a country like China?

It is very difficult to counter arguments like these-arguments presented not by sneering Communist-party shills, but by decent, reflective middle-class people very much like oneself. Wu Ming lives in a pleasant air-conditioned apartment. His daughter is doing well in school, and plays piano beautifully. His company is expanding, and he himself just got a big raise. His wife has passed a test for an advanced professional qualification, which will mean a promotion at her workplace. This year he will take his family on vacation to a new mountain resort that's just opened up. He dreams of buying a car, perhaps four or five years from now, and of attending the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Sure, he knows about the scandals, the cruelties, the corruption, and the oppression. An elderly woman in the next town, who tried to stick up a Falun Gong poster, was arrested and beaten. He knows about that, and thinks it's disgraceful. But he also knows that if he stays well clear of such things, busies himself with his job and his family life, the authorities won't bother him.

The Communist party, of course, understands how Wu Ming feels, and pitches its propaganda very skillfully to his hopes and fears. The parlous state of the former Soviet Union is very well advertised in the Chinese media. So are any disorders or misfortunes that occur in Asian countries that have embraced political liberalization. "See, this is what happens when you experiment with democracy," is the implied message. The propaganda factor, along with the fear factor and the prudence factor, is of key importance in understanding current Chinese attitudes toward their own society and the outside world. Information is no longer as strictly controlled as it once was. A curious, ingenious, and persistent Chinese person can, with very little danger, learn many things the Communist party does not want him to know. Alas, very few Chinese people have the time or inclination to make the necessary effort. They take their information from the official media, supplemented by rumor and "political education" in the schools. As a result, much of what they believe is false. They have the utmost difficulty in grasping this, though, since everyone else they know believes the same things.