The Real China: Meteoric Renaissance - R...

The book discusses essences of the real China, her failure in the second half of the 19th century and her meteoric renaissance since 1980.

China has a long tradition dated back to her founding c. 2700 BCE. Chinese civilization developed on the philosophies of Lao Zi and Confucius; the latter was officially sanctioned in 134 BCE. China is the only country in the world developed into a civilization state based upon the nonsectarian Confucianism. Over the centuries, China was invaded and even ruled by nomads many times, but at the end of the day, these nomads became assimilated, leaving Chinese civilization unscathed as well as enriched, and her territories enlarged. The composition of China is thus complex, with many different races and religions, yet they have coexisted peacefully for most of the time since time immemorial. This is a unique feature in the world. China began to lose ground to Western and other invasions between 1842 and 1945. During a large part of the 20th century, China was engulfed in wars against Japan, civil wars, and a series of political movements. Chaos ended with the infamous Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Since 1978, China has found a new direction and has shaped her own path of development in the light of her traditions and the modern ambiance of the world. Ever since, China has enjoyed unprecedented annual growth. This book discusses those historical developments that made China the way she was and is now, as well as the fundamental differences between China and the West, some of which are irreconcilable.
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Preface
From Desperation to Aspiration. How?
The year was 1991 when I traveled to China and found myself dismayed by the quality of the roads near Xian, an ancient capital noted for its terracotta statues dating back to 206 BCE. As we bumped along the weather-beaten path, I sarcastically asked my guide “Is there a superhighway at all in China?” The guide tossed a blank look at me, as if in shock that I would betray my Chinese heritage by speaking such an insult.
A quick-witted local Chinese answered promptly for her: “Of course we have – in Taiwan.”
A little more than a decade later, when I returned to Xian in February of 2005, the cityscape had completely changed. This time, as I was driven into the city, skyscrapers stretched up into the sky, and new buildings dotted the streets as well as the countryside. In answer to my question so many years earlier, the airport is now connected to the famed city via a well-constructed and maintained superhighway, which directly connects to Beijing.
In fact, a superhighway system is already in existence, a system that connects countless cities, including those in remote border provinces.
During my fourteen-year absence between 1991 and 2005, China had undergone vast changes. The construction of superhighways is but one of them. Today, China boasts of over 50,000 kilometers (31,250 miles) of four-or-more lane modern superhighways, a system that was only completed in the recent decade. (Incidentally, the total mileage of Taiwan’s superhighway is less than 250 miles.) Plans call for the completion of an additional 35,000 kilometers (21,875 miles) of superhighways by 2015, making the total mileage 53,125 miles. This achievement would put the mileage of China’s superhighways beyond that of the U.S. Eisenhower Interstate Highway System (46,726 miles, as of October 31, 2002; and not too many miles were added after 2002). As I considered these impressive facts, I was led to wonder, how China
could have achieved so much in such a short time, during which China also rose to become an economic power? Yet the highway system was only the tip of the iceberg of progress when it came to China’s advances.
This led me to ask even more questions and discover more answers. I would soon discover that this rapid renaissance was almost a natural consequence, a repetition of recoveries from similar calamities in the past two millennia.

The Real China
One Question Leads to Another
Soon after I began my search for information, I found out the hard way that this quest would take me further than I thought I would ever go.
Each time I thought I found an answer to a question, another one arose.
For example, how and why did China fall from a world power in the eastern hemisphere during the early reign of Qing before 1800, into a state of despair, which lasted almost one hundred and fifty years, during which China faced near extinction? During another period – from 1950 to 1980 – China became one of the most impoverished countries in the world. Then from 1980 on, China began her meteoric rise from the ashes,
becoming a country that was referred to by a recent president of the United States as “a future strategic enemy.” To push a vast country with the world’s largest population into such a rapid and vast transformation within a human generation is hard to imagine conceptually. Yet China seemed to have achieved this Herculean task effortlessly (at least from a superficial observation).
The answers I found to these perplexing queries involved many historical factors. Since the legendary King Huangdi conquered his neighboring tribes to establish a tribal union nearly five thousand years ago (ca. 2700 BCE, to be more exact), s the development of the Chinese civilization largely took place within China proper. The growth of Chinese civilization betrayed yet another unique characteristic, that is,
even during the incessant and continual invasions by nomad tribes –
largely from the north, notably from the third to the sixth centuries – the development never stopped. Almost everything that happened or is happening now could be traced to precepts established centuries or even millennia back. Among these questions, let me list a few.

China had been invaded, conquered and ruled by foreign tribes many times over since the third century. However, at the end of the day, the invaders willingly assimilated into ethnic Chinese culture and, as a result, their territories became parts of China. Chinese territory and civilization grew further.
How and why?

There is a historical parallel between China and Europe.
After the Zhou Dynasty began its decline around the eighth century BCE, China was fractionalized into many independent countries (known as the Warring States Period). Qin Shi Huang Di reunited China and established the Qin Dynasty, a powerful centralized government, in 221 BCE. This dynasty did not last long, but the tradition of a strong centralized
government persists to this very day. After the demise of the Roman Empire, Europe was fractionalized, but in 800, Charlemagne reunited Europe into a powerful empire.
However, after his death, Europe was again fractionalized into a number of warring states. This scenario lasted until the end of WWII, on the eve of the so-called nuclear age. Only recently is there any sign of unification. Why is there such a difference between European and Chinese histories?

Throughout her history, China accepted various religions from all over the world and even established one of her own.
Despite efforts to implement a national religion, none succeeded. More strikingly, there had never been any discrimination based on religion (or even race, for that matter).
In addition, although internal strife and conflicts persisted, no wars had ever been fought over differences in theological principles. Insurgencies were often inspired by religion, but their true nature was still peasant revolts. In European history,
countless wars have been fought in the name of religion. Why is there such a difference between China and European countries? What are the standing of religion and the current attitudes towards religions in China?  China and the West also differed in terms of the longevity of the landownership-based feudal system.
Although China had developed a well-regimented land-based hereditary feudal system in 1000 BCE, by 500 BCE it collapsed and never revived. On the other hand, in Europe a hereditary feudal system was essentially established after the death of Charlemagne in 814 AD. This system lasted well into the nineteenth century, and remnants are still seen today. Why is there such a difference?

In China, beginning around the fifth century BCE, knowledge had become popularized, i.e. spread into the general populace, and the popularization of knowledge resulted in a golden period of scholarship; most Chinese philosophies were developed between the 5th and 2nd centuries BCE, rivaling the golden age of Greece. However, Greek philosophies gave birth to science, but the Chinese philosophies did not. Why?

Between 1966 and 1978, virtually all Chinese learning institutions were shut down. Yet within three decades scholarship not only flourished, but also vastly expanded.
Since then, higher educational institutions have mushroomed.
Starting with virtually nothing, industrialization has reached unprecedented levels in Chinese history, and China has become a chief supplier of manufactured consumer goods for the world. How did the Chinese economy recover so fast?
Were there any problems? What are the future prospects of the Chinese economy? China has been attacked for being undemocratic and for having no popular elections. However, recent Pew studies showed that an overwhelming majority of Chinese are satisfied with the way things are and the direction China is heading. Why? Is China as undemocratic as depicted by Western media and liberals?

What is the truth about the nature of the current Chinese political system? Countless experts and scholars have studied similar probing questions. However, in the West, probably because of the language barrier and the lack of understanding of the nature of Chinese civilization, many opinions and analyses tended to be either incomplete or tainted with Western biases. Many analyses were also based on previous work presented in Western languages. There is thus a tendency to lead to what the military calls “incestuous amplification.” Even in China, the analyses before 1980 were also often biased. Yet the economic reform, brought forth after 1980, also took root in the thinking of modern Chinese scholars, freed from ideological bondages. Since then they have been able to reexamine and to reanalyze the Chinese civilization with new perspectives. They have applied the more scientific Western methodology in their studies without conforming to ideological biases. Their findings may still need adjustments in the future, but their methodologies and attitudes seem in the right direction. During the writing of this book,I have greatly benefited from their findings. However, I did not accept their findings per se. I thoroughly examined the ultimate sources before establishing my own opinions.
The Great Cultural Divide between the Chinese and the Western Civilizations There is yet another motive for me to write this book. I have spent a good part of my life living in the United States, and I found extreme disparities between Chinese and American (as well as European) cultures, some of which even run in opposite directions. Many Chinese friends share the same view. In fact, many Americans are ignorant of Chinese civilization. Even the knowledge of the so-called Chinese experts tends to be partial, superficial or even distorted. Few have recognized that there have been many historical parallels in both civilizations, but the outcomes are completely different.
An example is the establishment of the basic ideologies of the two civilizations. In 325 AD, Emperor Constantine I called the First Ecumenical Council, held in Nicaea (in current Turkey). This council
defined Christianity as we know it today, but it also defined the basic ideology of Europe. The defining of this ideology also led Europe into over 1,500 years of theocratic rule. The similar event in China was a conference called by Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty in 134 BCE, which sanctioned a version of Confucianism as the official Chinese ideology. Confucianism heavily stressed humanism and human values, and it placed religion in the backseat. In contrast to Europe, the rise of Confucianism did not cause other philosophies to be purged or persecuted.
Europe had evolved away from absolute theocratic dictatorship, which had permeated into the structure of governments since the fall of the Roman Empire, into the kind of democracy we now know. China undertook a different path. Although the emperor held absolute power for the last two millennia, China managed to allow a form of elitist democracy – defined as the participation of common people in the decision making in national matters and policies through a highly competitive examination system. Since the 7th century, most officials at various administrative levels up to the rank of prime minister were selected through a three-tiered examination system. Instead of elections, candidates spent years of study to compete. In fact, the current Chinese government appears to practice a similar type of competition to select administrative officials. This is very different from Western democracy, whereby high administrative officials are chosen through election (whereby oratory skill is almost mandatory). Each system has its merits and deficiencies. At present, there appears to be no path of reconciliation between the current Chinese and Western systems.
The Structure of this Book The central thesis of this book addresses the decline of China and her recent renaissance coupled with the differences – some of which appear irreconcilable – between China and the West. China is a country deeply embedded with traditions, many of which are alien to the West.
Nevertheless, these traditions did not lead to dogmas. Through the teachings of Confucianism based on Yi-Jing [English translation uses the name I-Ching], Chinese will accept changes. In order to understand China, it is necessary to understand the development and practice of these traditions, and the reasons why they are different from those of the
West. Recent events and changes in China (by “recent” it is meant those taking place during the last 150 years) were complex and hard to grasp,mainly because the changes were often drastic, ephemeral, and contradictory. This makes it seemingly difficult to sift through these rapid changes to unearth the truth about where China is now. In truth, there has been a string of continuities tying the current China to her past,
but these continuities are often disguised as one form morphed into
another, making, making them difficult to discern. In order to understand the recent China, especially her rapid resurgence, it is essential to understand the nature of these continuities through some facets of China’s past.
For reasons cited, this book is divided into seven parts. While the last four parts deal with the main theme of this book, the purpose of the earlier parts is to set the proper backdrop for China’s past which led to the present. Although discussions are centered on critical events and developments in China, stress is also placed on the differences with the West. Since it is not the intention of this book to present a comprehensive chronological history of China, topics discussed do not follow any particular chronological order; these chapters are designed to display the characteristics of the Chinese civilization relevant to the current discussion. Emphasis is placed on the protruding conflicts between China and the West, such as the precepts of religious freedom and political freedom. Although there are some detailed discussions, many interesting topics are necessarily condensed and presented from a bird’s-eye view.
Repetition may occur in different chapters, but as the reader will notice,the relative contexts are different. This kind of reiteration avoids frequent cross-referencing, thus saving the reader’s time. Many presentations begin with a characteristic historical episode, which defined a major change in the direction of Chinese civilization. The stories are all true, but the events have been dramatized to make the presentation more interesting.
Acknowledgements
I would like to present my most sincere thanks to Dr. Tsu-Kai (T. K.) Chu, who not only encouraged me to undertake this difficult task, but also has tirelessly read all four versions of my manuscript, and has
provided uncountable useful, helpful and critical comments, as well as unflagging enthusiasm. Tsu-kai has been a lifelong friend, stretching from the time when we both studied at National Taiwan University in 1950’s, more than half a century ago. I would like to thank Professor Li Xue-yen of the Social Science Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for supplying me with a summary of the Chinese Dating Project.
Special thanks are due to Ms. Yumei Shen, whose major was Chinese history and who had worked in this area for many years. Despite her eyesight problems (now almost fully recovered through a series of successful operations), she strained to read the Chinese version of my entire manuscript, corrected a number of important mistakes and misconceptions, as well as provided many useful suggestions. Whenever
she had doubts, she would consult with well-known historians to get things right on my behalf. Thanks are due to Ms. Yuyia Wu, who introduced Ms. Shen to me. I wish to thank the discussion group from China Forum for discussions and some crucial materials. Thanks are also due to Ms. Pam Guerrieri who provided valuable editorial work and suggestions for some parts of the manuscript. I cannot express enough thanks to my wife Tung-ai (Nana), who supported this venture without any reservation.
Last but not least, this revised edition received assistance from Dr.Karl Hiller, who has painstakingly reviewed the entire manuscript and made countless corrections and suggestions.
Appendix: A Guide to Chinese Pronunciation Pinyin Most Romanized pronunciations in Chinese pinyin are straightforward,but some require special attention. A simplified but corrupted form of pronunciation is given here, acceptable though not exact.
Chinese pronunciations normally involve intonations, but these can be ignored just to get the pronunciation approximately correct. The pronunciation guide is for the first alphabet in pinyin, for example, “g” is pronounced like “g” in girl. A few have peculiarities, especially “c” and “q”.

作者簡介：

丘宏義，康乃爾大學博士，上海出生，臺北長大，旅居美國，環遊世界，時代雜誌（Times）曾冊封為「最優秀的美國科學家」。丘博士任職於美國國家航空暨太空總署（NASA）擔任天文物理及太空科學專家長達35年，曾在知名大學如哥倫比亞大學、耶魯大學、紐約市立大學石溪大學等兼任教授，著有科學著作130餘篇、書籍十餘冊、科普中文譯作十餘冊、科普文章十餘篇等。美國聯邦政府退休後與海外華人菁英創辦漢世紀集團與EHGBooks微出版公司，並且擔任資深合夥人兼任總裁，帶領漢世紀技術團隊致力研發華人世界科技與人文的資訊解決方案：2008年帶領漢世紀推動臺灣加入聯合國教科文組織（UNESCO）贊助的世界數位圖書館（World Digital Library），2012年帶領漢世紀開發全球第一套Amazon微出版漢字標準資訊解決方案（Amazon Micropublishing Chinese Solution）。

Dr. Hong-Yee Chiu, Ph. D. Cornell University, has a long and distinguished career as a space scientist with NASA while holding professorships in Columbia University, Yale University, among others. He has been actively promoting Sino-Century Cultures in Great Washington D.C. Area after his retire from U.S. Federal Government NASA. Being the Founder and President of EHanism Group and EHGBooks Publishing House, Dr. Chiu has written many books in Chinese as well in English and he has been paying attention to the trend of digital-publishing and micropublishing research.

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