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How will China's mixed heritage shape its reform of government?

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In Brief

China’s economic reforms since 1978 have been unprecedented.

They have followed no specific model and have proceeded very much as Deng Xiaoping said: crossing the river by feeling for the stones.

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China’s governance record is harder to assess but no one can deny that, despite some notable missteps, it has enabled massive economic reforms to take place in exceptional ways.

What follows next is, understandably, difficult to predict. For one thing, new social and cultural elements have also been subject to reforms and have to be taken into account in future economic and political policies. Although slow in having an effect on nation-wide change, they contribute to problems that cannot be solved by wealth and power alone.

The reforms so far add up to a China that has eschewed copying other peoples’ models and does not appear to behave like any other country. Thus, when the Chinese ponder current conditions and ponder the direction of governance reforms, what do they have to work with? One thing calls for attention. They do not have a single heritage to master or contend with, but at least four. How they reconcile what they have learnt from their past with what they see ahead is likely to guide the next stage of needed reforms and the institutions needed to make the reforms successful.

The immediate heritage are the principles laid down by Deng Xiaoping himself: concentrate purposely on opening to the world economy, master its methodologies as quickly as possible, adapt advanced technology to meet China’s urgent needs, but retain the governing structure as much as possible. Many believe that China has done enough of all that and now needs a new vision.

The second heritage derives from the bitter fruits of revolution with lessons learnt through its several stages, including civil wars, foreign invasions, superpower threats and violent self-renewals. The result was a well-tested political system dominated by the Chinese Communist Party, a political system not afraid to change but that would change only in order to make itself stronger. It believes that it must always be positioned to fulfill its mission to build a united and prosperous China. It was initially inspired by Marx and Lenin, but the Maoist innovations, indigenous and nationalistic, are still present.

The third heritage goes back to the elusive Sun Yat-Sen, representing the first flash of modernity in the Chinese consciousness. Hugely imperfect is the mixed set of ideas he left behind, but it contains ingredients of enlightened urges to learn from the world outside that at the same time long for the affirmation of Chinese values. Sun Yat-Sen’s calls for nationalism were based on both a respect for democratic ideals and the liberation of the poor peasant masses from millennia of patronising neglect. It was a heritage that drew, with reservations, ideals from the Anglo-American West that could not sink deep roots in Chinese soil.

I hesitate to identify the fourth heritage because few would recognise it as such in the face of the three outlined above. But many of the people who are contemplating governance reforms are turning to pre-1911 texts for inspiration. There is a sense that feeling for stones is no longer enough, that the CCP structure is too rigid, and that nationalist slogans can be dangerous.

To all those fervently modernising youth and jaded revolutionaries, looking back to the wisdom of the sages must seem odd, but it is extraordinary how many old ideas have surfaced. Some notable examples are: orientation towards the people; quest for social harmony; respect for elders, family and key traditional values; merit-based officialdom for public service.

There seems to be no doubt that the ultimate goal is to be a state and nation that is progressive and stable and widely admired. Many fine minds are juggling, and struggling, with a wealth of ideas and methods to achieve that goal. About the only thing they all can agree on is that whatever China will become will be different, as its history has always been distinctive. China cannot and will not be modeled on any other state or nation.

But for China to find its own way towards improved governance requires the full attention of all those who care. Most Chinese seem resigned to the belief that no one outside would really be sympathetic to efforts that seem so self-centered. The reality, however, is that the world is too small for China not to be affected by what is happening elsewhere. And the extra dimensions of having to find a Chinese way while responding to changing global conditions are posing more new challenges.

In that context we see the people of China deeply conflicted between, at one end, those who feel deeply insecure about making changes to what they still control and, at the other, those who are desperately keen to import new ideas that could make a difference. The next step into China’s future is uncertain but, given the heritages that are simultaneously at work on the national psyche, the Chinese people have a rich stock to work with. If they can creatively gather all that together, they may be able to find the coherent governance structure that will enable China to become the admired country it wants to be.

Wang Gungwu is University Professor, National University of singapore, and Chairman of its East Asian Institute and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. He is also Emeritus Professor of the Australian National University.

This article appeared in the most recent edition of the East Asia Forum Quarterly, ‘Governing China’.

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