Termed rebel without a cause by many including myself, I am always looking to rebel. If rebelling gives you the adrenaline rush, trust me China seems to be the place to be. I might have believed to the contrary prior to the Global Leadership Institute. China seemed to have left behind the tumultuous turmoil of June 4, '89 and wholeheartedly embraced progress and prosperity. Only indication of Chinese oppression of its people came from the draconian Internet blocking they enforce. But little did I know of the silent and more cerebral rebellion brewing in the campuses of marquee universities of China. And by induction I tend to believe whole of Chinese society.
I am not denying the fact that Tiananmen is long gone by and today only two principles guide China : economic growth and loyalty to the Party. But meeting students from China was an eye-opener. In the large contingent of Chinese students I could see people burning with fervor and passion to know more about themselves and their country. They were openly bashing their government on issues like Tibet, airbrushed history and shameless propaganda.
Most illuminating was the talk by celebrated 'China specialist' from Washington Post : John Pomfret. He was one of the two foreign reporters to have been expelled from China post- Tianamen. He had been following the build-up very closely and was at the epicenter on the June 4th. Pomfret had been one of the first exchange students from US post- Culture revolution of 60s and had studded at Nanjing for a year. When Pomfret ended his talk on the new age China, Chinese students hijacked the Q&A session.
Heavily peppered by applause from all of us, they asked what had exactly happened on June 4th. They could not access the Wikipedia article and their history books had a twisted version of the whole thing. Imagine the situation of a History/Political Science major in China right now. Unlike his/her counterparts in the brilliant Computer Science departments, he/she doesn't have the technical inclination to use proxies/tunneling to bypass state-enforced blocking of the Internet. The books, like all history, are written by the people who won. I still get goose bumps as I remember one of the Chinese Goldman Sachs Global Leaders asking intently fueled by passion how things turned out on June 4th. He fearlessly criticized the government for its policies on certain fronts.
The applause that greeted this question wasn't Chinese or political. It was the resounding belief of 20 year olds that fear is the key to ignorance and self-awareness is the first step to realizing dreams. A Chinese girl was quick to rebut the criticism and we broke out in peals of laughter at the healthy debate that ensued with Pomfret looking amused. We also had Chinese students from ghotu backgrounds who had no time amidst their research papers, equations and proofs to care anything about all this (I am trying to quote verbatim).
This generation of Chinese students is very different form the 'sent-downs' or the 'lost generation'. My generation in China has opportunities akin to the ones we have in India. Probably even better with more university seats and better economic conditions. But, any of this doesn't hold much meaning without self awareness. Any of this doesn't mean much without knowing about the glorious and painful sacrifices the preceding generations made. There is a burning desire to know more about their history, a pressing urge to tell others and to engage in meaningful dialogue about a more open society. This fuels an intense socio-political debate on university campuses unparalleled by anything that I know of.
I would love to be in China right now. I love India and more so the debates we have at BITS Pilani. But, I am sure such debates at Peking/Nanjing universities have a lot more gravity and pertain to immediate problems rather than our utopian squabbles at Pilani. A recommendation to anyone interested in China's recent history and how to go about economic reforms : Chinese lessons by John Pomfret. Very enlightening and illuminating.
4 reactions:
Do you think the impression they'd have gotten from you of Indian 20 year olds holds for all of us?
I am inclined to believe those were the smartest Chinese 20 year olds, so can it be concluded that all Mandarins are as fired up to know about their true history?
This piece just makes me want to go China even more. Hope Chinmay's reading this.
Inspite of your objectivity, my national pride is hurt. Indeed, I'm bigoted and reactionary. So here goes.
"This fuels an intense socio-political debate on university campuses unparalleled by anything that I know of."
Intense debate does not mean anything if you're unable or stopped from translating it into action. The 20 year olds in China tried that once and got chased by tanks. On the other hand, we in India have the advantage of having a forward looking constitution which enshrines our rights and enables change in the right direction.
And I think the sociopolitical discourse in Iran is much more robust and radical than in China. That's not history. That's happening right now, today. And if you choose to look back a few decades, you will surely see that the sociopolitical debate in the universities at Sorbonne, Vienna, Berlin and St. Petersburg were so radical that they were able to spawn whole revolutions.
[This person has vented enough and has cooled down]
@atin : I like bigoted reactions Your reaction however has the answer why I want to be in China. "Intense debate doesn't mean anything if you're unable or stopped from translating it into action"
It is the spirit to break those shackles of restraint that beckons me
Well, kudos for replying to my comment and then blocking comments so I can't write back.
Now, I think its CHINA where you can't put radical thoughts into action, because if you do, TANKS have a sudden urge to mow you down. Maybe you can put radical business models into practice in China, but that is as far as it goes.
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