A Changing Society

By Duncon Cole

Ifirst visited China in 1973. I was a serving member of the Royal Australian Navy and we were engaged in the Viet Nam War.Communism was the deadly enemy of the free world back then. Hong Kong was one of our ports of call, as it was “owned” by our colonial masters—Great Britain. I clearly remember my amazement at the difference in culture, and the seemingly primitive ways of doing just about everything. White supremacy was just a matter of course, and no scruples were felt about using the human resources that the “Yellow Horde”had to offer. As a young serviceman I gleefully partook in the advantages of being Caucasian in a poorer Asian community.

There was a bus trip to the “New Territories,” which was the real China, and nothing could have alerted me to what was witnessed. It was like going back in history a couple of hundred years. There were no real roads, no public transport, no toilets, no cars and no relationship to what we, as Westerners, accepted as basic necessities of life.

The bars in the Wanchai District were compulsory diet. I loved Hong Kong. “You buy me one drink John?” was the bar girls’catch cry. And buy them one drink we did,over and again.

So here I am 40 years later, as an honored guest of a tertiary institution in southern China. I lecture in English and Business subjects to students from undergraduate to PhD level and I love it! Everyone I meet is so warm and friendly. The thirst for knowledge of the Western world is unquenchable.

The majority of students who I teach are in their early 20s. Most of them are very naive. It is this that makes them particularly attractive as human beings. They have not yet been affected by the cynicism of Western culture.

I think that the “one-child” policy has brought about a particularly narcissistic personality leaning. I see many young people,both male and female, spending a lot of time looking at themselves in a mirror. I see them in class teasing their hair, touching up their eyebrows and enhancing their physical appearance, when no one else is really paying any attention.

Anything American is to be revered! That annoys me not just a little, because submersion of culture is one thing that I would not want to happen to this wonderful country.Let the multinational companies have their way with commerce. Please do not let them infect the inherent goodness of the young Chinese mind! I already see a new generation of overweight young people emerging from the KFC and McDonalds culture. Why? I wanna be like you! If only the NBA portrayed negative messages about the “fat” generation, maybe young people would steer away from fast food.

My world today is not only a generation away from the place I visited in 1973, it is also a lifetime away politically. China’s new ruling body is a forward looking, relatively young group of people, who were brought up in the hugely changing world of the ‘50s.Their outlook is firstly the improvement of the lot of the Chinese people. Many Western governments could take a leaf out of this book. The other major phenomenon that is noticeable here is about China’s place in the world. There is no navel-gazing, because they, and everyone else, know that they are going to be the largest economy in the world in the not too distant future. It is just a question of what they do with it.

I have heard the words “harmonious society” uttered by the government and their press organs repeatedly. Now having lived and worked amidst this wonderful society of people for a few years, I believe it to be a reality.

Communism was the West’s enemy in 1973. I believe the West has a lot to learn today from structured socialism, Chinese style. ■