History Subject: Making China Modern - Coursework Example

History Making China Modern - Yu Yue, Late 19th Century - Total Number of Words 264 “China can remain China or “Central nation” as long as she does not communicate with any of the other eight continents.” Yu Yue, late 19th century Introduction China has been named as a ‘Central Nation’1 because of the strong practice of communism for so many years. The opening of China’s door for industrialization has invited a lot of highly respectable business people coming from the eight continents all over the world. For many years, China has depended a lot on agricultural activities as their major source of livelihood. The sudden shift of China from engaging in pure agricultural activities towards opening its doors towards industrialization and international trading contributes a significant effect on the culture, traditions, and beliefs of the Chinese people. Yu Yue fears that these sudden economic changes and development could highly affect and distort the country’s preserved practices on communism, the application of the Confucianism in their daily lives, and the end of the universe as a whole. Communism Communism is about establishing a ‘one-for-all’ and ‘all-for-one’ way of living. It means that the country practices a classless and stateless kind of social organization that is primarily based on a common ownership.2 The benefit of communism is the fact that there is no gap between the rich and the poor because all of the Chinese citizens are treated equally. The strong control of the Chinese government over the Chinese citizens has enabled the country to implement a non-bias society when it comes to social status and class. For many years, even up to the present time, the Chinese government remains in full control over China. It is the Chinese government that imposes a strong regulation on foreign investors in order to preserve the physical asset of China. China has been strictly known for having a strong virtue and is a dignified country. According to Duke Chou, “A gentleman will not accept tribute from a country which has not felt the good influence of his virtue.”3 This statement may be considered as a historical evidence that Chinese people are not easily blinded by money. His beliefs are strong and cannot be easily corrupt. Since the Chinese people has been long time captured in a communist society, perhaps many of them are very much eager to experience the essence of a real democratic freedom wherein these people would have a voice over the communist government. This issue is one of the major challenges that the Chinese government is trying to prevent and preserve. The first fear of Yu Yue is the fact that opening China to the eight continents worldwide could highly affect the mentality of the Chinese’s new generation. He fears that it is possible for China to weaken the preservation of its old virtue. In the future, it would no longer be impossible for China to remain as a dignified ‘Central Nation.’ Confucianism Confucianism has been passed down from one generation to the other mostly in Chin Dynasty up to the Han Dynasty.4 It has a strong influence over the beliefs of Chinese people. Confucius (551 – 479 BC) – being the founder of the teachings of Confucianism, is one of the most famous and most influential Chinese Philosophers in the past. Confucianism is a form of a complex system about moral, social, political, philosophical, and religious teachings that has a solid influence on the China’s culture and traditions.5 The Chinese government has been active in promoting the Confucianist values to the Chinese people. Even up to the present time, a lot of Chinese people are practicing the teachings of Confucianism in China; including Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau. As a communist country, Confucianism is very important to the Chinese people because it offers them a unique way of respecting other people for who they really are and not because of their social status and classes. It also contributes a lot on justifying its political system when it comes to protecting the humanity of people.6 Based on one of Confucius’ teachings, “Harmony is something to be cherished.”7 For this reason, government of China is still doing its best to maintain a harmonious society and preserve the Confucius’ teachings despite the growing industrialization and economic success in the country. However, the present situation that China is facing today is entirely different from what it was in the past. Even though Chinese people are still studying the works of Confucius, the younger generation today is taking more time in learning the Western culture and other business related topics that are essential in the success of the continuous development of their economic society. This is in fact the second fear of Yu Yue, in case the Chinese younger generation would spend more of their time studying the Western way of doing things, it is not impossible that one day, China would gradually lose their virtue, knowledge and practices in accordance to Confucianism. The End of the Universe The third fear of Yu Yue is the fact that China engaging in industrialization could mean result to the end of the Universe. As China becomes strongly aggressive with the practice of industrialization and adapting the beliefs and practices of the Western countries, it is not impossible that one day China would also experience exhaustion of their own natural resources. This is in fact the most serious event that could happen in the future. China, being one of the biggest countries in the world, could utilize their available natural resources more than what other neighbouring countries are using. It also means that the country is expected to generate more water and air pollution that can be harmful to the health of the Chinese men in general as well as other forms of living things. In line with the fast and enormous economic changes that are happening in China right now is the fact that the Chinese people could also lose the benefit of having fresh air and clean water including the degradation of their own physical health. Conclusion Opening the door of China to the eight different continents worldwide could influence the mental development and beliefs of their younger generation. Being a developing country from a used to be a pure communist society, it is possible that outside influences from other countries could become a major factor in changing the priorities of most of the Chinese people. In line with the economic changes are the possibility of developing a huge gap between the rich and the poor citizens. The three fears that Yu Yue has mentioned with regards to the economic and social condition of China is likely to happen in due time. As soon as China is no longer able to sustain and preserve their practice of communism and Confucianism, the country could slowly lose the essence of a ‘Central Nation.’ There are a lot of consequences with China’s decision on going global. These consequences do not include only the preservation of their culture and tradition but the degradation of their natural environment and resources as well. The enormous engagement in the development of industrialization of the Chinese people could contribute a huge effect in the exhaustion of our universal natural resources and serious damage in our environment. In exchange with the heavy involvement on industrialization, it is the possible that one day, our mother Earth could no longer sustain life for mankind. This is one major reason why environmental preservation and concerns has become very important lately. Despite the fact that China has been very successful in its economic performance and fast economic development, is it really worth going through all the consequences Chinese people are facing right now in exchange for monetary income? Looking at the China’s situation, perhaps it could pay more to rationalize and listen to Yu Yue’s three fears. *** End *** Read More