East Asian Studies in China Culture - Essay Example

?East Asian Studies A The account that Philip Pan provides of the Southern Metropolis Daily gives us an insightful view of the future of the media in China. In the face of repression and the suppression of the rights of journalists, journalists like Cheng Yizhong, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper have been leading the way in attempting to expose the shortcomings of the system that the country follows. The Chinese media’s future as a responsible form of reporting news shall depend on its ability to circumvent the guidelines that are set by the government. Southern Metropolis Daily was able to do this in the story that they published about the Chinese government’s inability to prevent and control SARS. The punishments that followed were also circumvented by keeping the activities of the daily a secret from the government. Pan gives an example of how this is done at Southern Metropolis Daily, where the suspension of the reporter who did the SARS story was faked. Cashing in on the leeway that the government provides, and the bits of information that it unknowingly provides is also a method that the Chinese media can adopt to provide the Chinese people with the information that they deserve from a responsible media. 2. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has a policy that sees the capitalism that it espouses along with the tight control that it maintains on the affairs of its people as merely a stage in its achievement of a communist society. This involves a rather complex understanding of the theories that Marx had propounded. The government has, however, included some of the tenets of the welfare state that is a model that certain Scandinavian states have followed. As a result of this, there are a lot of Christian and Confucian values that seep into the consciousness of the common man. The inability of the common man to comprehend the complex tenets that the Chinese government includes in its policies also causes the rise of alternate ideologies. Such a shift would require the use of technology that would enable a change from the government’s standpoint. This would be difficult though, since the Chinese government strictly monitors the use of the internet. Even the circumvention that is effected by the Chinese electorate is one that is allowed by the government and operates as a safety valve in order to prevent any mass uprising and make them feel that their voice is being heard. 3. The concept of civil society and its role in a state like China, that has practiced some form of authoritarianism or the other at every stage of its modern history, is something that has interested western scholars throughout the period in which China has been an independent nation. In China, with a relative increase in the autonomy that has been provided in the recent past to organizations that function outside the party structure. They serve to function in those areas that are neglected by the government. They ensure the welfare of those sections that are ignored by the government that can do so precisely because of their existence. The other mode of protest that is available to the masses of China is popular unrest. However, with the amount of repression that is practiced by the government of China, it is not possible for the people to rise in protest and create unrest. This was seen during the recent Olympics, when the protests that the Tibetans carried out were completely suppressed by the government. The civil societies that work in China are, on the other hand, able to circumvent these restrictions and protest in am manner that is silently subversive and leads to a gradual change that is needed for shifts in the social arrangements. B. 1. Relations between China and Japan have always been more strained than her relations with other nations like the United States of America and Taiwan, that she does not share a cordial relation with. Relations with the USA are strained due to a history of conflict between the ideologies that both the nations follow while the strained relations with Taiwan arise out of China’s expectation that Taiwan would join it as a part of the nation. Japan, however, occupies the slot of the most hated nation. This is mostly due to the occupation of China by Japan during the Second World War. This gave rise to a lot of resentment, something that has not died down even till today. This has increased as a result of the visit to the Yasasuke shrine that was undertaken by Jin Koizumi, when he was the Prime Minister of Japan. Chinese officials and the Chinese people reacted angrily to this and this has contributed to an increase in the enmity that these countries feel towards each other. Japan’s increasing closeness to the USA as a reaction to this hatred has also not done anything to alleviate this hatred that engendered it in the first place. 2. The concept of the “one country-two systems” that was developed by Deng Xiaoping was something that enabled a smooth working in both China and Hong Kong. According to this concept, China would follow a communist form of functioning while Hong Kong would work with the capitalist mode. Beijing would not interfere in the administrative working of Hong Kong beyond a certain point. There would be a certain amount of autonomy that would be allowed to Hong Kong; however, Chinese troops would be stationed in Hong Kong. This would ensure a Chinese presence in Hong Kong, even though appointments to administrative posts would not be made by China. This policy involved China allowing continuity to Hong Kong’s status as an international centre of trade. This model, would not however, be applicable to Tibet, because of the very different socio-political conditions that exist in Tibet and the refusal of China to provide Tibet with any amount of autonomy. The Tibetan people remain disgruntled with the deal that they have gotten from China and remain unhappy with the treatment that has been meted out to its topmost leader, the Dalai Lama. The “one country-two systems” policy cannot be applied to Tibet since it is not allowed the status and respect that Hong Kong was provided during its integration. 3. China’s record with the maintenance of its image as an upholder of Human Rights has never been good. Right from the infamous massacre at Tiananmen Square, where innumerable men and women were shot down, the treatment of social activists protesting against the government has always drawn flak from the international community. China’s reaction to these allegations has not been to change its stance regarding the way it managed its policies but to change the way the very manner in which Human Rights were defined in mainstream discourses. Another strategy that China has adopted to this end has been to engage in an active foreign policy that encourages the development of friendly ties with other countries and an involvement in the activities of other states where its involvement was needed. China’s attempt to project this image was accompanied by its toeing the line that a majority of the international community had drawn for it, regarding its nuclear programs. China’s policy was aimed at deflecting attention from its internal activities to its foreign policy. By doing so, China was also successful in shifting the focus and importance from the human rights violations that it had been committing to the shift in foreign policies that it had been able to effect. Works Cited Deng, Yong. China's struggle for status: the realignment of international relations. Maryland: Cambridge U.P., 2008. Print. Pan, Philip P. Out of Mao's Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of a New China. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008. Print. Bell, Daniel A. From Marx to Confucius: Changing Discourses on China’s Political Future. Accessed on 19th June, 2011 MacKinnon, Rebecca. China’s 'Networked Authoritarianism'. Accessed on 19th June, 2011 Johnson, Ian. The Death and life of China’s Civil Society. Accessed on 19th June, 2011. Deng Xiaoping on 'One Country, Two Systems'. Accessed on 19th June, 2011. Susan L. Shirk, China: Fragile Superpower.New York: Oxford University Press, 2007 Read More