lishesquex | Poor Kerensky and lucky me

After escaping from Russia, Alexander Kerensky apparently applied for a job as the Head of the History Department at the University of Melbourne, but was rejected. A woman got the job instead.

I vaguely feel sorry for him. He spent the rest of his life in exile writing political stuff and memoirs about Russia. And then the Russian Orthodox Church wouldn't even let his body be buried in Russia on account of the fact that he failed to stop Lenin and the Bolsheviks.

I asked mum if she thought the Chinese Cultural Revolution was a good thing overall (given the state of China at the moment - i.e. lookin' good), and she said no. I'm still undecided on the issue. On the one hand, it played a part in modernizing China and making it a growing world power that owes nothing ~~to the bastard Western empires such as those that try to steal Hong Kong~~ *cough* and it really advanced women's equality, like really... on the other hand, the revolution itself was pretty brutal, rural China is still poor, people are still being exploited, and it robbed my grandparents of family heirlooms, jewellery and a grand piano... not to mention it dispersed the family across several provinces.

Oh! Speaking of China. The next Phonetics assignment, which is about contour tone languages, is on Peking Mandarin. Like omg! How unfair is that? Unfair for people other than me, that is, and for those who aren't international students that speak Mandarin. When she announced it, I couldn't help but smile because I have a HUGE advantage, since I'm already familiar with the tones and could tell you which was which if I was drunk, half asleep and deaf in one ear. I should feel bad for people who are disadvantaged, but... eh, I'm still happy. :D

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I'm not sure of my figures, but didn't something like 60 million people die as a result of the revolution? (from starvation mainly)

I read somewhere that it was 30 million. The government covered it up for like 20 years and exaggerated grain harvests, so I guess no one's really sure. It's terribly sad though. But then... China's always had lots of bad famines, even before the communists took over. Or maybe that's not true and it was implanted into my subconscious as a toddler before I left China. :D

Overall I think communism was good for China in many ways- equal rights, greater economic equality, modernisation.

HOWEVER.

The cultural revolution itself was a horrible nasty period of communism where people starved and were executed due to the paranoid fantasies of its leader. It set China back many years and scarred many many people. In fact, it achieved nothing but a purge of independent thought and intellectualism. Oh, and the prooduction of large useless quantities of steel. God knows why.

I guess... the thing is that "modernisation" to a large extent implies "Westernisation". Communism itself is a Western concept, even.

Sigh. Hong Kong. My hometown. Wish sometimes it was an independent country. Am sure you'd disagree, heh. There is, in many ways, something quite... unique, interesting and appealling about that Anglo-Chinese culture. It's an amazing city. Colonialism existing into the 90's is pretty darn bad, but I must say, the results weren't all bad.

Ah yes, that's what I meant... Communism, not the period of the revolution itself. I would be the first to say that Mao was a stupid bastard. China wasted an entire generation's potential because of his flawed ideology.

Communism may have started off a Western concept, but I don't think it has remained just Western. And I would argue that although China is being modernized, it hasn't really been Westernized. *post modernist voice* What is 'Western' anyway? :-D

Actually, I'm unsure about the Hong Kong question too. I was just railing against colonialism in my post when I said the bit about bastard Western empires, not deliberately trying to be nationalistic. But yeah, I really don't know enough about Hong Kong, or how Beijing is treating Hong Kong to say anything about it. I do know that it's regarded as a nicer place to live than mainlind China though, so I will agree with you that the results weren't all bad in this case. :)

Ok, let me just say that wasn't meant to be a defence of Britain's actions. What they did to China was awful- especially the Opium Wars and taking Hong Kong. I meant more that I like Hong Kong as it is now, which wasn't meant to be a value judgement about British colonial interests in China.

No worries, I getcha. :)

The chinese economic miracle isn't as wonderful as it seems to be.
They're exploiting the people in the worst way. People seem to be treated like a raw material that they have in abundance. Just look at the thousands of dead miners, who only had to die b/c the minimum security standards weren't applied.
They also have pretty bad business ethics (stealing patents from foreign companies) and use more resources (like fossil fuels) very inefficiently, e.g. to produce one ton of goods they use eight times as much crude oil as the US, and the ratio is even higher when it's compared to Japan or Germany.
Their products are so cheap b/c workers have no Sunday, little to none social security, and ecological aspects aren't considered at all.
Now that we slowly get the US to understand that protection of the environment is important, China's and India's industrial growth skyrockets and their success is partly based on the non-existence of laws for the protection of people and environment.

Only yesterday I saw a documentary about Madagascar ("big" island off Africa's southeast coast) where the local blacksmiths, who re-work discarded iron with simplest methods under nothing but a thatched roof on four poles, complain that their (really less than perfect looking) products are more expensive than the asian imports...

Sorry, but it's something that irks me majorly.

...but people /are/ a raw material that China has in abundance. That may sound really callous, and I don't agree at all with the inhumane conditions that many Chinese workers are subjected to - my own mother once worked in a factory for less than a few yuan a month - but China either uses the overpopulation to her advantage, or sink under the weight of too many people in one place. Human beings will always try to find a way to thrive, and if that means no Sundays off and minimum pay in order to be competitive and survive, then that's what they will endure. The tragedy is that it has to happen at all.

As for bad business ethics and using resources inefficiently, remember that China is a developing country that is still struggling in many areas. It hasn't got the luxury of always choosing the 'right' or principled option. That said, I do have an issue with the pollution that China's modernization is causing... both in China, and internationally. It absolutely needs to be fixed, and I read in an article that apparently the central government has been trying to stop unlawful dumping of toxic stuff in unauthorized places, but the corruption in the local government is hindering it. I guess this would apply to other things too. The rampant corruption and the lack of cooperation/communication between the central and the local governments is dire, and needs to be fixed. But in China's defence, people are cracking down on China's (lack of) environmental policies because we (in the Western world) are living in a time of increased awareness for the environment. Europe and Britain when they were developing during the Industrial Age were pretty bad too, and only cleaned up their act relatively recently. Hopefully, as China gets developed, it'll clean up its act too. In the mean time, I think it's pretty hypocritical for developed Western countries to single out China when it's just following in their footsteps. But let me make it clear that I absolutely /do not/ in any way support the damage that China's industrialization is doing to the environment, and I think it is their responsibility to do something about it as soon as possible.

I dunno what should be done about Madagascar's (and probably many other countries, including Australia's) problem with Chinese imports being cheaper than local products... I'm an Arts, not a Commerce student. :p Maybe when China's population decreases enough, or when the entire country is sufficiently developed, things will change. *shrug*

I don't know why I feel compelled to defend China. I'm not particularly proud to be Chinese (or Australian) and I tend to dislike overly nationalistic sentiments because I believe if all people were global citizens, things would be much better for everyone. But yeah, for some reason I am. Hopefully I haven't offended anyone... this is just what I believe at this particular moment, and I'm always ready to change my opinion when I find out something new. :)

Poor Kerensky and lucky me

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