Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Post-materialism in China

When I began studying China in the '60s, I didn't anticipate materialism becoming an issue. The country was desperately poor and dominated by the egalitarianism of the Cultural Revolution. A ball point pen in a shirt pocket or a watch beneath a PLA uniform sleeve was often the only way to identify someone with power.

But wealth for some and materialism for many more did come to China. Is there also a post-materialism coming?

Nationalistic and Chasing the 'Chinese Dream'

Ge Yang is an editor at Umiwi.com, a Beijing-based Web site for and about China’s “post-’80s” generation, those born in the decade after China’s economic and social liberalization began.

First of all, she says, the majority of post-’80s — especially those in big cities and with decent jobs — don’t envy the United States its material wealth.

“We have all the material things here that America has, like iPhones, which are really, really loved here,” said Ms. Ge, a petite, eager-faced 26-year-old. “We can get the best of all their goods, so that’s not an issue.

“But we can’t do what they do culturally: produce things like Tom and Jerry cartoons, ‘Transformers,’ ‘Avatar,’ ‘Inception,’ iPhones, Barbies. America has things we really, really like, on a cultural level.”

The post-’80s are China’s first only-child generation, and they happily admit they are prone to selfishness. Yet, generally, they are also searching their souls, conscious of their historical mission in pointing their country toward a better future and away from the ideology-driven violence and poverty of the past.

After the tradition-smashing Communist politics of the first three decades of the People’s Republic, and three further decades of breakneck economic growth that has destroyed some of the country’s environment and cultural heritage, China’s young adults are searching for values and moral meaning, said Ms. Ge, who studied Chinese literature at Beijing Normal University…

Ms. Ge’s work at the Web site brings her into daily contact with a broad range of opinion among the post-’80s. She predicts the next three decades will see people here pursuing the “Chinese Dream.”

“This is a big topic here right now,” she said. “It’s inspired by the American Dream, but different. Americans say you can build anything out of nothing. We believe that you can love your family and your country and return to your cultural roots, such as Confucius. So much was lost in the last 60 years.”…

Yet expectations are rising along with incomes, posing a major challenge to the government, and looking ahead, the post-’80s want more of a say in politics, she said.

“People want more competitive politics, to know something about the people who lead the country, to know that they are really excellent in quality like President Obama and not just bureaucrats whom we don’t know.

“Bad things happen in America too, but at least there is a system to supervise the people in power. Here, there is no one who can do this, and if we can’t monitor what the government is doing, there are so many challenges, like corruption, it will end badly.”