Comments on: China’s future is not Europe’s past http://blog.greycat.org/2007/12/07/chinas-future-is-not-europes-past/ news and things from greycat.org Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:43:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: LH Chumley http://blog.greycat.org/2007/12/07/chinas-future-is-not-europes-past/#comment-292 LH Chumley Fri, 14 Dec 2007 09:16:43 +0000 http://blog.greycat.org/2007/12/07/chinas-future-is-not-europes-past/#comment-292 The critiqe of Zizek's comparison of contemporary China and early modern Europe is well placed, but the characterization of China's capitalism as centrally driven and anti- or non-individualist, is deeply flawed. In the early reform era many state enterprises were forced to privatize/marketize; but the driving force of the capitalism that has transformed so many people's lives was and remains small business: maimai (buying and selling), and kaidian (opening a shop, restaurant, bar, small business, etc.) These practices were and are driven by a notion of wealth building that is both individual and rooted in networks of family and friends, and by individualism--the pursuit of own's own sphere of influence, a place to be a boss, or a different mode of life--more than government policy. Because there is so much small business in China, the line between workers and bosses is more porous than many people realize. Many manual laborers in big cities belong to families with small businesses back home, and will later return home to open their own businesses--not because the government requires them to, but in order to jump the line from wage laborer to boss. Observers often tend to exaggerate the reach of government in the daily lives of most Chinese people. For most people, the government is represented most by the police, who show up when things go badly wrong. It is not a manager controlling daily life. Policy has to be noted and adjusted to, like the weather, but it is not a positive force dictating what you actually do. The critiqe of Zizek’s comparison of contemporary China and early modern Europe is well placed, but the characterization of China’s capitalism as centrally driven and anti- or non-individualist, is deeply flawed.
In the early reform era many state enterprises were forced to privatize/marketize; but the driving force of the capitalism that has transformed so many people’s lives was and remains small business: maimai (buying and selling), and kaidian (opening a shop, restaurant, bar, small business, etc.) These practices were and are driven by a notion of wealth building that is both individual and rooted in networks of family and friends, and by individualism–the pursuit of own’s own sphere of influence, a place to be a boss, or a different mode of life–more than government policy. Because there is so much small business in China, the line between workers and bosses is more porous than many people realize. Many manual laborers in big cities belong to families with small businesses back home, and will later return home to open their own businesses–not because the government requires them to, but in order to jump the line from wage laborer to boss.

Observers often tend to exaggerate the reach of government in the daily lives of most Chinese people. For most people, the government is represented most by the police, who show up when things go badly wrong. It is not a manager controlling daily life. Policy has to be noted and adjusted to, like the weather, but it is not a positive force dictating what you actually do.

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