China and its little lands
Whenever I think of China, I like to think of China as a whole–both Hong Kong and Taiwan are part of China. However, throughout the years, this view has slowly faded away as people from Hong Kong and Taiwan point to themselves as distinctly Taiwanese or Hong Kong-nese. I understand a bit that Taiwan includes the people who do not want to fall under the communist Chinese government. They were the people who fled under the guidance of Jiang Jie Shi after the communists won in a decisive victory. But, China isn’t a real communist government. If it really was purely communist, there would be no poor people. There would be no wealthy people. The communist theory is an ideal, but it’s not that realistic. Thus, China has resorted to capitalism (or Chinese economy with western influences). The people in the government know that pure communism cannot work in the world; it never has in big country, and China is the biggest country in the world!
People from Hong Kong, on the other hand, do not want to be associated with mainland China because they believe that in terms of technology and economics, mainland China is far behind and it will only pull Hong Kong into trouble. This is simply not the case. Under the guidance from China, the Hong Kong economy has hit all time highs. It is still thriving and doing well, so I think that China’s governing policies are quite good for the people from Hong Kong.
The divisions between mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan have even spread to America. Immigrants identify one another as from Hong Kong, mainland Chinese (da lu ren), or Taiwanese. The last names are different (mainland Chinese are the only people who use the romanized pin yin). There are just so many separations and I feel sad because we really are all Chinese. We all know the same language (Chinese) and I’ll own ancestors come from China. I feel devoted to China because my ancestors have all came from there and I like the land where my family tree has all descended from. Why don’t the people from Hong Kong or Taiwan? If they just go back a few generations, they all come from mainland China as well. We all had the same values and mainly same traditions.
So to me, I believe that a united China is best. Just like the United States where 50 states are united together in a country, having a united China can bring many benefits. Back two hundred years ago when the people of the states identified more with their state than their country (e.g. I am Virginian–Virginians are better than New Yorkers), it brought a lot of disorder to the country. Once all the states were united together, the United States went to grow into one of the most powerful countries in the world.
United we stand; divided we fall.
7 Responses to “China and its little lands”
August 8, 2007 at 9:33 am
I haven’t heard about that instance before. Would you care to direct me to a source that explains the entire situation? I can’t find it online.
From my perspective, that sounds like China exploiting Taiwan’s resources, which countries usually only do to a colony. Taiwan is pushing itself to seem like a colony to China, so China would most likely treat the island as a colony.
August 12, 2007 at 12:01 pm
There is also a huge human-rights worry in Hong Kong. For 50 years, the law in Hong Kong came from Britain. That means no capital punishment, open trials, presumption of innocence, and most of all, a much more recognised freedom of speech. In China, if you so much as criticise the government, you risk getting hauled off to a private trial and possible capital punishment. Unless the Chinese government stop being so oppressive and maybe even overhaul their system to be more democratic and transparent, I think the fears that many people from Hong Kong feel are quite justified.
August 12, 2007 at 4:15 pm
I’m sure that when people fear, there will obviously always be reasons behind the fear. However, that being said, China is still a developing country. It is constantly working to better itself. If people unite together, instead of always going against the government (for Hong Kong, they are going to really be part of China), they can help define a government that promotes more human rights.
August 14, 2007 at 4:40 pm
I guess I’m one of the few who believe that Taiwan is a part of China. I had a traditional Chinese upbringing and was educated in Chinese ideals in its full glory. Just look at the state of the TW parliament. People chucking shoes at each other and throwing pies in others’ faces. That’s no place to run a country. The little island will receive much more benefits if it becomes a part of China.
Good point about how China isn’t fully a communist state. It’s unlikely we’ll have a reform any time soon but expect the government to get more liberal and progressive as time goes on.
October 14, 2007 at 6:50 am
I think the reason why the Hong Kong people do not what to be associated with China (shown by Canadian migration) is because China is a country that doesn’t allow its people freedom of speech. Hong Kong people are strong individuals, as seen from the mass protest in 2005.
I think that a united China is best too, that the people are essentially all good. But the government…no way.
I think it is because China is so super good at hiding its wrongs that we’re given the impression that it isn’t that bad. But it is.
http://organharvestinvestigation.net/
I mean, harvesting organs from innocent Falun Gong devotees?
Yes, I know I’m probably one of the most unreliable people to discuss this issue, but my parents fled their homeland because of a similar (possibly less evil!) government.
If we were to list all the wrongdoings of the Chinese government, we’d never stop.
October 15, 2007 at 2:54 pm
I love China very much, since it is the homeland of my parents so in a way, it’s also my homeland. Although I was born and raised in America, i still have a connection to China. Its where people who share the same culture as me reside and its where all my relatives reside. That being said, I know that the Chinese government has corruption, but it is slowly bettering itself. The government is trying to get rid of its corrupt officials–that corrupt government official for the food and safety was sentenced to death just a few months ago for passing certain foods under bribes.
Also, you have to take in mind how different China is from America or most other western countries. Throughout history, China has always been somewhat poor. Even during golden periods, there were still those small peasants and farmers who were living on subsistence. There are still people in China today who live under those conditions. In America, our farmers farm LARGE plantations and farmers are usually pretty well-off. In China, that’s a whole different matter.
China has to face this problem with being able to feed all its citizens (and that’s a lot, considering that it has over 1.6 billion mouths to feed compared to the rest of the countries). Obviously, certain rights will have to be put on hold in order to better the lives of the people first. For example, in America, we have tons of animal rights. In China, how can they start thinking about implementing all these animal rights when there are still peasants living barely on subsistence?
As China grows wealthier, more and more of these rights will be implemented because she will actually be able to implement them. China will have the conditions–the capital and the ability–to put in more and more rights.
Also, if we start listing the wrongdoings of any country, we’d never stop. China is finally at its industrial period–most western countries have passed this already. In our industrial period, there were lots of wrong things going on (remember kids getting their limbs chopped off in factories but no one caring?). But we learned from that and we built on that. Its time for China to do this at its own pace now–and it’s going REALLY fast compared to other countries in the past.
We must remember: China is still a developing country.
August 8, 2007 at 1:28 am
You seem to gloss over a few facts in your view of Taiwan and China. I seem to recall a little incident with China coming to Taiwan and enforcing a 100% export policy. I also seem to remember when that policy finally drove the economically independent people of Taiwan into poverty, they rebelled and made a list of demands to China. China accepted their demands, and proceeded to place a landing party. The results culminated in the entire ocean around taiwan being filled with blood for weeks(via the means of spiking people to poles, executing them and pushing them in the ocean). The problem is that when you stand united with China, they like to be in control. This is just one example on how I think you gloss over the facts.