“There is no poverty in China,” I was once told by a brainwashed high school student there. “China has nothing to hide,” another told me. When your only source of information is a lying government with total control over the state media, then that is all you will hear, and it is what you will believe. Kind of like watching CNN and MSNBC.
The real China is vastly different.
The Chinese government claims there has been an “economic miracle” in the country, the result of socialism. Things are certainly better, in the cities, than they were before the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. City life in China is not bad at all, if you keep your mouth shut, do what you are told, and don’t work for a Chinese boss. I enjoyed living there, which is why I stayed as long as I did. Their history is fascinating.
Cities like Beijing and Shanghai are now teeming with huge skyscrapers, tall apartment complexes, magnificent highways, tunnels, bridges, bullet trains, parks, malls, restaurants, technology...there is plenty of food now in China as well. In the cities. The wonders of socialism. So touts the Chinese government.
But there is a mirage to all of this. If you let me borrow as much money as I wish, or had rich American capitalists give me untold billions of dollars; or if I could steal anything I wanted to with no repercussions, I could live like Bill Gates or Barack Obama, too. And this is what China has done—borrowed, stolen, and bribed its way to “prosperity.” In the cities. By China’s own (quiet) admission, 600,000,000 people (approximately 45% of the population) in the countryside are living on about $140 per month. (But there is no poverty in China...) Economic growth does take awhile, of course, and China has 1.4 billion people. But one never hears of an “economic miracle” in the countryside because it hasn’t happened.
In the 2010s (and before) local governments amassed enormous debt building their “infrastructure.” The economic growth wasn’t based on supply and demand and human consumption, but mostly on borrowing. There was little bank money credit for private investment to boost consumption. It was mostly government spending on government projects, to make China glisten in foreign eyes. $6.8 trillion was squandered on malinvestments, empty stadiums and apartment buildings, etc., all of which delayed consumer driven growth. Infrastructure is necessary, of course, but that was the overwhelming spending done. It looks good, but it is hollow.
Growth for decades has depended upon debt. Economic growth in China doubled from 2010-2020 but debt trebled, and stood at 280% of output. This dependence upon debt should have been reduced by shifting demand from infrastructure investment to domestic productivity and consumption. But household consumption could not be increased for the simple reason that most of the wealth flowed to the state, not the people. As noted, by 2020, more than 600 million people survived on $140 per month, which wouldn’t rent a room in a city. There needed to be a shift away from the Party to ordinary people to spur consumption, but that is very unlikely to happen.
Thus, the Chinese government, and most of the large cities, are in huge debt. Nobody, even in the government, knows exactly how much because corruption and creative accounting hide the true figures from everyone. China is certainly an increasingly wealthy country, but it is a wealth built upon debt, not solid economic production and private investment. It’s huge population, glamor, and military spending allows it to play the “Asian bully,” but just like a bully, much of it is bluster and bluff. The problem is, nobody really knows how much. We do know there has been a lot of capital flight out of China in the last few years (not to mention human flight, like yours truly). The Japanese government is paying Japanese companies to leave China. The CCP and state-run media blame anything “bad” in the country on “hostile foreign forces,” mainly the United States, who is supposedly trying to undermine and destroy the Communist Party. If only it were so.
Xi Jinping is, by all appearances, very well-loved in China; he tells the people to love him, and they dutifully obey. He certainly appears in a dominant position now in the CCP. Xi’s titles include: “Creative Leader,” “Core of the Party,” “Servant Pursuing Happiness for the People,” “Leader of a Great Country,” and “Architect of Modernization in the New Era.” As someone has well said, he is the “chairman of everything.” Thus, a cult of personality has developed, unlike anything since Mao Zedong. A song was written about Xi in 2017: “To Follow You is to Follow the Sun.” His thoughts are compulsory reading for schoolchildren, his image is everywhere, on badges, posters, plates, and on the front page of newspapers.
Xi has certainly tightened the screws in the country. He fears western influence. Hence, absolute loyalty from domestic news services is demanded; they “must love the Party,” “protect the Party, and closely align themselves with the Party leadership.” Foreign textbooks for students are limited, Marxist values are directly, and constantly, taught. Censorship has increased. “Animal Farm” and “1984” were banned, Winnie Pooh had to go underground because he looks like Xi and making fun of the leaders is verboten. Peppa Pig was deleted from TV and books for being “the subversive symbol of a dangerous foreign ideology.” In July, 2020, elementary and middle school students went through a “cleansing program,” removing all books considered politically incorrect. The Ministry of Education provided new, acceptable books, including Marx’s “Communist Manifesto” and poems by Chairman Mao. Life isn’t bad in China—as long as you obey the CCP. The government gives the people their “freedoms,” and, of course, can, and does, take them away when it wants to. Totally arbitrarily.
Leftism in all its glory. If you want it, move to China. Or vote Democratic in America.
“Wisdom from Our Founders”—new oral podcast series (for paid subscribers) on my substack, mklewis929.substack.com. Listen to my current series on the Declaration of Independence. Sign up for free. Read my western novels, Whitewater , River Bend, Return to River Bend, and Allie’s Dilemma all available on Amazon. Follow me on Twitter: @thailandmkl. And rumble: lewandcou
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