The rise and fall of modern China

They are emerging as the new paramount global superpower, investing heavily in African and neighbouring Asian economies, Simultaneously, the former die-hard communist state is increasing its say in American affairs, having already become the de facto biggest creditor there.

And yet there are danger signs looming on the blue-rimmed horizon of prosperity and unchecked growth. Not only is the gap between the haves and the have nots increasing by the day; not only is the State having a hard time controlling and stifling internal dissent and unrest; not only has China's one-child policy produced a serious shortage of marriageable females in rural communities: on top of that – as a lid on top of a steaming hot pressure cooker – lies the deception that Chinese authorities are fighting hard to retain and prolong.

When my wife and I spent our honeymoon in Beijing in 1997, it was obvious that the capital was already facing a serious air pollution problem. A thick, yellowish layer was enveloping the city, blocking the sun – leaving it a smoldering spot in the sky, bereft of its normal luminosity. We didn't trouble our minds with this, never speculating what might happen to us if we had stayed there, not for days, but weeks, months and years.

THUS SPOKE THE CORRESPONDENT:

This past Saturday found me listening to the correspondent of the Norwegian State-run broadcasting company, NRK, as he was relaying his feelings and contemplations regarding the way Chinese authorities are downright lying to their own subjects about the horrific problems they are confronted with on a daily basis.

• Air pollution levels have skyrocketed to the point where pedestrians and cyclists are inhaling ten times the amount of harmful particles compared to what is considered safe by international experts in the field.
• Food markets and vendors are selling products that are contaminated by heavy metals, acids, pesticides and whatever else can be imagined, causing unknown health problems for young and old (70% of children suffer from lead poisoning due to Beijing's outdated water pipe system)
• As a direct result ot air pollution, cases of lung cancer in the civilian population have increased by 60% over the last decade.

WE WON'T TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR!

The response from the servants of the people? It's no big deal. No need to worry. And so the sanitized and censored version of the official truth is propagated extensively and doggedly, while zealous minor government officials are doing their best to keep the truth from being spread on the Internet. For how can the guarantors of public welfare and state security, the party elite, be caught lying in the basest and most cynical manner? It could literally throw China into a state of ubiquitous chaos and – probably – bloodshed.

• For what unimagineable outrage would not be caused if the ordinary man and woman found out they had been deliberately been kept in the dark as to the true nature of the problems threatening their health and the future of their children?
• How could the ruling Communist party survive if – somehow – the disgruntled and disenfranchised turned to the streets, connecting and creating underground networks disseminating information not soiled or tampered by government spin doctors? Words would then show their ultimate power, at length exploding in the face of the hyprocrital power-holders within the Party.
• What would happen to China's position as a leading world power if underpaid workers went on strike, defying the constraints of pressing personal needs having to be met first to fight for real personal liberties, such as the right to breathe not only freely, but breathing fresh air for once?

I've been told China is different from other countries that witnessed the demise of one-party rule in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But do the hearts of Chinese really beat to a different drum? Do they not also dream of a sustainable future for their daughters and sons? Do they not yearn for more than expensive sports cars and Rolex watches? Won't they rise up in violent protest if a sufficient number of their young die from eating contaminated drinking water and food? Won't they finally scale the governemental walls of lies and deception when they get hold of the knowledge that has been kept away from them?

I certainly don't hope for a rapid collapse of mighty China. That would mean a terrible scenario of rampant unrest, ensuing street violence and terrible clampdowns on part of the army. China would again be coloured red, not from a political ideology, but from the sanguine flow crisscrossing cities amd countryside.

Please, mr. Party Sexretary, do tell the truth. No leadership has successfully held on to power that did not distinguish between truth and lie.