China 2000 Essays - Chinese Communists, Marxist Theorists

China 2000 CHINA 2000 What is China? Is it maybe the image of the ancient times with the glorious old dynasties, the powerful emperors, the wondrous temples, the fascinating winding gardens Or is it maybe a strict communist world with uniformed people wearing Mao suits and living in dreary gray concrete apartment blocks Or perhaps it is the skyscrapers of Hong Kong and Shanghai, the horrendous traffic, the buzzing commotion, ultra modern electronics and plate glass buildings In reality, China is all this in one. It is a land that intertwines a miraculous ancestral heritage with a capitalist reality blooming in the heart of a still surviving communist system. In today's China, the gigantic population (1,300,000,000 people) is experiencing an extremity gap between the very rich and the very poor. The still existing Chinese communist system provides cradle to grave caretaking for its citizens. All major services like housing, education and medical treatment are currently supplied by the government; however, they are accessible only according to area registration in the community in which people are born. Lack of such registration or change of area of residence leaves people on their own. The majority of people in the cities still reside in old Russian type one-window flats composed of a single room with a single window, home for an entire family, which usually have communal kitchens and toilets and no bathrooms (showers are taken at public bathhouses). The newer apartments, though still housing four to five people in a single room, usually have separate facilities. However, both old and new government subsidized housing is scheduled to end by the year 2002 which will inevitably threaten the very old and those born and bred within the communist system. This termination is bound to annihilate the life of security of the majority of Chinese population. Life in rural China, on the other hand, is less dependent on government housing schemes but is stamped by poverty. People living in villages have their own houses but they are usually small built of mud bricks with earthen floors and walls. Some villages have only one communal water tap and living conditions are extremely miserable. Little children and babies can be seen playing around with their bare bottoms hanging out of their slit open pants, diapers being a rare commodity. The 1980 one-child policy is proving to be effective as it has managed to stabilize the population number at 1,300,000,000. There is a possibility that in the near future having a second child will be allowed, especially if the first child is disabled or a girl. All couples who agree to have one child are given a TV and a financial bonus. In the event of having a second child, the TV is confiscated but, most importantly, the second child is deprived of all rights. It cannot be registered in government schools and hospitals; in addition, the mother, herself, is excluded from all pregnancy related medical services and loses her job together with the father (if they are both government employees). Thus, the costs of having another child are enormous and few are those who can afford it. As a result, many families abort or expose their first babies if they are disabled or girls. Babies who have escaped abortion are most dearly treasured and loved. They grow up to enjoy free education for nine years of school. However, kindergartens and universities are becoming privatized. Currently, a lot of children living in the rural areas have to work hard in the fields to help support the family and, therefore, drop out of school at an early age. In reaction to that, some local governments have promoted Project Hope, which sponsors children in those areas to stay in school. Similarly to housing and education policies, health care had been subsidized by the government but is now also taking the path to privatization. People sign a contract with their employer, government or private, which grants them partial or full compensation in terms of the medical services they have paid to use. In their treatment of patients, Chinese hospitals combine the use of Western medical methods with Traditional Chinese Medicine. Traditional medications are rather unique as they are prepared from a variety of herbs