CHINA ROAD

CH 3, THINGS FLOW &

CH 4, THE
UNFINISHED
REVOLUTION
By Rob Gifford
CH 3 & 4 OVERVIEW & OVERARCHING QUESTIONS:
➤ Ch 3 Synopsis - Things Flow
➤ China is a country on the move. The newly minted middle class is fascinated with the “wilder corners of their country”.
Places of interest include Tibet and the Uighur Muslims.
➤ Many of these Chinese from wilder regions are migrating to the cities to try to find work in factories where working
conditions are challenging and the pay is minimal.
➤ It could be argued that the seeds of this move towards modernity were planted by many pioneering missionaries and foreign
expats who brought western traditions to China and educated the world about China.
➤ Ch 4 Synopsis - The Unfinished Revolution
➤ Overview of Chinese history & the unshakable feeling of being the victim
➤ Overarching Questions:
➤ Is China as powerful as it looks from the outside?
➤ Is the China Communist Party’s power eroding?
➤ Why does the west have a love and fascination with history? (Especially the colonial time period in the 1800s)
➤ Why is history such a burden to China? What aspects of Chinese culture make it difficult to break away from its past in
order to create a different and new future? Was disassociation with the past accomplished by the Communist Revolution?
➤ How has the Tiananmen Square incident influenced the Communist Government’s hold on power?
➤ How has China’s history influenced its relationship with Japan and other Asian Countries?
➤ How has China’s history influenced its relationship with the west?
➤ How has the fear of chaos dictated each dynasty’s decisions, including the present communist regime? Is this fear justified?
➤ Theme of hope
➤ Theme of rapid change
➤ “Since the frenzy of road building began in the 1990s, the equivalent of U.S. interstates have now been built…” (pg. 30)
➤ “Chinese people have not yet fallen in love with the open road. Rather, it is a mirage of convenience. They are traveling mainly out of necessity, to find
work, in order to feed themselves and their families… appropriate American comparison… the Okies of John Steinbeck novels, fleeing westward from
the Dust Bowl to California.” (pg. 31)
➤ Theme of competition with the West
➤ “Factories line the road… which fuels the city’s growth, pollutes the city’s air, and keeps the price of consumer goods around the world ridiculously
low.” (pg. 32)
➤ “There are of course some shocking labor rights abuses in Chinese factories, where workers are locked in and forced to toil in near-slavelike conditions…
the workers have all traveled here from inland, by road or rail, and they receive $120 a month, plus the possibility of overtime.” (pg. 35)
➤ Theme of political oppression & pragmatism
➤ “A horse-race track… was able to operate openly, taking bets on horses, simply by calling the bets something else… And so it is with China’s political or
economic system. Call it “socialism with Chinese characteristics… that’s fine, even though everyone knows that, in many parts of China, it is in fact raw
industrial capitalism.” (pg. 34)
➤ Theme of differences in perspective
➤ “To a postmodern foreigner, traveling westward along this road is a journey back in time, to an industrial past that his own country has largely left
behind. The whole scene feels like desecration. To the pre-modern Chinese migrants, traveling eastward into an industrial future they have never known,
the smokestacks and the factories announce salvation, symbols at last of modernity and an opportunity to earn more than they have ever earned
before.” (pg. 32)
➤ Theme of the divide between urban & rural/rich & poor
➤ “Many of China’s new rich are fascinated by the wilder corners of their country, partly because those areas are so different from eastern China. And if
you can say you have been to Zinjiang, or Tibet… your neighbors know that you have money to travel.” (pg. 33)
➤ “There are lots of interesting ethnic groups who are part of our country but not like us,… The Uighur Muslims, The Tibetans. They’re very wild, you
know.” (pg. 33)
➤ Theme of the battle for China’s soul
➤ Theme of hope
➤ Theme of rapid change
➤ Theme of competition with the West
➤ Theme of political oppression & pragmatism
➤ Theme of differences in perspective
➤ Theme of the divide between urban & rural/rich & poor
➤ Theme of the battle for China’s soul