When my previous post “New Year for China” was published in the LATC, I hoped to get a letter or two of appreciation for my positive write-up of the the local celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year and for my regrets about the deterioration of relations between China and the US over the past 20 years.
Here are the letters that came in.
And here was my published response :
Was my original writing really that muddled? Perhaps some readers had earlier bad experiences of Sinophobia, which made them sensitive to possible slights, implications, and innuendoes.
My granddaughter, as a toddler, was knocked over by an unleashed dog, and has been afraid of dogs ever since. Not unreasonable. But, I hope, overcomeable. No one should have to live on the alert for danger.
Last weekend I happened by the local community center and saw a queue of parents and children waiting outside, many wearing bright red shirts, ribbons, or hats. Other families were walking away, many with children waving brightly colored pinwheels or carrying red and gold balloon creations and bright red swag bags. Of course, it was the community celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year, the Year of the Dragon.
I was reminded of my trip to Hong Kong at the turn of the 21st century. Hong Kong celebrated the Year of the Golden Dragon with fireworks, lanterns, and no apparent fear of the impending handover of the colony from British to Chinese jurisdiction.
In those years I visited China several times for business and for pleasure. Deng Xiao Ping had opened the Bamboo Curtain in 1979, and twenty years later the Chinese tourist industry was booming, with Americans and other foreigners eager to walk on the Great Wall, stand face to face with the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xian, and shop on Shanghai’s Bund.
Foreign investors also lined up to enter the untapped market of Chinese consumers. Jiang Zemin, General Secretary of the Communist Party as well as President of China during these years, promised that “the Chinese people will firmly and unswervingly follow the path of reform and opening up.” Lia Mingkang, a prominent financier of the time, foretold that “as economic freedoms expand, we are inevitably securing more social freedom and the ability to exchange the information and ideas we need to grow.”
Twenty years later, I have to wonder what went wrong.
Tourism in China was completely shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic. Only in January of 2023, after nearly three years of closed borders, did China cancel all COVID-19 quarantine requirements and reopen the country for international travel. But visitors complain of the high degree of surveillance which prevails not only for tourists, but for ordinary citizens.
The U.S. Department of State currently warns travelers to “reconsider travel” to mainland China “due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans, and the risk of wrongful detentions.” The State Department classifies Hong Kong under a lesser warning, telling Americans to “avoid demonstrations”, “exercise caution in the vicinity of large gatherings or protests”, and “keep a low profile.”
Foreign direct investment into China shrank for the first time in over a decade in 2023, as Western governments discouraged reliance on Chinese-based supply chains. President Xi Jinping’s increasing focus on national security has also left many foreign companies uncertain about where they might step over the line of the law. Chinese entrepreneurs who have become too successful, particularly in social media, have had their businesses shuttered, their property confiscated, and even been jailed on suspicion of subversion. Foreign companies complain that their trade secrets have been copied by Chinese competitors.
Add to this reports of Chinese industrial pollution, oppression of cultural minorities, economic deflation, collapse of the housing market, population implosion, and the on-going threat to Taiwan. and that golden time at the turn of the century seems like a fantasy. Then I think of the bright colors and smiling faces at the LACC last weekend and I wonder – when our Chinese-born immigrants brought all this joy to us, did they leave enough behind?
Facebook has allowed massive distribution of the personal data of its users! Hackers have stolen personal information about customers from retailers and banks! Privacy is under threat!
New European regulations will stifle the growth of social media companies! Regulation will stifle entrepreneurial development of new digital consumer products! Free enterprise is under threat!
Political and commercial groups are spreading fake news based on user history they can get from social media! Trolls are targeting political figures and celebrities without fear or liability! Trust in the news media is under threat!
Exhausted by all the above? Looking for some clarity? Two contrasting articles in an end- of- year issue of The Economist both discussed the potential impact of the rapid accumulation of personal data . One was written by Ludwig Siegele, the British Technology Editor of The Economist; the other was written by the Chinese CEO of Sinovation Ventures, Kai-fu Lee.
Siegle wrote mostly about the complexity of any law attempting to limit access to the data automatically collected in our increasingly digital world. He showed some of the hazards inherent in keeping information out of circulation; for example, if traffic management officials are forbidden to collect data available from modern cars to understand traffic patterns, or if health officials are denied information about where infectious diseases have surfaced. His basic premise, however, is clear – privacy is an important individual right, and must be taken into account as the digital world expands. It’s scary out there.
Lee’s point of view was quite different. He looks forward with enthusiasm to a world where “online merges with offline”, and data from “sensors in cars, stores, malls, clinics, and schools” will enable “those with access to know and track each person’s behavior … where they went and , by inference, what they did. He expects “a future where we will reap great financial benefits and enjoy unprecedented convenience.” And, as an afterthought, he mentions “we also need to find ways to protect people’s privacy in this brave new world.”
I once asked a Chinese friend what the Chinese word for “privacy” was. He concentrated with furrowed brow for several moments, and finally told me, “There really isn’t a word that corresponds to the Western idea. In China, people don’t spend much time alone. There are always family, neighbors, colleagues – “Private” has a negative connotation, more like your word “anti-social.”
How much simpler the digital future would be if we weren’t hung up on this “privacy” thing! Yet somehow, I don’t want to give it up, even for instantaneous banking payments and faster pizza delivery. How about you?
Chinese Puzzle Box 