China and the end of meta-narratives
- By Eric X. Li
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 19, 2013
My name is Eric Li, and I was born in Shanghai. My grandmother told me that she heard my first cries along with gunfire during the Cultural Revolution.
When I was growing up, I was taught a story that explained all I ever needed to know about humanity. It went like this: All human societies develop in linear progression, beginning with primitive society, going through slave society, feudalism, capitalism, socialism, and finally, (guess where we end up?) Communism! Sooner or later, all of humanity, regardless of nationality, culture, language, will reach that final stage of political and social development. The entire world's peoples will be unified in this paradise on earth and live happily ever after. But, before we get there, we are engaged in a struggle between good and evil: the good of socialism and the evil of capitalism. And the good shall triumph!
That, of course, was the meta-narrative distilled from the theories of Karl Marx. And the Chinese bought it. We were told that grand story day in and day out. It became part of us and we believed in it. The story was a best seller. A full one-third of the world's population was living under that meta-narrative.
Then, the world changed, overnight.
As for me, disillusioned by the failed religion of my youth, I went to America – became a hippie in Berkeley.
As I was coming of age, something else happened. As if one big story wasn't enough, I was told another one. This one was just as grand. It also claims that all societies must develop along linear progression towards a singular end. It goes as follows: All societies, regardless of culture, be it Christian, Muslim, Confucian, must progress from traditional societies in which groups were the basic units to modern societies in which atomized individuals are the sovereign units. All these individuals are by definition rational, and they all want one thing – the vote!
Because they are all rational, once given the vote they produce good government and live happily ever after – paradise on earth. Sooner or later, electoral democracy will be the only political system for all countries and all peoples, with a free market to make them all rich. Before we get there, however, we are engaged in a struggle of good against evil. Good belongs to those who are democracies charged with the mission of spreading it around the globe, sometimes by force, against the evil of those who do not hold elections. This story also became a best seller. According to the Freedom House, the number of countries practicing electoral democracy grew from 45 in 1970 to 115 in 2010. In the last 20 years, Western elites tirelessly trotted around the globe, selling this prospectus – multiple political parties fight for power with everyone voting on them - as the only path to salvation for the long suffering developing world. Those who buy the prospectus are destined for success and those who do not are doomed to fail.
But this time, the Chinese didn't buy it. Fool me once …
The rest is history. In just 30 years, China went from one of the poorest agricultural countries to the world's second largest economy. 650 million people were lifted out of poverty. A full 80% of the world's poverty alleviation during this period happened in China. In other words, without China's numbers, the world's poverty reduction would have been almost flat.
Apparently, all the new and old democracies put together amounted to a fraction of what a single one-party state did – without voting.
See, I grew up on these things – food stamps. In Shanghai, meat was rationed to 300 grams per person per month. Needless to say, I ate all my grandmother's portions.
So, I ask myself, what's wrong with this picture? Here I am, in my hometown, my business growing leaps and bounds, entrepreneurs are starting companies every day, middle class is expanding in speed and scale unprecedented in human history. Yet, according to the grand story none of this should be happening.
So I went and did the only thing I could, I studied it.
China is a one-party state – run by the Chinese Communist Party – the Party; and they don't hold elections. Three assumptions are made by the dominant political theory of our time: Such a system must be operationally rigid, politically closed, and morally illegitimate.
These assumptions are wrong. The opposites are true. Adaptability, meritocracy and legitimacy are the three defining characteristics of China's one-party system.
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