Pinyin: wèi rénmín fúwù or ‘Serve the People’ has long been the motto of Chinese Communist Party.
As a Socialist state it made complete sense, but in the modern Chinese society – with staggering income inequality on the rise, socialistic ideals are all out of window. In January, China reported an unemployment rate of 5.3%, which climbed to a record 6.2% in February. April’s unemployment remained relatively high at 6.0%, with over 80 million people out of work.
With the pseudo-Capatalism that Chinese are practicing today, the problems of Corruption, nepotism and quest for underhand methods of growth are ever more rampart.
In middle of these Socio-Economic churns, Xi Jinping’s power grab ensured that there is no opposition or any sort of social/administrative instrument to auto correct the free fall. Basically in China either you are part of “All the president’s men” or nobody. (On the side note – Authorities in PreCovid Wuhan did their best to be on the right side of their reporting line, unleashing a pandemic)
Nationalism has become an easy escape for Chinese leadership from the touch questions of income inequality and rising unemployment
Nationalism is an easy escape for Chinese leadership to ensure that their populations keep on working hard – often as internally displaced persons (IDPs). Hence we see Nationalism in every aspect of the business that Beijing conducts. From calling Silk route as Chinese (it was Mongolian) to claiming territory were ever a a Han or Ming soldier ever set his foot.
Territorial claims help China creates enemies. Japan is still an enemy fresh out of Nanjing massacre, Taiwan is a break away province of nationalists defeated by communists, Indo China region is China’s backyard, South China Sea is is Chinese and even Pacific should be renamed Chinese Ocean.
In its efforts to rewrite history, social subjugation is common. Much of bigger businesses in Tibet or Xinjiang are owned by Han Chinese with local populations feeling being subjects of a colony instead of a nation’s citizen. Border disputes with Russia, Mongolia, Vietnam and pretty much every neighbour (except may be North Korea) are a norm.
Most importantly, talk to an average Chinese and you will learn that she belongs to a great nation that was Subjugated and divided by foreign powers and that its her mission in life to help her country achieve that lost glory. It another matter that History tells us that except for brief periods Modern China has never been a single political entity, regularly rules in parts by likes of Mongols, Japanese and even South east Asian countries.
However the jingoism can take a country only so far. Either a country needs to commit to its expansionist ideas – some thing that Japan did during WW2 or quietly try and tame the nationalistic fervor.
