The American Spectator : China's Morally Hollow Economy

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Special Report

China's Morally Hollow Economy

By Samuel Gregg on 10.28.11 @ 6:07AM

It's setting off open discussion and concern about Chinese realities that Communism and blind commitment to economic growth are powerless to address.

In recent weeks, China has been consumed by an unprecedented internal debate concerning a subject bound to make its Communist rulers nervous. At issue is the moral health of Chinese society.

Widespread Chinese discussion of this most un-politically correct subject was triggered by the October 21 death of a two-year old girl in the city of Foshan in Guangdong province. She died of internal injuries sustained after being run-over not once, but twice in a local market.

Accidents happen. But what made little Wang Yue's death a matter for intense public discussion was the fact that nearly 20 people simply walked by and ignored her plight as she lay bleeding in the gutter.

What, hundreds of Chinese websites, newspapers and even state media outlets are asking, does this say about Chinese society? Have Chinese people lost all sense of concern for others in the midst of the scramble for wealth unleashed by China's long march away from economic collectivism? One local official summarized the collective angst by stating: "We should look into the ugliness in ourselves with a dagger of conscience and bite the soul-searching bullet."

The problem, from the perspective of China's party-government-military elites, is such soul-searching may lead increasing numbers of Chinese to conclude that the circumstances surrounding Wang Yue's death are symptomatic of deeper public morality problems confronting China, some of which could significantly impede its economic development.

One such challenge is widespread corruption. By definition, corruption doesn't easily lend itself to close study. Its perpetrators are rarely interested in anyone studying their activities. Few question, however, that there's a high correlation between corruption and widespread and direct government involvement in the economy. The more regulations and "state-business" partnerships you have (and China has millions of the former and thousands of the latter), the greater the opportunities for government cadres to extract their personal pound of flesh as the price of doing business.

Back in 2007, for example, a Carnegie Foundation study of China reported that approximately "10 percent of government spending, contracts, and transactions is estimated to be used as kickbacks and bribes, or simply stolen." The situation has since become even worse. In late 2009, for example, China's state anti-corruption watchdog admitted that 106,000 officials had already been found guilty of corruption that year -- an increase of 2.5 percent from 2008.

From an economic standpoint, high corruption levels are a powerful disincentive for foreign investment. And if corruption grows to sufficient levels in China, there's a strong possibility it may start cancelling-out the attraction of the lower labor costs that are one of the biggest magnets for foreign investment in China.

The ethical predicaments corroding China's economy, however, go beyond everyday corruption. They also touch on China's willingness to tell the truth about what's really going on in the Chinese economy.

While hardly anyone questions China's economy is growing, doubts are continually expressed concerning the veracity of its growth figures -- including by some members of China's elite. In 2010, for instance, Wikileaks revealed that China's present Vice Premier Li Keqiang had expressed little confidence in his own country's GDP numbers during a 2007 conversation with the American ambassador.

The causes for such uncertainty are several. But one that has consistently plagued China since the 1980s has been outright fudging and lying on production and growth numbers by local officials eager for political advancement.

Why does this matter? It's important because domestic and foreign businesses need reliable data if they're going to be able to make prudent investments. Conversely, misleading GDP data helps generate a cycle of expectations, risk-assessment, investments, production and exports that is built on lies. And if the falsehoods are big and systematic enough, they will severely undermine business confidence and leave a legacy of distrust of China among foreign investors and international markets.

Many members of China's Communist party elite -- but especially its younger set -- are very conscious of these problems. Their concerns were vented in an unprecedented fashion at an informal October 6 meeting held at the China World Trade Centre which gathered together the children of those party leaders who ended the anarchical insanity associated with the "Gang of Four" 35 years ago.

Instead of being a gathering during which preparations were supposed to be made for next year's Party Congress, young apparatchik after young apparatchik stood up and slammed the state of Chinese society. Some spoke of the "rapid decline of moral standards." Others referred to "rampant corruption." Still more expressed their disgust at the perks enjoyed by party and government officials. One well-connected cadre even insisted: "The Communist Party is like a surgeon who has cancer.… It can't remove the tumor by itself, it needs help from others, but without help it can't survive for long."

And herein lies the dilemma for those members of China's elites who are aware of the threat that widespread corruption, nepotism, and all the usual phenomena associated with one-party states represent to China's economic and political future. The ideology that still (at least theoretically) justifies their leading place in society and politics -- i.e., Communism -- has literally nothing to offer by way of serious moral counsel.

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About the Author

Samuel Gregg is Research Director at the Acton Institute. He has authored several books including On Ordered Liberty, his prize-winning The Commercial Society, and Wilhelm Röpke's Political Economy.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (34) | Leave a comment

DTOM| 10.28.11 @ 6:55AM

Oh, that's why they are so eager to soak up all of the West's debt, because, it may be hopeless, but at least it's clean?

Melvin| 10.28.11 @ 7:59AM

The old saying of, "You don't know the half of it," definitely applies to the Chinese society.
The Chinese mere existence revolves around wealth. Why does the Chinese society have a sever imbalance of of males over females. A Chinese son is viewed as money in the bank, a Chinese female is worth absolutely nothing.
My wife and I receive Asian news and it isn't anything like the media here, overseas at least in Asia tell news as it is, now how it should be.
The main reason that the little girl was left unassisted is that if someone would have knelt down to assist her, the parents more in likely would have sued the good Samaritan, for assisting their daughter, the rational being, the girl would have lived it is wasn't for the good Samaritan interfering. Hence, the 20 or more people ignoring the injured girl.
The parents are indeed bereaved, but they are still going to try to make money off their daughter's demise.
I lived amongst these people. they are stone cold, ruthless individuals, whose only existence is to become rich. Americans thought they couldn't figure out women, and vice a versa. Many haven't seen nothing yet in dealing with a Chinese or Chinese society.
If I had one phrase to describe the Chinese it would be,......
"They're meaner than a dog shittin tacks."

PJ| 10.28.11 @ 8:15AM

Melvin,
I couldn't agree w/you more!

DonDuke| 10.28.11 @ 9:16AM

They didn't give a damn about that little girl because....... it was a girl!

TrueBlue| 10.28.11 @ 12:33PM

Correct, and now they can try for a son while also attempting to profit directly from her death.

gladRocks| 10.28.11 @ 3:33PM

Wow, talk about over generalizing. I've been to China, having adopted a girl from there, and found the Chinese to be warm and caring, not that different from people from any other country. Really, you people here are way over the top. They certainly have problems but give the invective a rest.

c. j. acworth| 10.28.11 @ 6:19PM

Does anyone here besides me remember Kitty Genovese ?

shoey| 10.28.11 @ 6:25PM

so, so true.

markenoff| 10.30.11 @ 11:03PM

After all, they engage in gender selective abortions on a massive scale and routinely leave newborn female babies out in the elements to die. Does this mean the parents can now shoot for a male child as there one allowed child?

Franco| 10.31.11 @ 4:31PM

Well, that makes me Chinese.

PJ| 10.28.11 @ 8:13AM

China has been behaving this way for yrs maybe even for centuries. There's always been a corrupted Chinese government bureaucracy even w/a benevolent emperor. The people's welfare was rarely taken into account. The government always encouraged a "dog eat dog" mentality.

What I find interesting is as Christianity increases its presence in China, more & more Chinese are discovering their voices & expressing their discontent w/their government's systemic corruption & their society's immoral attitude.

TrueBlue| 10.28.11 @ 12:37PM

I knew I couldn't be the only person on this site to realize the Chinese have been this way for millenia. They've always been rather morally bankrupt, all of their actions are about getting ahead. There is some concern for family, but if a family member must be sacrificed for "the greater good" of the rest of the family, then it is done with very little hesitation. Christianity has introduced true morals to these people. The death of that little girl isn't really anything new, what's new is that now at least some Chinese citizens are actually noticing it.

POST American| 10.28.11 @ 8:16AM

---Interesting, our sources, on the ground,
report tens of thousands of protests across
the Chinese hinterlands annually ---yet not
so much as a murmur of a contingency plan
concerning 'unforseen' regime change.

"Understand, the Globalists DO NOT fear
RED China. They created it. MI6 and the
OSS--CIA betrayed Chiang Kai Shek to the
REDS ---in the name of 'stability' and standard-
ization (ie genocidal EUGENICS). They've
quite purposefully allowed RED China to
walk off with most of our military secrets
---much as the Soviets were allowed to
under Roosevelt and even Truman. RED China
is their creation ----bankrolled by YOU
--the American taxpayer. And now it's to
be not only 'Model for the World' but,
even more chilling, 'World Enforcer'. The
Globalists DO NOT fear RED China
---but you'd better."
-ALAN WATT
(essential online coverage of the CON)

-----------HUAC meets NUREMBERG 2012----------

JohnC| 10.28.11 @ 8:41AM

The reason communist China has grown at all is because we have given them our vital manufacturing base even though they use this trade wealth to build menacing ICBMs pointed directly at American cities.

Not only does China not have any morality but also neither does corporate America, which are run mostly by unpatriotic liberals. And alas all of the GOP candidates (along with Obama) embrace these free trade giveaways to corrupt regimes, which sells out our sovereignty and industrial might for cheap labor.

This is why Donald Trump needs to run. His American-First message resonates with patriots across the political spectrum.

play nice| 10.28.11 @ 6:17PM

If we sell them rope they'll hang us last.

Denver Todd| 10.28.11 @ 9:10AM

Where is Lei Feng when you need him?

Redstateboy| 10.28.11 @ 10:23AM

The irony of History.. if Mao came back today and began organizing the peasants to redistibute wealth; he would be thrown in to prison.

JimH| 10.28.11 @ 11:45AM

For a society to be healthy and thrive, it must be based on the rule of law not the whims of people with power. And that law must be based upon sound principles of justice.

Drunken Sailor| 10.28.11 @ 2:36PM

China will collapse under it's own weight and possible soon. The real estate bubble will burst and the prices of Steel and Concrete will plummet.

Don't believe it? Google Chinas Ghost towns.

Timothey L. Pennell| 10.28.11 @ 3:41PM

It's Communism. It is the absence of GOD. Of Salvation, and Obligation to our fellow man. That was taken from the Chinese people, a long time ago. Since the brutal reign of Mao's Cultural revolution, with its brutal Re-education Camps, the Chinese G-Nome appears to have been altered.

They still have the Communist Party dictating their lives. They have no Natural Rights, from God. Only what the Communist Party allows.

They haven't even the RIGHT to have more than one CHILD. And if, God forbid, they lose that child, they are, sometimes, too old to have another.

Is it any wonder, they move about like Automatons? Is it any wonder they seem to be EMPTY, inside?

shoey| 10.28.11 @ 6:27PM

right on!

Keith | 10.28.11 @ 3:49PM

Perhaps this is just The culmination of a population who for too long have held female fetus and infants as second class. How many think the same disregard would have been displayed had that been a male child?

shoey| 10.28.11 @ 6:31PM

the China that outsiders are allowed to see is fairly nice, the China that outsiders aren't allowed to see is a hellish nightmare of corruption and cruelty.

POST American| 10.28.11 @ 10:53PM

--------------------BOTTOM LINE----------------------

The notorioius Milner USURY sin--dick--IT,
working through the RIIA, is directly responsible
for China's becoming communist, and for the
'EUGENICS friendly' RED Chinese Halocaust
which is, even now, yet unfolding.

LORD Bertrand Russell personally went to
China to teach 'Marks-ism' in the universities.

Remember, all this was on top of a century
of the 'British' East India company (really
the Sassoon family monopoly) subverting the
good, hardworking people of a great
civilization ---with opium ---and 'free trade'.

Our Yale 'EEL-eats', almost to a man, can
trace their origins and family fortunes
back to this disgraceful operation.

And those who weren't directly tied to
it, like the Rockefellers, and Harrimans,
were ROT-child enabled and directed set ups.

--------------USURY IS ABOMINATION-------------

---------------IT REALLY, REALLY IS----------------

NancyMarie| 10.29.11 @ 1:23PM

It's stunning that an article about China's moral bankruptcy fails to mention the one-child policy that has led to forced abortions and forced sterilizations, making human life little more than another government commodity, This complete disregard for human rights goes on to this day and includes the persecution of anyone in China who speaks out against it. Sign the petition to free human rights activist Chen Guangcheng at Women's Rights Without Frontiers http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/

RSS Ronald Reagan| 10.29.11 @ 8:36PM

This reminds me of Reagan's conviction that Soviet communism would eventually collapse under the weight of its own corruption and unsustainability.

This article gives me pause for jumping on the gloom and doom bandwagon that the 21st is destined to be a Russo-Chinese century.

The sad truth, though, is that I'm more surprised that Wang Yue's story took place in China than I would've been had it occurred in New York.

race_to_the_bottom| 10.29.11 @ 10:38PM

Clearly, neither Sam Gregg nor the commenters here understand the first thing about China. Even worse, they believe their own propaganda!

First, Chinese people are not unique in expressing a preference for boys vs girls. The US does too. You can find the polls online. The problem, of course, if that with China's one child policy, female fetuses are disproportionately aborted, creating a "surplus" of boys. This has negative social consequences which are not of course totally understood.

The fact that there was widespread public discussion of the incident of the girl and a vigorous discussion among the youth of issues of corruption is actually evidence of a strong society and a responsive media. Regular readers of the Chinese press will not be surprised. Spectator readers are probably not among them. Here, the media ignores homeless families camped out on the streets and heaps scorn on idealistic youth who criticize the direction of society.

In a recent speech commemorating the 89th anniversary of the CPC, President Hu Jintao had a lot to say about corruption and the role of the youth. You can read it here. http://news.xinhuanet.com/engl.....960505.htm

The US system is corrupt from top to bottom but is so "normal" we don't even recognize it.

The Chinese people are extremely satisfied with the direction of their country. About 85% vs 10% unsatisfied with the direction of the country. Same with the economy. Read here: http://www.pewglobal.org/datab.....sponse=Bad

The distortions in reporting China's GDP are not what the wishful thinkers in the US believe.

As far as China being a dog eat dog society, people in the US should not throw stones. In China, the parks are full of people at night, nobody gets mugged, and the police on the street are unarmed. I've seen it.

China has not "always" had a corrupt bureaucracy. In fact, the Chinese bureaucracy was a model for thousands of years. You had to pass a civil service exam to be a bureaucrat. Also, if an emperor allowed his people to go to ruin, it was said that he had lost the Mandate of Heaven, and was no longer legitimate. That attitude prevails today.

Greggs comments on materialism is ignorant at best and crude propaganda at worst.

In short, Gregg, the Spectator and its readers, and the US society in general completely misunderstand China. Worse, they all believe their own propaganda, which is the worst possible thing you can do.

Even worse, the propaganda is unbelievably crude, without any subtlety whatsoever. People get their "news" from bimbo "commentators" whose prime qualification is a head of blond hair and strategically crossed legs under a very short skirt a la Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct!

markenoff| 10.30.11 @ 11:06PM

You're right, the largest disparity between male and female births due to gender selective abortions was recorded in South Korea several years ago. Arab cultures and the subcontinental countries are also notorious in this regard.

markenoff| 10.30.11 @ 11:08PM

Why are you so trusting of the info coming out of the PRC? Didn't they try to cover up SARS?

markenoff| 10.30.11 @ 11:09PM

The populace in police states are always much better behaved. I doubt there are many muggings in downtown Pyonyang or Havana either.

POST American| 10.30.11 @ 10:30AM

'Morally Hollow' + LOW labor COSTS
===================== HOLLOW COST

Like we said, ---the Globalists DO love word play.

-----------HUAC meets NUREMBERG 2012---------

PJ| 10.30.11 @ 9:40PM

"The Chinese people are extremely satisfied with the direction of their country. About 85% vs 10% unsatisfied with the direction of the country. Same with the economy. "

And who did they interview? Those who belong to the Communist Party & receive their monthly "hush" money?

Do you really think anyone honest in a Communist society would dare to speak against the party line?

I & I'm sure a few others knew people who worked in China & witnessed massive amts of fraud within the Chinese business community & government.

Wake up & stop being so naive!

markenoff| 10.30.11 @ 11:00PM

I must admit to being a beneficiary of the lack of moral standards in the current Chinese cultural. While in law school the apartments around me were occupied by a number of female Chinese music students. I never had to overcome any moral considerations when maneuvering them into bed. Of course, they were all also desperate to remain in the US after they completed their studies so it may have been my status as a natural born American citizen which made them such easy targets.

POST American| 10.30.11 @ 11:19PM

"Understand, the SAME ones who
ran the 'Cultural Revolution' under MAO
--slaughtered tens of MILLIONS
---are in power NOW. ---The SAME ones!"

For those with injection 'compromised'
memories ---be informed--- after MAO's
death there was a brief show trial of a handful
of MAO's inner circle ---and then the entire
thing was 'buried'.

---------Like we said

---------------------'HOLLOW COST'

--SO, keep a goin'

-------WAL-Mart wampum, football n' porn

------------JUST KEEP A GOIN. . .