Why can't the West understand China?

Six good reasons.

Imagine the impact on European civilization of a series of Imperial dynasties maintaining the self-same style and significance from Caesar Augustus until the First World War.

Now imagine such a civilization existing on the other side of the planet – unaware of Greek philosophy, the alphabet, Roman governance, Christianity, feudalism, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment or democracy – but with its own, unique cultural and institutional correlates that exceeded all of them in intellectual subtlety and material success. A History of Civilizations. Fernand Braudel.

Let’s break that down:

1. Most Westerners struggle to imagine living in a society whose priorities and values are different. My best friend, who loved French literature, won a scholarship to the Sorbonne and moved to Paris. Six months later returned to Australia. He hated France! He had no idea that French culture, values and attitudes are so different from our town’s.

2. Most Westerners cannot imagine a society more advanced than theirs. Centuries of Western military domination made them richer, which convinced them they are smarter. Now we know the truth, but they still struggle with the illusion of Western wealth and superiority.

3. The first Westerners encountered China at its worst. 250 years ago, Chinese government officials ignored the rapid development of Western arms during Europe’s endless wars. China was close to perfect, they said, and could learn nothing from barbarians. So Western soldiers invaded and devastated Chinese society, then Western civilians came and saw poor people living in hovels. Western media still present China as a a failure and, when it doesn’t fail, predict that it soon will. They want China to become the ‘China’ they first encountered and exploited.

4. Western society’s Roman, Christian roots explain its rapacity, violence and intolerance. After Rome fell, Western states robbed and burned each other for thousands of years. Then they learned how to sail, then robbed and burned foreign countries for centuries. They still do (peace-loving Germany had the most troops in Afghanistan after the US). The fact that China is rich and has the most powerful military in the West Pacific makes Westerners envious, angry and frustrated. Envious, angry, frustrated people don’t want to understand anything!

5. Few Westerners have ever heard one honest fact about China. For seventy years, Western media have lied about China consistently. Congressional testimony from the CIA’s Victor Marchetti revealed that the Agency provided two hundred fifty million dollars annually, “To The Asia Foundation for anti-communist academicians to disseminate a negative vision of mainland China,” and paid journalists and publishers worldwide to do likewise.

6. China looks better and the West looks worse every year. There are more prisoners, hungry children, drug addicts, poor, suicides, executions, illiterate, homeless people inAmerica than in China. The Chinese live longer, healthier lives than Americans and their kids graduate high school three years ahead of Western kids. What will happen when the whole world learns that? And when wages catch up?