It was a sunny day in Shanghai on Nanjing West road, apparently the longest shopping road in the world. We ex-pats were doing what ex-pats do on a day off, sitting in a favourite pub, The Long Bar, fronting the Ritz-Portman hotel. While we sipped our beers a small body of citizens gathered outside the local Shanghai government buildings opposite to protest about removals of citizens from their homes to make way for the World Trade expo 2010 building sites. (For more on these removals, with photos, see my blog, Memories of apartheid forced removals here in China.) As the protesters arrived they were immediately whisked away in a large police van. This included an elderly gentleman in a wheelchair. The protest ended before it could begin. The dissidents were meek sheep submitting to the police. The “protest” was so futile, so dismally ineffectual, that I wondered why they even bothered to dissent. Strikes and protest marches will not easily happen in China.
I need not point out the obvious comparison with what goes down in South Africa: the strikes and protests currently bringing the country to crisis point. The exploited are far from meek, will protest, strike, have civil riots and cause an economic havoc South Africa can ill afford. Nor need I argue that the current nationwide strikes in South Africa are a result of a bitter and justified resentment of exploitation, disregard for the common worker and corruption.
Having lived in China for five years I can agree with confidence on the general literature about China: the average citizen has been taught not to think, not to question the status quo. There are spies everywhere. To individuate, to be radically different from the approved, meek roles handed down from Confucius and the Mao era, does not inspire the mainland Chinese. And why bother? Where the masses are concentrated, in larger cities like Shanghai and smaller ones, citizens have the basics: food in abundance and work of some sort, even though to the Westerner the wage is a pittance. Just see these photos I took in a “poor” area of Shanghai at the bottom of another blog I wrote. The food available appears almost wastefully extravagant and it is extremely cheap. Why revolt when the basics and simple comforts are in abundance? Revolt against what?
Probably the best book to ever be written on the mainland Chinese mindset and how their collective soul has been crushed, de-boned and pulped to fit unquestioningly the accepted Chinese ideological mould, is Jung Chang’s historical autobiography, Wild Swans. She (somewhat miraculously) lived through the horrors of the Mao regime to much later write the tale from England. As related in her book, while Mao & Co. tried to make their brand of Communism work, conditions became so unspeakable people even resorted to cannibalism to stay alive. Having lived in China for five years, Wild Swans opened its jagged wounds to me in a way a “Westerner” lounging in his armchair in the comfort of a coffee shop in Sandton cannot begin to understand.
Unlike the mainland Chinese, the oppressed in South Africa are militant by comparison and will not put up with the corruption and the utter disregard for their plight. Good on them.
Corruption in China is everywhere but it is disciplined. Many officials are on the take but those who grease their palms also get their slice of the pie. I met many Western businessmen running restaurants, pubs and so forth in Shanghai. They all said they had to pay a bribe to the right official to get the liquor or food licence processed. But then they rapidly got the needed documentation to get business going. However, if they didn’t grease the palm, they would never get their licences and might as well pack up and return to their home country. At least they benefited with their businesses getting the green light fast. The corruption in South Africa serves only the fat cats. This picture of Khulubuse Zuma, chairperson of Aurora Empowerment Systems, cousin to Jacob Zuma and therefore with privileged access to loads of choice pie, sums it all up.
Khulubuse Zuma’s body shape is a common sight among the fat cats who are benefiting from having the right connections among the new South African elite while the masses live under the breadline. Now compare Mr Zuma’s body shape with two of the gentlemen running China.
Draw your own conclusions. If a person cannot have the discipline to look after his body he is highly unlikely to have the discipline and vocational altruism to look after the needs of the people. The visual metaphor for self-serving gluttony is blatantly obvious.
I never said corruption of any kind is correct. Nor am I saying I approve of corruption in China. What I am saying is corruption works in China, but will not work in the long term in South Africa. Sheer sloth, selfishness and unbridled greed alone will take care of that, never mind the courage and fiery resistance of individuals and groups on the ground. Viva to all the downtrodden protesters in South Africa who have had more than enough and are prepared to go to great lengths to get simple human rights such as a living wage, decent service delivery and enough food to be in good health, not morbidly obese.
To the honest South African worker who just wants to look after his family, watch a bit of football and have a life, I exhort: noli illegitimi carborundum.
Indeed. SA currently has a strong fascination with China. Paradoxically, SA admires all the worst features of China, and despises the best, which kind of says a lot about where we are as a nation. We admire: Chinese press censorship, the control of the state and The Party, collectivism,lack of individual freedom,lack of choice,corruption (as you mention), statism, suppression of dissidence, suppression of Tibet, willingness to invest anywhere without expectations of human rights, and their highly regulated and controlled state with elements of a police state. We despise: Their work ethic, their high level of education, their high savings rate, their focus on investment, their deferral of consumption, their incredible productivity and commitment, their self-denial, their lack of materialism, their incredible creativity and ingenuity, their asceticism, their incredible work ethic (have I mentioned this before?) which makes us look like lazy incompetents – even the most corrupt of the Chinese have, as you say, a work ethic that puts us to shame. So what does this say about SA? Are we a nation of winners or a nation of losers whom the Chinese regard with faint contempt?
When you did watch the pictures of our poorly paid strikers, you must have noticed that most of them look like the pic of the Zuma chap you included.
You really think that they do not have bread on the table every day??
Today we had “petrol attendants” striking?? what for?? They demand an x% increase. What they do not seem to know is that the rest of the world has self service. Their jobs do not even exist there any longer!!!! Only some stupid ancient piece of legislation is stopping self service in this country.
People are prohibited by law -I have been told- to fill up their tank all by themselves.
Keep on smiling, this is -after all- Africa!
Oh dear – my heading was changed slightly. It was, “Corruption works in China, it won’t in South Africa”. The future tense suggests that corruption sort of “works” in the short term for a few, but will not in the long term for the nation.
Despite the corruption I have seen first hand in China, and the anecdotes of fellow “foreigners” there, never mind what can be read in the literature on contemporary China, the country has nevertheless become an economic juggernaut (which does not mean all Chinese citizens benefit).
“If a person cannot have the discipline to look after his body he is highly unlikely to have the discipline and vocational altruism to look after the needs of the people.”
I find your obvious prejudice against overweight people pretty pathetic and tinged with self-hate. Some of the greatest statesmen were overweight and had many vices!
This kind of prejudice says more about you than the people you demean.
“What I am saying is corruption works in China, but will not work in the long term in South Africa.”
This statement is so absurd that I don’t know were to begin…LOL
But then again, most our previously privileged are used to using this type of contorted logic. How else could they defend the indefensible for so many generations – apartheid!!!
Good point.
Freedom, it turns out, is of no intrinsic value in and of itself. People want freedom because it gives access to the basics of life (food, shelter etc ) as well as the opportunity to acquire more, depending on one’s effort and discipline. It follows, then, that if people are given the aforementioned opportunities, their yearning for what we commonly think of when we say “freedom” will be offset by the relative comfort that they enjoy from the status quo. The Chinese understand this and are using it, hence no revolution despite limited freedom.
(PS: I’m not saying there is no unrest or groups that resent the way things are run in China, but rather, there isn’t enough resentment to result in widespread protests)
Corruption and crime can only flourish where there is a weak police force and legal system that has no stomach or intention of enforcing laws, especially against those in power. And so it filters down from the top and we end up with the mess that we have in South Africa. Everyone should be equal before the law, but this is not the case in our once wonderful South Africa. It lasted perhaps for 5 years after 1994. The decay is worsening as it is fed by more corruption and weakening of whatever laws still stand in the way of those in power.
“We cannot be inconvenienced buy a law that says we should not do what we want to do”, so say the corrupt and powerful??
Corruption is global.The distinguishing factor in SA is that it is coupled with glaring incompetence.Nothing can save SA.
It no secret that the type of corruption in China is very different from the verity found in India or South Africa in that the corruption in China often works in a way that speeds up development. The question is, what about this type of corruption is it that does not hinder economic growth and what costs to Chinese society does it bring about?
I have lived in China for three years and studied with a Chinese professor that specialises in monitoring corruption in government (a brave job) and I still find the answer very elusive even if there are some broad generalisations that can be made.
The Chinese government, in public at least, takes corruption very seriously but when you have a one party state that is accountable to no one corruption is almost certainly inevitable. It is also important to note that most of the thousands of riots that happen in China every year have corruption as one of their chief courses, just like in South Africa. Unlike South Africa the Chinese government works hard at trying not look like they are corrupt even though it is not far from the truth to say that most people in China think that ‘government official’ is a synonym for a ‘corrupt and untrustworthy person’.
You missed another slight difference between South Africa and China. Here, the cops generally don’t pitch up until the protests are well under way and have already become violent.
Thanks, Rod. That pic is something else!
This is absolute nonsense. What, now there is good corruption?
Corruption will ultimately destroy China, just like it is at present eating away at the core of South Africa. This is because corruption encourages greed at the expense of honest hard work. Societies that work well have greed, but also the appreciation that hard and honest work is an essential ingredient too.
It is just a matter of time before China starts rotting to the core followed soon thereafter by a complete collapse.
Great article – I agree. It is important to point out that those two Chinese men in the photograph are Wen JiaoBao and Hu JinTao – the main leaders of China.
South African citizens already see more and more Chinese businesses opening shop throughout the country, and it is quite evident in the townships. E-TV reported yesterday about a textile factory in KZN where workers earn R120-00 per week. South African Chinese people recently won a case which effectively gives them the same status as black South Africans. Our president just came from a visit to China which seemed to strengthen ties between the two countries. There are plans to muzzle the media via a proposed Media Tribunal, the Info Bill, and proposed amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act.
I would therefore not be surprised if South Africa appears like a mirror of China in the not too distant future.
Please stop this continuous criticism of the ANC and their methods!! In the ANC manifesto and election posters of 2009, they said “Together we can do more” and they got a huge percentage of the vote allowing them to continue with what they had been doing. Corruption, ineptitude, denials and plunder. Two thirds of the population are happy with this and as we will see, in the next election, they will vote for more of it?? In a democracy the voters decide and last year they voiced their overwhelming approval. Viva Fat Cats Viva.
Corruption also worked for the western world in the past.
Corruption also worked for apartheid until 1994.
Corruption is also known to work for big business in South Africa eg price fixing,,etc..
The other difference is that the chinese leaders are paid a fraction of ours.
The other is ours have plenty of bling and adverse
power that is abused and uncontrollable.
My guess is South Africa has already imploded.
The poor are getting poorer and excluded in many other ways.
China progresses and goes forward embracing postive change despite been demonised and stereotyped.Chinese people are already progressive, individualistic and creative.
To bring 1,5 billion people out of poverty is not
easy.
The majority of chinese are proud of what the leaders are doing and contiually look forward.
Howard Hlaaste- I don’t agree with your last statement -SA will look like China — it will never look like China because the workers in China are willing to work even for a small salary, the workers is SA don’t want to work, and if they work want nothing less than a Merc or BMW, HD TV, house in Santon etc,etc. I am not saying that you should not pay a person what he/she is worth but to pay somebody that is incompetent borders to stupidity. You are right, Rod goverment corruption is headline new about very day on Local China TV. Very good article Rod, I can only agree with you.
Ours stikers want the same as our “leaders”.
Big car,big house,big money,big watch,bling
clothes,big holidays,…etc doing the minimal
amount of work.That is the collective.
@HOWARD
I also saw the insert on etv.
It seems that the chinse are also poorly paid by the businesses they supply.
These corporate businesses are making enormous profit out of the manufacturers.
How can we actually blame them when for generations chinsee were treated as subhuman by fellow south africans for generations…
Can fellow south africans honestly say they have treated south african chinese people fairly.???
Really Rod you speak a half truth LOL. If I recall correctly, in the province I lived, fat was frowned upon.
If you are fat your are thought to be a greedy person. Conversely in Africa the fatter you and your wives the more prosperous you are thought to be.
That is why SA cfat cats are so sucessful they eat their way to success
The moral of MacKenzie’s story appears to be that corruption is OK, so long as it’s not in SA or, perhaps, not in Africa. In other words, it’s acceptable for Westeners to bribe the Chinese because the latter can “handle it”. It’s OK to bribe the Chinese because, unlike Africans, they have a longer “corruption supply chain” that benefits even the most junior of government officials. So – in MacKenzie’s world at least – this is good corruption since anyone in any level of government has the opportunity to “benefit” in the spoils.
That, I am afraid, is a very dangerous theory, Rod. Besides, who said SA civil servants at the lower rungs don’t benefit from corruption? The very example that you used (of Chinese liquor licensing officials) is very much replicated here in SA. In fact, we can give the Chinese a run for their money in licensing corruption stakes – any license!
Truth be told, corruption is a key feature in all developing democracies and most developed ones. In the West bribery, which is mostly rife in the private sector, is called “commission” or “brokerage fee”.
By the way, I object to the way Khulubushe Zuma’s phisique is used to portray his “fatcatness”. He was born with a big body and did not suddenly become fat from recent deals. I think It’s insulting, especially since no white “fatcats” are ever portrayed as such.
Hi Benzol – I will agree SOME strikers are of a similar girth to the Zuma character. But why? The cheapest food is bread and those who are poor eat a lot of it and pap etc to keep their stomachs full because surely that is all they can afford. I had a wonderful maid Sarah who came to my home one morning a week when I was living in Joburg…. I told she could help herself to anything in my fridge and kitchen. Instead she preferred to eat the vetkoek that she bought, and perhaps a sausage. Very fattening and hardly nutritious. She was obese, carrying at least thirty extra kilos and was probably about five foot six. That seems to be a combination of poor education, a love for that kind of fattening food and having to pinch the pennies. On that note, before I understandably getting slammed for being part of her exploitation, I paid her far more than what was the average wage then for a morning’s work.
Hi Matome, I think I made it reasonably clear in this article that I don’t agree with corruption. There is no good corruption. But it works – on the balance sheet – in China. Look at the sheer economic juggernaut China has become while SA seems to reel from crisis to crisis. The discipline among Chinese is simply suggested by the fact that there are precious few fat people in China – by comparison with the West. Gluttony is a disorder.
One friend always says most fat people are just too lazy to look after their bodies. Having grown up a fat boy who used to wear size 34 at age at 13 years of age and years later much taller and still at size 34 I agree.
Katlego Molatjane – I never said corruption was okay. Read the article again.
YOU say “In other words, it’s acceptable for Westeners to bribe the Chinese because the latter can “handle it”. It’s OK to bribe the Chinese because, unlike Africans, they have a longer “corruption supply chain” that benefits even the most junior of government officials. So – in MacKenzie’s world at least – this is good corruption since anyone in any level of government has the opportunity to “benefit” in the spoils.” Where on earth did I say that or even imply it? You are putting words in my mouth.
I think your description of “coruption works in China” is rather apt and accurate.
If you pay the “gift” then all the work gets done, and all the paperwork appears, and you can go about your business. (Until the next “licence”.)
Rather than having to just pay for some rubber stamp, and still have to do all the work yourself.
In China its almost expected that if you have paid your bribe you get a good job well done out of it, rather like a subcontracter. (Which is how a bribee is viewed.)
Rather than corruption in most of the rest of the world where a bribe is just to open a door, or to prevent someone closing it on you.
Alisdair Budd! so nice to hear from you again… where have you been hiding? What you wrote was hitting the nail on the head. By the way, we may be heading back to the land of chopsticks and chinglish once more, so I could be Cracking China again…
@Rod: “The cheapest food is bread and those who are poor eat a lot of it and pap etc to keep their stomachs full because surely that is all they can afford.”
I have gone through 6 months starvation in the West of Holland at the end of WW2. There were no fat bodies left after all the dogs, cats, rats were eaten. The people surviving the concentration camps did not look fat either.
The SA poor might not be poor enough to still be able to eat “a lot” of the wrong food.
A bit of education to “change quantity for quality” could do wonders with the same amount of money at their disposal.