The China Dream versus the American Dream

Here is a good read in The Diplomat that compares the concepts of the Chinese and American Dreams:

In a previous article for The Diplomat, I argued that the “China Dream” does not challenge U.S. global leadership. A brief comparison between the China Dream and the American Dream can further explain how the China Dream is different. Ultimately, the China Dream is not meant as a universal dream but as one alternative among many.

All politics is cultural, just like all politics is local. While individualism has prevailed in Western societies and political cultures for hundreds of years, China has a strong tradition of collectivism and even authoritarianism. Collectivism and the spirit of unity have virtually dominated Chinese culture, society, and politics for thousands of years, ever since the time of Confucius (551-479 BCE). Chinese culture, or in a larger sense Chinese civilization, helped cast and shape China’s unique contemporary domestic politics and its political culture. Underpinning Chinese contemporary politics are a great number of traditional values and beliefs such as the importance of order, reverence for authority, the virtue of rulers, and most importantly, collectivism or unity.

These cultural backgrounds determine political perceptions and ideals. Many Westerners view the state as a “necessary evil” and believe that individuals should constantly remain alert in their efforts to confine and try to contain the beast. By contrast, the traditional Chinese view sees the state as an extended and (more importantly) a united family to which they should show their love and reverence. In fact, the word for country in Chinese, guojia, combines the characters for kingdom (guo 国) and family (jia 家).

Based on this cultural perspective, one difference becomes clear: the China Dream is “our dream”; the American Dream is “my dream.” [The Diplomat]

You can read much more at the link, but what people need to realize is that the Chinese government is playing into this cultural trait by pushing their nationalist agenda.  The Chinese Communit Party’s (CCP) legitimacy for one party rule used to be centered around the country’s economic growth.  As wages rise this growth will slow down.  So now the CCP are positioning themselves as the defenders of the Chinese dream.  They push propaganda that China has long been the center of the world and only for a brief period of over 100 years did China’s place as the center of the world crash down when the nation was exploited by foreigners. 

This is why now there are so many anti-Japanese movies, territorial threats against neighbors, and anti-foreigner protests in China.  We even saw in Korea this anti-foreigner sentiment when the Chinese embassy sponsored thugs to assault Koreans in the streets of Seoul during the 2008 Olympic torch relay.