FACES AND PLACES: Letter from bustling Beijing (05/25/97)

FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

Letter from bustling Beijing

Four days after returning from Prague, Lesia and I were in the People's Republic of China on a tour organized especially for educators at an incredibly affordable price. For the first time since 1990, we were back in a Communist country.

We went through customs at Beijing airport. We were not asked how much money we were bringing into China, nor how much gold or precious metals, questions we were asked as late as last year at the Lviv airport. As we soon discovered, this was to be one of many, many surprises.

We visited the usual tourist sites - the Forbidden City, the Ming Tombs, the Summer Palace, the Great Wall and Mao Tse-tung's Tomb on the last day it was open to the public. The official word is that the mausoleum will be renovated, but many people believe it will never reopen. We also managed to roam freely around the city and videotape anything we wanted, including marching soldiers, militia, slums and beggars.

Beijing is a bustling city of 12 million people with dozens of luxury hotels, including a magnificent Sheraton, a Hilton and a Holiday Inn. In 1978 Beijing had 10 hotels; by 1992 there were 234 hotels. The city also has 13 McDonalds, as well as many Kentucky Fried Chickens and Dunkin' Donuts. We tried one of the McDonald's (there's a limit to the amount of Chinese food one can eat) and it was as good as (the service was better than) in Chicago. Beijing has modern shopping centers and stores, beautiful new, multi-story condominiums and apartment complexes; construction cranes can be seen everywhere; and everyone seems to be working. Most store signs are in Chinese and English. There are beltways around the city which, for its size, manages to remain relatively clean. The pollution, however, is horrendous.

One of the more amazing aspects of the trip was our guides. Unlike our Ukrainian guides in 1963 and 1974, they didn't pretend their country was a worker's paradise. They showed us Hutong, for example, a 700-year-old section of the city with narrow passageways and cobbled streets. We saw two and three families living together in crowded, run-down two-room floor-level cubicles. As destitute as the facilities were, however, they were immaculate. The guide told us that half of Beijing population lives in substandard housing, the result, she hinted, of Mao's cultural revolution.

It was inevitable that Lesia and I would contrast Beijing with Kyiv. How is it possible for Beijing to be moving into the 21st century while the Kyiv skyline looks much like it did in 1963 or, in some instances, worse? The erection of the hugely obscene statue of "Mother of Rus'" hasn't helped.

For one thing, China began its economic reform program in 1979. According to our guide, there are no taxes on joint ventures for the first three years. If the business lasts into the fourth year, the government taxes at 16 percent. After the fifth year, taxes on businesses are 33 percent of profits. Contrast that with Ukraine where government officials demand exorbitant bribes before any business is established!

As in Ukraine, however, reform has brought hardships to many people, especially the elderly who suffer because of inflation. According to our guide, privatization has also created certain dislocations, especially in northern China, where much of China's heavy industry has gone bankrupt, unable to compete with private industry. Asked if only Communist Party members could be in business, our guide quoted Deng Xaiopeng: 'It makes no difference if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice."

Is China free of corruption? Hardly. Our guide told us it does exist, but it's contained. When caught, the penalties for perpetrators are severe. A former Beijing mayor committed suicide when it was revealed that he was scamming McDonald's. As in Ukraine, the contrast between the haves and have-nots is also great. Our guide told us China is between socialism and capitalism, with many people becoming very rich and many more people remaining poor. Opportunities for young people have never been better, however. Thousands of Chinese students have been sent to study abroad.

What about China's future leadership? According to our guide, the present leadership comprises three echelons: the old guard that is moving off the stead fast; the technocrats, the next echelon, which is anxious to keep the momentum going towards economic improvement; and the youngest element, the sons and daughters of the old guard. The latter want to improve their privileged status and are ruthless in pursuit of "good life." From what I see, this is not very different from the sons and daughters of Ukraine's current nomenklatura.

Americans are justifiably concerned with China's future direction. Our guide told us that, after Hong Kong, China has its eye on Macao, then Taiwan. And if Taiwan won't cooperate, then a military invasion is a viable option. Scary.

Is China a democratic nation? Hardly. There is the looming legacy of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Basic freedoms (press, speech, assembly, religion) are non-existent, although Lesia and I did attend a Latin-rite mass in Beijing that was little different from masses here. Only rich people can afford more than one child (the one-baby-per-family policy is strictly observed) because only they can afford the $6,000 fine and the loss of educational and political opportunities that a second child must suffer. Abortions are common, and there is evidence that female babies are routinely wasted.

Is China a problem for the United States? Conservative commentators are split on this question. Some, especially those who have read "The Coming Conflict With China" by Richard Bernstein and Ross H. Hunro, believe China is a growing menace. In this corner are Patrick Buchanan, George Will, Jeff Jacoby and William Rusher. Urging tolerance are Robert Novak and Joseph Sobran, who believe China poses no direct threat to the U.S.

As a result of a growing move toward democratization at the grass-roots level, an expanding mass media, and its booming economy, Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Henry S. Rowen believes China will become a democracy around 2015, despite the fact that Freedom House currently gives the People's Republic of China a political freedom rating of zero.

The Soviet Union went belly-up because Marxism-Leninism was a bankrupt, self-defeating policy. Beijing isn't making the same mistake. The only other option that can corral China's rising influence is a military one, and no one is talking about that. At least not seriously.

Myron Kuropas' e-mail address is: [email protected]

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