SUN WUKONG Corruption in the name of culture
By Wu Zhong, China Editor
HONG KONG - Mengzi (372- 289 BC) is perhaps the second-greatest scholar in
ancient China after Confucius (551-479 BC). One of the best-known quotations
from Mengzi is, "Whatever the superior loves, his inferiors will be found to
love exceedingly."
The original meaning was that if a superior official shows sincerity in
observing li (rituals, roughly equivalent to moral code), then his
subordinates would show even greater sincerity in doing so. But, the saying is
also often quoted to mean the opposite: if a higher-ranking official has some
bad habits, then his subordinates would love them even more.
And, if applied to modern China, the saying could be used to
describe the common malpractice of local officials who twist policies from
Beijing to serve their own interests. Like the old saw says, today's officials
carry such policies out with so much excessive effort that, in fact, the
original purpose is distorted.
A major target of Beijing's macro-economic control policy is to curb government
investment in fixed assets. China's economic leaders see excessive investment
as a cause for the overheating economy. However, it seems savvy local officials
have found ways to get around the curb.
Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that fixed-asset
investment in the country totaled 8.49 trillion yuan (US$1.24 trillion) in the
first eight months of this year, up 27.4% from a year ago. By comparison, total
fixed-asset investment in the whole of last year grew 24.8% to 13.72 trillion
yuan.
One way local officials evade Beijing's curb on investment is to make
developments in the name of "cultural renaissance". To fill the ideological
vacuum left after abandoning orthodox Marxist and Maoist dogmas, Chinese
leaders - including President Hu Jintao and his predecessor Jiang Zemin - have
encouraged the search for a new moral code for Chinese culture.
Quite a few scholars have made big money by writing books and giving lectures
on reinterpretations of Chinese classics. Some local governments, however, have
seen the cultural renaissance campaign as a prime opportunity to increase their
spending on infrastructure projects.
In fact, some local officials have made great efforts to dig up anything of
historical significance within their jurisdiction so that they could develop
the surrounding area in the name of commemoration.
As reported, Shandong province planned to build a huge Chinese Cultural
Symbolic City in Confucius' hometown in northern Shandong, which would cost at
least 30 billion yuan ($4.3 billion) according to estimated budget in 2004 (Stumbling
towards Confucius-ville, Asia Times Online, March 20, 2008.)
Shandong's city of Linyi is the home town of Wang Xizhi (303-361 AD), known as
the greatest Chinese calligrapher in history. A few years ago, the Linyi city
government spent 100 million yuan to rebuild Wang's home as a tourist
attraction. Last month, the city government announced it had begun the
construction of a 200,000 square meter "City of Chinese Calligraphy". But it
stopped short of saying how much it would cost.
Well-known Tang Dynasty poet Liu Yuxi (772-842 AD) was a native of Xuzhou,
Jiangsu province. But he was once appointed as an official in Hexian county in
Anhui province, where he wrote a famous poem about his shabby room. Now Hexian,
a relatively poor place, plans to invest 10 million yuan to rebuild Liu's
once-shabby lodging.
According to a traditional Chinese belief, there was a hell where everyone went
after death to face judgment from the King of Hell, or Yanluo. Those who had
led moral lives were sent for rebirth as human beings. Immoral people were
tortured and then reborn as animals.
The Chinese classic, Journey to the West, has a vivid description how
the Monkey King, Sun Wukong, created a tremendous uproar in hell by beating up
guards and officials of King Yanluo. Folklore has it that this hell is in
Fengdu, also known as the City of Ghosts, which now is under the jurisdiction
of Chongqing municipality.
Tourists who take a Three Gorges boat trip downstream from Chongqing are likely
to visit the Temple of King Yanluo in Fengdu on the way. Chongqing municipal
government has just announced a 650 million yuan renovation of the City of
Ghosts.
Southern Guangdong province once held a barbarous reputation in Chinese
history. But now Shenzhen, a modern city built on paddy fields over just the
past three decades, wants to build a Laozi Cultural Park on the city's Wutong
Hill.
Laozi, the founder of Taoism, lived in the 6th century BC. It is highly
doubtful he had ever been to Guangdong, let alone Shenzhen. But now a tourism
company in Shenzhen claims that Wutong Hill is one of the 36 most sacred Taoist
sites in history. Today, there is nothing but green trees on the hill (which is
known as the "city lung" of industrial Shenzhen) and the company wants to
invest 900 million yuan to transform the area into a Laozi park.
Because the economy in Shenzhen is more market-oriented, it is suspected that
the city government wants, via the company, to start property development
projects in the Wutong Hill area. All in the name of Laozi.
All these cases have at least a tenuous, albeit in Shenzen's case far-fetched,
connection to China's cultural past. But in other areas, if nothing related to
cultural heritage can be found, it has done little to thwart the plans of
developers. Some local officials have even begun "celebrating" modern cultural
landmarks.
Well-known contemporary writer Yu Qiuyu (born in 1946), a native from Qiaotou
township in Cixi city in Zhejiang province, lives and works in Shanghai. But
the municipality of Qiaotou has announced it will seek approval to name the
house where Yu spent his childhood as a cultural relic - despite the fact that
Yu is still alive. If the proposal is granted, Qiaotou township could get
funding for the protection of the cultural relic and to build relevant
facilities.
Local officials are eager to launch such projects because they have the
potential to boost the gross domestic product (GDP) of their respective areas.
They are also eager to leave tangible accomplishments during their terms in
office; many simply want to be remembered.
These are just a few cases exposed by Chinese media in past weeks. It can be
assumed that there are similar cases across the country. To an extent, such
construction projects in the name of cultural renaissance jeopardize Beijing's
macro-control policy. The malpractice also greatly distorts Beijing's intention
for a national revival of the arts and a celebration of China's rich history.
Meanwhile, as local governments seek funds to build so-called cultural sites
they are neglecting funding for education. Alongside local promises to erect
tourist attractions are unfortunate reports about defaults on teachers'
salaries and of children dropping out of schools because their families cannot
afford to pay.
For a true cultural renaissance, China needs to produce contemporary thinkers,
philosophers, artists, scientists and scholars. For this, education is a must.
Without educated talents, there can be no cultural renaissance, regardless of
how many historical and cultural sites are rebuilt.
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