Reflective
Journal 4
During
the last two lessons, we talked about the societal problem faced by China and America.
The situations of the two countries are really different due to the diversity
in politics, economics and people’s ideologies.
The biggest problem which Chinese may come
up with first is corruption in the government. I think this problem is very
worrying. One of the reasons why CCP could defeat Kuomintang which was originally
stronger in the civil war was that CCP was clean and cared much about common
people. Thus, it gained wide support from the masses. However, today, there is often
news about corruptive officials and sometimes when people are really feeling
that local officials are not doing things which benefit the masses, they become
disappointed and even angry. I can understand the common people as the
corruptive officials who are fed by the taxes they pay only think about how to
get more benefits for themselves instead of common people. In my opinion, the
formation of this problem cannot only be attributed to the government itself. It
is money worship in the whole society and people’s greed that make this problem
worse. Many Chinese still link being an official more closely to earning a lot
of money than serving people. Maybe one of the ways they think to realise it
quickly is to be corruptive.
However, to resolve the problem, the main
responsibility still falls on the government. Although CCP has made much effort
to find out and deal with the corruptive officials such as Chen Liangyu in
Shanghai and Wen Qiang in Chongqing, there is still a long way to go. I think
the first thing China should do is to perfect the legal system. The corruptive
officials must be punished harshly and fairly and the prosecutors must work
independently. Then the government should encourage people to report corruptive
behaviour and protect the reporters as the government works for people so
people should have a voice. On the other hand, it may not be wise to adopt
other countries’ system such as Singapore’s meritocracy because the number of
officials is much larger and hard to manage.
Another serious societal problem faced by
China is polarisation of income. When I was in China, I could see both luxury
cars ostentatiously running down the road and the poor beggars begging for
money on the pavement. I feel sorry for the poor, but it is not very reasonable
to blame the rich as long as they get rich through legal ways and contribute to
the development of the society. China is building a free market gradually in
which once there are winners, there is likely to be losers as well. The problem
cannot be easily avoided. Also, because of the restriction of transport and
communication, the rural areas are not able to develop as well as urban areas
at all, especially the mountain villages in the West.
Unlike the problem above, this problem
cannot be solved solely by the government. According to what I read in newspapers
in China, the government has actively decrease the tax for the poor and
increase the tax for the rich, but obviously this measure is not able to
resolve it all. The government is also improving the health care and housing
welfare, but it will take a long time to complete. I think the rich are more
responsible to help the poor by donating money and things. More philanthropists
should emerge and promote the spirit of giving back to the society so the rich
and the poor can share the fruit of development together.
In America, the problem of corruption and
polarisation is not that serious but there seem to be other social problems
like drug abuse. I have never been to America before, but in the news, I have heard
a lot about some superstars who took drugs and finally died at a young age. According
to statistics, one-twelfth of people over 12 years old in America use illicit
drugs. The number is really terrible and even a bit unimaginable to me. Drug
abuse may lead to violence and other crimes as well, which will cause further
problems.
I think both the government and the society
are responsible for resolving the problem. The government has to do more to
prohibit illegal drug trading and transaction. The society can help to
rehabilitate the drug addicts and stop young people from touching drugs.
In conclusion, China and America are facing
different but serious societal problems and they cannot be resolved in a short
time. The government and the society should act together to deal with them.
