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China's 'Ignored Generation' Editorial by 龙信明

There was a recent article in the NYT written by Ella Taylor, titled "Following Workers’ Trails of Tears in China". The article, referring to China's migrant workers, stated in part: "... a mostly ignored generation of roughly 130 million migrant workers who have sacrificed their productive years, and possibly the integrity of their families, in service to China’s headlong rush into global economic supremacy."

Now, what kind of ideology would justify such a bigoted conclusion? One hundred million people from farms and small towns moved to large cities because they saw an opportunity to earn a better income. They moved by choice, not by government fiat, and all could return home at any time. If, as the article claims, they 'sacrificed their productive years', it was for their own benefit and not 'in service' to their country's rush into anything. But does this mean that workers anywhere who migrate, are doing so in order to serve their country's ambitions for global supremacy?

If the US automakers lay off hundreds of thousands of workers, as they did, and those workers move to other locations to find employment, does that mean Americans are 'sacrificing their productive years' and the 'integrity of their families' to serve the US government's demand for 'global economic supremacy'? What nonsense. Now it is true that the US does indeed strive for global supremacy, in all areas. There is no question about that. But where is the evidence that any other country, China included, has that same ambition? I am aware of none. China is striving to develop, to bring itself out of poverty, to become a modern nation. There is no evidence that China is seeking global supremacy in anything, and certainly not doing it at a headlong rush. If the US or Canada can manage economic growth of 3% or 4% for a few consecutive years, we're told that's due to the immense inherent superiority of the democratic-capitalist system. But if China manages double-digit growth for more than 30 consecutive years, that's not due to a superior system but to a 'headlong rush' (presumably a blind one) for 'global economic supremacy'. And surely one that will end in disaster. And the article tells us of a 'mostly-ignored generation'. What is the source of this judgment? In fact, the opposite is true. One of the driving forces of China's development, and the main source of the country's one-child policy, is to raise the standard of living of all Chinese and to reduce poverty. It is widely recognised that China has already brought some 400 million people out of poverty, by the result of deliberate planning and action. To suggest that these same people are 'a mostly ignored generation' is an insulting and untrue comment, wholly at odds with the facts. It might be better if NYT writers like Ella Taylor looked to their own country for examples of a mostly-ignored generation, specifically the increasing proportion of US citizens who are living below the poverty line. And although the content of this class now includes an increasing number of whites, she might consider the racism inherent in her country's poverty statistics: Blacks, Native Indians, Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Haitians. In fact, it is the US that has habitually ignored generations of lower strata, sacrificing its own people as fuel, in its own headlong rush to global supremacy. And that hunger for supremacy is not limited to the economic sphere, but includes military, political and cultural as well. Perhaps people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.