Wiki: ***Sidney Rittenberg (August 14, 1921; Chinese name: L? D?nb?i ???) is an American interpreter and scholar who lived in China from 1944 to 1979. He worked closely with People's Republic of China (PRC) founder Mao Zedong, military leader Zhu De, and key statesman Zhou Enlai, and other leaders of the Communist party during the war, and was the only American citizen to join the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He was with these central Communist leaders at Yan'an and was able to experience much of the life of Mao and his supporters. Later, he was imprisoned in solitary confinement twice, for a total of 16 years. He witnessed first-hand much of what occurred at upper levels of the CCP and knew many of its leaders personally.****
YESTERDAY I attended a brunch lecture by Sydney Rittenberg, organized by the Yale Club in Beijing. Reflecting on the political institutions of the US and China, he stated that he is 'against a multiparty system tomorrow' in China. He also criticized the American two party monopoly, and the rule of big money ('no one gets to be candidate without getting his primaries financed'). Therefore, the US does not provide much of a blueprint for China's democratization. When the US congressmen speak about 'the need for China to democratize', Rittenberg asks: 'and how did you get here? ? Nobody has the right to point the finger and tell China what to do, a country that has achieved so much'.
In regard to democracy in China, Rittenberg observes that the 'Chinese have never in history been freer than today' in terms of individual freedom. However, there's a need for deeper understanding of 'democratic management'. This should include better protection of lawyers and journalists who expose corruption, but also free debate. He contends the popular Chinese opinion that free debate leads to chaos, rather the opposite is the case: free debate acts as a 'safety valve' and prevents chaos. Recent government reforms seem to be encouraging according to Rittenberg. For instance, the election of local government officials now requires consultation of non-CP locals, although there is still vetting by higher officials. However, this some questions remain, for instance, how to prevent the capture of politics by local lead families or dominant business. This question is also relevant at other levels of governance, the Communist Party is constantly concerned over dominant (business) factions to catch the leadership.
Rittenberg also addressed the problems with corruption in China. According to Rittenberg, one must distinct different kinds of corruption, some corruption is like the mafia, others are forms of corruption are a 'necessary' outcome of holes in the governance system. Some corruption serves legitimate purposes, for instance when officials pay surcharge on coal supplies to keep factories running and in so doing save employment. At the same time it is encouraging to see that the government is holding campaigns in big cities to fight corruption. But since corruption is systematic, it will take a long time to redress, it is 'the way that thing are done: it will take a long time, it will probably take the elevation of the economic system.'
Apart from Rittenberg?s opions about today?s China, we also learned about his unique past experience. Asked about his opinion about Chairman Mao, Rittenberg recalls his meetings with Mao; how Mao would listen attentively and learn from the younger Rittenberg about the United States. He remembers the young Mao as a genius, pragmatic, humble and a good listener. However, citing the official stance that Mao did 70% good, Rittenberg also regrets the fact that Mao experimented with the lives of hundreds of millions during the Great Leap Forward. This is Mao's fault, as he deemed himself great enough to experiment with so many lives, but it was also a systematic fault; by the time of the GLF leaders were too isolated from the rest of the populace. Rittenberg was imprisoned from 1949-55, falsely accused for being a spy. From 1968 to 1977, Rittenberg was again imprisoned, for his supposed criticism and activism agains the dictatorship and bureaucracy. When asked where he got the inspiration and energy to make it through so much hardship, Rittenberg jokingly answers 'perhaps stupidity'. However, he also experienced the power of forgiveness and healing, it is impossible to live with bitterness, to do so would be to lose.
Rittenberg ended his presentation by a call for better relations between the US and China. 'If I could ask God for one thing in this world, it would be good US-China relations... the core of the world working together is US-China relations.' Turning to the audience, mostly Americans, he encouraged them to 'spread knowledge, to let people know: China is not a land of darkness.'
0 Comments:
Post a Comment