R.P. BenDedek
Regarding Letters by K Nunez & L Kabacinski
By R.P. BenDedek
Sep 14, 2004 - 8:00:00 AM

I was doing my usual perusal of the various sections at Magic City Morning Star News, when I came across some letters written by Kery Nunez Aug 22, and Lorraine Kabacinski Aug 24, I found the articles very noteworthy. (You will forgive me I hope, if, because I RESIDE in China, I do not include the two 'magic words' within the titles of these letters).

I have lived in Rural China for around 20 months now, and I thought I just might write this letter to give readers some insight into the what goes on in China.

Firstly, let me just quote from an article by Phillip Pan of the Washington Post, found at WorldWide Religious News

• The Chinese government allows people to worship only in party-run churches, mosques and temples, considers any autonomous religious organization a potential threat and routinely imprisons priests, monks and others. But the state still attempts to maintain control over a broad spectrum of society, from public affairs to the arts and religion.
• The friction that results is a defining characteristic of life in modern China, where people are testing, and often redefining, the limits of what the authorities will permit. Controlling this popular pressure -- sometimes with repression, sometimes with restraint -- is one of the central challenges confronting the party as it seeks to preserve a monopoly on power at a time of rising social discontent and wrenching economic change.

Three scenes from Tiananmen Beijing

The article cited here is specifically about a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery at Larung Gar in the South of China, and relates to the way in which the Government seeks to control or inhibit the growth of 'groups' that might potentially pose some threat to the stability of the country.

As a conversational English teacher, I often have the opportunity to listen to Student's opinions (in English) on a variety of topics that perhaps they would not wish to discuss in Chinese.

On the particular topic of these two letters however, I have never heard anything other than the standard political propaganda, although one boy did give me a whole heap of literature about it (in Chinese) that he was handed on the streets of Wuhan.

The standard line is that this group is a militant political group that seeks to undermine the stability of China, by encouraging people to overthrow the government.

In China, that may well be so, but when you consider the government attitude to ALL groups, it becomes obvious that the real threat, is that 'someone will do what WE did!'

It is the old case of, 'if YOU know that YOU can't be trusted, then YOU can't trust anyone else' - or - 'Do unto others before they do unto you!'

I won't make any attempt to justify the official policy, nor am I in any position to know who is in prison and why, or what happens to them there, although I did read something on the internet that said per capita, the USA has a 30% larger prison population than China. Of course, given that China annually executes 10,000 criminals, perhaps these statistics are somewhat skewed.

I do know however, that China appears to be serious in its 'Opening Up' policy, and it is definitely serious about dealing with corruption in all its forms. One student was even in tears one day because, as she put it, 'it depresses me when I constantly read that yet another government official has been jailed for corruption. Our country is so corrupt!'.

While I think it holds true that the government must always look over its shoulder to ensure no one does what it did, two other things are also true.

Firstly, that education in English is making more and more information available to the average Chinese person. This will hopefully (eventually) create a more balanced and free society. Secondly, China has a long way to go before its' citizens are mature enough (educated enough) to be responsible citizens.

As a Chinese person recently put it, 'Chinese people are very selfish people. They only think of themselves!'

While the government has made a lot of mistakes (to put it kindly), and is still making them, we can only hope that as the people become more educated, and less propagandised, they will become a more tolerant society, and as time passes, we should hope that many will take an active role in government, to ensure a more western, shall I say, democratically tolerant society.

In closing just let me say, that one of the culture shocks that one encounters here, is that far from the imagined 'Secret Police, Soldiers and guns everywhere'; far from the expected 'regimented' society, one often gets frustrated by the general lack of concern for the law, the lack of discipline, and the 'It doesn't matter!' syndrome.

In the meantime, speak out against injustice in all its forms, and don't presume that injustice and government propaganda doesn't exist at home.

Thank You;

R.P.Bendedek

Email: rpbendedek@hotmail.com

P.S. Just a point about the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, it is worth checking this event out on various US government websites. It has been stated since 1989, that the events described as taking place in Tiananmen square, actually took place on the outskirts of the City - and - There are still families in China pursuing the Government for information on certain persons whose whereabouts are still unknown.

R.P.BenDedek is the pseudonym of the Author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' (www.kingscalendar.com), and he is a guest columnist at Magic City Morning Star News. An Australian, he currently teaches Conversational English in China. King's Calendar Social Commentaries may be found at: http://www.kingscalendar.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?action=viewnews&id=331

"The King's Calendar" is a chronological study of the historical books of the Bible (Kings and Chronicles), Josephus, Seder Olam Rabbah, and the Damascus Document of The Dead Sea Scrolls.