Chapter 5 introduced me to the ridiculous taxing procedures of the Chinese town leaders. They can basically just make up a tax for anything they want, as long as they have a "reason" for it. I know I've used this word a bunch of times in this blog already, but I've got to use it again because it seems to be what everyting boils down to: corruption. And in this case, greed. Anyway, the way that the Chinese peasants are taxed is unbelievably unjust. Like I mentioned earlier, the officials pretty much just make up dumb rules in order to get some more money. Thats basically like a school teacher imposing a punishment of a loss of five points to anyone who accidentally coughs during class for "disrupting the learning environment." And the worst part of it is, because of the corruption, theres almost nothing the peasants can do about it. They could go up to a higher level of authority, but what are the chances of that actually working? Not very high.
One thing that keeps me so surprised with the way the peasants are being treated is that China is a modern country, even when this story is taking place. Just because of the way that the government operates and that the peasants are oppressed makes me keep thinking that these events are happening way back in times like the middle ages. I have to keep reminding myself that most of these events have actually taken place during my lifetime. It makes me think: have things actually improved for the peasants since back in the middle ages? You'd think that things would have improved by now...but I don't see a huge difference between fuedel systems and the government system that China uses in this book. Obviously, the positions have different names, but for the most part it seems like they both function kind of similarly.
One thing that really interested me was the part that listed the ratio of government officials to villagers in different periods of time. During the Western Han Period, it was one official to almost 8,000 commoners. Now, that number is down to one official to every 67 commoners. Now, I'm not real good at analyzing government cause and effect or strategies, but I have a feeling this huge growth in the number of officials is just another way of oppressing the peasants. The smaller that ratio, the less of a voice the people will have.
I didn't really understand the part where the officials were just kind of going around eating at random people's houses. I understand that they were taking advantage of the people (whats new. . .?) by eating at their houses without paying them at all, but why? The section ended with the saying "The revolution is a dinner party!" which is a witty twist on Mao's word's. Based on this saying, I figure these unwelcomed dinner parties were somehow related to the Cultural Revolution, but I wasn't able to make the connection when I was reading.
I liked this book! I'm usually not a big fan of these informational-type nonfiction books, but this one was able to hold my interest really well. I liked how most of the novel was kind of presented in short-story form. The peasants' troubles and oppression was shown through one case, into which the authors dove deeply and explained a lot of details. After this story, he would switch to another, and tell it in a similar manner. I liked it this way. Still, I find some of the treatment that the peasants recieve almsot inhuman. I don't can how the village leaders could be so heartless to go through with what they did. I know one thing for sure--I would have made a terrible Party boss in China, because theres no way I could ever be that mean to those poor peasants.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Chapters 3-4
I found the beginning of the story in Chapter 3 kind of hard to understand; I re-read over some parts a couple times but I still don't really get what the police force came into Gao Village and arrested the majority of the village people...but maybe that's the point...it seems like government officials didn't need much reason at all to mistreat the peasants.
Once again, I'm horribly disturbed that township leaders, this time Gao Xuewen, have the mettle to do such cruel things as hit an elderly, respected woman and destroy her house simply because she decided to challenge him and stand up for what is right. Did she break any laws? Nope. Did she call Xuewn out and belittle him in public? Yes, and that seems to be the repeating catalyst in these cases. These township leaders are all so pompous and egocentric that they deem it necessary to fall back on brutish, cruel shows of "power" whenever they are challenged by one that they deem inferior. The unfortunate thing is that, because of the corruption of the government, they can fabricate stories in order to get away with these actions. Most levels of government believe a version of a story presented by a village chief before they believe a version of a story presented by 50 eyewitness peasants. Although I'm still in disbelief that these officials will actually allow themselves to permit such low actions, I understand why they do it: It's the easiest option for them. I've learned that the Chinese officials think only of themselves. Whether its concerning money, reputation, or anything of the like, they will do what benefits themselves most before they even think about anyone else, especially those whom they consider "inferior."
Gao Zongpeng, the old man, is very noble. He ends up making many sacrifices for the benefit of his fellow community members--he risks his life by standing up to officials, he saves his money and travels to Beijing to try to fix the corrupted mess that is Gao Village's leadership, etc. Its a shame that his multiple trips to Beijing ended up wrecking his health. Plus, he's pretty cool. He says some funny things: "You sons of turtles..." and "...us country bumpkins." I thought it was great that the old man and Zhang Jidong connected. They both had a very like mindset concerning the treatment of the peasants by the government, and it was nice that they both had someone to share their ideas with. I think that they complimented each other very well--The young man was able to learn from the old one's experience and wisdom, while the old man was able to learn of new ideas and solutions devised by the younger generation. Unfortunately, the town leaders must have caught on to this as well; obviously, at the first hint that someone was planning on trying to fix the unfair situation, the officials deemed it necessary to eliminate this possiblity as soon as possible. The extent to which they will go in order to eliminate the possiblity, though, is just not right. Torturing Zhang Jidong's teenage son in order to try to find his father's whereabouts? That's disturbing. Was society even this cruel during the times such as the middle ages and earlier? China is a MODERN country; there is absolutely no excuse for the barbaric actions they've been taking.
I was very releived in Chapter 4 to finally see some justice being done. Unfortunately, it took an extremely long time, caused many hardships, worries, and even a peasant's suicide. Should it really take this much for a group of innocent people to be treated with some equality? Never. Nevertheless, I'm glad that the peasant's finally got a "victory," if you could call it that. Again, a group of men were willing to take a risk in order to help out their fellow people. This story was particulary interesting in that fact that, instead of just one or two people putting in a huge effort to fix things, a very large group sacrificed and contributed greatly. Fifty six peasants traveled all the way to Beijing in order to demand justice. Can you imagine how much more persuasive a huge group of 56 people working together and for one another would be than just one or two lone men representing a community. When this still did not work, they did not give up. Later, an even larger group made their way to Beijing. If you ask me, it is a very inspiring tale. This is the very definition of grit and determination. This time, unsurprisingly, their adventure paid off. I'm very glad that justice was finally had.
Fortunately, chapter 4 left off on a fairly good note. After all the suffering and defeats that the peasants experienced, it was heartwarming to read of a victory. Despite a lot of loss and hardship throughout the process, it was certainly a step in the right direction. As the book said, it drew the nation's attention to the problem's the peasants have been facing.
Once again, I'm horribly disturbed that township leaders, this time Gao Xuewen, have the mettle to do such cruel things as hit an elderly, respected woman and destroy her house simply because she decided to challenge him and stand up for what is right. Did she break any laws? Nope. Did she call Xuewn out and belittle him in public? Yes, and that seems to be the repeating catalyst in these cases. These township leaders are all so pompous and egocentric that they deem it necessary to fall back on brutish, cruel shows of "power" whenever they are challenged by one that they deem inferior. The unfortunate thing is that, because of the corruption of the government, they can fabricate stories in order to get away with these actions. Most levels of government believe a version of a story presented by a village chief before they believe a version of a story presented by 50 eyewitness peasants. Although I'm still in disbelief that these officials will actually allow themselves to permit such low actions, I understand why they do it: It's the easiest option for them. I've learned that the Chinese officials think only of themselves. Whether its concerning money, reputation, or anything of the like, they will do what benefits themselves most before they even think about anyone else, especially those whom they consider "inferior."
Gao Zongpeng, the old man, is very noble. He ends up making many sacrifices for the benefit of his fellow community members--he risks his life by standing up to officials, he saves his money and travels to Beijing to try to fix the corrupted mess that is Gao Village's leadership, etc. Its a shame that his multiple trips to Beijing ended up wrecking his health. Plus, he's pretty cool. He says some funny things: "You sons of turtles..." and "...us country bumpkins." I thought it was great that the old man and Zhang Jidong connected. They both had a very like mindset concerning the treatment of the peasants by the government, and it was nice that they both had someone to share their ideas with. I think that they complimented each other very well--The young man was able to learn from the old one's experience and wisdom, while the old man was able to learn of new ideas and solutions devised by the younger generation. Unfortunately, the town leaders must have caught on to this as well; obviously, at the first hint that someone was planning on trying to fix the unfair situation, the officials deemed it necessary to eliminate this possiblity as soon as possible. The extent to which they will go in order to eliminate the possiblity, though, is just not right. Torturing Zhang Jidong's teenage son in order to try to find his father's whereabouts? That's disturbing. Was society even this cruel during the times such as the middle ages and earlier? China is a MODERN country; there is absolutely no excuse for the barbaric actions they've been taking.
I was very releived in Chapter 4 to finally see some justice being done. Unfortunately, it took an extremely long time, caused many hardships, worries, and even a peasant's suicide. Should it really take this much for a group of innocent people to be treated with some equality? Never. Nevertheless, I'm glad that the peasant's finally got a "victory," if you could call it that. Again, a group of men were willing to take a risk in order to help out their fellow people. This story was particulary interesting in that fact that, instead of just one or two people putting in a huge effort to fix things, a very large group sacrificed and contributed greatly. Fifty six peasants traveled all the way to Beijing in order to demand justice. Can you imagine how much more persuasive a huge group of 56 people working together and for one another would be than just one or two lone men representing a community. When this still did not work, they did not give up. Later, an even larger group made their way to Beijing. If you ask me, it is a very inspiring tale. This is the very definition of grit and determination. This time, unsurprisingly, their adventure paid off. I'm very glad that justice was finally had.
Fortunately, chapter 4 left off on a fairly good note. After all the suffering and defeats that the peasants experienced, it was heartwarming to read of a victory. Despite a lot of loss and hardship throughout the process, it was certainly a step in the right direction. As the book said, it drew the nation's attention to the problem's the peasants have been facing.
Will The Boat Sink The Water, Chapter 1-2
The first chapter of Guidi and Chuntao's "Will The Boat Sink The Water?" really sets the tone for the rest of the novel. The injustices and suffering that the Chinese peasants are put through is extremely disheartening; at times, I actually find it hard to believe that the human conscience is capable of such cruel, coldhearted treatment of fellow human beings--but I guess that's just what power and money will do to people.
They book's frist story, that of the peasant Ding Zuoming, kind of shocked me. Now, I wasn't super surprised that the peasants were being mistreated and that officials may be turning a blind eye to some of the injustices. I already knew a little bit about what peasantry might be like, just from assumptions and things I've read previously. What really shocked me, though, was the extreme degree of these injustices. I couldn't believe how corrupt the officials really were; it was disgusting. The behavior of officials, such as the Party boss or the deputy village chief, seemed almost inhuman. In fact, these officials treated the peasants as if they were not humans at all. They completely disregarded all the peasants' legal rights and exploited the fact that there was almost nothing they could do about it.
The first chapter is very appropriately named "The Martyr." From what I know, a martyr is one who honorably gives his or her life for a just cause. A sacrifice, in other words. A sacrifice is exactly what Ding Zuoming made, and a very noble one it was. Ding didn't just speak up for himself, he spoke up for his whole commune. Unfortunately, this just ended up resulting in let down after let down. I can't even imagine the feeling of deflation that the people must have felt when they were basically ignored by the township leaders and then by the county leaders as well. I think it would feel so awful to hear from these officials that the issue would be looked into and action would be took, thus getting their hopes up, and then realizing that the officials were actually not going to do anything about it at all. That fact that township leaders such as Ding Yanle took up a personal vendetta against Ding Zuoming simply for him expressing his right to demand an audit of the town books is so revolting. It is corruption, immaturity, and egocentricity at its highest degree. Did Yanle honestly think his actions were justified? How can anyone with any sense of dignity and self worth at all subject himself to such actions? It baffles me. The "fight" he picked with Ding Zuoming was ridicuolous--almost to the point of comedic value, if it weren't for the grave consequences it had on Zuoming. Anyway, I can't believe that Yanle actually got what he wanted out of that encounter. It just goes to show the level of corruption in that government system at the time. One level of government turned a blind eye, the next level turned a blind eye, etc. And all for one innocent, hard working man who wanted to help out his community.
The second story presented in this novel, the one about the Zhang Village, was even more heart wrenching and disgusting as the one about Ding Zuoming. Deputy Village Chief Zhang Guiquan is a frenzied brute. He has zero thought for anyone except himself, and he thinks nothing of devastating someone else in order to get what he wants. This chapter is again one about "martyrs." Four of them, this time. These four, Zhang Jiaquan, Zhang Jiayu, Zhang Hongchuan, and Zhang Guimao, do not break any laws, yet end up being fatally punished for trying to demand justice. The fit of rage that the deputy village chief broke into that launched the killing spree really took me by surprise. This time, the peasants' deaths weren't purely because of an act of selfishness, as was the case in the Ding Zuoming story, but they were because of Zhang Guiquan's brutish lack of control. What was he thinking? Again, I'm just failing to comprehend the logic that could possibly provoke one to do something like Guiquan did.
One of the most awful aspects of this incident (and others like it) are the ripple effects it has. Of course, we know about the tragic, unfair death's of the sacrificial peasants, but think about the kind of effect an incident like this has on family members and other people of the community. The moral of the townspeople drops to an all time low, and they may even be provoked to take up arms and go after government officials, which would obviously spell disaster for them in the future. Familes of the victims would be absolutely crippled, especially if there are no able bodied members to work the fields.
These first two chapters really did a good job of opening my eyes to the extreme oppression and mistreatment of China's peasants. Like I mentioned earlier, I already knew that they weren't treated very well, but I had no idea that it was even close to this bad. It disgusts me that one could treat fellow humans with such blatant uncaring.
They book's frist story, that of the peasant Ding Zuoming, kind of shocked me. Now, I wasn't super surprised that the peasants were being mistreated and that officials may be turning a blind eye to some of the injustices. I already knew a little bit about what peasantry might be like, just from assumptions and things I've read previously. What really shocked me, though, was the extreme degree of these injustices. I couldn't believe how corrupt the officials really were; it was disgusting. The behavior of officials, such as the Party boss or the deputy village chief, seemed almost inhuman. In fact, these officials treated the peasants as if they were not humans at all. They completely disregarded all the peasants' legal rights and exploited the fact that there was almost nothing they could do about it.
The first chapter is very appropriately named "The Martyr." From what I know, a martyr is one who honorably gives his or her life for a just cause. A sacrifice, in other words. A sacrifice is exactly what Ding Zuoming made, and a very noble one it was. Ding didn't just speak up for himself, he spoke up for his whole commune. Unfortunately, this just ended up resulting in let down after let down. I can't even imagine the feeling of deflation that the people must have felt when they were basically ignored by the township leaders and then by the county leaders as well. I think it would feel so awful to hear from these officials that the issue would be looked into and action would be took, thus getting their hopes up, and then realizing that the officials were actually not going to do anything about it at all. That fact that township leaders such as Ding Yanle took up a personal vendetta against Ding Zuoming simply for him expressing his right to demand an audit of the town books is so revolting. It is corruption, immaturity, and egocentricity at its highest degree. Did Yanle honestly think his actions were justified? How can anyone with any sense of dignity and self worth at all subject himself to such actions? It baffles me. The "fight" he picked with Ding Zuoming was ridicuolous--almost to the point of comedic value, if it weren't for the grave consequences it had on Zuoming. Anyway, I can't believe that Yanle actually got what he wanted out of that encounter. It just goes to show the level of corruption in that government system at the time. One level of government turned a blind eye, the next level turned a blind eye, etc. And all for one innocent, hard working man who wanted to help out his community.
The second story presented in this novel, the one about the Zhang Village, was even more heart wrenching and disgusting as the one about Ding Zuoming. Deputy Village Chief Zhang Guiquan is a frenzied brute. He has zero thought for anyone except himself, and he thinks nothing of devastating someone else in order to get what he wants. This chapter is again one about "martyrs." Four of them, this time. These four, Zhang Jiaquan, Zhang Jiayu, Zhang Hongchuan, and Zhang Guimao, do not break any laws, yet end up being fatally punished for trying to demand justice. The fit of rage that the deputy village chief broke into that launched the killing spree really took me by surprise. This time, the peasants' deaths weren't purely because of an act of selfishness, as was the case in the Ding Zuoming story, but they were because of Zhang Guiquan's brutish lack of control. What was he thinking? Again, I'm just failing to comprehend the logic that could possibly provoke one to do something like Guiquan did.
One of the most awful aspects of this incident (and others like it) are the ripple effects it has. Of course, we know about the tragic, unfair death's of the sacrificial peasants, but think about the kind of effect an incident like this has on family members and other people of the community. The moral of the townspeople drops to an all time low, and they may even be provoked to take up arms and go after government officials, which would obviously spell disaster for them in the future. Familes of the victims would be absolutely crippled, especially if there are no able bodied members to work the fields.
These first two chapters really did a good job of opening my eyes to the extreme oppression and mistreatment of China's peasants. Like I mentioned earlier, I already knew that they weren't treated very well, but I had no idea that it was even close to this bad. It disgusts me that one could treat fellow humans with such blatant uncaring.
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