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Democracy, science hold the key to China's future
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-04 14:48 For this year's celebration, general-secretary Hu Jintao of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China encouraged young Chinese to not only uphold excellent traditional Chinese culture but also absorb the fruits of world civilization. In Guangdong, the front line of China's economic reform, provincial governor Wang Yang inspired youth to break off ideological shackles and emancipate their mind to blaze a new trail for scientific development. "One reason for the May Fourth Movement to be ceremoniously commemorated lies in its everlasting value from holding high the banners of democracy and science. I think what China lacks most are democracy and science on its way from backwardness to modernization and prosperity," Bao Xinjian,vice chairman of the Chinese Society of Political Science and professor of the Shandong University. Many problems facing contemporary China, he said, have gone beyond economic sphere, including bureaucratism, corruption, lack of credibility, personality cult. "When official ranks and wealth are used as the popular gauge to judge a person's social worth, I must say our society is at the risk of deviating from the objective of upholding science," Bao said. "Science refers to not only technology able to elevate productivity, but also the awareness to act in a scientific manner and having a scientific social system," he said. LONG JOURNEY AHEAD As China is still in the early stages of the Socialism, experts say the Chinese people could expect a long journey ahead to upgrade their democracy and improve the national awareness of scientific development. Huang Nansen, 87, a retired professor of philosophy with the Peking University, said that the repercussions of the May Fourth Movement were indelible among the people of his generation. "There were twists and turns while the Chinese people sought for a decent life in the past century. But the democracy and science have always served as the lighthouse, guiding the nation to stick to the right and modify what was wrong," he said. For instance, the solely state-owned economic system was eased to allow the existence and prosperity of private economy. Market, previously thought as the symbol of Capitalism, was introduced in to combine with planning and regulating as the forceful means to run macro-economy. The democracy system also made a positive move these years, Huang noted, as the governing Communist Party of China made a clear declaration in 2007 to promote inner-party democracy and inter-party harmony to facilitate national democracy and harmony. The Party's Constitution was also revised to make sure the development is for the people, relying on the people and shared by all Chinese. In mid-April, the Chinese government put forth its first human rights action plan which forbids law enforcement officers to extort a confession by torture or exercise illegal detaining and vows to strengthen supervision on law enforcement so as to protect the human rights of the detainees. "These measures mark the awakening of the governing party. A scientific outlook will allow democratic systems to prosper and the people to seek and cherish truth. Otherwise, China's future development can hardly sustain itself," said Bao Xinjian. The Communist Party of China has set an objective to have the nation become moderately developed by 2050 when the new China celebrates its centennial birthday. A scenario depicted by the London-based Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research envisaged the Chinese economy in 2050 to be 8 to 13 times larger than today's size. With the service sector dominating its economy as in the case in most of today's industrialized countries, China would be able to reduce its carbon emissions and shake off its image as a big polluter, it said. Dr. Wang Tao, one of the leading researchers of the program from the Sussex Energy Group of Sussex University, was confident that China could explore a unique development pathway that would allow a rising nation to tackle economic, social, ecological and environmental challenges at the same time. The key factors deciding how fast China can materialize its dream lie in democracy and science, or in Wang's words, the nation's "strong preference for social welfare and equity" as well as "strong science advance and being highly innovative."
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