Blog Post #1

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HistoryUpdated Dec 3, 2008 2:33 PM by Alex Rajewski…

This is one of two culture blog posts, which I feel demonstrate my growing competence with China and Chinese. I am going to post my reflective writing for this artifact and then post the artifact itself at the end of this post. I'll follow this pattern for the rest of my ePortfolio posts.

This comment was written in response to the topic of space exploration, melamine in milk, and lawyers in China. Since the original blog post itself dealt with so many diverse topics, it was easy to provide a diverse answer. That being said, I do think that this post does a very good job of relating what is going on in China, namely increased space exploration, backlash from product safety controls, and an increase in law students, to my experiences as a US-American and also to other countries. The post provides are very good, though brief, analysis of technological development in communist countries, but also draws parallels with similar lop-sided development in the US. The response shows the amount of effort that was put into researching the topic, and I believe, answers and reflects upon the questions very well.
Staying up to date with the news-worthy goings on in China has been one of my major goals for this semester. The blog has certainly helped me do that, and by requiring a reflection on the news, it allows me the chance to think critically about the events. On the downside, its format as a blog, I fell, detracts from its efficacy. I would rather have a discussion face-to-face about the current events in China than post on a blog without feedback. Because of this, the responses are not as good as they could be. My ideas could have been challenged or my facts questioned in a discussion. Responding to these events did prepare me to actually discuss them outside of the context of DULAP; it prepared me for a real-world discussion of the events with native Chinese and US-Americans.

Response to Sept 28 Post

I think that the Chinese government, like any responsible government should take a certain level of responsibility for the quality of the products its companies produce. The government should have a branch set up so that it can control the safety of products. The Chinese government already has this agency, The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine (AQSIQ), but this organization must deal with an enormous amount of rules regulations and companies all operating with different goals. The AQSIQ is essentially every US regulatory agency rolled into one giant one. It encompasses anything from food safety to law enforcement, and regulates both entry and exits rules.
Because of the sheer amount of companies and potential violators that AQSIQ has to deal with it is understandable, though not excusable that there are often slip ups. The result of this is that we as consumers see things like tainted toothpaste, lead painted toys, and contaminated milk. The Chinese have certainly not ignored this mistakes.
There have been huge numbers of students applying to and graduating from Chinese Law Schools. Their goal in doing this is to help promote the rule of law. China has always strived to be a harmonious and legal country, and with more people, corporations and scrutiny than ever, more legal professionals are needed than ever.

I applaud the Chinese government in their advancement, and I certainly hope that the break out of China into the group of space-faring nations will have no negative effect, but I don’t think this is realistic. I do think that at some point in the near future, the US, Russia, and China will have to make some sort of lasting agreement with regards to space exploration and colonization. I can’t imagine that the Chinese goal of a lunar colony will go past US officials without a reaction.

There certainly seems to be a trade-off in communist countries between rapid technological advancement and social welfare advancement. It seems that the artificial advancement of technology precludes or lessens the advancement of the people. This has happened before in China with the Great Leap Forward. I must say though that this is not a uniquely Chinese or communist problem. Lop-sided development is also present in the United States. As some are quick to point out, we have explored the moon, but can not ensure universal health care for our citizens. In researching the question I came across the example of the United Arab Emirates. They have recently experienced a developmental boon similar to that of China. They have also been funneling some of the money from this boon into housing and such for the lower classes. This main difference is that of scale. There are just over 5 million Emirati, while there are over 1 billion Chinese. So it is easier for a small rich country to take care of its lower classes than for a large country to do the same.
To improve the best way would be to commit to elevating the poor. I feel that China would be able to do this very easily, given the structure of its government, but at the same time, there are lots of poor to elevate.