Favabean: Can Chinese Be Not Guilty for Institutional Mistakes?

50% Chinese Are Accomplices: Can They Be Not Guilty for Institutional Mistakes?

Translated by Chen-t'ang 鎮棠, Written by Fava Bean
Original: http://www.vjmedia.com.hk/articles/2014/05/11/72017 

(photo via cc Flickr user Jonathan Kos-Read)

Some people would like to say, CCP and innocent Chinese people shall be separated. I will only ask: A person cannot be responsible for an institution, but what about a group of people? Are they obliged to defend the institution?

Lu Xun decided to write rather than be a doctor a hundred years ago when he witnessed the indifference of Chinese when they saw their compatriots were killed by the Japanese. He then wrote a lot to criticise those flunkeys and morons, and these articles are still valid nowadays. Why? Because Chinese people had not improved over 100 years.

The writer of Frog, a novel about birth planning in China by Mo Yan, said the novel is a confession to his wife. He feared of losing his military position and forced his wife to abort. Is this the wrongs of the institution? Yes it is, but is it that an individual can get rid of all responsibilities when the institution wronged him/her? Quote Mo, "Most people are still in a society where people accuse their society and others. They magnify others' mistakes, and tell how they are suppressed by the society repeatedly . But few will act like Pa Kin (巴金) and Zhou Yang (周揚). They reflect upon themselves whether they had harmed others and themselves. Is it fair to pass the buck to a person when there is such a huge social catastrophe? It isn't. So in my opinion, if everyone does not go through a thorough reflection, if there will be another Cultural Revolution in the future, it will still be prevalent.

The writer of The Evil of Banality, Hannah Arendt once said, "Politically, subordination means support." (translated, cannot find original text) So, when there are people to defend for more than a half of Chinese, and ask people to separate the Chinese society and people, I must say you cannot blame all on the CCP. CCP just know how to take advantages from Chinese (industrious without blaming), and follow the inferiority of Chinese. What is the banality of evil? Not all Chinese are surnamed Lai [Translator's note: in Cantonese when one criticises a person surnamed Lai means the person often blame others]. We must admit that the hegemony of CCP is caused by at least half of the Chinese people, who are the accomplices.

Some Ukrainian protesters once said, "It is inborn for everyone in a democratic country to defend democracy." East European countries eventually get back their land after long time of authoritarian rule; Taiwanese can also fight for democracy beside the 'unificationist' KMT. Although the democratic institution is rather young in Taiwan with lots of rooms of improvement, but they are still improving. And Chinese, I hate people tarring with the same brush. Those who feel excited when they see Chinese activists, and say Chinese do also response actively, listen: Let me say there are ten thousand activists in China. How about other 1.39999 billion Chinese? Do they concern, or mock them?

At the end of the day, if they're happy, that's fine. Your democracy is by no means 'higher class' than the lifestyle they choose. Why bother seeking excuses for them?