January 25, 2017
Chinese Exceptionalism Resisted:
“Special Characteristics” of Chinese Society Today
Yu Xie
Bert G. Kerstetter ’66 University Professor of Sociology, and a Director of the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies and Its Center on Contemporary China
Stephen Schreiber and Yu Xie
Minutes of the 17th Meeting of the 75th Year
President Jock McFarlane gaveled the meeting to order promptly at 10:15 a.m. on Wednesday, January 25, 2017, in the Maeder Auditorium at the Andlinger Center on the campus of Princeton University.
The invocation was led by Arthur Eschenlauer. The minutes from the previous week’s meeting were read by Michael Curtis.
Stephen Schreiber introduced his brother, Bill Schreiber, as his guest and the president welcomed members of the University League, acknowledged as Princeton’s oldest social and service organization, soon to celebrate its 100th anniversary.
Marilyn R. Durkee, the current president of the League was asked to stand and be recognized along with about 20 of its members. The joint session was held as a courtesy to the speaker who requested putting the two meetings together. A total of 125 members and guests attended.
Stephen Schreiber introduced the speaker, Yu Xie, the director of the Center on Contemporary China at the university, and the Bert G. Kerstetter ’66 University Professor of Sociology, and a director of the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies. Professor Xie did his undergraduate studies at Shanghai University of Technology and earned two master’s degrees and a doctoral degree at the University of Wisconsin. He subsequently taught at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for 26 years. He moved to Princeton in August 2015.
Professor Xie began by establishing certain ground rules. He stated that he is a sociologist who does not believe in “universal truths” that might be true across all social contexts. He said that his research on China is in the context of China and specifically China.
Dr. Xie set forth the question for his talk, which he said he hoped to answer in the context of his research: “In what way is today’s China unique in comparison to Western societies?” -- with his focus on differences and not similarities.
The speaker asserted that China lives with a very strong government, where individuals’ rights are limited and society and markets are regulated, with all land being owned by the state. There is no transparency and no independent legal system. There are no checks and balances and real NGOs do not exist. Government works with the business community for the good of all the people.
The sociological consequences of this are that “political capital” becomes important to achieve social status. The large state-owned monopolies are often inefficient and burdened with corruption and abuse of power.
As evidence of this, the speaker mounted a chart of the trends in Income Inequality in China versus the United States, showing 50 years of data from 1965 to 2015 with a gradual trend in the America toward income inequality versus a steep rise in China since 1985. He asserted that “political capital continues to play an important role in affecting income and generating wealth.”
A major part of his presentation focused on the importance of the family in China. Dr. Xie asserted that family is primary in Chinese culture and that ancestor worship and respect for family takes the place of religion in Western culture. He suggested that the real meaning of human existence is to pass family lineage to the next generation and that parents will sacrifice for their children. One corollary of this reliance on the family unit is a lack of trust of outsiders.
The third sociological characteristic of contemporary China that distinguishes it from Western societies he termed the “tradition of multilayered paternalism.” Professor Xie asserted that in China collective interests always prevail. Given the very size of China and the existence of large organizational structures, society is ruled by a civil bureaucracy as distinct from Western civilization, which has depended on military conquest and punishments for control.
In China, historically, working within the system built personal capital and led to promotions. The speaker illustrated this with references to the Han Dynasty from 206 BCE, which established the bureaucratic ruling structure that succeeds to this day. The negative, of course, is that while the bureaucracy maintains stability, it does so at the cost of inflexibility and thus stifles innovation. The speaker cited a study in which questions were asked of participants to rank their own well-being and the reasons for that. More than 50 percent said that the central government or local government bore responsibility for their well-being and only 20 percent credited personal attributes.
An interesting segue in Dr. Xie’s talk discussed the global phenomenon of eroding family values that is having an impact today in China. The driver of change, he said, is the desire for individual freedom, which is manifesting itself in the Chinese marrying later, in premarital sex, nonmarital cohabitation, widespread divorce, children born to unwed mothers and children raised by single or divorced parents.
He provided numerous statistics to demonstrate those trends in Asia, including Japan, Korea and Taiwan as well as in China. He concluded that Chinese parents still focus on education as the way to advancement and children focus early on the advantage of educational achievement to advance themselves and their family in the future for job competition. He made passing reference to the Asian influx into prestigious “name” colleges and universities in America as a primary means for students to advance in Chinese society. He presented fascinating statistics on income inequality and the drive for academic achievement, concluding that being rich or poor in China does not influence the push for education (it is universal) whereas in the United States, a family’s income determines the focus or lack of focus on education.
There were some quite pointed questions about the lack of morality in China when contrasted with what is expected in the West. It was stated that the ethics are quite different and that “cheating a business partner” appears to be acceptable.
Dr. Xie agreed that in China it is accepted behavior to honor those within the family but, at the same time, to take every possible advantage of “outsiders.” He asserted that the law is not the guiding principal but rather that Confucian humanism controls. This dictates that what is good for most people should prevail over the law. This obviously works as a disadvantage to “foreigners.” He also acknowledged that “big brother,” in the form of the Communist Party, is always watching.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael S. Mathews
The invocation was led by Arthur Eschenlauer. The minutes from the previous week’s meeting were read by Michael Curtis.
Stephen Schreiber introduced his brother, Bill Schreiber, as his guest and the president welcomed members of the University League, acknowledged as Princeton’s oldest social and service organization, soon to celebrate its 100th anniversary.
Marilyn R. Durkee, the current president of the League was asked to stand and be recognized along with about 20 of its members. The joint session was held as a courtesy to the speaker who requested putting the two meetings together. A total of 125 members and guests attended.
Stephen Schreiber introduced the speaker, Yu Xie, the director of the Center on Contemporary China at the university, and the Bert G. Kerstetter ’66 University Professor of Sociology, and a director of the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies. Professor Xie did his undergraduate studies at Shanghai University of Technology and earned two master’s degrees and a doctoral degree at the University of Wisconsin. He subsequently taught at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for 26 years. He moved to Princeton in August 2015.
Professor Xie began by establishing certain ground rules. He stated that he is a sociologist who does not believe in “universal truths” that might be true across all social contexts. He said that his research on China is in the context of China and specifically China.
Dr. Xie set forth the question for his talk, which he said he hoped to answer in the context of his research: “In what way is today’s China unique in comparison to Western societies?” -- with his focus on differences and not similarities.
The speaker asserted that China lives with a very strong government, where individuals’ rights are limited and society and markets are regulated, with all land being owned by the state. There is no transparency and no independent legal system. There are no checks and balances and real NGOs do not exist. Government works with the business community for the good of all the people.
The sociological consequences of this are that “political capital” becomes important to achieve social status. The large state-owned monopolies are often inefficient and burdened with corruption and abuse of power.
As evidence of this, the speaker mounted a chart of the trends in Income Inequality in China versus the United States, showing 50 years of data from 1965 to 2015 with a gradual trend in the America toward income inequality versus a steep rise in China since 1985. He asserted that “political capital continues to play an important role in affecting income and generating wealth.”
A major part of his presentation focused on the importance of the family in China. Dr. Xie asserted that family is primary in Chinese culture and that ancestor worship and respect for family takes the place of religion in Western culture. He suggested that the real meaning of human existence is to pass family lineage to the next generation and that parents will sacrifice for their children. One corollary of this reliance on the family unit is a lack of trust of outsiders.
The third sociological characteristic of contemporary China that distinguishes it from Western societies he termed the “tradition of multilayered paternalism.” Professor Xie asserted that in China collective interests always prevail. Given the very size of China and the existence of large organizational structures, society is ruled by a civil bureaucracy as distinct from Western civilization, which has depended on military conquest and punishments for control.
In China, historically, working within the system built personal capital and led to promotions. The speaker illustrated this with references to the Han Dynasty from 206 BCE, which established the bureaucratic ruling structure that succeeds to this day. The negative, of course, is that while the bureaucracy maintains stability, it does so at the cost of inflexibility and thus stifles innovation. The speaker cited a study in which questions were asked of participants to rank their own well-being and the reasons for that. More than 50 percent said that the central government or local government bore responsibility for their well-being and only 20 percent credited personal attributes.
An interesting segue in Dr. Xie’s talk discussed the global phenomenon of eroding family values that is having an impact today in China. The driver of change, he said, is the desire for individual freedom, which is manifesting itself in the Chinese marrying later, in premarital sex, nonmarital cohabitation, widespread divorce, children born to unwed mothers and children raised by single or divorced parents.
He provided numerous statistics to demonstrate those trends in Asia, including Japan, Korea and Taiwan as well as in China. He concluded that Chinese parents still focus on education as the way to advancement and children focus early on the advantage of educational achievement to advance themselves and their family in the future for job competition. He made passing reference to the Asian influx into prestigious “name” colleges and universities in America as a primary means for students to advance in Chinese society. He presented fascinating statistics on income inequality and the drive for academic achievement, concluding that being rich or poor in China does not influence the push for education (it is universal) whereas in the United States, a family’s income determines the focus or lack of focus on education.
There were some quite pointed questions about the lack of morality in China when contrasted with what is expected in the West. It was stated that the ethics are quite different and that “cheating a business partner” appears to be acceptable.
Dr. Xie agreed that in China it is accepted behavior to honor those within the family but, at the same time, to take every possible advantage of “outsiders.” He asserted that the law is not the guiding principal but rather that Confucian humanism controls. This dictates that what is good for most people should prevail over the law. This obviously works as a disadvantage to “foreigners.” He also acknowledged that “big brother,” in the form of the Communist Party, is always watching.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael S. Mathews