Doubt, Made in America
by Wang Huning
Wang Huning is a member of the Chinese pulitburo. He is widely considered on of the most powerful theoreticians in China, and works as head of the Chinese Policy Research Office and chairman of the Central Guidance Commission on Building Spiritual Civilization.
In 1991 Wang Huning toured the US as a visiting scholar. He wrote a book about his experiences, called America Against America. Despite being subject to a lot of media attention some years ago, this book has never been fully translated.
In this chapter of America Against America, Huning describes the strange sensation he felt immediately entering America, and the effect that America has on the rest of the world. Some of the footnotes were taken from a partial translation of America Against America by the Something Awful user Kangxi.
Doubt, Made in America
Chapter I, Part I
Air China Flight CA985 passed through Tokyo Japan, over the rough and turbulent waters of the Pacific to San Francisco. Due to a flight delay, planes from Europe, Asia, and North America were all crowded together. On weekdays, the spacious luggage and customs halls are full and packed with people, a boiling cauldron of voices. No matter where you come from, you will experience a feeling of excitement when arriving in the United States. There was one plane which was probably from France, since many of the passengers spoke French.1 After waiting in line for more than an hour, everyone complained, as they do in China, that the wait took too long. Many people think that there are no lines in the West. How could anyone know it would be so crowded? The customs counters at the San Francisco Airport Immigration Office fall into three categories: first, US citizens, second, non-US citizens, and third, new immigrants. The first two entrances on the left are the entrances of American citizens, sparsely populated, showing the advantage of being a US citizen. Non-US citizens suddenly have a feeling of inferiority.
At customs, there are many Japanese people. Nowadays, Japanese people travel everywhere in the world to go on tours and to carry out business in large groups, showing the strength of a wealthy country and wealthy people. Although many foreigners find the Japanese unlovable, their economic strength gives them power in the world. It is said that because there are so many Japanese, the U.S. government is considering giving Japanese people a kind of special treatment: visa-free entry. Mathematically, this would speed up the processing of customs at the U.S. customs entrance by one-third. But diplomacy requires equal treatment, and the Japanese seem reluctant to waive visas for Americans. From the development of the Japanese nation, one can draw at least two conclusions: first, that economic strength is the basic force that determines the international status and image of a nation; second, the international status and international image of a nation does not only depend on economic strength.
The United States is a very developed society, and anyone who arrives in the United States will feel a “future shock.”2 Some people see this and dream of the possibilities, while others wonder what makes such a country possible. To the latter question, different people have different answers. I asked some of my friends. One friend replied that one is the extraordinary abundance of resources, and the other that competition for talent is encouraged. Another added that, at least, that was the case when people first arrived in the United States. I asked G, a friend who is pursuing a Ph.D. at Stanford. The answer? Tradition. I found this to be one of the most abstract, yet valuable, explanations. The development of any society is not the result of purely economic forces, nor is it the result of short-term behavioral adjustments. The development of this country to the highest levels of affluence cannot solely be the result of human will. What are the forces that have directed the efforts of Americans for generations? One can come up with many specific causes, such as innovation, ambition, thrift, and so on. The most important question is whether any of these norms can become culturally ingrained, a tradition. No matter what norms are conducive to social development, if they do not constitute a tradition, they cannot have a long ranging effect. For any good factor to have an effect, it must be the sustained effort of several generations. Americans talk about innovation all day long, but in reality their traditions are very strong. The Chinese also talk about innovation all day long, but the result is that tradition is repeatedly rising and falling from fashion. It has been said that the American people do not speak of innovation as much as they speak against tradition. In America however tradition and innovation are the same thing, and today’s traditions are the innovations of 30 or 50 years ago. The Chinese speak of innovation in the sense of being anti-traditional. However, traditions with the weight of a thousand years are not easy to lift.
Today, there is a huge influx of people coming to the United States, and we must ask ourselves why this is. A few days ago, there was a lively discussion in Chinese theoretical circles about the re-conceptualization of socialism and capitalism. The basic reason why this issue is currently being discussed in China is that socialism has been practiced for decades, but it is not as good as capitalism for economic development. Does the programme of social development that Marx argued for 150 years ago correspond to the course of human history? Can socialism eventually overcome capitalism? This is the question of the day. The film “Red Guards on Honghu Lake,” which was shown on a Boeing 747 flight to the United States, comes to mind. The Chinese have overthrown the three great mountains that have been weighing them down for so long,3 but has this ensured the direction of China's development? A revolution such as the Chinese revolution, which was based on the encirclement of the cities by the countryside, a revolution in which rural populations are the main force, what kind of impact does this have on the development of a society? It is worth thinking about.
The development of the United States today, with its economic prosperity, its political process, its way of life, and its international status, has created a great deal of doubt in the world. People in the developed world carry a deep-rooted doubt: that technological and material development of human life has gone too far. Is it against human nature? Will it lead to the depletion of the earth's resources? Will it eventually lead to the destruction of mankind? Our colleagues in the Club of Rome4 are worried about this, and they have been going on about it for a long time. Those from developing countries have a different question: What is the force that has created such a dazzling material civilization? What system has created the right conditions for such development in terms of management and intellect? Is such a state of affairs accidental or inevitable? People doubt this system, and people doubt their own system. In any case, the United States has created a lot of doubt.
To be in the United States is to be in doubt. If you do not go to the United States, you will still be in doubt. It is a strange phenomenon that, once experienced, is not easily shaken.
1In his youth Wang Huning attended a foreign language training program at Shanghai Normal University where he majored in French. His dissertation at Fudan University, titled “From Bodin to Maritain: on sovereignty theories developed by the Western bourgeoisie,” drew broadly from French political theory, so it is safe to assume that Wang Huning is reasonably fluent in French.
2Future Shock is a 1970 book by American futurist Alvin Toffler and Adelaide Farrell, in which the authors define the term “future shock” as a certain psychological state of individuals and entire societies. The shortest definition for the term is a personal perception of “too much change in too short a period of time.” The book, which became an international bestseller, has sold over 6 million copies and been widely translated.
3The 'three mountains' are a reference to Mao's essay On New Democracy, which argues for a distinct Chinese path to socialism. The three mountains are imperialism, feudalism, and capitalism.
4The Club of Rome was founded in 1968 and consists of a one hundred full members selected from current and former heads of state and government, UN administrators, high-level politicians and government officials, diplomats, scientists, economists, and business leaders. It acts as a public forum for discussing issues of environmentalism and population control, and counts among it’s former members such influential statesmen as Mikhail Gorbachev, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, and Henry Kissinger.
Tikhanov Library is an independent publishing company founded in Lund, British Columbia. To read America Against America and many other books, visit our website at www.tikhanovlibrary.com | Our catalogue includes books by Alexis de Tocqueville, Dimitri Alioshin, and Pierre Drieu la Rochelle, among other authors. We are constantly updating with new books and deals.