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Q: OK you Mao wannabes, how would you change China?
We always use this place for ranting and raving. I sure do it. We all know the problems, but rarely give a viable answer. So if you were the dear leader, how would you make China better?
My biggest problem for me is the people, driving, walking, spitting, pissing. So first, i would increase fines. 200 is nothing.
Id make it a thousand, then people would stop. 2 nd id make police actually work instead of standing on street corners and driving with their lights on. Run a red light?a grand. Drive your scooter on a kamikazi mission through an intersection , a grand, oh your baby needs to piss here? a grand.
Next id stop the mass migration, farmers in good places screwing in up, and its not sustainable. They are trying with the hukou system but its not enough. Id make chinese people apply for visas if they want to change provinces. Need a degree or something, so skilled workers can move around. Factories that hire only workers from poor provinces. Move your factory to thepoor province. All factories caught hiring illegals will be fined massively.
This will promte harmony in the cities, harmony is important in China cuz i hear it alot, and it will also prop up the poorer provinces as well as let the workers be with their families. Head offices and skill companies can remain in large cities, and skilled workers will apply for a permit to work in say... shanghai....
It sounds backwards in our freedom loving minds, but the situation is already kind of in place, workers just work in cities, their kids cant go to school, or they cant buy a house. Sooo let the cities prosper at their own pace...
Bring on the arguments and new ideas!
Bring new ideas? This is not my country...
coineineagh:
Is it not your world either? Are these people not your species? If this were Star Trek, I'd say the Prime Directive of non-interference doesn't apply.
Nessquick:
I can see at home, how my wife accept ideas... now multiply it with 1,5 billion people, and you know you don't want this job ... 
1. Allow people to form political parties.
(1.5 - Resist the temptation to have those people tortured/imprisoned/executed.)
2. Allow people to vote.
China's most fundamental problems (corruption, suppression of information, suppression of free speech, social/economic/legal inequality) cannot be solved while there is a one-party government concerned only with strengthening and protecting its own power. Trying to individually patch the multitudinous problems created by Communist Party rule is kind of missing the point.
ScotsAlan:
I think you are missing the point.
The PRC was founded with it's constitution based on most of what you suggest.
I think the current leadership is almost back on track with what the founders promised.
Samsara:
I'll have to read some of your previous posts to determine if you're being sarcastic.
Chinese people have the constitutional right to vote, the right to protest, freedom of speech, freedom of press, etc.. Unfortunately the Communist Party has ignored the Constitution SINCE ITS FOUNDING.
DrMonkey:
And the first to have a strongly nationalistic & populist party wins, forbid other parties and we are back to square one. Democracy works if you're educated for it.
xinyuren:
Democracy works for the people who have the money. Communism works for the people who have the money. Socialism works for the people who have money... all forms of government are broken. Changing them would be simply exchanging one form of poison for another. The best we can hope for is that people try not to be so selfish.
Samsara:
DrMonkey: When the KMT (Taiwanese National Party) retreated to Taiwan, it was a nationalistic, authoritarian one-party regime ruling over a largely uneducated populace. Taiwan has since become democratic due to its government’s own initiatives (a few important reforms made over two or three decades).
South Korea went through a war and then a series of bloody military coups before it became democratic. It’s social and economic situation at the time was terrible. Look at the difference between South Korea and North Korea now.
The assumption that Democracy “can’t” work based on existing political or ideological problems is nonsense.
Xinyuren: You can argue that all forms of government are terrible, but unless you’d like to live without government (I wouldn’t), you have to compare the options. I’d rather be born in a democratic country than a non-democratic one, and I’m quite sure you would too. I’d go so far as to say that the governments of the Scandinavian nations are actually rather good (I’d like Scandinavian’s comment on this). Also, see North Korea and South Korea (they started out with the same people) for a clean illustration of how government affects prosperity and quality of life.
Although my approach would probably be doomed to fail, it would be best for the future of the people, I think. I wouldn't give up the dominance of the single party, but it would quickly become threatened by the actions:
First, mobilize the army for whatever excuse, call it martial law. They will need education to serve as a police force. Maybe it couldn't work coz they're too aggressive and stupid, and my plan would fail in its first step. But Chairman Mao starved millions of his countrymen expecting farmers to be able to smelt steel. If it fails at step one, at least it will effect a discussion of values rather than a useless stockpile of pig iron.
Next, expecting that the soldiers will follow orders well, and do what they're tasked to do, they should be called upon to crack down on corruption. Especially the system abuse within the education system will be given primary focus. But any form of bribes will be seen as severely dangerous to progress in the country. I dunno if the military is more effective when they're doing morally justifiable tasks; most armies in the world seem to get more excited by the opportunity to pillage and rape. This will depend entirely on the willingness/ability of the army to do what they are tasked.
Then, it's waiting for the results. Will fear and conformity kick Chinese society into ship-shape in no time, or will the backlash from corrupt local officials and civil servants cause a complete breakdown of social harmony? I'm afraid my plan has little chance of success if locals revert to their unwillingness to change. The values of morality and fairness are not represented well enough in China, as safety and stability are paramount to hysterical families (and the needs of the family dictate everything here).
Chinese government succeeded in changing China from the fastest growing polluter to the #1 country focusing on renewable energies in the course of 3 years. So, China can get things done very fast. It may indicate that the gov't can influence values to the extent that would be needed, but it's no guarantee.
And there is more than a backlash from the local population to be feared: The international community might not approve of China's internal turmoil. Stability is good for business. War makes a killing for those at the very top. But rapid social change without international conflict doesn't make money for anyone outside the country. The luxury trade will be hurt severely by the crackdown on corruption, so lobbyists from watchmaking (and other fashion accessory) business will be screaming bloody murder to other countries to do something about it. Just when the army is busy with the internal restructuring.
It would be a dangerous time for China indeed, and I sincerely hope that China is building up its military to do something like this in the future. The Beijing gov't's intentions towards the people are often (not always) well-intentioned, but lower-level officials succeed at watering down any progress they try to make for their people with their own greed.
After that, China can start promoting proper values, and creating citizenry that are truly advanced in culture: Individuals with a moral backbone; confident, creative, outspoken and considerate of their impact on society. Interested in gaining knowledge for more than just passing tests, forming lasting friendships rather than guanxi, respecting themselves and other cultures as equals, frowning upon elitism rather than accepting it as the hierarchy of life, thinking rationally and critically, being willing to discuss the weak points in their society, creating a robust economy of their own rather than copying the west, cultivating dignity rather than being crippled by facesaving considerations. I fear it's just my little pipe-dream, and doesn't rhyme with the Chinese gov't's intentions at all.
Scandinavian:
your plan fails when the soldiers learn they can turn the blind eye for a small fee.
coineineagh:
Eh, since they're cracking down on corruption, the hope would be that they'd not risk execution for a small fee. They should understand that taking that bribe, however big or small, labels them a traitor/deserter, and they will be treated as a public enemy. If it really goes as you say, then the first military unit that goes down that direction will be made an example of. Anyway, my story is just a big piece of wishful thinking, so nobody should take it too seriously.
I believe in evolution rather than revolution. My program spans over 50 years.
* Reform of the education system, layers after layers, over 20 years. I would start with the teacher's training, special schools for those newly trained teachers, and significant pay package for the new teachers. Little by little, I increase the pool of new teachers & school enlarge.
* Reform of the police & justice system, see my reform of the education system to see how it works. The idea is to bring more effective rule of the law with properly trained policemen and justice staff.
* Introduction of a program to license many unlicensed job here ie. public construction, with lots of subsidies for countryside people willing to take vocational training programs.
* Subsidies for energy efficient anything ie. power plants, accommodation. Creation of national companies to produce insulation materials and schools to create the technical know-how.
* Slow scaling-down of the Great Firewall over 10 years.
* Separation of history and politics
* Comprehensive subsidies for attracting Chinese abroad to innovate in China
* Much more freedom for journalists, and lots of subsidies for journalist schools.
* Slow, very slow introduction of civil life. It starts with electing local leaders only, say, district leader, or village leader. Those leaders are from the party only, but people elect them every 5 years, after each candidate present it programs. You have to be jobless to run as a candidate. After 15 years of this, regional leaders. After 30 years, one more echelon is elected. After 45 years, it's up to the country's chairman. After 45 years, although all candidates are from the party, in practice, the party itself have tendencies that amount to what is multiple parties elsewhere. Eventually, the party itself fade into oblivion after 100 years.
DrMonkey:
Ho, and lots of *in your face, a..hole" adverts on every single uncivil, selfish behavior. Not nice "hey, let's do this", but lots of videos of bad behavior, explaining why it's bad and being very clear on how WTF it is.
coineineagh:
Your idea might have more chance of success than mine. I just fear that Chinese throughout history have a tendency to gravitate towards hierarchies, elitism, cowardice, and so on. It hasn't changed much in 5000 years. Encouraging them to improve slowly may not work, because you're battling their own impulse towards complacency, and I think you'll lose. I think Mao had it right that the people needed a swift kick in the backside; he just missed and left a big bruise in the wrong place. The government has always been the force for improvement and modernization in this country, and that's quite different from the west where it was citizens and the middle class who were constantly battling the church and state to imp[lement reforms. The notion that the Chinese *want* to improve is very western, and the gov't should and is making decisions about what they think is best for a complacent populace. Whether those decisions are good ones is another matter, of course. Mostly the government is run by the same complacent people, thinking only about the wealth of themselves and their families...
DrMonkey:
Taiwan, Hong-Kong or Macau shows what can be done, if you take your time and you go easy on the butt-kicking. From my own experience (students, wife, in-laws), if you take time to patiently explain, logic, rationality and will to act work here too. Ok, it takes time and lots of patience, but it can be done. I would take a regionalist approach, partly to cool down the hot-headed nationalism (that would destroy the slow introduction of multiple parties), partly because multiple small fires is easier to keep under control than one gigantic fire. Those schools, vocational training would be done on a local basis (district level), and it would expand little by little.
Timing would be a key parameter. Corruption can destroy the attempts to introduce a civil life (the slow expansion of civil rights & duties) very quickly, so a training of the justice & police system have to be done in the same time, liberalization of the press as well. I would play West against East, by creating the early vocational schools in the West of the countries, and create in the East the markets for the newly trained people. That would be an attempt to balance a bit the level of life over the country.
coineineagh:
HK is a very appealing place to live, but I haven't spent enough time in any of those places to say if there is a meaningful change in culture. I'd be very surprised if there was, and those people still considered themselves equal to mainland Chinese. That's the problem - separating improvement from elitism. It shouldn't be a bragging card.
andy74rc:
HK people in some occasions called Mainlanders "locusts". Gives you the idea.
To be a politician is to fight for a cause that is lost from the beginning. The major flaws are not in the systems but in human nature. No matter how you change China, this inherent problem will come to the fore. Selfish people trying to rule over selfish people is a recipe for failure.
mArtiAn:
I don't agree that human nature is flawed, we live in a system (the monetary system) that inevitably leads to the monopalizing of power and in turn an imbalance of wealth, thus causing the need to battle for domination or go hungry. Not suggesting communism as an alternative though (the assumption people tend to make), I don't have an alternative, though I like Jaque Fresco's suggestion of a resource based economy and a focus on technology to lead the way rather than politics. Fanciful still but far preferable to my mind.
I will :
- Make a second, yet much bigger Great Wall... All around China's borders...
- Cancel all international flights
- Cut the internet lines
- Cut the phone lines
- Cancel money, police, goverment
- When all ready, run away and let them do as they wish.
Just, do not let them out. never ever
Paulberger:
this is one of the smartest things i have ever read anywhere!
Nessquick:
Thanks Paul, This is just extended version of used words of some friends, who have this way described my place living , where I've born.
Nessquick:
Samsara, you mean, if I make it in the TV news or some show, I may impress some right people and , and, I may be given the chance to realize it ? Ohh, I wish.. I wish ...
Ok, Let's deport me. Please. I am waiting, right now.
I will take just 2 things with me. Do it fast.
Pleeaaaaaase.... 
I'd be forever banned from this website if I said how.
following things made illegal:
littering
spitting
jay-walking
walking on roads rather than sidewalks
parking on sidewalks
reality-tv
also it would be great for these:
parking enforcement officers get 50% commision on tickets.
