Chinese Dream

The Chinese Dream is a term describing a set of ideals in the People's Republic of China. It is used by journalists, government officials, and activists to describe the aspiration of individual self-improvement in Chinese society. Although the phrase has been used previously by many Western journalists and Chinese activists, a translation of an article written by the American journalist Thomas Friedman, "China Needs Its Own Dream", has been credited with popularizing the concept in China. In 2013 the President of the PRC Xi Jinping began promoting the phrase as a slogan, leading to its widespread use in the Chinese media.

Xi stated that young people should "dare to dream, work assiduously to fulfill the dreams and contribute to the revitalization of the nation." He called upon all levels of the Party and the government to facilitate favorable conditions for their career development. Xi stated that the young should "cherish the glorious youth, strive with pioneer spirit and contribute their wisdom and energy to the realization of the Chinese dream."

History

Thomas Friedman

The British publication The Economist credits American journalist Thomas Friedman for popularizing the term. A translation of Friedman's article, "China Needs Its Own Dream", published in the New York Times was widely popular in China. Friedman attributes the phrase to Peggy Liu, the founder of the environmentalist NGO JUCCCE. According to Friedman in the magazine Foreign Policy, "I only deserve part credit... the concept of 'China Dream' was created by my friend Peggy Liu, as the motto for her NGO about how to introduce Chinese to the concept of sustainability."

James Fallows of The Atlantic has pointed out that the phrase has frequently been used in the past by journalists. He mentions Deborah Fallow's book Dreaming in Chinese, his own article "What Is the Chinese Dream?", and Gerald Lemos' book The End of the Chinese Dream as examples. In response to Fallows, The Economist cites an article in the Xinhua Daily Telegraph that directly credits Friedman.

“Will the next Chinese leader have a dream that is different from the American dream?” [a paraphrase of a line in Mr Friedman’s column]. In a year of political transition, the world’s gaze is focused on the east. On the eve of the 18th [Communist Party] congress [at which Mr Xi had been appointed as party chief two weeks earlier] the American columnist Thomas Friedman wrote an article devoted to analysis of the “Chinese dream” titled “China Needs Its Own Dream”. It expressed the hope that [the dream would be one that] “marries people’s expectations of prosperity with a more sustainable China”. Suddenly the “Chinese dream” became a hot topic among commentators at home and abroad."

— Xinhua Daily Telegraph

The Economist has written that references to Friedman's article have also appeared in other Chinese media outlets, including a translation in The References News, in an article written for China's State Council Information Office, on the cover of the magazine Oriental Outlook as the main caption, in a magazine article published by Frontline, and in an article for a local newspaper written by China’s ambassador to Romania, Huo Yuzhen.

Xi Jinping

In May 2013 Xi called upon young people "to dare to dream, work assiduously to fulfill the dreams and contribute to the revitalization of the nation." He called upon all levels of the Party and the government to facilitate favorable conditions for their career development. Xi told young people to "cherish the glorious youth, strive with pioneer spirit and contribute their wisdom and energy to the realization of the Chinese dream."

Reporters have noted that, "Mr Xi had seen the American dream up close, having spent a couple of weeks in 1985 with a rural family in Iowa. (He revisited them during a trip to America last year as leader-in-waiting.)"

The concept of Chinese Dream is very similar to the idea of "American Dream". It stresses the importance of entrepreneurial spirit. It also glorifies a generation of self-made men and women in post-reform China such as those rural immigrants who moved to the urban centers and achieved magnificent improvement in terms of their living standards and social life. Chinese Dream can be interpreted as the collective consciousness of Chinese people during the era of social transformation and economic progress.

As an aspect of political thought in contemporary China, the emergence of Chinese Dream indicates a diversion of political ideology from egalitarianism to a relatively more liberal individualist approach. It is worth noting that the concept is still based on collectivism rather than individualism for it seen the subject of Chinese Dream as the people of China as a whole instead of specific individual hero/heroine.

The idea was put forward by the new CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping on 29 November 2012 and repeated by him on numerous important occasions. The Communist Party party’s propaganda chief, Liu Yunshan, has directed that the concept of the Chinese dream be incorporated into school textbooks.

The government hoped to create a revitalized China, while promoting innovation and technology to restore the international prestige China. In this light, Chinese Dream, like American exceptionalism, is a nationalistic concept as well.

See also

• American Dream

Further reading

• Liu, Ping. My Chinese Dream - From Red Guard to CEO (2012)
• Mars, Neville, and Adrian Hornsby. The Chinese Dream: A Society Under Construction (2010)
• Wang, Helen and Lord Wei. The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World's Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You (2012) excerpt and text search

External link

• Chasing the Chinese dream 4.May.2013 The Economist