Adapting to the Modern Era

　　The Chinese dream is becoming a popular themein modern day China. However， with dreams there comesdoubts and misunderstandings. These have beenemerging both at home and abroad. My friends Liu Ge，Shu Taifeng， Lei Sihai and I decided to collaborate on abook to examine the Chinese dream and its current conditions，as well as the difficulties and prospects facing it.

　　After six months of intensive work， the book was finallycomplete and it enjoyed great popularity.

　　The writing process was a real challenge. The biggestquestion was： If we need to narrow the scope down to10 questions， then what should they be？ Also， given thenumerous books on the Chinese dream already published，what would make our book stand out？

　　After a lot of discussion and deliberation， we reached aconsensus： The questions should reflect the true feelingsof the people； they cannot avoid the problems that exist.Our analysis should be an objective evaluation of China’sreality， while showing the hope for China’s future.

　　Finally， we chose to focus on the following aspects：people’s livelihoods， finance， the economy， education，urbanization， public morals， the legal system， population，war and foreign relations. We discussed the advantagesand disadvantages of China’s policies in these areas， andthe direction of their respective reforms.

　　During the process， I found that the Chinese mediawere generally more negative than the internationalcommunity. Many foreign officials， scholars and celebritieshave expressed the idea that “the world’s future relies onChina’s efforts.” However， in China， opinions in the media，especially on the Internet， ran very much in the oppositedirection.

　　China is currently in a period where conflicts of opinionhave exploded. This exposure has， on the one hand，promoted the country’s progress. On the other hand， ithas intensified internal debate， made the basic standardsof right and wrong more confusing， and denied China’straditional culture.

　　As a result， there is anxiety and fear in Chinese society.A feeling that “China is about to collapse” has been createdand is likely to slow the country’s revival.

　　This has led directly to the popularity of “complaintculture” in Chinese society today. Complaints about thegovernment and criticism of officials can be found all overthe liberal-leaning media and in online discourse.

　　Contrary to this， those who support thegovernment and understand the complexitieswhich function throughout a country as big as China，risk being labelled as shills that have been paid off by thegovernment.

　　It’s well documented that China does face a numberof social problems. However， looking back over the past20 years， it has made the fewest mistakes of any majorcountry. It has found the most distinctive developmentpath and has the best future prospects lined up.

　　Therefore， if anyone asks me about my feelings sincecompleting the book， I immediately respond with hopethat the Chinese people can have more confidence andunderstand that China’s rise is creating history. This way，they can eventually overcome the self-abasement andpessimism which is prevalent today. Self-confidence is importantfor China， whose modernization is still in the earlyyears of progression.

　　Take the United States’ 170-year-long modernizationprocess (1790-1960) as an example： It dealt with anticolonialrebellion， plagues， civil war， sandstorms， two worldwars， social unrest， ethnic conflicts， environmental pollution，the assassination of a president， a nuclear crisis andmany other situations.

　　Even after the 1960s， it suffered from a series ofnational crises - including government scandals， strikesand terrorist attacks. However， all these have only madethe American people stronger and improved their nationalsystem. It was during this whole process that the Americandream was fostered and realized. The Chinese peopleshould learn from their experiences.

　　The main problem facing China is that it should try， byall means possible， to deal with the sudden informationexplosion brought on by the Web 2.0 era. We should movethe online atmosphere away from one which takes pride inabusing the government， while refusing to understand it.Discourse needs to become more balanced.

　　Chinese society is not getting worse. It’s just that in thisinformation rich era， negative information takes on biggerand bigger proportions. In fact， the complaints of thepublic and the panic-stricken government are a reflectionof the unrest caused by ongoing change.

　　Facts are more convincing than rumors. The rise ofChina has repeatedly proven that current difficulties aretemporary， partial and solvable.