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The need to know China's past, too
By Han Tan Juan
In the local business community, “hitching a ride” from China and gaining a better understanding of the emerging economic powerhouse are now both much-talked-about topics. The focus, however, tends to be on present-day China, with hardly any interests in its past.
As I see it, it is impossible to understand today’s China without knowing its history.
Many do not buy this. Well, good luck to them. When they have had enough of banging their heads against the wall - they will become smarter and humbler. For one thing, when the Chinese ask, out of politeness, for “guidance”, they will be less prone to rush into offering advice.
Is an insight into China’s history really so important? Let me cite a real-life example to convince the sceptics.
I have interviewed several Singaporean businessmen who have invested in China’s western region in the course of my work. They told me an instance when the local government of a remote and backward part of China became really excited with some Singaporean investors who pledged to pump in money and management expertise.
All was fine until these Singaporean businessmen proposed that “since you like Singapore so much, shall we develop a mini-Singapore? Everything will be the same as in Singapore except for the national flag. What do you think?” The suggestion, of course, put an end to the conversation.
Well, the Chinese still regard such Singaporeans as friends - “little friends” who know nothing about China’s past or “children who do not understand what they say”. But they have also decided to be totally frank with these friends. “Your proposal reminds us of the territories that the foreign powers used force to ‘lease’ from us. That is part of a long and sad history that still hurts us,” they said. (来源：www.EnglishCN.com)
This is a good example of how ignorant some Singaporeans can be. Of course, we have plenty to boast when it comes to corporate management or computer literacy. But what we do not even have an inkling of is the history of China, especially after the 1840 Opium War.
Not knowing the past of the Chinese people makes it difficult to understand their present and their sensitivities. Just a little carelessness on our part may be enough to hurt their feelings.
The point I am trying to make is hardly profound. Don’t we know that to truly get to know another person, we would need to know something about his past? The same goes for a country.
China is fast catching up with us in terms of standard of living, yet many Singaporeans have not shed their outdated view - quite a number still have a condescending attitude towards the rapidly growing economic dynamo.
One reason for this, I think, is that these Singaporeans have not studied (or have never studied) the history of China, in particular, its modern history.
If they are willing to make a serious effort to learn the history of China, they would come to know how since the Opium War, China had been bullied, trampled, looted and carved up by Western powers and Japan. By putting themselves in the shoes of the Chinese to empathise with them, they could attempt to appreciate the burning desire of Chinese to rise again in the world stage. This could be the beginning of a new understanding of China.
Besides knowing how to “hitch a ride” from China, we need to be more knowledgeable than what we are now about the roaring economy - we need to know both where the juggernaut comes from and where it is heading.
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