Cui Zengqi: Hometown Trip (10) – Hangzhou Trip 1

Cui Zengqi: Hometown Trip (10) – Hangzhou Trip 1 From Wuxi to Hangzhou, cars are speeding along the Taihu Lake. The countryside is covered with four or five-story buildings...

From Wuxi to Hangzhou, cars are speeding along the Taihu Lake. The countryside is filled with four or five-story new buildings. This is the densely populated and wealthy Hangjiahu area. Even in winter, the fields are busy. Various seedlings are cultivated under pieces of plastic film; people are picking fresh fruits and vegetables in glass sheds; tractors are plowing the land in the distance in preparation for the upcoming spring sowing. Nowadays, farmers here practice scientific farming, and there is no difference between slack farming and busy farming throughout the year. Scientific and technological progress has brought earth-shaking changes to the countryside. Coupled with raising pigs, chickens, ducks, fish, shrimps, crabs and various side businesses, it is said that the annual per capita income of farmers has reached more than 200,000 yuan, exceeding the income of urban workers. Many families have their own "Santana". These are all new changes that have occurred in the past 10 years. These changes occur mainly due to changes in policies and changes in people's thinking. In the past, farmers cultivated the land, workers worked, merchants did business, and officials (cadres) took care of the people, which was natural and natural. Nowadays, with new concepts, doing things is centered on economic benefits, breaking industry boundaries. People can do what they like according to the needs of society, not only in China, but also from a global perspective to seek development. Thus, unlimited opportunities are created for everyone.

There is an ordinary college student in a new rural residence near Hangzhou. After graduation, he returned to the countryside to raise chickens. Later, he changed to raising quails in response to market needs. After accumulating funds, he established his footing in China and got involved in the pig feed industry, becoming a national feed king. After that, he entered the financial industry and established a bank, becoming one of the top 10 richest people in the country. There are hundreds of such examples. The prosperity of these people does not depend on me or corruption, but on wisdom, hard work and opportunities. Of course, they all went through hardships and risks to achieve success, and I admire them. This is the infinite vitality that the market economy brings to the Chinese people, and it is the fundamental reason why China was so poor in the past and why so many people are now rich. Looking back on the planned economy-dominated era where I worked, these ideas and practices were impossible. It's not because our generation is stupid, it's mainly because our minds are bound in a circle. Listening to the party and obeying organizational arrangements are the rules for being a good person. This is the famous "taming of tools theory." I thought this made sense in the past, but now think about it, in a society where everyone has become a tool, like a big factory that produces the same products over and over again, how can this society be alive, and what progress can it make? Now it seems that the Chinese people still have a long way to go on the anti-feudal road. Although it has been 100 years since Sun Yat-sen overthrew the Manchu feudal dynasty, the ideological system of feudal rule still has a profound impact on Chinese society. As far as the relationship between officials (leaders at all levels) and the people is concerned, some officials understand that they are the people's servants, and they are supported by the people's money, so they should do more for the people; while many officials regard their official position as a favor from their superiors, so they flatter their superiors and ask little about the sufferings of the people; some even think that they are the emperor, and the people are just his subjects. Let’s look at the concepts of the Chinese people. The concepts of the county magistrate, the provincial government, and the emperor are still deeply ingrained. It is precisely because of this that there is an era in China where the cult of personality has developed to its extreme. Without a social foundation like China's, the Cultural Revolution would not have been possible. I'm reminded of an incident in the 1970s. At that time, the supply of coal in southern China was very tight, and Chairman Mao Zedong proposed to "reverse the transportation of coal from the north to the south." So, three of us engineers went to Guangdong Province to investigate and research, looking for places where coal mines could be built. The local government of Guangdong Province also attached great importance to and welcomed it. One Sunday, we went to Yangshan County, Guangdong for investigation and research. When we walked out of the mine, the local people and many students stood there and shouted long live Chairman Mao. The three of us were at a loss. We quickly shook hands with the students, grabbed the poles from their hands, and carried coal with them. In fact, our going down to the mines has nothing to do with Long Live Chairman Mao. It’s just that the common people regard people who come from Beijing as people around the "Emperor" and come with the will of the "Emperor". Their way of thinking is still stuck in the past era. More than 40 years have passed. Through reform and opening up, people's thinking has made great progress, but who dares to say that the feudal consciousness has been eliminated from people's minds? I think that both leaders and ordinary people are still far from getting rid of the residual influence of feudal culture. Take the bad habit of treating guests and giving gifts that is now widely popular in China and has developed into corruption. In order to see a good doctor or go to a government department to do things easily, ordinary people go to treat guests and give gifts and give red envelopes; the same is true for grassroots units to apply for a project at higher-level units; this is not necessarily the request of the person receiving the gifts. Unfortunately, the people are affected by the feudal culture and have to "voluntarily" (but reluctantly) make such "dedication." Little do they know that this practice encourages lawless people, harms some weak-willed people, and harms the entire social atmosphere. Some people even bring this bad atmosphere abroad. I feel that Americans are much better than China in these aspects. There is no need to treat guests or give gifts when applying for welfare or seeing a doctor. Most of the staff greet you with smiles and smile so sincerely that you feel respected. They know that being a civil servant is not about giving orders to the masses, but about doing things for the masses. They have all been carefully trained and are not allowed to discriminate against anyone, nor are they allowed to accept gifts in exchange for their work. I have seen real "service to the people" in the United States.