Reflecting on China

In the Olympics post, Pascal reflected:

One of those gold medalists has become such a national star in previous Olympics, that he now has his own --quite successful-- sports shoes brand. He hires the same chinese workers who make Adidas and Nike shoes, except he's not as insanely greedy for profit as Western corporations, so his prices are very competitive! :-)
You may have noticed him, he's the one who made a national apology a few days ago after a terrible tendinitis prevented him from properly competing in some race, and most of the Chinese public left the stadium in disappointment.

I too used to resent the fate of all chinese sportspeople forced to train very hard since a tender age. But since then I've put things into perspective: the average Chinese works very hard regardless, usually for very meager salaries and with no job security whatsoever. In China, becoming an athlete, or a performer in the Circus of Beijing, is a very envied position. A genuine privilege. You don't really work harder, you make a very good living, AND you get great social status.
Before we Westerners criticize the way things work in China, perhaps we should think deep as to exactly WHY things are and still remain that way. How many huge Western corporations do tell China: "We'll sign multi-billion contracts, but we insist that the factory workers get minimum rights and a cut of the profits they are bringing to all of us, let's pay them well with reasonable work hours and an employment contract"?
It's easier to give lectures when you are not the same person encouraging things to remain the same.

It always was tough being a Chinese. They don't have it any tougher than 100 years ago. Mao Zedong was a dictator, but not really worse than any Emperor of Divine Birth Right. At least, he put the Chinese to work, while before him they were only busy smoking opium... including under Western administration. Read Tintin and the Blue Lotus for a refresher...
The average Chinese income is steadily increasing. More and more can now affort meat, which is (in part) precisely why the world price of cereals is skyrocketing. One billion Chinese starting to eat pork, that's a lot of beasts to feed.

Also, from things I heard, the current President of China is definitely engaged in reforms, but it's a very delicate endeavour. I can confirm just from the example of Lebanon! Widespread corruption is very complicated to tackle, especially when it goes very high up. One has to be constantly careful. You think the Syrian President, being his daddy's son, has it all easy and safe? Think again. His hold on power remains uncertain. Originally, his elder brother was to be the trained successor of old Haffez, but he died in a mysterious car accident which might not have been an accident. There are always factions in your own clan ready to stab you in the back. And the corrupt factions are always the most willing to act with a coup.

Even current change isn't simple: now that chinese salaries are rising, China itself is becoming less attractive and competitive as a cheap labor country, outsourcing more and more to the poorest countries, like Vietnam, Bangladesh and Kirghizistan, where people would LOVE to enjoy as much human rights and good living conditions as a Chinese. In Kirghizistan, the State police pulls all the country's children out from school every year for the cotton harvest, and they don't even get fairly paid the meager minimum wage of adults. This you won't see in China. Neither will you see forced unpaid labour as in Burma, pure State slavery. 2008 China is NOT Tintin in the Land of the Soviets.