Global Media Journal

The Chinese Middle-Class Intellectual

From: Hongyi Yin
Date: 12 Nov 2002
Time: 23:49:00 -0600

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The Middle Class Intellectual-A Joke of Modern Chinese Society

To enjoy the joke, a few fables from a good friend’s recent article are in place: The bear hangs out with his buddy the rabbit. Answering a sudden call of nature, the bear finds no toilet paper. “Are you very sanitary-minded? ” he turns to the rabbit. Rabbit says no, not very, especially with you. Thus the rabbit’s fur becomes the bear’s toilet paper. The middle class is like a rabbit. Getting on well with the rich, he becomes the latter’s toilet paper, if not well, then… The bear takes his buddy the rabbit on a trip. Seeing a group of peasant-workers shouldering logs, the bear asks the rabbit what job he would choose. The rabbit says that shouldering logs would be too tiresome and that he would like to be the work song singer to synchronize the toilers. The wisdom of the bear is that he immediately lies down on the logs and tells the poor to carry him. And thus the clever rabbit finds a job. The bear falls seriously ill and stays in bed. The rabbit calls on him and wants to give him a diagnosis. The bear asks: “What’re you up to? And who sent you to me?” “ I am a doctor,” says the rabbit. “A doctor?” says the bear. “Then show me your credentials.” So the rabbit has no choice but to go back home. The bear is dying. The rabbit feels self-righteous, filled with sympathy, comes for another visit. “God has called on me to do a mass for you. I am a priest.” The incredulous bear says: “ A chameleon of a man! I’ll check your ID. No fakes allowed!” The modern Chinese bureaucrat and intellectual are of the same origin. It is actually their mother, not any powerful leader, who decides the destiny of the nation. She makes them believe that education is meant neither to alleviate poverty or crime, nor to ensure social equity, but is the sole path to wealth and social eminence. She toils in the rice fields or a sweatshop to support them from their home village or town up to the county, provincial capital school, national university and hopefully an American one. But in fact none of them ever reaches beyond their families or villages. When they are well-educated and become a company president, all of their close relatives are transformed into company management; If they reach high places in officialdom, all cousins and in-laws become the makers and enforcers of law. They shun the rural and urban poor, try to ingratiate themselves with the powerful and turn into their body bugs. The last thing they want is to identify themselves with their origin. As scholars, they believe in the magical power of learning to elevate any able man from the sea of suffering to stardom; as VIPs in government or business, they are convinced of the survival of the fittest. They forget that they themselves were originally peasants and believe that the artificial gap between the big city dwellers and the rural farmers is only natural. They believe in the jungle law and that the poor deserve to suffer and perish. The last thing these people can do is to form a civil society and bring about democracy. The olive-shaped society with the middle class becoming the backbone of a fair and just Chinese world is a wishful pipe dream!