Word: rulings
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...that real success might produce an economic giant capable of dwarfing even our ally Japan, but we rooted anyway. And of course, since Tiananmen Square, we have wondered what went so drastically wrong. How could any regime shoot unarmed citizens in its own capital, an action violative of a rule of governance so obvious that not even Machiavelli felt compelled to write it down...
...leadership apparently fears that any thorough investigation would quickly run to criticism of the current regime and so must be prohibited. The outer boundaries of permissible complaint in China have been set. Anything may be criticized except that which really matters: the right of the party to rule. To today's leaders, the experience of the past demands a straitjacket on political dissent and helps explain why Deng so feared accepting the Tiananmen demonstrators' demand for free expression...
Since bureaucratic sadism is familiar to everyone everywhere, I was somewhat prepared for the denial of a simple request during the 600-mile, 18-hour train trip to Beijing. But I was not prepared for the sheer delight visible on the conductor's face when she said, "Meiyou, the rule does not permit turning on the lights before 7 p.m. and it's only 6:30. You will just have to wait 30 minutes...
...describing a social contract, abhorrent to an American but understandable, even comforting, to many Chinese. In exchange for letting the rulers rule, the subjects will be permitted by the regime to continue the economic progress they have enjoyed for ten years...
...very much in vogue in China today. Not for that part of his philosophy that extols good-heartedness and broad-mindedness, but for his celebration of authority, hierarchy and anti-individualism. For the purposes of China's leaders, what counts is that Confucius presumed the ruler's right to rule...