What kind of young people does this country need

"Pink Mania and Totalitarianism Outside the System" has no right to be published on matters, I posted an article about it that I wrote a few months ago.

Before the May Fourth Movement, an editor asked me to talk about the group of young people I wrote about last year. I tried to pick up a pen, but I always felt that I had no idea where to start: any compliment now turns into a mockery in the face of reality, and the reflections of outsiders are nothing more than unpleasant swear words to them.

On the May 4th day, I saw an article posted by Mr. Zhu Xueqin on the server. After reading it, I was very emotional. I not only feel that Mr. Zhu's views have not changed for 20 years, but also that the views he insists have a very strange "sense of dislocation" in the present. Since the 1990s, liberal conservatives represented by Mr. Zhu have begun to "reflect" on the May Fourth Movement with the help of modern and contemporary Western ideological resources, such as the "Continental Enlightenment" and "Constructive Rationality" criticized by Hayek. ” was used to correspond to the “new culture” and “science” of the May Fourth Movement, and the “positive freedom” criticized by Berlin corresponded to the “democracy” and “salvation” of the May Fourth Movement. Despite occasional repetitions, Mr. Zhu said in more than one place that the May Fourth Movement and the Cultural Revolution that followed were in the same vein, and both were products of radicalism (and cultural determinism). In this article, although Mr. Zhu did not specifically mention the word "radical" (it appears about twice), he still believes that the May Fourth Movement was radical, which is reflected in "great democracy", "cultural determinism" and "the Russia is a teacher". Teacher Zhu did not say "May Fourth Youth", but called the protagonist of May Fourth "May Fourth sages", but on such a day, I would think according to the situation, liberal conservatives like Teacher Zhu, ideally What are young people like?

So I thought of Zhao Yusi, who was dropped out of Stanford. After reading a few related articles, the words she said kept lingering in my mind: "Getting admitted to Stanford is not a dream. As long as you have a firm goal and work hard, you will achieve it." I also remembered what she said. The ideal of life, she wants to be a civil servant after returning to China, to change the problem of rural education inequality. Although I don't think she needs to be fully responsible for the $6.5 million thing, if there is no accident, the "privilege of looking at yourself" that American colleges and universities take as a standard will eventually be difficult to break the golden cage brought by her upbringing environment, and she will be in China. Under the expectations of the upper class, he became an exquisite egoist.

I'm not saying that the ideal young man in Teacher Zhu's ideal must be Zhao Yusi, but considering that liberal conservatism particularly favors entrepreneurs, the children of entrepreneurs are of course reasonable candidates for ideal young people. Besides, Zhao Yusi is not "radical" at all, how could she be "radical"? She is the most typical vested interest of the moment. A China where the class is solidified and allows the children of the powerful to talk about "personal struggle" is the order she wants to be "conservative".

That's why I say that Teacher Zhu's concerns are completely "misplaced". When Teacher Zhu criticized the May Fourth Movement in 2019, what was he criticizing, and who was he criticizing? If he criticized "great democracy", "cultural determinism" and "learning from Russia", then these words can only be "public participation", "cultural criticism" and "Marxist-Leninism". ". I'm not sure what Teacher Zhu's ideal youth looks like, but from his comments on the May 4th Movement, I can guess that he has a lot to say about those left-wing youths who are still running for the workers and being abused by the authorities, as well as signing autographs for Jingyao. Most of the young students who criticized rape culture and were killed by the group did not take it seriously. Mr. Zhu can certainly think that if these actions continue to develop, there will be a second Cultural Revolution, just as someone would have felt that if the stinky Lao Jiu said a few more words, the world he conquered would be lost.

In fact, Teacher Zhu does not need to worry, because the authorities are more afraid of the idealism and activism of young people than he is. Some friends from Yousi once read my articles on left-wing youth and asked me what these young people were thinking. I am puzzled by this question. They changed the way of asking, saying, they are all students of the top universities, how can they believe that? I said, I can't blame them for this. Didn't the propaganda slogans in the past two years say that the banner of Marxism and Mao Zedong Thought should be raised again? There are also more and more Marxist colleges, and it seems that they are still engaged in "horse possession"? The students did not have any dyslexia. They had read Marx and Mao Zedong, and they were shocked by how similar the world around them was to what Marx criticized. So they took up Mao Zedong Thought as a weapon and went to the workers to fight unremittingly against the capitalists. What's wrong with understanding this?

A friend of mine said that we think Marxism is not understood in this way. I asked, how should I understand that? He said that things are changing and developing, and cannot be viewed with the same vision. I said, yes, that's probably how this administration understands Marxism, but I don't think Marxists outside of China would agree that this is the core of Marxism. Taking "things are changing and developing" as the leading idea means that there is no leading idea at all.

Maybe that's the problem: the country now doesn't know what its ideology is, and it certainly doesn't know what kind of young people it wants.

Before October 2017, I always felt that in order to conform to the current national conditions, the authorities should carry out an ideological transformation. Over the past 40 years, China's economic structure and class structure have undergone earth-shaking changes. Orthodox Marxism can no longer explain China's development and status quo, and Marxism with Chinese characteristics has become increasingly weak. The new ideology should be some type of Confucianism. The hierarchical color of the Confucian family can solidify the endorsement of the existing stratum, and the order of the world echoes the vigorously promoted "One Belt, One Road". The Confucian scholars in "Salt and Iron" obviously do not oppose the market economy. What's more, scholars in the government and the opposition have done a lot of work for this, and it is about to come out. Who knew that after the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the above repeatedly emphasized "Marxism", and Confucianism was completely silent. Some leftists thought that they were really going to achieve "common prosperity". Even Wu Guanjun was eager to take the position of national teacher.

What happened in July and August last year has actually proved that the new ideological line will not work, and the authorities quickly realized this. So Liang Wendao wanted to talk about "One Thousand and One Nights" and reported Marx's "Das Kapital", but he did not pass it; Peking University's "horse club" held a reading meeting, and actually invited scholars who study Confucianism to talk about "Jin Si Lu"; Not to mention the whereabouts of several editors who helped workers with pneumoconiosis to defend their rights are still unknown since they were taken away.

The authorities may not know what their dominant thoughts are, but they know what they do not want. Needless to say, liberalism was judged as an "evil road" by the current government a few years ago. Leaders of various state departments have criticized the corresponding Western systems from their own positions. For example, Zhou Qiang, President of the Supreme People's Court, A clear-cut opposition to "judicial independence".

The Chinese Communist Party does not allow its own members to believe in religion, nor does it want too many ordinary people to believe in religion. The number of people who believe in Christianity in China has always been a mystery. It is said that there are hundreds of millions, but tens of millions should not be able to escape. Such a huge number can compete with the number of party members, no wonder the authorities are nervous, and it is even more unforgivable for those non-Three-Self churches who are unwilling to hang the national flag in their churches. Therefore, demolition of churches has occurred from time to time. At the end of last year, several pastors of the Chengdu Presbyterian Church were also taken away.

Feminism is also a thorny issue for the authorities, although in February, nine state ministries jointly issued a circular explicitly banning some of the common misogynistic practices in recruitment, such as not asking women about their marital status or taking pregnancy tests. As an entry examination project, etc. However, judging by the authorities' attitude towards #MeToo, it is unwelcome to feminism. Since last year, a number of individuals who participated in #MeToo have been concerned by you, and multiple social platform accounts involving women's rights topics have been blocked, including the voice of women's rights. Considering the 180-degree turnaround of the current administration's fertility policy, and the negative comments feminists have on fertility in China, it's hard to imagine that feminism will be favored by the authorities in the future.

The New Confucian master Qiufeng once boasted that China's ruling party will sooner or later recognize its ancestors and return to the clan, that Confucian terms will become the common language of Chinese academia, and that clans will be revived in China sooner or later. From the current situation, none of these can be achieved. What surprised me is that I also heard that the central government is cracking down on clan associations with the same surname recently. Why? This is also an association. A big surname can add up to tens of millions of people. If any of them want to do something, they will be in big trouble.

So what thought is safe now? Is nationalism okay? It also depends. It is definitely not acceptable to smash Japanese cars on the street. If you criticize the old beauty on the Internet, if the momentum is too turbulent and affects the negotiation of the trade war, you may also get into trouble. Local Buddhism is considered indisputable, right? Wait a minute, don't forget a certain master surnamed Li at the end of the last century. His theory also borrowed a lot of Buddhist resources. All in all, no one cares what you think, but if you say it, or do it yourself, no one can guarantee you will be fine forever.

What does this mean for young people in China? It means that Jack Ma is right at all, except for 996+669, they have no other choice, and being eligible for 996+669 is already a blessing. It may be a bit of a joke to say this, because it is too cruel to spread it out: what is the meaning of a life of "human flesh battery" and "reproductive machine"?

A friend of mine who strongly supports Kaikai has a saying that I will never forget. He said that the real heroes of Kaikai are countless ordinary people who want to live a "good life". He and I also have a mutual friend who is Jack Ma's middle and high-level employees. In the past two years, he has been trying his best to demonstrate that China's economic prospects are limitless, because the Chinese are hard-working, capable and willing to endure hardships. I do not deny that economic development is a necessary condition for "good days" or "good life," but it is certainly not a sufficient condition for "good days." At one point I said to my first friend that I felt that I was not very happy with the money. That's because you're not rich enough, he said, and when you're rich enough, you can do whatever you want. "You can really do whatever you want with money" is a beautiful imagination that lives in Chinese emojis. Unfortunately, I can't remember anything in particular that I want to buy. Buying a house, getting married and having children is not attractive to me either. . With a lot of money, you can travel around the world without working, visit museums and art exhibitions in various countries, challenge extreme sports around the world, and immigrate. So the meaning of money is to go out in the end.

In "The Great Power Philosophy Behind Mourning Culture and Midlife Crisis," I talked about other necessary conditions for "good days": sufficient freedom and opportunity, pluralism and relative balance between values, and a certain degree of political participation. What do these conditions have to do with the above? The repressed ideas I mentioned above, liberalism, Marxism, feminism, Christianity, and Confucianism, are what Rawls calls "comprehensive doctrines." What they mean to the average person is that, within their respective systems, they "organize and describe the various values that have been recognized, make them compatible with each other, and express an understandable worldview". To put it bluntly, some people can't think of a particularly good answer to the question of "how should we live", and these holistic doctrines each give one (or more than one) answer to this question, for everyone. Provides a reference, and even for some people, a holistic doctrine itself is the answer, and it is worth dedicating a lifetime to it.

Some people will say that with so many thoughts and so many answers, won't they fight? affect stability. Isn't it reasonable that the country has a bowl of water and everyone is suppressed? In fact, a reasonable approach is not to suppress everyone. A reasonable approach is to provide a set of frameworks in which people who believe in each holistic theory can operate without compromising their ideological core. Without a certain binding framework, it is indeed difficult to imagine that all holistic doctrines will ever coexist peacefully. The religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the West are a warning; To formulate this framework, the ideological core of many holistic doctrines may be destroyed, and they will no longer provide believers with sincere answers.

It is also the art of domination: how to find a stable and flexible framework, how to keep the people alive while maintaining political and social stability. In our country, the people are full of vitality in making money, but outside of making money, entertainment and family life, there is not much space left for us, and the space for young people is even more cramped, because most of them have not made the key to life. choice, and the conditions required for choice are so scarce. One of my students is a Muslim and a feminist with an ideal to change the world's stereotypes about Muslims. If in a normal country, he can do this: directly set up a society called "Muslim Feminist Alliance" to promote his ideas and tell how Islam does not contradict feminism. He may be attacked by the far right, but he is also protected by the law, at least from state violence. However, in China, I can only persuade him not to reveal his Muslim identity first and wait until he goes abroad.

In the long run, this model of domination has many consequences. The country may be stable for a while, but at the expense of the hearts of young people. Essentially, what are those wholeness doctrines? They are the ideological crystallization of major civilizations that have existed in history, and even some holistic theories themselves contain the spiritual elements of multiple civilizations. Through them, we are connected to distant histories and ancestors, and because this process is not limited by our national identity, this connection is universal. Generations of adherents draw their strength from these holistic doctrines, and they pass on their beliefs to others. Some people will say that the government did not burn books and slander Confucian scholars. Can't books related to these theories still be found in bookstores? This is currently the case, but reading in the study room alone cannot truly enter into a holistic theory, which is practical thinking and is closely related to everyone's life.

Because it is difficult for these holistic theories to gain sincere believers and effective practice among the young people of this era, the young people's hearts will wither in the spiritual wasteland. Those that do not wither will gather into a huge energy. Within the limits allowed by the government, this force cannot find an outlet. From the historical experience, war is often a way of dredging. There is also a common method used by rulers, which is to let these people who have nowhere to vent their energy fight each other, or send them to a distant place to do endless labor. Either way, it's a disaster for young people, and it's not their fault.

Among the students preparing to go abroad, I found that most of them agree with the concept of "white left" (that is, left-wing liberalism in the United States) and practice it in their own campuses, which seems to be contrary to what I said in this article. . On closer inspection, they identify with these concepts, which are largely related to their plans to study in the United Kingdom and the United States. On the one hand, the value assumption behind the liberal arts education they receive is indeed different from the general education in China. On the other hand, they also know what the concept market is in British and American universities. This is also a kind of study abroad mental preparation. This kind of small-scale practice, if you are not careful, will cross the line of protection and be attacked by absurd reality. What is even more frightening is that some of these children can switch between the two channels freely. They are catchy to all kinds of politically correct expressions, but they are thinking about how to get the most out of this gesture.

This is not very different from Zhao Yusi, but, do we really deserve better young people than Zhao Yusi? After all, when they appeared, we just watched them be destroyed by the times.