Book Review·Book Review｜Patten on the Rise of Asia

I accidentally discovered Patten's memoirs in an old bookcase and immediately turned to the chapter about the rise of Asia. I wanted to see what Hong Kong, China, and Asia looked like in the eyes of the last Hong Kong Governor.

Patten starts every chapter of this book with an allusion, either a quote from a famous person or a direct excerpt from the Old Testament. In the chapter "The Rise of Asia", he quoted two people, Because we are talking about India (less space) and China, the first quote is from Kamal Nath , the then Minister of Commerce and Industry of India - "China may win in the sprint, but India will win in the marathon." Correspondingly, there is a saying by Bo Xilai , the Minister of Commerce at that time - "The Chinese people have an old saying, 'If you respect me an inch, I will respect you a foot.'" Seeing Bo Xilai's name, I suddenly felt It’s really Thirty Years in Hedong and Thirty Years in Hexi. This book was first published in 2005. At that time, I came to Chongqing like a joy and walked around Xi Street. At that time, I listened to others’ stories mysteriously. There is a West Street in the university town because of Bo Xilai's name. Later, when Bo Xilai left and Wang Yang came, Foreigner Street became popular. In the blink of an eye, almost 20 years have passed and we are all old.

China's crazy growth

In his 2005 book, Patten said: "At least today, even if you cannot practice politics freely in China, you have the liberty more or less to escape from politics." That is to say, there are people who can remain silent and avoid talking about politics. Freedom, I think, does Patten mean "the years are quiet and good"? I can't help but have a feeling that Patten is naive, but when I think about it, we can only understand it better when we look back after time has passed. Looking back now, this sentence is that the pattern is broken, and the relationship between the two is broken. Compared to now, in 2005 or even before, maybe we could actually escape.

From the Chinese translator who said that investing in the Chinese stock market will never lose money to investors, in the early 2000s, many people had hopes for China's political and economic development. However, Patten analyzed it this way——

"Less than 40 years ago, 38 million Chinese died in Mao Zedong's Great Famine; hundreds of millions of people struggled every day to consume less calories than Oswiss The values ​​provided by Xin Concentration Camp are enough to sustain human survival." (My trial translation) Then, if you escape from such a hell on earth, the recovery period will naturally look very impressive. " When you bounce back from hell, the recovery looks all the more impressive. " Many people forget the first half of the sentence and just focus on the people's lives getting better and better. Of course, this is also true, but I understand what Patten meant. This is not In forty years, if you emerge from this hell on earth, you will naturally have more "leapfrogs" and "miracles" than other countries with different starting points, and the feeling of being there will naturally be more impressive.

In addition, Patten emphasized the changes after China joined the World Trade Organization. The contrast between the tariff rate when Patten was the governor of Hong Kong in 1992 and the tariff rate after joining the WTO is sharp, giving China the lowest tariff rate among developing countries. However, it seems that no one cares about following up on the deals between many large companies and China, and most of them just go nowhere. Patten said this: " Nevertheless, the Chinese dream is always oversold and comes smothered in snake oil. " When this book was published, the concept of "Chinese Dream" had not yet appeared, but Patten had already proposed the "Chinese Dream". He sharply pointed out the mirage side of the Chinese dream, so he immediately asked the question, will the "China boom" continue?

Some factors that may hinder China Boom

The first factor listed by Patten is corruption; the second is improper governance. Both of these factors are difficult to change, because absolute power naturally leads to absolute corruption, and downward layers of power are suppressed, especially during the epidemic control period. At times, anyone's appeal seems insignificant, and there is a feeling that the sky cannot respond and the earth cannot work at any moment. After that, Patten also listed other factors - "environmental deterioration (such as desertification), public rights protection against municipal housing, unemployment, the arbitrariness of local taxation..." Patten also mentioned the bank problems that will be caused by state-owned enterprise lending. The crisis, now, seems prophetic. The absence of supervision, fraud, counterfeiting, and smuggling are also included. In fact, Patten had already mentioned tax evasion and capital flight at that time, which cannot but be said to be prescient.

world order

Talking about China's Marxist beliefs, Patten said: "China, as a Confucian society, is combined with a Western ideology dreamed up by a German Jew." Now with the addition of capitalist elements, so that the Communist Party will not As for being abandoned by the times; however, he also admitted that Western capitalist society has enjoyed the dividends of a lot of cheap Chinese labor in order to buy cheap things, and this may also make Westerners more reluctant to see the various problems that exist in Chinese society. .

Through household registration, urban-rural differences, etc., China has begun to export "her own solutions" to the world after its rise. This sentence reminds me of my classmates who studied democracy and economics when I was in school. They always told me with bright eyes, "China is the only country that can take off economically without democracy. It's very interesting. Let's study why this is the case." His eyes sparkled, which made me think it was a compliment, but in fact we both come from countries with similar backgrounds, and I quite understood what he meant by "finding" a "model" like China. However, Patten has given his opinion on this issue——

 China -- like other authoritarian regimes in recent years in Asia -- shows that it is possible to develop an economy without democracy. But I doubt whether you can sustain a modern economy for long without democracy and its principal fixtures and fittings -- pluralism and the rule of law.

As he said before, it is not difficult to build an economy, especially when it has just come back from the dead. It is even easier for the economy to take off. However, in order to continue, it is likely to be difficult to sustain without a democratic system and its elements of pluralism and rule of law.

At the time of writing this memoir, Patten was already working in the European Commission. He mentioned a very interesting phenomenon. At that time, the European Union was in full swing. Only a few years after the euro was issued, the concept of the European Union had just begun to develop. He talked about Chinese visitors' enthusiasm for the EU, which was sometimes even more exaggerated than the Europeans themselves. Maybe many Europeans find it strange, but Patten, who is familiar with China and Chinese culture, understands it very well. He said that Chinese people naturally like this kind of "grand unification", with a unified currency, a single market, and multiple influences. Strength without a dominant hegemon is very consistent with China's view of "world order."

Hong Kong’s past and present

As the last Governor of Hong Kong, Patten left a very deep impression on many people. In this memoir, Patten also often talks about Hong Kong.

He is proud of what he did in Hong Kong, and also proud of leaving a "stable and prosperous" Hong Kong to China when it was handed over. At least they, as colonists, did not "loot the colony" before leaving, and then take their money with them. Spoon departs in a boat.

At the same time, Hong Kong in his eyes in early 2000 was still the same unique place:

 however, one Chinese community where there is no democracy but a free economy, and indeed a broader liberty that goes well beyond the ability to make money doing whatever you wish within the law. That community is Hong Kong, the only place I have ever been able to identify that is liberal but not (alas) democratic.

Patten speaks with a mixture of pride, surprise and regret. In his eyes, Hong Kong is so unique and liberal. He didn't say it with any certainty -

 China appears to have resisted the temptation to meddle constantly in Hong Kong's affairs - at least until recently.

When I read this sentence, I thought that he is worthy of being a diplomat, and his words are just right and flawless. At the time of the memoir's publication, "China appears" to have indeed "resisted the temptation to intervene in Hong Kong affairs," so readers read that the temptation was there but that it had been resisted "at least until recently." Therefore, "Hong Kong remains one of the freest cities in Asia, with a resilient economy that has survived and recovered from the Asian crash, and an equally resilient citizenry ."

I was fortunate enough to see the Hong Kong described by Patten 👆 several times at that time, and I have been observing what he called "resiliency"; at the same time, on my own life journey, while learning what it means to be resilient, I also understand how society and citizens are resilient. , it seemed like I had entered an internship course that I had never prayed for. In recent years, I have also read some of Chris Patten's critical articles about Hong Kong. When I look back and taste the Hong Kong in his memoir, the taste is indescribable.

This book was written almost twenty years ago, and in the blink of an eye, the rafts and oars disappeared into ashes. Reading Patten's words seems to take me back to that era.

Another note: The whole book does not focus on Hong Kong or Asia, so there are many places worth reading. I have not detailed them all, let alone highlighted them. 🙇🏻‍♀️If I have the opportunity in the future, I may write again.