China vows no ‘Western values’ in universities
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BEIJING: China’s education minister has vowed to ban university textbooks which promote “Western values”, state media said, in the latest sign of ideological tightening under President Xi Jinping.
“Never let textbooks promoting Western values appear in our classes,” minister Yuan Guiren said, according to a report on Thursday by China’s official Xinhua news agency.
“Remarks that slander the leadership of the Communist Party of China” and “smear socialism” must never appear in college classrooms, he added.
China’s universities are run by the ruling Communist party, which tightly controls discussions of history and other topics it construes as a potential threat to its grip on power.
The party often brands concepts such as multiparty elections and the separation of powers as “Western”, despite their global appeal and application.
China has tightened controls on academics since Xi assumed the party leadership in 2012, with several outspoken professors sacked or jailed.
Xia Yeliang, an economics professor at the prestigious Peking University, was fired from his post in 2013 after a 13-year tenure in a decision he attributed to persistent calls for political change in China.
Xia was one of the original signatories of the reformist petition Charter 08, whose main author Liu Xiaobo remains in prison even after winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2015
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Comments (75) Closed
Jan 31, 2015 10:45am
"Global" appeal? The globe does not start from the west and ends at the west you know.
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Jan 31, 2015 11:05am
Communism is just like any other religion, the same kind of close minded opposition to any differing ideas and the desire to impose a particular belief on the people. Anyways, its their country and if people are not opposing it then i guess they don't mind. Good luck to all the free thinkers in china, hope they don't all land up in prison.
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Jan 31, 2015 11:07am
There is nothing wrong in accepting good things from the west...
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Jan 31, 2015 11:26am
@Realist.... foreign aid does.
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Jan 31, 2015 11:31am
@gurpreet singh I totally aree
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Jan 31, 2015 11:33am
Pakistan should learn from his best friend and stop following the pack blindly.
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Jan 31, 2015 11:41am
China is a historical state. It has a broad spectrum to look at the history and to make an informed decision.
China will adopt ideas as the situation require. No need to follow the west blindly.
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Jan 31, 2015 11:46am
This is very good move by China because of Western countries history there is too much discrimination in China. Chinese people only like White skin colour and western country people. Histories will only make you to be Racist will not give you Real facts. Chines people needs to respect human beings not on the basis of colour
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Jan 31, 2015 11:48am
@Ali There are no best friend in this world ..specially when relation b/w contires are concerned.
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Jan 31, 2015 12:13pm
Chinese developed by simply copying the western technology. But they don't want western values because there own values are so great!
Pakistan should also strive to shed western values and imbibe Islamic values.
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Jan 31, 2015 12:17pm
Ploy of Chinese ruling elite to keep treating the masses like herd of sheep.
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Jan 31, 2015 12:18pm
The great thing about Western thought is to learn from whichever source available, re-package with attractive and aggressive marketing & finally resell it to the same source with a new story & brand value, having no mention/credit of its original source.
West is very attractive on the surface and extremely successful in camouflaging the ill-effects of disastrous growth which strives on greed and fear. East is not perfect either although its emphasis on subjective reality, learning from history and thinking in centuries & millenniums deserves breathing space to blossom.
China and India should strongly invest in developing this eastern school of thought without turning a blind eye to the successes achieved by West in the last couple of centuries.
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Jan 31, 2015 12:24pm
China fears that its citizens will get influenced by democratic values which Chinese rulers don't want.
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Jan 31, 2015 01:32pm
How is it not wrong to copy the western technology but it is wrong to take the good things from them ??
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Jan 31, 2015 01:42pm
@Amit Dude, China is not dependent on foreign aid. It is the other way round. China is the one of the largest lenders to US economy (it has heavily invested in US treasury bills).
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Jan 31, 2015 01:50pm
A close mind is destined to be doomed.
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Jan 31, 2015 02:00pm
@Siraj Ahmed
please read the history of humanity, and that of China.
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Jan 31, 2015 02:00pm
Its obvious that Indians and westerns are criticizing here and Pakistanis supporting it because the true meaning of secularism and democracy are only understood by the people who have actually experienced it.China might have money but it has got a long way to go for citizens greater rights.
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Jan 31, 2015 02:06pm
@abc
If you think like that than you will earn enemies only. People should stop this type of hostile thinking. Peace.
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Jan 31, 2015 02:21pm
@Ali Yeah, let us become a single party, command economy, and do away with democracy, dharnas, religious bigots, the lot & clean up Pakistan
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Jan 31, 2015 03:05pm
@Siraj Ahmed
Arabia is towards your west
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Jan 31, 2015 03:12pm
@Siraj Ahmed as in Afghanistan?
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Jan 31, 2015 03:34pm
Appreciated, never sacrifice own values to adopt others' values. What is considered as a norm in one country may be termed an evil in the other. All countries must respect others' values and don't try to impose own values on others.
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Jan 31, 2015 03:34pm
@Ali Pakistan is all about arab values.
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Jan 31, 2015 03:36pm
Had any one idea where this mans children have studied. Wake up humanity.
Value is of value if it comes from east or west. And blind belief is of no use even if I sell it as from heavan. .
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Jan 31, 2015 03:42pm
@gurpreet singh agree.
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Jan 31, 2015 03:43pm
@Amit china give foreign aid not taking I guess like India
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Jan 31, 2015 03:52pm
Russia and China are coming Back ! Pakistan may join Russian camp this time.
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Jan 31, 2015 03:52pm
Way of the super power.
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Jan 31, 2015 04:08pm
Slander socialism? Slander the Communist Party?:):)
Something called Tianamen Square happened in China a long time ago?
Indian black money is estimated to be around $1 TRILLION in foreign banks.
And,Chinese elite have secreted...hold your breath...$3 trillion in foreign banks!:):)
Western values? Protesting corruption is western values?:):):)
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Jan 31, 2015 04:21pm
@Realist : Global as in : Africa, South America, the Pacific, the Caribbean, Mediterranean, South Asia, etc.
I am most surprised that this report on "Western values" -- such as multi-party elections and freedome to criticize a ruling party --is even reported in Pakistan on its very own "All-Weather" friend!
It appears that only so-called "socialist" dictatorships are welcome, but "Western" capitalism has made China the biggest trading nation today!
Such "education" and suppression of free expression of IDEAS, may restrict Chinese immigration to the "West"! Even Pakistan has multi-party politics!
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Jan 31, 2015 04:27pm
@Ali: Pakistan is far from the economic giant China is and can't afford isolation. Pakistan's global diaspora will freeze in its track if it follows China's bizarre educational, ideological, and political wind-breaking!
If you want to succeed in the "West", then learn its values and exercise the freedom to demand religious and cultural freedoms, OR, don't leave home to live in Vilayat!~!
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Jan 31, 2015 04:37pm
because they do not want people should learn about things like democracy, human rights, equality, freedom of speech, freedom of faith and practices. What the state says is right and no one has any right. Seen what happened to the great USSR.
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Jan 31, 2015 04:45pm
@Abbas Ali : China manufactures to Western statndards to sell and compete --China needs to understand the Western values to compete on ideas and technology! Chinese emigrants love the West but won't cut it in the West with outdated educational, political,(governmental) and social values! MONEY is not all! MONEY flows from free ideas and free creativity!
Universities must be FREE to explore ALL ideas, NOT just Communist Party dictat! It is called intellectual freedom to think, create , and proper!
Sounds like China is about to set of another of its crazy "revolutions" because of the Hong Kong democracy protests!
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Jan 31, 2015 05:05pm
Western values = no democracy. Short and to the point.
The Chinese philosopher Confucius regarded family life as the number one priority. To protect the family people were to obey the emperor without question. To keep the family functioning the father must be respected. Further, an older man must mentor a younger man, and when the young man in turn is older he must mentor a younger man so that continuity in China is preserved from generation to generation.
My favorite television soap opera in China was sponsored by the Beijing government. It followed a Chinese infantry company on the frontier with Russia. A young private's mother ran away and his father died. He was being mentored by the company commander.
Traditional China continues as we see that the Communist government sees itself as assuming the mantle and robes of the emperor who possesses the Mandate of Heaven and must be obeyed.
Ironically the communist Red Guard movement during the Cultural Revolution were told by Mao to physically destroy the remnants of traditional China.
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Jan 31, 2015 05:10pm
Trying to hide ideas from your people does not work in this age of internet and twitter. What China means by western ideas is any ideas it is afraid of. Way to go for a super power. Soviet Union tried this for a long time...We all know what happened.
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Jan 31, 2015 05:46pm
@Realist Exactly those T-Bills or Govt bonds are western money. Chinese trade is also dependent on west who are their largest consumers
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Jan 31, 2015 06:25pm
China decides and than do it in reality but India decides than it doesn't work for decades.. Stop complaining if they are happy with that so what's the problem!
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Jan 31, 2015 06:37pm
China with their short sighted and stupid policies are heading towards a disaster.
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Jan 31, 2015 07:14pm
They are depriving their citizens of freedom. What's the use of development when they can't provide freedom to its people?
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Jan 31, 2015 07:19pm
Kids of top CCP members are paid students in US univs. Rules are only for
ordinary people. Good Job.
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Jan 31, 2015 07:39pm
Ah, the brainless Indian posters equating technology with ideology.
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Jan 31, 2015 07:45pm
Doesn't China realize that Communism also came from the west? Hegel was German, Karl Marx too, but he settled down in London while he wrote his books. Gramsci was Italian. Kant was German too. Socialism is mostly European in origins.
Such hypocrites. Such insane stupidity to reject a whole body of work, perspectives and human experiences.
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Jan 31, 2015 07:50pm
The Chinese have "destroyed" their own culture, hated and reviled its own culture - thanks to Mao, the cultural revolution and decades of hunting down traditional artists and philosophers and poets.
The "Communism" they profess is not Confucian, it is a product of western values - it is western in origin.
These people making stupid statements don't know their own recent history or just want to keep people stupid and ignorant.
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Jan 31, 2015 08:01pm
If you go to China you will realise that this is all hypocrisy. The Chinese are the biggest consumers of Western fashion, western food, western technology and Hollywood. They may not be very conversant in English but for all practical purposes, they are very highly westernised. All these culture talks are for local consumption.
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Jan 31, 2015 08:10pm
@gurpreet singh good things from the west ? are you joking
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Jan 31, 2015 08:10pm
@shashank: In 'their country', people can't oppose to anything!
Same is going to happen soon in 'our country' too!!
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Jan 31, 2015 08:21pm
@Dimaag Ki Batti - Many of the ancient Indian values are present day western values, including democracy.
First democracies were in India, including cities like Vaishali, and present day Panchayat system is reminiscent of those system, which in west is Jury system, inherited from ancient European system.
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Jan 31, 2015 08:26pm
IF yes then why more than 3.3 lakh students go to USA?
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Jan 31, 2015 08:42pm
seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee how they prosper!!
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Jan 31, 2015 08:43pm
Few years back China vowed to become a country with highest number of english speakers and now no western culture .?
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Jan 31, 2015 08:44pm
We should follow the same thing and not let west culture to ruin our society.
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Jan 31, 2015 09:07pm
Chinese university or any other can't progress if they don't adopt western values . There is nothing called western values, these are time-tested values which ultimately lead in right direction. Western countries didn't have any civilization and hence they didn't inherit anything from history, but they created values which stand tall in all ages.
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Jan 31, 2015 10:51pm
@sam noori have you ever lived in west?
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Jan 31, 2015 11:56pm
Why is there a need to ban anything... unless it inspires hatred.
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Feb 01, 2015 12:03am
Steal western ideas and call it own after refining and say it is part of ancient thought.
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Feb 01, 2015 12:57am
Hats off and a vivid lesson to the people who imitate western culture blindly without taking care of consequences. Does west follow Asian values or culture? Non of any sensible figure may falsify the development and advancement of China in prevailing era what they did while adhered in their own roots like culture, values even language and so on!
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Feb 01, 2015 01:03am
@Mir. ur comment is malacious and snatching rights of others to communicate freely
on internet.No one doubts the tremendous progress achieved by China in20 years, but
reason behind has been quick adoption of western technology, which has been product
of western values.China as a sovereign nation may modify its social/political ideology,yet
it has provided right to earn.own, invest and enjoy fruits of development.This part shows
facet of new values.Wishing best for China.
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Feb 01, 2015 01:25am
Asian countries are no where near the western living standards. Greater GDP means nothing when you compare it with the population sizes of both China and India to that of West. Ideas like Democracy and freedom of expression are required more in case of South Asia. Our growths are inconsequential without bridging of economic gap between rich and poor. As per our population size both India and China economies should be many a times more than that of West and wealth distribution should be more uniform, which is impossible without Democracy.
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Feb 01, 2015 04:25am
About five billion people live under the Western system. Well under a billion people live under the Western system that the West has devised for itself. Bangladeshis also live under a Western system, but not a Western system devised for Western people. Humanity can learn a lot from the system the West has devised for itself, however this is not what the West is trying to teach others.
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Feb 01, 2015 04:36am
@gurpreet singh;
"There is nothing wrong in accepting good things from the west..."
Absolutely right, but you will learn these good things by doing things as they do not by doing what they tell you. China is controlling it's media as the West controls it's media. In the West media is controlled simply by ownership, BBC is owned by the British government.
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Feb 01, 2015 04:43am
@Amit;
" foreign aid does."
But China is not India.
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Feb 01, 2015 04:49am
@sap india;
"How is it not wrong to copy the western technology but it is wrong to take the good things from them ??"
Just like you learned making tea or chai (both Chinese words, in fact pronunciations of the same word) but you did not import Chinese culture.
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Feb 01, 2015 05:21am
@Siraj Ahmed chinese value have lots of Buddhism which is off shoot of Hinduism.
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Feb 01, 2015 07:06am
This move is in favor of Chinese people.if you see the data 70% of Chinese rich people wants to migrate to western countries which is not good for China. Chinese people believe in histories very easily that's reason people love only White skin colour people ( Western country people ) they treat other people like uncivilised.
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Feb 01, 2015 07:56am
If they don't value western values the first and foremost act must be to throw the communists out of China. There is nothing eastern in communist culture created by Marx and Angels and incorporated by Lenin and Stalin. The essence of eastern culture is peaceful coexistance and value of human dignity - both non existant in communist China. Inspite of inventing gun powder centuries before the west, Chinese culture never thought of using it to kill people. But imediately after the find the west used it to make guns to kill people and conquer territories. That is the difference between the western and eastern culture. Communist China has territorial claims on all its neighbors and flexes its muscles at small neighbours like Vietnam, Indonesia, Phillipines and Taiwan. This is purely a western culture. They should wipe out communist barbarians and follow great chinese philosophers like Confucious instead of Karl Marx.
It is not love for eastern culture. All they want is supression of all voices against the corrupt comrades who feeds on peoples blood.
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Feb 01, 2015 08:05am
@Siraj Ahmed What if you're not Muslim? Your mindset is precisely why Pakistan will remain in the dark ages. Theocracies don't respect the rights of minorities, or in your case, non Muslims. If you don't believe in equal rights for non Muslims, why should we non Muslim countries help Pakistan?
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Feb 01, 2015 08:08am
The problem starts when you do not allow people of the state to exercise their right of self determination, regardless of the country. China is not an exception.
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Feb 01, 2015 08:09am
@someone_else Many of these commenters are just too frustratingly ignorant to understand this.
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Feb 01, 2015 08:37am
China vows no ‘Western values’ in universities.
What are western values? Most values are common if they are real values. If you take the common denominator there will be very little left to call it a value. May that be relationship with your family members, honesty, stealing, respecting other people and their traditions, religions, raping, child abuse, etc., you name it, they are common. In the absence of common values, the quality of life will be terrible.
This means, please do not preach or follow what Chinese are doing!
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Feb 01, 2015 09:04am
If China is doing this then could be thinkable ,but,don't u guys get started (pakistan) as there no value u people have !!!
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Feb 01, 2015 09:05am
Only mullaism nd madarsaas is it fate !!!
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Feb 01, 2015 10:01am
These days I hear every community wanting to 'preserve' its values and not 'give in' to Western values.
China's prosperity came in with investments from the West. The Chinese copy even 'Land Rovers and Mercedes'. Here in India people talk of Indus civilization and Indian values.
In Islamic world they talk about Sharia, in Buddhist countries they have their own version of their values.
China and India sent maximum students to US and other Western nations. Embassies of Europe, Australia and Canada is flooded with applications from Islamic world.
Everyone who stayed back home is very proud of their son/daughter in the US or Europe.
Everyone wants facebook, Apple devices and all the innumerable things Western world has given us. What hypocrites are we!
Not a single block bluster drug was invented in the East. Electricity, Steam engine, Diesel Engine, Oil refining, Metro systems, Light bulb, Internet everything came from west.
In a world which aims to be more connected how can a culture or a nation stay disconnected from everything else..
We can follow our culture yet accept good western values- somewhat like Japan.
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Feb 01, 2015 10:26am
It is strange the largest number of students the US universities receive are from China.
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Feb 01, 2015 11:44am
@unknown "Ruin your society"? That's halarious!
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