The Chinese President, Xi Jinping, studied Chemical engineering at Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University. Yu Zhengsheng, the chairman of the Communist Party graduated from Harbin’s Military Engineering Institute specializing in the design of Automated Missiles. The Premier, Li Keqiang has a PhD in Economics , and the Foreign Affairs Minister, Wang Yi, is a military and civil construction Engineer.
The same sort of ratio of engineers and scientists at top positions could be found at all levels of the Chinese government. Scientists and Engineers are the most admired and respected people in China, and to become politician you be5er have a degree in science or engineering, and prove that you have a highly disciplined mind.
Since 2009, China has replaced the U.S. as the world’s number one high-technology exporter.
Recent studies found that Chinese scientists salaries have grown exponentially over the last couple of decades, and funding for Research and Development has reached a level competitive with most Western countries.
”The Chinese government has placed emphasis through funding, reform, and societal status on science and technology as a fundamental part of the socio-economic development of the country as well as for national prestige.
China has made rapid advances in areas such as education, infrastructure, high-tech manufacturing, academic publishing, patents, and commercial applications and is now in some areas and by some measures a world leader.
China is now increasingly targeting indigenous innovation and aims to reform remaining weaknesses.” – Wikipedia
The focus is ”Techno-nationalism” which puts science and technology as vital for achieving economic and political goals as well as national prestige. Lacking indigenous technological intellectual property and innovation are seen as key national problems.
In 2006, former Premier Wen Jiabao, who is a geo-mechanical engineer, stated:
”Without independent innovation China would be unable to claim an equal place in the world or achieve national honor”.
In 2010, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) which compares pupils’ skills in reading and science in many countries discovered that among the thirty-four countries assessed United States ranked 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in math, while China’s ranked 1st, 1st, and 1st in all above categories.
As one of the researcher, Andreas Schleicher put it ”You get an image of a society that is investing in its future, rather than in current consumption.”
Today in China the most impressive buildings in poor provinces are schools. In the West, it is more likely to be a shopping center, and in Africa it would be the residence of the local governor. Transformational leaders even in the West are scientists like German Chancellor Angela Merkel who has a doctor- ate in physical chemistry, and, going back a little bit, Margaret Thatcher earned a degree in chemistry.
In Africa we have to start paying attention to the kind of people we elect or nominate for office.
Getachew Melese (2013-10-26 11:21:48) Good reminder!
The Most Disciplined Organization In Human History (2013-10-25 17:09)
Without discipline we would accomplish nothing.
With Some discipline we can solve only Some problems. With Total discipline we can solve all problems.
• Peck Scott (1978) in the book the road less traveled.
Six centuries ago, in just 25 years, the Mongols conquered more lands and people than the Romans had in over 400 years. The Mongols accomplished this with the most disciplined army ever in human history.
During the last 30 years, the Chinese Communist Party lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty in China, and reached a level of development Europe succeeded to accomplish only over 400 years.
The Chinese accomplished these results with the most disciplined organization ever in human history: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Even the most critical people of communism have to recognize the facts: ”Whatever the price of the Chinese Revolution, it has obviously succeeded not only in producing more efficient and dedicated administration, but also in fostering high morale and community of purpose. The social experiment in China is one of the most important and successful in human history.” – David Rockefeller, statement in 1973 about Mao Tse-tung, York Times October 08, 1973.
After Mao died in 1976, the Chinese Communist Party vowed never to let a single person, whatever his position or charisma, to have so much power to lead to the horrific deeds of the Chinese cultural revolution. From then on, all
political decisions and national policies should be discussed and formulated collectively, validated by the party, and Chinese leaders serve only as good executives hired to implement without questioning the official policies.
As strict code of discipline has been put forward, and the “Central Commission for Discipline Inspection” has been revived. From the years 1980s, under Deng Xiaoping, the following principles has been institutionalized:
• – Unified leadership is paramount. At home or abroad, any Chinese leaders should display total and unconditional loyalty to the country, the party and under any circumstances should not display attitudes or make statement that conflict or go against the official line of the party.
• – Democratic centralism: Inside the party everything could be discussed, members could fight for their opinion and position, challenge each other. But once a decision is reached after careful consideration of all points of view, the party stresses unity and avoids public conflict.
• – State as a work of science or Scientific development: state’s affairs should not be a matter of opinion, intuition, impulse, emotion, religion, personal preferences or lineage, but based on the scientific approach of ”seek truth from facts” in political and economic affairs. China is the first country in the world, with Germany, which deliberately see ”State as a work of science”, not ideology. The idea of State as a work of science ”stems from the basic premise that it is possible for the state to engineer sustainable development through tested and proven methodologies of governance. Such a scientific approach is said to minimize conflict amongst different interest groups in society in order to maintain stability on the national level, in turn fostering economic and cultural advancement.” – From Scientific development
• – No politics in government: the government is not the place for politics; the government is an administration tool for execution and implementation of the party strategy and policies.
• – Unity, Loyalty and Discipline are the 3 most important attitudes required to work in the government. The principle states as follow: ”It’s be5er to hire an honest person in the first place, than spending time and money to control and discipline a dishonest person”
• – Damocles or Shuangui: Chinese Party Members Face Harsh Discipline if they fail to live up to the party discipline. According to the Economist, the discipline system is commonly known as shuanggui, a huge surveillance system that monitors the party and the government officials deeds, and uses a parallel judicial system to punish harshly those who err. Because of widespread disgust over official corruption, Chinese seems to appreciate the work of the Commission for discipline.
Overall, What is unique about Chinese focus on discipline is the fact that the Chinese government perceives discipline not just as an attitude or behavior they seek for political reason in the name of power games, but Discipline is perceived as the most important resource the country might develop, cultivate and promote to be able to succeed. This activity of cultivating discipline receives a priority attention, and is assigned to one of the Top 7 Leaders of the country, Wang Qishan.
A story said:
An African student in China asked his professor the following question: ”Why isn’t China doing anything to change his image abroad, as most of the things people say about China are not true”.
The professor paused, smiled, and with a sterling contempt replied “China doesn’t give a damn”. Then he continued ” it took us 30 years to build our country, while it took over 400 years for Western countries to reach the same level of development.
The most important thing for China now is stability, so we can focus on our development. That’s the stage where we are now.
We are well aware of all the various human freedoms available under other suns, and we desire to have them here in China, and we are confident that in time we will have the same freedoms here in China. However, for now, at the stage where we are, we need stability to continue our development.”