Editorial, page 15, issue 515
April 18, 2011
Translated by Tang Xiangyang
Original Chinese: [Chinese]

What kind of a society are we living in? In the past decade, China has experienced unbelievable growth.

We're already accustomed to measuring the progress of this country according GDP figures. Soaring GDP growth has given us an overwhelming sense of achievement, and if we measure our progress by GDP numbers, there is not doubt that we've achieved great things.

But, caught up in this pride in our achievements, is it possible that we've forgotten something?

When we first embarked on the descision to pursue growth at all costs, what did we want to achieve?

In the end, what can we achieve?

Living in China today, everywhere you look you can see material improvements in daily life. But somehow, the quality of people's lives seems to now be "in a hopeless postion."

At the beginning of 2011, the Beijing government issued restrictive policies on potential home-buyers and car-buyers, a controversial move hotly debated by residents. The policies quickly spread to other cities across the country.

Currently, 72 cities have issued similar policies, which of course has also led to a wide range of critical opinions from China's commentariat.

Now, both the auto market and the property market face a cloudy future, but the restrictive policies will not bend.

But people have found ways to circumvent the policies, and policies that are not enforced are not exactly bad policies.

However, things are never as easy as they look. When we take a closer look at these "restriction policies," it's easy to see that they are following some kind of "logic," and this "logic" means that they also appear reasonable.

Take the restrictions on purchasing vehicles in Beijing as an example. One of the requirements of not permanent residents and who want to buy a car is that they must have paid taxes in the city for at least five years.

According to the policy, the benefits of the sale of the car are unable to outweigh the disadvantages, unless the consumer is at the same time a taxpayer. Otherwise, according to the regulations, they are not permited to drive their own car on the streets of Beijing.

From this it appears that the Beijing government is attempting to determine the right to drive a car in the city according to the amount that an individual contributes to the city's GDP.

When it comes down to it, concern about GDP is the main factor that provides the underlying "logic" to all these "restriction policies."

In fact, from policies that limit the sale of train tickets to restrictions on the purchase of cars and property all the way through to Shenzhen's recent move to expel 80,000 "dangerous people," all are variations on the same underlying logic.

Maybe local governments really are issuing various restrictive policies for the sake of the common good and the future, we'd very much like to believe so.

However, the reality is, in today's China, regardless of whether you are rich or poor, a member of a marginalized group or someone with authority, everyone is experiencing the same injustice under this GDP logic.

Chinese society is torn between the interests of GDP and the lives of citizens, this is because by reducing everything to whether or not it increases GDP growth, we can't lead the lives we want.

On Apr 15, in a speech given at the Bo'ao Forum,  Hu Jintao said that China is still a long way from achieving its goal of "common prosperity." This is the best interpretation and critique of today's China. 

Our lives have changed and society should reflect that. But GDP growth has never been a perfect indicator of social progress. This is a serious misinterpretation of both GDP and society.

This editorial was edited by Ruoji Tang