China Revisited: Some Personal Impressions
| Author | William Saywell |
| Published date | 01 December 1979 |
| Date | 01 December 1979 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002070207903400401 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
WILLIAM
SAYWELL
China
revisited:
some
personal
impressions
To
predict
today
whether
the
mood of
China
in
1975,
let
alone
years
later,
will
be
one
characterized
by
conventional
methods
of
economic
development
and
subdued
political
tendencies,
or
one of
tumultuous
upheaval,
would
be
fool-
hardy,
given
the
extraordinary
pattern
of
change
in
the
past.
William
Saywell,
September
19741
In
June
1979
1
returned
to
China
for
the
first
time
since
leaving
a
diplomatic
posting there
almost
exactly
six
years
earlier.
At
times
it
felt like
another
country
-
another
century.
China
has
changed.
In
some
ways
it
has
changed
dramatically
-
at
least
on
the
surface.
But there
have
been
periods before
when observers
and
analysts
have
written
about
dramatic
changes
unfolding,
of
new
eras
dawn-
ing,
of
new
freedoms
and
more
relaxed
moods
existing.
Those
periods,
most
notably
the
Hundred
Flowers
era
of
1956,
the
eve of
the
Cultural
Revolution
1964-5,
and
the
diplomatic
opening
to
the
world
of
the early
197os,
have
been
followed
by
dramatic
reversals
in
policies
and political
fortunes
-
the
Great Leap Forward,
the
Cultural
Revolution,
and
the
Gang
of
Four.
Are
the
changes which
have
been
unfolding
since
the
death
of Mao
and
the
purge
of
the
Gang
fundamentally
and
perhaps
irrevocably
altering
the
essential
Associate
Professor,
East
Asian
Studies,
and
Vice-Provost,
University
of
Toronto.
The
author
gratefully
acknowledges
the
financial
support
from
the University
of
Toronto/York
University
Joint
Centre on
Modem
East
Asia
and
the
Social
Sciences
and
Humanities
Research
Council
which
allowed
him
to
travel
to
China.
1
W.G.
Saywell,
'Postscript
-
China
in
the
'7os,'
in
J.M.
Gibson
and
D.M.
Johnston,
eds,
A
Century
of
Struggle:
Canadian
Essays
on
Revolutionary China
(rev ed;
Toronto
1975),
p
179.
526
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
direction
China
will take
during
the
remainder
of
this
century?
Or
are
they
but
a
prelude,
however
unpredictable,
to
another
political
upheaval
of
'radical'
and
repressive
policies?
I
returned
from
a
visit
to
China
with
a
host
of
impressions,
some
of
which
reinforce
views
gained
by
more
seasoned
research
and
analysis,
others
of
which
contradict
those
views.
They
are
impres-
sions
primarily
gained from
a
visit,
but
tempered
by
a
broader
per-
spective of
continuing
research
on
China
and
my
earlier
experience
of
diplomatic
service
in
the
country.
I
The
first
impact
of
how
things
have
changed
in
China
comes
before
you
cross
the
border in Hong
Kong.
Twelve
years
ago,
as
a
resident
of
this
British
colony,
I
listened
daily
to
the
detonation
of
dozens
of
communist-planted
bombs,
read
signs
in
communist
department
stores
threatening
to squeeze
out
the
last
drop
of
'British
imperial-
ist
blood,'
and
listened to
British
army
officers
argue
whether
they
could
hold
the
colony
for
twenty-four
or
thirty-six
hours
against
a
possible
Chinese
attack.
Today
travel
posters
advertise
package
tours
to
a
dozen
Chinese
cities
and beauty
spots
at
internationally
competitive
prices.
Western
tourists
on
their
way
home
get
photo-
graphed
against the
Hong
Kong
skyline
looking
ridiculous
in
straw
peasant
hats,
complaining about
facilities
and
prices,
but
happily
talking
about
'having done
China'.
Countless groups
of
Japanese
faithfully
follow
their
tour
leader,
flag
and
whistle
in
hand,
about
to
leave
far more
foreign
currency
in
China
than
any
other
group.
At
the
Kowloon
train
station
where
one
can
now
board
a
direct
train
to
Guangzhou
(Canton),
one
is
jostled
by countless
overseas
Chinese,
on
their
way
to
visit
relatives
all over
China,
laden
down
with
electric
fans,
tape recorders,
colour television
sets,
and
almost
every
other
conceivable
type of
foreign
product.
The
Chinese
pub-
lic's
thirst
for
more
and
better
consumer
goods
is
a
major
problem
for the
government.
It
is
eased
somewhat
by
the
official
encourage-
ment
of
visitors
bringing
their
relatives
many
of
these
items.
The
Chinese
not
only
know
what
items
they
want,
they
give
their
over-
seas
relatives
precise
and
well-informed
instructions
about
the
brand
and
model.
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