Is spirituality an answer to China’s prosperous future? ....... 🦅

I have always had an interest in philosophy and spirituality but as I grew older I became more of a realist. That being said, I would still consider myself spiritual, and I like to tell people, there are deeper dimensions to life than meets the eye.

A survey was conducted in 2017 in five major cities in China. It revealed that 69 percent of the people who took the survey consider themselves non-religious. On the other hand, Buddhism has become a fast-growing interest for China’s millennials. Most Buddhist practitioners in China, do not conceder Buddhism as a religion but rather a system of thought or a form of spirituality.

A former student of mine asked, “Do you believe in reincarnation?”

I replied to her text question, “I’m not an expert on death but rather I’m an apprentice in life - with each second, minute, and day I’m learning how to live.”

Her reply, “Is that a yes or no?”

I then text her back, “it could be possible, there may be many deeper dimensions to life than meets the eye.”

Her reply, “I think it’s true.”

My reply, “maybe I was around a lot longer than I realize.”

She then said, “you are an old soul in a young body.”

I can show my students where to look for, answers, but I cannot tell them what to see, because, life’s greatest meaning lies within our inner journey.

I have also learned that the Chinese Government does not look at this resurgence in Buddhism as a threat. On the contrary, most of China’s government officials understand the importance spirituality has on their society. It provides Buddhist practitioners with a deeper meaning and purpose in life.

The economic growth in China is providing people with more leisure time and a growing number of Chinese are using that time for self-enrichment. I found this to be intriguing because growing up in America, I was told that China is a godless country. It wasn’t until I moved here that I learned there is freedom of religion here and like America, the Chinese government does not endorse one religion over the other. But there have been many stories in the western media that claim China does not have a benevolent attitude toward many Muslim sects residing in China’s Mainland.

The Chinese people have the freedom to worship as they please as long as they don’t use their religious freedom to organize against the Chinese government. Many evangelical churches in China were shut-down for that very reason.

Before moving here I was told the majority of the Chinese are atheists that statement is far from the truth. The majority here may be non-religious and view Christians as living in a superstitious mindset that does not necessarily make non-Christian believers atheists.

Many University students in China are turning to Buddhism as an intellectual pursuit – a way of exploring their spirituality. Most of today’s Buddhists make a clear distinction between religion and spirituality. In the west if you tell someone you are non-religious you will find yourself being labeled an atheist. Christian Fundamentalists in America have labeled China an atheistic godless country because the majority in China are non-Christian.

There is a growing concern among government officials here about the western influence on China’s youth. They fear that as China’s economy continues to grow people here will become more, materialistic, and greed-driven - with a winner takes all or a survival of the fittest way of thinking. This stands in total contrast to the Chinese Government’s collective mindset.

People here certainly have more disposable income and the youth are getting caught up, for the first time, in the media glitter. We in the west have been exposed to pop culture for many decades now but China is beginning to see the negative effects of the western materialistic mindset.

Many Government officials in China have a naiveté belief that the popularity of Buddhism will somehow restore a balance in their society or place the Chinese genie back in the bottle. They desperately want the Chinese youth to understand the important role that they as individuals have on society. In other words, their individual development is codependent on China’s national development. They are hoping the traditional customs and norms of old will help the current and succeeding generations understand that spirituality is not centric. It should not lead a person to be purely self-centered or looked upon as simply an intellectual pursuit. True spirituality should lead towards civic responsibility making our society in which we live a better place for all.

China, however, has been placed on fast forward for the past two decades and many here are trying desperately to hold on to their ancient traditions and customs. They are seeing some of their cultural beliefs being discarded and swept away by the media-driven youth. There is also a huge gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have not’s.’ There are still millions of people here who have very little in terms of the materialism of the wealthy and their growing middle class.

This dichotomy in China is also a concern among the government officials, they want desperately to spread the wealth, to raise the standard of living for everyone.

The middle class in China is almost twice the size of the US population. A reason for this, the government in China is subsidizing all the service providers, to control the rate of inflation. Compared to the US, everything is much cheaper in China. The government uses some of the taxes they collect, to subsidize companies that provide services. They are continuing to keep costs down while people's incomes continue to rise. This gives the Chinese people more disposable income which is driving their domestic economy. In, 2012, China for the first time had the largest domestic economy in the world.

The government officials also feel it’s the government’s responsibility to prepare their youth for a better tomorrow through education, moral, and ethical character building. They believe it’s also their civic responsibility to see to it that their nation as a whole is on the right path to enhance the lives of the many rather than the few.

I mentioned in one of my classes that it's also the parents' responsibility to be their children's role models rather than relying on schools and government to mold and produce future leaders.

The Chinese also understand implicitly their economy is co-depended on the rest of the world. Most people in China are fully aware of China’s influence on the global market. They can also see the road China is on toward global economic dominance.

China is far from being a perfect country, though, but no nation is because nations are made up of human beings. In all societies, there are people with severe character flaws. We as American’s witnessed those character flaws in many of our corporate heads. It wasn’t that long ago when CEOs savored huge bonuses while their companies were being driven into the ground by sheer greed.

China will continue to grow as an economic superpower and more people will economically prosper. The divide between those who have ‘much’ and those who have ‘less’ will continue to grow in America and the rest of the world because greed is part of the human fabric.

The middle class in China is growing exponentially due to educational opportunities and a steady rise in salaries, over the past 10 years salaries have quadrupled in China.

Most of the struggles throughout the world are due to greed and while the middle class in America is shrinking due to economic hard times. The middle class in China is growing mostly due to profit-sharing. Most companies in China are doing well and everyone in the companies in China profits from corporate wealth. Profit-sharing is intricately woven into China’s economy. China understands the profit-sharing system all too well because it’s part of their social model.

One of the fears among China’s Government officials is that as wealth continues to grow people in China will continue to want more. This will drive people to become more egocentric. The concern is as people begin to prosper more, they will have less concern for society's greater good. That is why China’s government is encouraging schools to teach the students about China’s cultural norms and traditions so that they won’t be lost within the western influence. They want the youth to grow in the knowledge of China’s cultural past whereby they put the needs of society before their wants.

The growing economy along with educational opportunities in China has become the government’s means to enrich society. The fear however is that in the future prosperity may become a means to enrich the few on the backs of the many. Many Chinese companies have moved their operations to Vietnam for a higher profit margin. American companies have for decades used China as the factory for making the world’s goods. Now that role is being placed on Vietnamese workers. The outsourcing of jobs is what we in America have witnessed time and time again. Americans are now paying a heavy price on the backs of the underpaid due mostly from corporate greed.

The Chinese government feels they can learn from their own and America’s past mistakes. The question, though, that some Chinese economists are asking, will greed become an intricate part of China’s developing future?

I say only time will tell ….

Always with love from Suzhou, China

Thomas F O’Neill

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