The Chinese Dream Is a Dream of Peace; the American Dream Is a Dream of Expansion

Each person has his or her own dream, each people has its own dream. What differences are there between our Chinese dream and the American dream that the Americans publicize? Soberly and deeply recognizing this issue is beneficial to strengthening our convictions, thereby increasing our conscious participation in the struggle to realize the great Chinese dream.

1. Different nurturing backgrounds: The Chinese dream was nurtured in a declining nation, in a period when the people were in peril, whereas the American dream was nurtured in an established nation during a period of rapid development.

The Chinese people are a great people with 5,000 years of civilization and history. In the Qin and Han Dynasties, they entered a flourishing age; ancient China was the world’s strongest and most prosperous great power, the leading nation for as long as 1,500 years. Until the final years of the Qianlong period during the Qing Dynasty [1736-1796], China’s total economy still held the top position in the world. Prior to the Ming Dynasty, the world had approximately 300 main inventions and creations and major scientific and technological accomplishments. Over 170 of these were China’s. In the modern era, because of the decrepit feudal system and the invasions and plundering by the Western great powers, our motherland disintegrated, the chaos of war was endless and the people were poverty-stricken and fully enslaved.

In order to save the nation from extinction and to revitalize the people, countless people of good intentions contemplated long and hard. From Lin Zexu’s and Wei Yuan’s “Open your eyes and see the world” movement to Li Hongzhang’s and Zeng Guofan’s “Westernization movement” to Kang Youwei’s and Liang Qichao’s “Hundred Days Reform,” to the 1911 Revolution led by Sun Yat-sen, there were often defeats but the dream never died. With Sun Yat-sen as their representative, the bourgeois revolutionaries explicitly proposed the “revitalize China” dream. The Chinese dream spoken of today is precisely the continuation of the older revolutionaries’ dream to revitalize the people. Consequently, the Chinese dream was nurtured in and grew in the history that precipitated the collective memory of the people. Humiliation and suffering have been the soil for this dream.

In the year 1620, a group of English Puritans traveled on the Mayflower ship across the Atlantic Ocean to a mysterious New World, hoping to establish a free and equal “paradise” with no religious persecution. At that time, the American dream started its quiet germination. With America’s independence and constant expansion of national territory came the constant advancement and expansion of the American dream. After the close of the Civil War, the Pacific Railroad Company sold land along its routes to raise funds and did large-scale advertising in Europe: “Dreaming of having your own land? Dreaming of having freedom? Come to America!” European immigrants entered America en masse to develop America’s west; soon afterward, America gradually became the number one economic entity in the world. This is what nurtured and developed the American dream.

2. Different opportune times: The phrase, “the Chinese dream” was formally proposed at a time when China was flourishing. Yet the phrase, “the American dream” was formally proposed at a time when America was bogged down in the Great Depression.

On Nov. 29, 2012, while leading the new Politburo Standing Committee on a collective tour of the National Museum of China’s “Road of Rejuvenation” exhibit, Party General Secretary Xi Jinping talked about the Chinese dream. Xi pointed out, “Every person has ideals and pursuits; we all have our own dreams. Now, everyone is discussing the Chinese dream, and I believe to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the greatest dream for the Chinese nation in modern history.”

The formal proposal of the Chinese dream originated in the soil of reality. In the beginning of the last century, patriotic students could only dream in vain and publish “Three Questions on the Olympics,” and progressive youths could only fantasize in novels about hosting the World’s Fair. With frequent chaos of war, people living in destitution and economic depressions, how dare they speak of dreams? From the “standing up” of New China to the “getting rich” of the Opening Up and Reform, and further to the new century’s “strengthening” dream, the Olympics dream and the World Expo dream all finally coming true, we hear the clanging footsteps of the Chinese dream gradually drawing nearer. As the Chinese economy continuously occupied the number two position in the world and in the crucial time of fully laying the solid foundation to form a peaceful and prosperous society, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed the Chinese dream, which contains our party’s deep understanding of recent Chinese history and manifests the shared desires and magnificent wishes of the peoples of each nationality in China. This dream clarifies the direction of advancement for the Party to lead the people in initiating the future.

Yet, the phrase, “the American dream” was formally proposed by American historian James [Truslow] Adams in May of 1931 in the book, “The Epic of America.” The subject of this book was “that American dream of a better, richer and happier life for all our citizens of every rank which is the greatest contribution we have as yet made to the thought and welfare of the world.” During the years 1929 through 1933, just as America sank into the Great Depression and the entire society was extremely depressed, Adams brought up again the spirit and core of the American dream to remind people that through their own hard work and struggles, they could improve their own difficult situations. Thus, at that time, the proposal of the American dream was mainly to lead people out of their difficult predicaments. Yet, the current proposal of the Chinese dream is mainly to encourage people throughout the entire country to better move toward the future in a steadfast and self-confident manner.

　　

3. Different roads of practice: The road of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the necessary road to realizing the Chinese dream, whereas the typical Western capitalist road is the practical road to realizing the American dream.

For more than 90 years, our party has united and led the people in this ancient land of China through continual hardships and exploration, and has finally found the correct road to realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people — the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics. This is the long-term fundamental accomplishment of struggle, creation and accumulation for the party and the people. It’s precisely this road that has taken China to the position of the number two economic entity in the world, having successively maintained close to 10 percent economic growth for more than 30 years, with the incomes of urban and rural residents increasing by more than 30-fold. This is exactly the road that has allowed us to, in 10 years, construct a basic social security net that has taken some Western countries close to 100 years to complete and, within less than 20 years, make more than a 70 percent contribution to reducing global poverty. It has allowed us to come closer than any time in history to the dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people.

On the road of practicing the Chinese dream in the modern era, the history and fate of the Chinese people has already realized two “irreversibles”: the irreversible close of domestic trouble and foreign invasion and the tragic fates of the impoverished and the weak, and the irreversible opening of continuous vigorous development, moving toward the historical course of rejuvenation. The two 100-year objectives our party has firmly established are already ships whose sails can be seen in the distance; they are red suns whose radiance is gleaming in all directions. Thus, only by persevering in taking the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics can the great Chinese dream be realized.

Yet America, with the premise of protecting the private ownership system, is carrying out political models like multiple political parties and separation of powers. America is taking the typical Western capitalist road; it caused America to become a world superpower in the beginning of the 20th century and, moreover, to sustain a long-term leading position. Thus, this road is the practical road to realizing the American dream. Many people with good intentions in modern China have attempted to get China to take the Western capitalist road, and many attempts have proven that this is not a road that is in accord with China’s national situation; this is a road of defeat. Yet the successful practice of the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics demonstrates that our party has already found the glorious and majestic road to realizing the Chinese dream; we must resolutely take it.

4. Different foreign strategies: The Chinese dream is a dream of peace and shared victory, but the American dream is a dream of continuous expansion.

The Chinese people are a loving, peaceful people. Throughout history, we have sown the seeds of peaceful friendship across the seven seas and left the footprints of mutually beneficial cooperation down the Silk Road. However, the modern era invasions of the great powers and successive years of war chaos have pulled the Chinese people into an abyss of suffering, leaving painful memories engraved on our hearts; we are unwilling to impose this kind of pain onto other people. We refuse to follow as before the traditional development model of “strong nations must dominate.” We insist that peaceful development be our unchanging strategic choice all the way. Furthermore, sharing with the world is an important intention unique to the Chinese dream. Whether it be opening and developing markets, introducing technologies or attracting investments, we have been realizing leaping developments of new things every day for over 30 years. We have also proactively participated in global economic governance and jointly resisted the Asian financial storm and the international financial crisis. We always fix our eyes on drawing on the strong points of others to offset our own weaknesses; we share cooperation, take world opportunities and transform them into China’s opportunities, and take China’s opportunities and transform them into world opportunities. This is exactly what I mean when I say the Chinese dream belongs not only to China; it also belongs to the world.

Yet, the American dream, in view of the core value of self-realization, manifests itself as continuous expansion in the foreign strategy aspect, from territorial expansion to the open-door policy, to the later propagation of the American value system. Even to the point of adding its armed forces to other countries at every turn, for the development of America. Since the end of the Cold War, America has been the country that has launched foreign wars most frequently, causing a large number of innocent civilian deaths. For example, an article on the website of the “Stop War Coalition” from June 14, 2012 stated there were approximately 14,000 to 110,000 civilians who died each year between the years 2001 and 2011 in the American-led “war on terror.” The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan calculates at least 10,292 Afghan civilians were killed from 2007 to July 2011. The “Iraq Body Count Project” recorded that from the year 2003 to August of 2011, there were approximately 115,000 civilian deaths. Therefore, America’s happy dream often becomes the nightmare of many countries and peoples.

5. Different scopes of influence: The Chinese dream is a dream of 1.3 billion people, but the American dream is the dream of only 300 million people.

Of the abundant intentions of the Chinese dream, “people” is undoubtedly the key factor. “In the end, the Chinese dream is the people’s dream; it must closely rely on the people to achieve it and must continue to benefit the people.”

First Secretary Xi Jinping made an important speech at the closing session of the 12th National People’s Congress. Xi clarified the core values of the Chinese dream and also pointed out the source of impetus for the Chinese dream. The wheelbarrows that stretched beyond the horizon during the Huaihai Campaign* witnessed the greatness of the people’s war; in Xiaogang Village, Fengyang County, Anhui province, 18 bright red handprints marked the spirit of the people’s revolution.** The Chinese people are a great people who inspire the inexhaustible strength of the people. Only through a struggle of hacking our way through difficulties have we created the miracle of economic growth, liberated the vigor of social development and opened a rejuvenation road full of vitality.

The people’s yearning for a happy life is precisely the objective of the struggle of modern Communists. This objective can certainly better inspire the realization of the Chinese dream and struggle by the people of the entire country. The China of today has a population of 1.3 billion, which is still more than the sum of all populations of the developed Western countries. The day of the realization of the Chinese dream is also exactly a time of glorifying socialism once again throughout the whole world. In the 1930s, when the American dream was proposed, America’s population was only 100 million. In 2008, it reached 300 million. Therefore, after the two dreams are realized, their influences on human social development will be vastly different; this is also exactly where the unique charm of the Chinese dream lies.

The author, Chen Xiangyang, is an Associate Professor, Ph.D. and Senior Colonel at the Political and Ideological Work Department of Nanjing Army Institute.

*Editor’s Note: The Huaihai Campaign was a military action during 1948 and 1949 that was the determining battle of the Chinese Civil War.

**Editor’s Note: On Nov. 24, 1978, 18 Xiaogang villagers made their handprints on a household-based contract to mark the beginning of China’s rural reform. Xiaogang was the first village in China to implement the household-based contract responsibility system, under which land was leased to families in return for delivery of fixed output quotas.