Seven Traits Distinguishing the Chinese Dream from the American Dream

At the second session of the 12th National People’s Congress, President Xi passionately and comprehensively expounded upon the Chinese dream. However, to thoroughly comprehend the “Chinese dream” — it is like a pair of shoes tailor-made to fit the Chinese people, and only in wearing them can they be made comfortable, light-hearted, aglow with youth and walk as if flying — one must make a comparison with that famous pair of American shoes, the “American dream.”

So far, the only countries that dare to dream are big powers like China and America. One must know that not every country has the qualifications to dream. A nation is only able to dream its own dream once it has grasped fate in its own hands, has had sufficient time and space to imagine, and acquired the strength and confidence to achieve. Otherwise, such as it is for a tiny country laying on the wayside of a large one, fate is in a precarious state. If a country cannot even sleep well, how can it leisurely dream? The economic lifeblood of resource-deficient nations is pinched in the palm of others, so that from dawn until dusk they tremble in terror. How could they dare sleep very deeply?

First, let us quickly review the specific content of the Chinese dream and the American dream.

In his closing speech at the second meeting of the 12th National People’s Congress, Xi Jinping described the dream of his people: “To achieve a comprehensively well-off society, to build a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized and harmonious modern socialist country, and to attain the Chinese dream of the great renaissance of the Chinese nation is to achieve prosperity, revitalize the nation and bring about the happiness of the people.”

James Truslow Adams, in “The Epic of America,” spoke of “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.”

The differences between the Chinese dream and the American dream are inevitable, decided by such factors as history, culture, economics and geography. The differences and their reasons can be summarized in the following seven points.

The Chinese dream is of national prosperity, while the American dream is of personal prosperity.

Compared to China, America has great geographical advantage. Three sides border the sea, so the country is easy to defend and difficult to attack. From its founding, the U.S. has been a tyrant, and never in its history has it been conquered by invasion — on the contrary, it often actively plunders resources from other nations. Therefore, they have never had anxieties over national security. The people can concentrate on their own dreams of becoming rich. In contrast, the environment along China’s perimeter has since ancient times been exceedingly perilous. Battles with bordering nations have persisted throughout history. Several times, China was conquered and ravaged by other peoples. History instructs us. A country’s prosperity is the prerequisite and the safeguard for its people’s peaceful living and contentedness in work, so the Chinese dream must place national prosperity first.

The goal of the Chinese dream is the revitalization of the nation, while the goal of the American dream is personal success.

China is a multiethnic nation consisting primarily of the Han ethnic group. Collectively designated as the Chinese people, they were born and raised here since ancient times, have gone through thick and thin together, and have shared joys and sorrows. They have a great depth of feeling for their motherland. They mutually believe that if the nation is weak, others will trod upon it and individual dignity will thereby be lost. If one’s life and assets cannot be protected, then what happiness is there to speak of? The U.S. ethnic situation is much more complicated than China’s. Blacks and whites are set against each other in opposition. Blacks have long suffered discrimination by whites. Although they are now equal by law, the inequality beneath the surface is impossible to eliminate in a short time, and any small matter can give rise to intense internal ethnic conflict. America is an immigrant nation. People do not have local sentimentality, and they lack a sense of nationality. Naturally, they only speak of personal successes.

The Chinese people must realize the Chinese dream themselves, but the American dream can be obtained by exploiting the talents and resources of other nations.

The American dream ideology can be traced to the Declaration of Independence, which emphasizes natural rights. Each and every person has the same right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The American dream especially emphasizes that regardless of birth or class, each person possesses the same opportunity to succeed through reliance on his or her own abilities and achievements. This greatly appealed to a distinct class of people from small European countries, enticing them and encouraging them to take the risk of coming to America. Many times throughout history, America has exploited other ethnicities and used them to develop the country. For example, from early on, blacks from Africa have been employed to plant crops, and in the 1800s Chinese labor built the railroads. Now, once again, it is drawing large numbers of Mexicans and Eastern Europeans to engage in a wide variety of physical work, while many whites join the leisure class, playing golf all day long, easy and carefree. In contrast, China is a nation with 1.3 billion people. It cannot rely on the large-scale introduction of outside talent to develop itself, so General Secretary Xi emphasized that “to achieve the Chinese dream [we] must walk the Chinese path, to achieve the Chinese dream [we] must exalt the Chinese spirit, to achieve the Chinese dream [we] must unify the Chinese strength.”

The Chinese dream is group harmony and happiness, while the American dream is personal freedom and happiness.

Chinese people have had a “family” ideology since ancient times. Group consciousness has always been strong and the emphasis has always been on prosperity through family harmony. When relationships within one family are harmonious and every member is safe and healthy, only then can the individual be happy. So, happiness for the Chinese people is a group concept. Within one family, happiness is shared among all its members. Therefore, General Secretary Xi Jinping used three “sharings” to describe the vision of the Chinese dream: “sharing the opportunity to have a colorful life, sharing the opportunity to make dreams a reality, sharing the opportunity of the same motherland in the same age to grow and progress together.” In contrast, Western European and American cultures emphasize individualism, the pursuit of personal freedom and happiness.

The Chinese dream has a deep sense of history, while the American dream has only practical experience.

A considerable part of China’s self-confidence in achieving its dream comes from history. The Chinese nation has 5,000 years of civilization. It has prospered numerous times throughout history and was once the richest and most powerful country in the world. The recent profusion of TV series set in imperial China reflects the popular mentality. Some Western countries worry about the rise of China. Part of that fear derives from historical factors, because they believe the Chinese people possess the ability to recreate history. If you take a small nation that historically has never been powerful and prosperous and it suddenly proclaims its ferocity, others will only regard it as a joke. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s use of the word “rejuvenation” in his phrase “the Chinese dream to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” reveals optimism and confidence. In contrast, America only has two or three hundred years of history. From its founding, the U.S. has depended upon the exploitation of other countries’ resources and talents to gradually become a superpower. Its dream is to extend this reality, to prevent any challenges to its power, so that it may always dream its dream.

The Chinese dream relies on the efforts and abilities of all, while the American dream depends on encouraging individuality.

To realize the Chinese dream, everyone’s power must be condensed, each person adding strength and steadfast diligence; every person’s intelligence and wisdom must be utilized, striving toward one direction. Realizing the Chinese dream depends on collective consciousness, collective power and collective wisdom. In short, the realization of the Chinese dream will depend on the great cooperation of the entire nation. A glance through history will show that the Chinese people are an outstanding people, but also a people who tend to suffer, a people of great self-destructive force. Often, periods of growth alternate with periods of suffering. Perhaps the nation’s development has fallen behind. To achieve the dream now, consciousness must be unified, one target must be clarified. All must direct their efforts toward the same goal. America, however, has followed a pragmatic path since its founding: to simply pursue individual prosperity and happiness, so that the combination of individual successes constitutes the strength of the nation. Chinese people can do great things, but first they must unify their thinking.

The Chinese dream is for the glory of the nation, while the American dream is for personal glory.

Since the Opium Wars, territory has been seized, people have been ravaged, lives have been destroyed, poverty has been pushed to intolerable limits, treaties have forced humiliating terms and catastrophes have struck time and again — these are the nation’s wounds. In recent history, how many idealists have shed blood for national dignity and security so that the people might live in peace and work contentedly? “Today, our People’s Republic stands tall in the East by its exalted position,” General Secretary Xi Jinping resounded elegantly. A country without such a history of pain will have difficulty understanding the thirst of the Chinese people. America simply does not have this kind of pain, so it cannot have this kind of dream. Thus, the American dream emphasizes individual prosperity, success and social advancement.

The American dream has undergone changes. The Chinese dream is also in a dynamic state. As society progresses, people’s expectations change, and so the dream, too, will be different.

From the above analysis it is evident that the Chinese dream is a pair of shoes tailor-made for the Chinese foot. Living in China, we concentrate on dreaming our own dreams and achieving our own dreams through honest, hard work.