As China modernizes, Marx becomes irrelevant

Interesting article over at the LA Times on how Marxism and socialism are becoming irrelevant to most Chinese students. The point of the story, as China becomes more capitalistic and modern, Marx's appeal fades almost to the point of irrelevancy. Not entirely surprising, but given the many arguments put forth by China-hawks, something worth remembering.

The story makes some interesting observations, such as the disconnect between Marxist thought and everything going on in China right now, from the construction of high-rise buildings to "shopping malls, movie theaters, luxury apartment buildings, fast-food restaurants, hotels, factories — the whole capitalist panorama."

In fact, Chinese officials are already looking for ways in which to place less emphasis on Marx and Mao (required teaching under Chinese law) and to focus on more traditional lessons, such as respect and honesty.

Another interesting observation regards just how little Marx, or Marxist thought are actually discussed in China, even by Chinese officials and scholars. For most, Marxist theory does not seem to provide any viable path for China's future. Even so, however, according to the article, most Chinese will still not publicly renounce it. This, however, seems to have more to do with the opportunities for advancement that belonging to the Communist party provides, than with any belief in the ideology.

To boot, there is telling story of how one student, "Zhao Fan, who uses the English name Nathan" though defending the teaching of Marxism, himself wanted to "go into marketing, ideally for one of China's largest corporations, get an MBA from a foreign university and go into management."

The story also has examples of how China is trying to reform its education system with what are essentially pilot programs, teaching environmentalism in place of Marxist ideology.

For me, the most telling part of the article was this: when asked about Chinese students, an education official named Zhou replied, "'They don't believe in God or communism,' he said. 'They're practical. They only worship the money.'"