A reaction to ideological pressure_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

A reaction to ideological pressure

In the angry protests sweeping across cyberspace against certain Western media outlets' distortion of the facts in the Lhasa riots, Chinese netizens repeatedly posted a slogan that had been forgotten in China for nearly 30 years: "Down with imperialism!"

The reappearance of the ideological slogan merits some thought.

Ever since China began the drive to reform and open up, the country had shelved ideological disputes with Western countries. And in the past three decades, the public seemed to have forgotten the old political slogan. All they cared about was the country's economic development. They were more interested in whether their home appliances were up-to-date than in the question of whether socialism or capitalism was more ideologically correct.

After working hard for 30 years, the Chinese people have succeeded in turning their national economy into the fourth largest in the world. Despite all the grievances and complaints they had against the emergence of social injustice, widening rich-poor disparity, polluted environment and low government efficiency, the Chinese people treasured their greatly improved livelihood, whether they were ethic Han in an eastern coastal province, or a Mongolian of the northern grasslands, or a Tibetan on the western plateau.

They hoped their living standards could further improve as China's economy continued to grow. They did not want the progress to be interrupted. They wanted the country to remain stable. And in the process of globalization, the Chinese people thought they could get along very well with the international community even though most had different social systems.