Soul searching in China

A lot time has been spent by Chinese authors over the nation’s head over heels love affair with money. China’s intelligentsia has often deplored how China’s economic model and the values and activities it represents have “entered into all aspects of life, and is something that destroys all existing social structures (such as communities and their values) and denigrates the lifestyles of all other social groupings (such as national minorities).” China’s New Order: Society, Politics, and Economy in Transition by Wang Hui.

I always thought that China will become the first purely capitalistic society on earth. When the new God is money, what happens to a society which begins to experience an economic slowdown and money starts becoming scarcer? What happens when you’ve got all the money you need and yet don’t feel content?

Between the economic slowdown, a series of large scale natural catastrophes and increasing unemployment for young graduates (or at least having the ability to find jobs that match their education) people are starting to question whether their quest for money really is the most important thing. It may be a nascent questioning however it is beginning to happen:

• More and more people are attending Church in Shanghai. To revamp it’s image, a Church in XuJiaHui has taken down most of the European-style images of saints and sinners. Instead, imagery which draws from traditional paper cut-outs, block seals and Chinese iconography is being put up.

• Falun Gong supporters have claimed that their aims are not political but rather spiritual. They are looking for some spiritual comfort. Whether we think that Falun Gong is an evil sect or not is another question.

• Many young people are turning back to Confucian virtues of justice, family, humility, courage and honesty. As many white and blue collar workers have been laid off recently, they no longer know what to believe in. Demand for all things Confucian is soaring with “a book applying the 2,500-year-old teachings of philosopher Confucius to today’s problems was China’s best-selling non-fiction title (summer 2008). Bloomberg. The book in question is: “Sentiments on the Analects of Confucius,” by Yu Dan.

How refreshing would it be if brands would stop putting (even more) pressure on Chinese consumers to strive, succeed, move forward and actually allow them to be a little more content with what they have or even make it OK for them to relax. With another property bubble threatening the savings of millions, how many brands could credibly make the shift from ones that tell consumers to strive to ones where consumers can take comfort in?

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This entry was posted on Sunday, December 13th, 2009 at 1:36 pm. It is filed under Asia, China and tagged with religion, spirituality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.