Illustration: Liu Rui
In the summer of 1991, I drove to Viborg, a border city of the Soviet Union, from Helsinki. When the car crossed the border, the scenery didn't change, as the area was Finnish territory before World War II.
However, when I entered Russia, the wide and flat roads became bumpy. The guideboards were crooked, and I could not even see the words clearly.
In the center of Viborg, the streets were empty and many shops were closed. People were queuing in front of the few open shops to buy potatoes and cheese. The markets of the city were dirty and messy. Several old Soviet ladies in beat-up clothes were trying to sell small baskets of strawberry to passengers. I didn't know whether they could even buy bread for their families with the little money they earnt.
In 1991 in China, the cities were still quite poor and ordinary life wasn't that good. Even the income of foreign service staff overseas like me was very low. However, when I saw the Soviet citizens in Viborg, I felt I had things better than them, as my life was getting better and better and my future was bright.
On December 25 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. Over the last 20 years, many scholars have been looking for reasons for its fall. One reason is always included: Soviet citizens were unhappy with their lives at the time. The scenes I saw in the streets of Viborg was a miniature of the dissatisfaction. The Soviet system apparently could not satisfy people's political and economic needs.
The collapse of the Soviet Union shows us that authority is steadiest when established on the basis of public dignity. A country needs strength to give stable and rich lives to its people, but growth should be based on respecting of people's needs and rights.
When talking about globalization now, many experts pay more attentions to problems such as global warming, an aging population, immigration and the unprecedented impact of the financial crisis.
In fact, globalization brings a common task to the governments of every country, which is how to adapt and meet the increasing needs and demands of their people through institutional innovation. Both developing countries and developed countries must face this task, although the level of the challenge might be different.
The common people around the world have the same wish: they want to have a stable and fair life with hope and dignity. These are the real universal values. They don't differ by skin color, nationality, or culture. If a country follows this trend and tries to reach this goal, the country will make progress and society will be stable.
Many important events happened this year. However, one trend has never changed. In an information age, the needs of ordinary people have become more complicated and they have more and more points of reference and comparison. So their demands will increase. Some people think this is "diversification," while others think this is "fragmentation." No matter which term we use to describe the trend, we should know that it is harder and harder to satisfy the needs and demands of ordinary people.
The only choice for the government is to sincerely solve practical problems for its people and reform with the times.
In the development of China, many people think that only radical reform can solve the problems, but this isn't the case.
It may not seem like a big breakthrough to help residents solve some practical problems and let them live more comfortably.
But when small changes accumulate for a long time, the country can gain the achievement of institutional innovation. The stability of the society depends on the solution of small problems in the lives of ordinary people.
The author is a senior reporter with the People's Daily. dinggang@globaltimes.com.cn