Cambridge academic tears into the veneer of US-propagated myths about China

By Sun Wei Source:Global Times Published: 2019/6/24 20:53:41

Anthropologist and historian Alan Macfarlane Photo: Sun Wei/GT

Editor's Note:
 

Alan Macfarlane (Alan) is an anthropologist, a historian and professor emeritus of King's College, University of Cambridge. He is the author and editor of 20 books and numerous articles on the anthropology and history of England, Nepal, Japan and China. Global Times  London Correspondent Sun Wei (GT) interviewed him recently in Cambridge about his new book China, Japan, Europe and the Anglo-sphere, A Comparative Analysis, and also sought his opinion on certain debatable issues.

GT: What inspired you to write the book China, Japan, Europe and the Anglo-sphere, A Comparative Analysis?



Alan: A lot of work by academics is about their own encounters and experiences. I was brought up initially in India. Then I was hit by a culture shock after I came to the UK and learnt at school and within the family how to be British. After I trained as a historian, I became an anthropologist. I went to Nepal and found a totally different society which challenged all my beliefs. That was another kind of culture shock. About 20 years later, I was invited to go to Japan and the same shock greeted me once I learnt more about the country. After another 15 years, I visited China and since 2002 I have visited almost every year and felt the same because China is totally different from Japan. 

Having had all these experiences, I thought, shouldn't I write a book comparing them all and making these comparisons simple enough for ordinary people from these different civilizations to read it, understand each other a little better, and overcome the hostility and anxiety which stereotypes and fears create? So it was a conscious attempt to write something that was exactly the opposite of Samuel Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations. My work shows the possible harmony between civilizations. 

GT: In your book, you try to introduce China to Western readers. What made you do this? 

Alan: China is moving toward being the greatest world power, as it was for most of history. So it's very important for people in the West to know about this great civilization. 

Fortunately, it's quite easy to give a simple overview of China because while being very old and very regionally variable in different parts, once you get four or five keys, you can unlock Chinese culture and civilization and explain it quite simply. 

The great comparative sociologist Alexis de Tocqueville compared America with England. One of his great methods was the point of origin. If you can go back to the turning point, when a civilization began, you will find that it is like a seed which grows into a great tree. From a certain point of view, the seed of Chinese civilization was planted in 221 BC with the first emperor, Qin Shihuang. He not only unified China militarily and politically, but also in many other ways. He set up a new form of government which had never existed before in any civilization,which is basically what we call bureaucratic centralism. 

Another key is that China has an entirely different religious system. Western societies are based on Christianity, Islam or Judaism where you have one God who controls everything. China has many religions or "no Religion." It practices Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism and ancestor worship. All sorts of rituals, beliefs, which are tolerant of one another, mix together. So, in the West, we live in a religious world and Chinese live in this mixture of beliefs. Those are two main keys. 

GT: You mentioned Samuel Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations, some US officials are now trying to rake it up and tell people about it. How do you see this? 

Alan: I think it's dangerous. Huntington's book influences some US officials, and much of Trump's policy like building walls indirectly come from Huntington. In 1997, Hungtington wrote a chapter saying, China is a big threat, maybe we can fight them now and stop them from overtaking us. But even then, he said it's hopeless, it's too late. The US wouldn't win. There's no way any other power could defeat China. So what he suggested instead was to find people who want to undermine China, and dissident groups around the world, or people within China who want to overthrow the government and give them aid and money, make it difficult for their lives.

The US has got to live with the fact that within 10 or 20 years it will not be the most powerful economy. But it doesn't matter, because the world is now not split into nation states in the old way. It is a global world. And the basic principle of economics, as derived from Adam Smith, is that trade and cooperation are win-win. 

Trump doesn't appear to show much understanding of international economics even though he is from the real estate sector. He thinks of trade as a confrontation. But in fact, Adam Smith said, you should trade with people because they bring you benefit. And so you work together. That was the basis of his philosophy: collaboration and cooperation, not warfare. This is the right way to go. 

GT: The first time you went to China was in 1996, and after 2002 you went to China every year. Can you describe how you saw the changes in China? Besides, you wrote a book The Invention of the Modern World. Are you going to write a book on modern China? 

Alan: Of course, each year we went back, it was a different China. My friend said, if you go away from Beijing for months, it's a different Beijing. It's been absolutely amazing. It changed hugely between 1996 to 2002. And since then, it's growing and changing faster. The changes are exponential. 

We've documented this in film, photographs, diaries and conversations. So, one day I would like to write a multimedia film book where you have the text, and you can click and watch the films. 

GT: Some US officials have publicly said that in the past 25 years, it was the US that rebuilt China. Do you agree?

Alan: When we went to Beijing in 1996, there was little sign of the US. The cars were mostly Volkswagen and some other French brands.  

The US has got the memory of the Marshall Plan on rebuilding Europe. So many people may think they did that. And now they're trying to weaken Europe. They think that because they built it, they have the right to direct its direction.

GT: What's your take on the recent attacks on Huawei? 

Alan: I've got friends who work for Huawei. They said there are weaknesses within Huawei, but no more than in any other IT firm, and many US software firms which have similar problems. 

Trump said it's a terrible security threat, but later he said it can be part of a trade deal. It was just like his contradictory remarks about building the Mexican wall. So it's clearly political. 

What I really want to stress is that the Chinese government has to be careful, knowing whatever it does and says may be misinterpreted in a negative way. This means that when you lay down actual policies, you have to keep them low key. 

GT: Would the Huawei controversy affect China-UK relations? 

Alan: The UK at the moment is in a very weak position because of Brexit. Moreover, Trump changes his mind every day. So I suspect the British government, if sensible, will find a way to do it, which satisfies both. Some of its technology is wonderful. We need all that, but we'll make sure it doesn't get really into the sensitive parts, which we need to keep under control. I suspect that is not as simple as that, but if you can persuade people to have a firewall in between, we can work with China perfectly well. 

GT: What's UK's role in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Italy endorsed the BRI earlier this year, would the UK be the next G7 country to join the BRI? 

Alan: I would hope so, but I'm not sure they will. We were the first (western) country to join the AIIB. On the other hand, I suspect that for some political reasons, it may be more difficult for us to formally become part of the BRI. But in practice, the train is coming through to England now along the "Belt and Road."

What I always suggest to my Chinese friends when they ask me about this is that China and the UK should concentrate on the cultural belt and road. I think there should be a cultural rainbow between China and the West. And along the different colors you can have music, art, literature, philosophy and education. 

This kind of cultural belt and road or rainbow could have a great future. And the harder side of it, the economic, technological sphere will gradually progress anyway.


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