巨变 Huge Changes

THE newly published book “Novas Coisas da China” [literally “New Things From China”] gives valuable insight to the country, including Macau. Its author is journalist António Caeiro, who has been the Portuguese news agency Lusa’s correspondent in Beijing for many years (he lived there between 1991 and 2002, and returned in 2008).
It is not by chance that two large Chinese characters meaning “huge changes” (巨变) dominate the yellow book cover.
Caeiro casts a discerning eye over the formidable changes that are shaping China in the XXI century. The journalist gives countless examples of how the lives of Chinese born and raised during times of Communist orthodoxy have taken a U-turn. He also talks with the younger urban Chinese who are part of the growing middle class and have the income to buy houses, cars and even luxury goods (we see them shopping here in Macau)...Something that, for their parents, was unthinkable.
Many amazing figures are listed to demonstrate the size of the changes. For example: “In 2017, China will have more skyscrapers than the United States, according to a Taiwanese study.”
“The number of Chinese that spend holidays abroad has risen by 11% during 2011 (69 million) and reached 80 million in 2012. The World Tourism Organization estimates that the figure will go up to 100 million in 2020.”
“During the last 12 years, the trade between China and Africa rose about 20 times, amounting to almost USD200b. China is Africa’s largest trade partner, surpassing the European Union and the United States.”
In the chapter dedicated to Macau, the experienced journalist mentions the well known gambling revenue figures, which largely surpassed Las Vegas. But the other issue that caught Caeiro’s attention is not so obvious: the freedom of speech that is protected by the MSAR laws. Visiting the Tap Seac Central Library, he notes that two large biographies of Mao Zedong and Soong Mei-ling (Chiang Kai-shek’s wife) are exhibited side by side. This is something that would be impossible in mainland China, where both books are forbidden. The first, written by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, mentions that PRC’s founder Mao (whose portrait is still used on Renminbi banknotes) was “responsible for over 70 million deaths during a time of peace, more than any other leader in the twentieth century.” The other biography, according to the author, has “a title that speaks for itself”: “The Last Empress, Madame Chiang Kai-shek and the Birth of Modern China.”
Many sensitive issues for Beijing are also addressed, such as corruption (illustrated through Bo Xilai’s case and others) and growing nationalism. Chinese companies are gaining an international profile not only because of their massive presence in Africa but also through strategic acquisitions in the “old continent.” Does China intend to rule the world? As with many other issues that concern the nation, the answer is veiled in mystery. Nevertheless, Caeiro notes that “the new Chinese nationalism was not made up in the West,” mentioning the editorials of the official newspaper Global Times, “where one of the most reported ideas is to reduce the West to a geographical and cultural reference.”
Joshua Cooper Ramo, head of consulting firm Kissinger Associates (a firm founded in 1982 by the former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who recently wrote the informative essay “On China”) is quoted as saying: “What is China? A friendly country? Enemy? China is changing so rapidly that we, in fact, still do not know.”
The book is available at the Portuguese Bookstore. It has no English or Chinese translations.

(published in MDT)