An Analysis and Comparison of Mao and Deng’s Approach to Social Development

Posted on by Catharina Kim

An Analysis and Comparison of Mao and Deng’s Approach to Social Development

After the end of World War II, the quest for development was the compelling and prevailing concern in many Third World Countries. Development is a value-laden notion and people’s understanding of the meaning and process of development has diverted from a narrow, one-sided and western-oriented perspective to include more aspects into development thinking. The emergence of the concept of social development and different approaches to social development are the forceful expression of such a transformation. The idea of social development then becomes a crucial theme in the thinking of development at both national and international levels. The analysis of two contrasting social development approaches guided by Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping in China since the second half of 20th century is set against such a backdrop. These two leaders have given the notions of social development two contrasting meanings which gave rise to different strategies and policies, although they might share the same long-term objectives. The below two set of dichotomies are to categorize the essential elements in Mao and Deng’s approaches to social development and to highlight and synthesize the differentiating nature of their approaches. There are many other dichotomies but this exploration will only specifically focus on: Collective versus Individual.

<Collective vs Individual>

Mao assumed that the pursuit of personal interests was incompatible with the collective interests and so with authentic social development, and thus must be discouraged. To Mao, collective effort and wisdom were the driving force of social change and socialist construction. Common interests were superior to individual interests and the collective spirit was powerful enough to overcome every difficulty and constraint in the course of development. The sacrifice of oneself for the sake of others and society was unavoidable and the great worth. The well-being of the individual must be hinged on that of the collective and the interests of the latter must be steadfastly upheld. Individual desire and preferences must not be encouraged to prevent the splitting up of society and the emergence of bourgeois elements and outlook. People were treated predominantly as elements of the collective, who owned the assets collectively, must contribute to collective interests, were amenable to collective leadership and entitled to an equal share of the benefits.

The formation of the commune system was promoted and facilitated the realization of collective values. It was created based on the elimination of the fragmented land tenure system based on private ownership strengthened by the land reform. Each commune performed a combination of political, administrative and economic functions, and was the primary unit to promote rural development. It opened up new possibilities for coordinated agricultural planning and modernization in such areas as water conservation, land reclamation and capital formation. More important, the commune was responsible for the provision of needed services to the rural population such as roads, sewers, electricity, local transportation, sanitation, parks, schools, clinics and recreation facilities, funded out of the local resources.

Deng was inclined to believe that the best way to arouse the incentives of the people was to allow them to pursue personal interests in a freer environment. The well-being of individuals largely hinged on their own efforts and abilities with the use of resources under their control. They were best motivated by supporting the aspiration to better meet their material needs and improve their living conditions. Those who were more capable should be permitted to earn more in the normal situation. An overwhelming weight was given to the role played by individual responsibility in the process of development in order to stimulate working incentives to the fullest. Material rewards were used as a means to recognize and reward different potentials and abilities of people on the one hand, and to differentiate their labor contribution on the other. The best way to improve people’s well-being was seen as resting largely on how to give their personal efforts full play. The individual was seen as the key element and force in development rather than collective endeavor.

The implementation of the “Household responsibility system” in the place of the commune system in the countryside marked the triumph of Deng’s individual approach to social development. Formerly collectively owned land and production means were redistributed to rural households, each of which was made the basic accounting unit, and lodged with the production decision making power. In this system, a farmer’s income hinged on how much he and his family could produce because the more crops the household could grow, the more income they could enjoy after they had fulfilled the tax obligations. They could make the production decision according to their own knowledge and perception, which would be much affected by the existence of the market economy. The responsibility for providing the needed services was assumed by the village and township governments. The essence of the system was the use of material rewards and autonomy to arouse individual incentives according the principle of “to each according to his work”.

The Italian Job (1969)

Posted on by Catharina Kim

The Italian Job is a 1969 British comic caper movie about a plan to steal a gold shipment. Charlie Croker, a Cockney gangster, has just left prison and now wants to do a ‘big job’ in Italy. He finds out that one of his friends has attempted to do a high risk job in Italy but was killed in a prearranged car crash in the Alps by the Italian Mafias. The wife of his dead friend tells Charlie about the original plans of her husbands, which was planning to steal 4 million dollars’ worth of Chinese gold in Italy, then escape to Switzerland with the gold. Charlie decides to do the ‘job’. As the plan is successfully flowing, Charlie, using three Mini Coopers, a couple of Jaguars and a mini bus, he hopes to steal the gold and escape to Switzerland. Charlie and the other fellow crews meet the rest of the gang, who had successfully sneaked out of Torino (a city in Italy), disguises as some football fans in the minibus. They celebrate and became drunk. The back of the bus starts to almost fall over the cliff and all the gold slide towards to the doors. As Charlie attempts to reach the gold, the gold slips further and the movie ends without telling if Charlie got to gold or not.

By looking at the ending, I think that one of the themes and messages of this movie is that it is important to concentrate until a ‘job’ entirely finishes. The actors mostly acted very naturally (like real life) but because this film was an action and comedy film, some lines and actions were exaggerated to make it more humorous. The best scene of this movie was the car chasing scene. As Charlie was using three Mini Coopers, a couple of Jaguars and a mini bus, there was an intense car chasing scene, which went through streets, buildings, rivers and rooftops of Italy.

1960’s Italy and the Manic in Accidental Death of an Anarchist

Posted on by Catharina Kim

1960’s Italy and the Manic in Accidental Death of an Anarchist

Accidental Death of an Anarchist is based on a historical incident that occurred in 1969 Italy. Giuseppe Pinelli, an anarchist railway worker, was arrested being accused of leading the bombing crisis in Milan. During police interrogation, he fell from a window of the Milan police station. Even though the official judgment and the police report of the crisis did not state any of the blatant inconsistencies and absurd contradictions, later investigations revealed the innocence of Pinelli and the corruption within the police and the government. Dario Fo recreates this whole incident through his play, mainly expressing the motives and irregularity of the police and the government. Accidental Death of an Anarchist captures the tense of the social situation in the late 1960’s of Italy, as well as giving a message about the dangers of abusing power. This is mainly expressed by one of the devices in this play, the Maniac, which is also the protagonist of the play.

The Maniac represents a dishonest interrogator, a policeman who is questioning amounts to coercion, entrapment and abuse. Also, in the way that he consistently contradicts himself, he reminds audiences of the ironical testimony of the police at the inquest and hearings that followed the real-life anarchist Pinelli’s death. The Maniac is a reflection, in other words, of the distortion of facts for which the policemen involved in the actual case that happened in Italy became known. The Maniac is a manifestation of the madness surrounding him and all Italians during a time of corruption and unrest in Italian life.

Language and Style of Family Ties

Posted on by Catharina Kim

Language and Style of Family Ties

Many of the short stories contained in Clarice Lispector’s Family Ties focus on a character whose daily life is shattered by a sudden epiphany. The best example is in the grocery shopping in Love and the family gathering in Happy Birthday. The protagonists in Family Ties are often housewives, who struggles to balance the demands of family or marriage with a less controllable life. For instance, in Love, Ana’s careful life breaks down when she is confronted with the wildness of the garden. Interestingly, the language used in Family Ties does not emphasize these characters and the epiphany.

Lispector’s subjective, lyrical prose, replete with metaphor and ambiguity, endows many of the stories with a dreamlike quality as the Lispector focuses on the rarefied world of her characters’ subconscious. In this way, form and content are blended perfectly in stories. The stories in Family Ties possess a style, in syntax, word choice, and metaphor, which often leans more toward poetry than prose. The language used in Family Ties are not conventional, straightforward but full of metaphors and ambiguity. Instead the narration paints more than it photographs, which means that the descriptions suggest more than it tells, and often seems to hide more than it reveals.

There are also many sentences and turn of phrases that does not seem to fit with the atmosphere. The use of images also have a great impact on ones who are reading the collection. Such images are usually found in the last sentences of each stories such as the last sentence of Love – “Before getting into bed, as if she were snuffing a candle, she blew out that day’s tiny flame”.

Overall, the language and style used in Family Ties makes the readers hard to clearly understand the story and the characters at the first sight. The ambiguity and metaphors does not straightforwardly deliver the story and gives this blurry image of the plot. The action and words of the characters are also not emphasized in this sense – which makes Lispector’s Family Ties more unique.

E.T. The Extra- Terrestrial (1982)

Posted on by Catharina Kim

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American sci-fi film about a boy named Elliott meeting an alien. This film not only has elements of sci-fi but also adventure and family, thus it is a multi-genre film. The director is Steven Spielberg and the lead actors are: Henry Thomas (Elliott), Robert MacNughton (Michael), Drew Barrymore (Gertie), Dee Wallace (Mary) and Peter Coyote (Keys).

The plot has a close relationship with the genres. Elliott, his brother Michael and his sister Gertie stays with an alien, which they name E.T., tries to help E.T. communicate with his home planet to help E.T. go back home. The elements of ‘family’ and ‘adventure’ are naturally melted down in this film but I think the element of ‘family’ is more dominant in many reasons. Elliott’s family is a single parent family, and looking at the scenes were Elliott is alone in the backyard of his home and when he is caring for his dog and etc., Elliott seems like he is very lonely. So I thought it was amazing how this boy not only gets attached to E.T. but also becomes closer with his family through the appearance of E.T. and the process of the ‘adventure’. I really liked how Spielberg portrayed the events in this film, the genres and the storyline were deeply connected, which was very insightful.

This movie was filmed from a child’s point of view, so the film was mostly shot from a lower camera angle. Since it was filmed from a child’s view, the adults were portrayed as overwhelming because children were only is tall as the waist or knees of the adults. Also the lower camera angle shots made the audience look from a child’s view, not only physically the child’s ‘view’ but also emotionally too. The audience sympathized with Elliott, for especially how he felt. When Elliott was sad, the audience got sad and etc. Moreover, the innocence of the children were emphasized so it was very touching, especially in the scene where E.T. and Elliott fly as they were riding a bike. So the effect of the use of lower camera angle and using the child’s view point was magical.

There are other few films directed or produced by Steven Spielberg, such as Jaws, the Indiana Jones series, Jurassic Park, A.I. Artificial Intelligence and etc. Probably the best film directed by Steven Spielberg is actually E.T. because it has multiple of genres that doesn’t make the story complicated and touches people by showing how Elliott grows as the story flows. The Indiana Jones series is focused on adventure so the plot is all about adventure, but in E.T., as Elliott grows through the adventure, interact with E.T. and his family, Elliott grows more mature and shows the theme of innocence of children during this process. The images and impressions from the movie still lingers in my mind.

About Me: Oranges and Wax Apple

Posted on by Catharina Kim

The reason why this blog is named ‘Oranges and Wax Apple’ is because it represents me. Now let me explain:

I was born in Seoul, South Korea but moved to the States (California) when I was 3 years old. After spending my whole childhood years in Cali, I spent some of my elementary school years in Korea.I thought I would graduate elementary school in Korea, but surprisingly I had to move to Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan. I went to Taipei American School (TAS), the second best international school in the world, and spent my middle school (6th-8th grade) years there. I thought I would stay in Taipei until I finish my freshmen year, but life is full of unexpected situations – I moved to Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China and started my freshmen year there. Shenzhen is China’s first special economic zone, which is right next to Hong Kong. Since Hong Kong is right next to Shenzhen, I frequently went to Hong Kong, so it could be said that I lived at both Shenzhen and Hong Kong. And, from Summer 2013 to today, I’m living at Korea going to a high school named Gyeonggi Academy of Foreign Languages. Quite complicated eh?

I moved around a lot, which made me have many values and cultures mixed up, which makes me different than other people. Well, I’m not saying that I’m totally different than other people, but it’s like I have similar values with different people. I have the States, Taiwan, China and Korea inside me.

This is pretty much why this blog is named ‘Oranges and Wax Apple’. Oranges represent California and wax apples represent Taiwan. I think the time I was in the States and Taiwan influenced me the most, especially in my daily speaking language, values, viewpoint and etc. Thus, it could be said that oranges and wax apples represent me! 🙂

開始

Posted on by Catharina Kim

[開始] is a Chinese word written in traditional characters pronounced as ‘kaishi’ and it is translated as ‘start’ in the English language. I am not Chinese-I am Korean-but I felt like writing the word ‘start’ in traditional Chinese but not in English, Korean or simplified Chinese.

I’m not so sure of where all  these mixed and complex feelings come from, dominate me and makes ironical situations. But one thing I am sure is that the reason why I am getting these feelings and why I am different than others (“unique”) is because I have lived in many countries that have different cultures, which made me have a unique mixture of cultures melted inside me, thus making me have my own unique view point and values. So it is difficult to define my life or myself in a sentence or a word, I guess I am too complicated and think a lot.

There are two main reasons why I started a blog: one is to organize my thoughts, and the second is because I want to get to know better about who I am and discover new aspects of me. I hope this blog answer my questions about myself and my life.

+ The image is a picture of the night view featuring Taipei 101, the tallest landmark in Taiwan. Taiwan is one of the countries that I have been to, and since the title of this post is written in traditional Chinese, which Taiwan uses, I have put this image with this post together. (I miss Taiwan so much! haha)