Chinese becoming arrogant, intolerant of criticism

BEIJING - A rapid increase of wealth in the past three decades has made Chinese people arrogant, they are no longer modest and talk with contempt about others, a social scientist has said.

Ye Hailin, a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, wrote in an opinion published in the People’s Daily that the Chinese people are no longer tolerant of criticism from the outside world.

While some countries say China shows its force too easily, Chinese people respond by saying that it is because those countries do not want to admit that China is growing in strength. When other countries say China’s strategic purpose is not clear, they say those countries do not understand the “philosophy of hiding one’s capacities and biding one’s time”.

“To sum it up, in recent years, Chinese people have formed such a fixed way of thinking: China is misunderstood by the whole world,” the revealing opinion piece said.

“We believe our environment and resources could provide an unlimited material basis for the economic miracle. We believe that water poisonous enough to kill fish is harmless for human beings. We start to believe our development model is unique.”

The way China has achieved its rise is not unique, he said.

China’s uniqueness is not well-grounded, but Chinese people have established the self-confidence that may be unique across the world.

This self-confidence is becoming arrogance and pride, which earlier did not exist in the blood of the Chinese nation.

“It is eroding the sense of the nation and polluting both its internal and external environment,” he says.

“As Chinese people, we can be confident, but never arrogant. We must respect the rules, admitting that the development of China has its conditions all the time, both at home and abroad,” Ye concluded.