Friday, November 23, 2007

The Unharmonious Society

At my office, my colleagues on the whole seem to be a tight group.

They do lots of group activities, like play volleyball, basketball, go on company-organized outings and eat in the canteen together.

Everything's fine when everyone does his or her job. Nothing more, nothing less.

But once someone aspires for more or has an opportunity to get ahead, friendliness turns to hatred.

One of my coworkers is going to the United States in the next few weeks to get his Masters in mechanical engineering.

But he hasn't told anyone except me.

He told me that when other people resigned from the company, the ones left behind were very angry, jealous that others had a chance to get another job or go abroad to study. They were hardly supportive or inspired to work hard or try something new.

And he's worried the same will happen to him if word gets out.

He has told the company he's visiting his father in the US which is true.

But after a while, people are going to wonder why he isn't back. He naively hopes they'll forget about him so that they won't hate him.

So while President Hu Jintao keeps saying the mantra "harmonious society", repeating it over and over again doesn't have the desired effect.

They've become empty words in a place where people don't want their social order to change, unless it benefits them.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

with a huge population like china, competition is keen. this type of jealasy happens. even in every company, organization it is common . there is a chinese saying ' the same trade is like enemy'. just look at hollywood there are undercurrents among different groups of stars, producers and writers etc. also in politic it is the same. that is why there are so many different parties, tribes, relgious sects. this is just human.

ChopSuey said...

My parents used to tell me about how entire villages would save their money to send one boy to university, or to a Western country (usually the States) to a better life. In fact, my first cousins in Inner Mongolia still do that! Each of three families sent their only son (boy were they lucky) to the West (US, UK and Oz) and see them only 1 x every couple of years. Those left behind can only dream while they slog away.