A Story told by Ms. Quan Meihua, A Citizen From China

During my time in Japan, I saved some money. I sent all my savings to my parents. Once in early 2000, my mother told me that she invested my savings in a grape growing business.

But when I returned China, not only the grape growing business was gone, most of my savings were also gone with the business. I wanted to know what had happened. I found that in 2000, my mother invested my savings into a relative¡¯s grape growing business. They leased a farm place, built two grape nursery houses, bought young plants, fertilizers, insect killers, and employed workers, etc. After the transplantation of the young plants, the third year was the year expected for making a profit.

But in 05/2003, the government real estate development program extended to the farm places. The compensation to the grape growing house was based on the amount of the trees and the years of the trees. There were 5000 three years old grape trees. But the government inspector¡¯s report said the trees were only two years old. The different was 20 Yuan compensation for a two years old tree, and 100 Yuan compensation for a three years old tree. It was my uncle¡¯s family who ran the business. But they lost the battle and lost the money.

But when I go to the countryside to visit my uncle¡¯s family in May 2004, I found things a little different. I found in the same year of 2000, several others also started growing the new type grapes. All the others were received their compensations for their three years old trees, which was 100 Yuan fro each tree. I was curious how could my uncle¡¯s family alone lost the battle when the three years old grape trees was compensated as two years old trees. My uncle¡¯s family people told me that the government officials just did that. They fought hard against the government miscalculations. But their efforts were useless.

I did not believe my uncle and his family. I thought my uncle¡¯s family tricked my parents and pocketed my money. I quarreled with them. Then they took me to the village officials. The village officials said that was true my uncle¡¯s grape trees were compensated as two years old. The village officials said my uncle agreed with the compensations. I asked why that could happen, my uncle asked the village officials to explain to me, but the village officials insisted that my uncle should explain to me himself. Right in the faces of the village officials, my uncle stated that the village officials decided that year (2003) that other people¡¯s grape nursery house was in significant scale, so the government had no problem to compensate their three years old trees. But my uncle¡¯s two grape growing nursery houses were huge, the government did not have the money to compensate him, after a bitter dispute, my uncle said he found hopeless but to take 20 Yuan for each tree.

That¡¯s it? It was a 400,000 Yuan difference (About 50,000 U.S Dollars). How my uncle¡¯s family just agreed? After left the village officials, my uncle finally explained that the compensation was not made by the village, but by the Longjing City industrial development department. The reason to compensate my uncle less was very simple: Other people was relying on their grape growing business to live, but my uncle¡¯s family was trying to get rich on their grape growing business. Plus, my uncle¡¯s business was invested by foreign money from relatives in Japan (that was from me), and it was easy for people to make money in Japan. So my uncle should understand the government was short of money, take less, and it was ¡°fair¡±. After the government threatened my uncle¡¯s family with getting nothing at all or take the 20 Yuan for each tree, my uncle ¡°agreed¡± to take the 20 Yuan deal. That was the truth I finally dug out.

I was angry about such things happened. I was extremely angry that nobody could even do anything about the unfair treatment and my uncle¡¯s family seemed just being forced to tolerate that. No matter how angry I was, I did not know what to do to deal with the already done deal. I talked to my uncle, to my parents, to my friends, nobody believed that we could fight the government and win.

Even after I arrived at the United States, I could never forget to think why the things happened to my uncle could the government officials called ¡°fair¡± and how could people just tolerate that.

Comments from CDJP (Written by Xu Gang, MBA from NYU)

When Western countries to consider and to accept China as a ¡°market economy¡± country, please do not ignore that by the China government, it is called its ¡°market economy¡± ¨C¡°Socialist Market Economy¡±. If you ignore the big, capitalized word ¡°Socialist¡±, you are like to make mistakes and to form wrong ideas.

Please also let me remind those western countries, even if you don¡¯t believe that China current top leader Hu Jingtao and his team is taking a left turn politically, economically and culturally, that ¡°socialism¡± is still being written in the China Constitutions as one of the Four Basic Principles not allowed anyone to challenge.

What happened in Ms. Quan Meihua¡¯s story was absolutely ¡°fair¡±, ¡°patriotic¡± and ¡°loyal to the government¡± under the ¡°Communist Guide Lines¡±, although it was absolutely intolerable in any of the Western capitalist countries. When Communism, Maxis-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thoughts are still being written in the China Constitutions as one of the Four Basic Principles not allowed anyone to challenge, and they are still being taught in schools, in the Communist Party member training facilities, what the China Communist government is doing is to let its government totally controlled businesses and institutions to use the confused ¡°market economy¡± to gain advantages in competing with private successful business, foreign owned business in China, international trade and international investment.

If you think China is already on the road to capitalism or capitalist¡¯s market economy, please think twice, and think about state capitalism can also become a tool for the Communist state to gain advantages over free capitalism. Thus, please be aware of ¡°socialist market economy¡± can have great advantages over ¡°free market economy¡±. You need to peal the skin to see what¡¯s inside.

And why officials are still making decisions based on true ¡°communist¡± theory and people in China like Ms. Quan Meihua¡¯s uncle still could tolerate? It is simply because ¡°Communism¡± and ¡°Socialism¡± were so deeply planted in the minds of the Chinese people.

Don¡¯t you still believe the China Communist Party Government¡¯s economic reform will lead China to the capitalist road? Or its time to consider that the economic reform may also help to strengthen a true Communist regime to prove it has advantages over free capitalist system, if private sectors and Western capitalists are not made being aware of this truth.

To some of our friends in the Chinese dissidents community: Do you know something more now that why ¡°market economy¡± and ¡°protect private property¡± were written in the CDJP principles?