Asian values

1175 Words3 Pages

2. Tiananmen Incident The incident started when a students’ favorite pro-reform politician, Hu, died on April the 15th 1989. He was a Chinese reformer or so considered by many, due to the numerous policies that he enacted while on duty, as he proposed some changes to be done within the government, wanting to make this last one more transparent and removing some governmental control over the economy. All these changes done, made him very popular among people, especially students, many of whom were very frustrated with the bureaucratic, corruption and strict party control of the government by then. Thousands of people gathered together for a last good bye in his funeral. As more and more mourners came along to Beijing, small groups of people started clashing with the police. People began to feel very upset with the government's response to Hu's death as well as their long-standing grievances, for this reason, they started forming unions and committees to protest. Despite of this, the majority of the protesters still did not want the overthrow of the current party however, they claimed for serious reforms to be applied. Having said that, on April the 26th same, a turning point occurred when the party's official newspaper People's Daily issued a front-page editorial titled "It is necessary to take a clear-cut stand against disturbances, accusing in that way the "extremely small segments of opportunists" of plotting to overthrow the Communist Party and the political system. The statement infuriated students, who interpreted it as a direct indictment on the protests and its cause. Furthermore, the editorial backfired antagonized students against the state instead of enhancing them into submission; therefore, as many others started... ... middle of paper ... ...wever; hegemony of the dominant order is rarely contested. Nevertheless, Asian values are a set of ideals that mainly emphasize on the community rather than individuals’ that means, prevailing social order and harmony over individual freedom, an insistence on hard work, a particular focus on saving and thriftiness, a respect for political leadership, a belief that government and business not necessarily have to be natural adversaries, and at last but not least, an emphasis on family loyalty. However, Asian leaders and East Asian countries’ citizens mostly defend and follow these values. Within the context of the Confucian’s tradition such as hard work, an emphasis on education, pragmatism, self-discipline, familial orientations and collectivism, also contain some of the values already mentioned, despite the difficulties in application that those carry around.

Open Document