Urban Anguish at Declining Socialist Values South China Morning Post
By DANIEL KWAN
01/03/2000
Read the original article.
Most urban dwellers are disappointed by the country's
declining socialist values and division of wealth, a survey
has showed.
Some 2,800 families in more than 60 cities were asked
to identify 18 issues which caused them most
satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
More than 82 per cent said they were unhappy about
declining socialist culture and more than 80 per cent
were worried by the widening gap between the rich and
poor.
Other areas of complaint were unemployment,
poor-quality goods, lax environmental protection, law
and order, social welfare, and disrespect for the law by
cadres.
Their levels of disapproval were all above 60 per cent,
according to a report by the Hong Kong China News
Agency yesterday.
But the interviewees were happy about low inflation.
More than 60 per cent of the families said they were not
worried by price increases.
The country's international prestige ranked high on the
approval list.
They also gave the thumbs-up to the slowly recovering
economy.
Reforms have not only changed China's economic
landscape dramatically in the past two decades but also
destroyed most people's faith in communism.
This ideological void has been further eroded by
rampant corruption in the bureaucracy and forced
Communist Party bureaucrats to turn to ideals like
nationalism in order to buttress their authority.
The survey was jointly conducted by the State
Commission for Restructuring the Economy and the
China Academy of Social Sciences.
Will the McSpotlight Corp. post this, or is this another post that doesn't qualify as 'an alternative to Capitalism'?
