There are reports of tens of thousands of riots every year in China. It is easy to jump on the bandwagon and decry the social system there, saying it is full of injustices peculiar to commie regimes, and it is terrible that rioting discontented citizens are shipped off to jail for expressing their unhappiness, blah, blah blah... I recall my English Industrial revolution history lessons (Luddites, deportation to Australia, mob rule) and perhaps we shouldn't be so quick to judge.

Industrial Revolution on TV

The Chinese are in the early stages of an Industrial Revolution, and with over 1 billion participants, it is no wonder there are such violent rifts in a huge society in flux. Uneven progress, disproportionate distribution of wealth yadda yadda are part of a fairly common pattern in the history of industrial revolution. Admittedly, the behavior of the authorities isn't acceptable from our cotton wool-wrapped perspective, but the only difference between the English and the Chinese experience is timing. This time, it is repeating before our very eyes in 2007 in glorious technicolor. Nasty, isn't it!

History repeats

In 2005, the Peking Duck reported a riot in their local town, where people revolted against corrupt officials and the practices of a pharmaceutical plant. It is like a repeat performance of English farmers burning down looms. Just no cameras to capture the moment.

A report from The India Daily, a paper writing out of a country that never has riots, relates,

Tens of thousands of villagers in China’s Zhejiang province rioted against police and security forces April 10, leaving some 50 police officers hospitalized, according to April 11th reports. The clash started after police tried to dislodge 200 elderly women from a camp they had established to protest pollution at an industrial site in Huankantou village, Dongyang city.

Again, a similar story, different time - women protesting about nuclear pollution in rural England in the 1980's had quite a bad time of it too. As did coal miners....Funny how we can move past periodic violent undemocratic behavior in the West, but somehow, unpleasant behavior elsewhere is really really bad and no good comes of it whatsoever!

Overall

The last time I looked, civil unrest is part and parcel of revolution. On the plus side, though, apart from rioting, positive progress is happening in China. 300 million fairly well off people now. Not bad. I have no idea if or when China will become tinsel town, but, if trade brings empowerment, the average Chinese worker will be better off, eventually.

Anyway, nothing is simple. We who buy trainers and cheap furniture are part of the process that drives people who work for pennies to rebel. And you can bet your bottom dollar that foreign CEOs turn a blind eye when rioting workers get a good hiding for revolting undemocratically against rich paymaster companies and powerful officials.