Chasing The China Dream Analysis

Chasing the China Dream: Reflecting Back, Looking Ahead
Memorializing history can be a difficult task for any nation to undertake. Finding a proper balance between paying respect for past accomplishments, without glossing over the mistakes and failures that also occurred along the way, requires an unbiased perspective. The Chinese have built up millennia worth of history in their native land and as a result, these triumphs and tribulations are vast. Current government leaders have attempted to come to terms with this history in a way which both encourages national pride while recognizing painful lessons learned. China’s history is one that is not only comprehensive but also one of deep confliction due to foreign influence. There are no shortage
China’s modern history has been marred by a series of different foreign conflicts that have largely shaped the country’s international policies today. The Opium Wars, which first occurred in 1839 set off a time frame, which Chinese historians now refer to as a “Century of Humiliation”. The Opium Wars took place as a result of British merchants introducing Opium into the Chinese mainland. This new drug wreaked havoc on the people as many became addicted and the traditional inflow of money from foreign investment had been replaced with deficits created as a result of demand for the Opium. The movie, “The Opium War” depicts how Chinese leaders such as Lin Zexu were ashamed of how quickly the people had fallen under the influence of this foreign drug trade and quickly sought to restore national order by expelling the British merchants from their shores. The British were unhappy with the prospect of
Every story of success comes from smaller chapters of pain, suffering and hardship, but it is the enduring of the humiliation in the past two centuries and still prevailing that allow the Chinese to be proud of their heritage and history. The information found in movies such as “The Opium War” which was made by Chinese producers depicts a country that heroically fought to maintain national character. The future of China and how the Chinese people see their own history is currently at a crossroads as the citizens strive to enter the global community. One of the memorable quotes from the Shanghai Historical Museum is “The reason for our looking for the past traces of Shanghai now is to the know the yesterday, think today and spur on ourselves tomorrow rather than to have a nostalgia for the past prosperity.” China’s ambitions have always been tangled by a sense of national identity, a complex relationship that has and will continue to have a major influence on the national viewpoint toward history. Despite the “Century of Humiliation”, and the backwardness China has experienced, the country is continuing on to the path of modernization and their sense of pride and China Dream is definitely greater than ever