Chinese Social Structure

In Communist China there are many social structures, most of which are sinful. However, there are a handful of graceful social structures in China as well. One extremely prevalent sinful structure in China is that China mistreats and abuses its poor for financial gain. However, China has been taking small steps to allay its pollution problem; a graceful social structure present in China is the fact that the government realizes the problem and is taking steps to help. Human dignity is being violated by the sinful social structures existing in China. China’s poor are under constant abuse by the corrupt government. The thing that drives the economic success of the Chinese government is the abuse of the its impoverished and underclass individuals.
These poor people also go unprotected because “the government targets activists and their family members for harassment, arbitrary detention, … and torture” (World Report). As illustrated by the quote, the Chinese government doesn’t just ignore the impoverished, they actually work diligently to keep the impoverished in their current state. A key aspect of Catholic Social Teaching in understanding this is the principle of subsidiarity, subsidiarity acts as protection from abuses of high-level social authorities. In China the government is the highest social authority, this structure goes against Subsidiarity making it inherently sinful as it counteracts Catholic Social Teaching. Most importantly however, this social institution goes against the principle of solidarity; which states that human beings must work to unify everyone and create equality. Solidarity is arguably the most important aspect of Catholic Social Teaching, while the Chinese government should be doing everything they can to promote it within their society they actually attempt to destroy it. This is for the sole purpose of the financial gain of China’s exclusive upper class, with no regard for the wellbeing of its much larger lower class the Chinese government is purposely fighting against the principle of Solidarity. In the book of Matthew, it says to “give to the one who begs from you” (Matthew 5:42). This passage highlights the preferential option to the poor, that people must give special attention to those who are living in poverty so that they may ascend their low social class and aid society in other issues. China is doing the complete opposite of this, they actually try to make those who are impoverished descend into a lower state of being. The sinful social structure of exploiting those in need must cease in China, it is the only way for the country’s people to develop as a whole. While China has many faults, it has taken some strides to allay its environmental problem which is a graceful social structure. Although China’s process to alleviate the problem is still in its infancy they are taking strides, “Chinese communist party leaders convened a major plenary meeting to discuss economic reform, … and this year, energy and environmental issues were on the agenda” (Phillips). While these are not the most drastic steps China needs to take, the fact that their is a dialogue going on within the government is a monumentally beneficial step in the right direction. In the past, China’s main response to scrutiny has been to silence those who are voicing their grievances and ignore the problem. China is exemplifying the aspect of Global Duty in Catholic Social Teaching, China is trying to help its own country’s problems, but in the process it is also benefitting the world. Every country has a responsibility to keep the world environmentally clean and China is finally taking steps to do so. This graceful social structure also connects to subsidiarity because since China is going to discuss regulating environmental abuse, it will regulate the same abuse that the under class experience. They will be protected from the high level social structure of the Chinese government and will be able to more easily ascend into society. Common and good and human dignity are shown in both these structures.
In terms of the sinful social structure, the common good is hindered because the abuse of the poor stops those who are impoverished from reaching their full potential. This group experiences such heavy mistreatment that it is literally unable to even have a slim chance of lifting itself out of the situation that the government has created for them. This structure also violates human dignity because the social order within China does not work to benefit the human person; instead, it works as a hinderance to the human person so that it can benefit the significantly smaller upper class. This creates a social structure that has virtually no upward mobility at all. The graceful social structure relates to the common good because if China installs more regulations on environmental abuse, it will also allow the poor to transcend their current situation and become members of the society as a whole. The graceful structure also connects to the principle of human dignity, since environmental irresponsibility will be more controlled, the social order in China will not be so rigid. As a result, people will be able to lift themselves out of poverty within China.
China is filled with sinful structures, the most prevalent being the mistreatment of the oppressed. However, they are taking steps to reconcile these problems with the graceful social structure of realizing the problem and coming up with a plan to stop it. China’s problems will not be solved overnight, however, the gross irresponsibility that if often displayed by the government will only work to further these issues. China must take drastic action in order to save itself from its own
demise.