Wal-Mart and China: a match made in Heaven

Wal-Mart and China seem to be a match made in Heaven. (Or “under the mandate of Heaven” as the Chinese say.) The sweat-shop king united with the world’s last fake communist giant.
The TV’s and other products we buy, where we are told that prices are rolled back, are rolled back because Chinese workers earn about 50 cents an hour, or as Time reported in “Wal-Mart Nation,” June 27, 2005, $100 a month to make those products.
But don’t feel left out, according to the article China has allowed Wal-Mart the opportunity to invade China and is promoting its “consumer vs. worker” philosophy there. According to the article “The worlds largest retailer isn’t just buying-and selling- stuff in Chine. It has become a major force for change.”
What does that really mean? Time had a number of special articles on China. It looked at their political system and the capitalist policies it has adopted in an effort to become a modern economic “player.”
Although they adopted a “free-wheeling- free-market” system that lets people enjoy US style affluence, Time pointed out that the affluence is not uniform. Under “A New China Rises,” Time pointed to individuals who have been left behind by China’s market economy. They live in deep poverty.
Then there’s the political side of things. Time admits there still is no legal opposition to the Communist Party and criticizing it can lead to either imprisonment or a marginalized existence were people become “A non-person.” Time gave such an example in “The Last Frontier, Almost anything goes these days-but you still can’t oppose the Communist Party. Will China ever really be free?”
One thing that Time left out was that it is just as illegal to be a left-wing Marxists as it is to be a so-called “rightists.” Since the Death of Mao Zedong, the far right has arrested, jailed and kept out of site any of the old “left-guard.” Under Mao, both factions had the right to exist and did exist all the way to his death. Mao believed in the Taoist principle that the unity of opposite was required to keep harmony. He favored the left, but allowed the rightist to keep their positions in power.
Today the left faction of the Party has bee completely suppressed and made illegal. It has been wiped out of the government all together. One example of a person who stood his ground and defended his beliefs was Zhang Chunqiao. He was arrested after the “Gang-of-four” trials. He refused to denounce his politics so he was sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to life-imprisonment. He remained unrepentant and spent the rest of his life in prison. See Revolution, May 22, 2005.