Chinas Transformation Offers Koreans Some Food for Thought
By Sunny Lee
Korea Times Correspondent
BEIJING ― Kim Hee-chul, a South Korean in Beijing, knows more about China than most Koreans. He was one of a handful who first came to China in 1992 when the two countries, then ideological adversaries, established diplomatic ties amid the post-Cold War thaw milieu. He has since stayed here, witnessing China's dynamic change.
``China has transformed colossally,'' said the soft-spoken Kim, who heads the Korean Community in China (KCC) ― an organization that represents some 800,000 South Korean residents in China ― the nation's largest expatriate community.
Koreans in China are spread through all corners of the land. The eastern coastal city of Qingdao, where South Korean-run factories are concentrated, has China's largest Korean population with 150,000. Qingdao is followed by Beijing with 120,000, and Shanghai with 80,000, according to KCC.
When the global financial crisis struck last fall, Koreans were among the hardest hit and some had to give up their businesses and return to Korea. But with signs of a recovery looming, Kim said, people are gradually returning.
During his almost two-decade stay in China, Kim has seen three notable changes that now characterize the Chinese people, ``They are more capitalistic, more individualistic, and more practical.''
He didn't get this information from a secret conversation with Chinese leaders. Kim discovered it by watching how Chinese airports are run.
``This is a country that applies different prices for the same flight route, depending on different times of the day. If you fly late at night, the price is much cheaper. In Korea, the price for the same route is fixed. In a sense, Chinese are more business-oriented, while Koreans are more socialist than Chinese,'' he said.
His discovery at the airport didn't end there.
``If you are a VIP flight ticket holder, you enter through a different gate at the airport. China is outwardly a socialist country, but people here have the mindset that someone who has paid more should deserve a better service. I find this mentality very capitalistic.''
Other Koreans also point out how much China has changed. A South Korean pastor in Beijing said: ``When I first came here in the early 1990s, foreigners had to buy things at designated places only, called Friendship Store.
``When I entered the shop, the female clerks there were chatting and they didn't even look in my direction. For them, it was as if I was not present there. When I asked for an item on the shelf, I was afraid that I might upset them for interrupting their conversation. That was how things were then. Now, when you walk into a shop, they rush toward you, often very persistent until you buy something.''
As in South Korea, private enterprises in today's China are regarded as the engine of the nation's economic growth. Now 70 percent of Chinese enterprises are privately owned, according to the latest report by the official Xinhua News Agency.
The changes are not just happening among the general public, but also in the government sector as well. And this is something that Kim finds particularly refreshing.
Recently, he visited a city in the eastern Shandong Province, called Dezhou. When he handed his business card to a senior local official there who carefully examined it. Upon discovering that Kim held advisory positions in other provinces, the official asked Kim on the spot to serve as an advisor for his city as well.
``He judged that I might be useful to them as well,'' Kim said, noting how Chinese officials today act like efficient businessmen.
Some observers call economic expansion the dominant national ideology in today's China, and the Middle Kingdom's public servants, particularly the provincial officials, are working hard to attract foreign capital in their area.
They offer various incentives, such as tax cuts as well as streamlined one-stop service, and pay a great deal of personalized attention to making prospective foreign investors feel comfortable, for example, by arranging a limousine service at the airport.
``It's quite impressive. The government officials are like salesmen. They are working hard. They are not like bureaucratic officials in Korea,'' Kim said.
As Koreans in China increasingly see Chinese public servants becoming more and more people-friendly and service-oriented, Korean residents begin to compare them with Korean public servants. They often express that Korean government employees could do better, given that Korea underwent democratic reforms some 20 years ago ― well ahead of China.
``I think Korean officials should learn from how their Chinese counterparts are catching up,'' Kim said.
The sentiment is echoed by Woo Su-keun, a South Korean professor who previously studied in Japan and now teaches at Shanghai's Donghua University. ``I think some Korean government officials are in a sense silly, in that they are prone to show off their power and influence in a very conspicuous manner. The Chinese or Japanese officials are different. They tend to keep their egos in check, although deep inside they have their own pride.''
Woo went on to say that the prevalent stereotype Koreans have about China as a ``one-party dictatorship'' could become an obstacle in correctly assessing the improvement China has achieved for the last decades.
Kim said China's unique way of tapping potential top-leader candidates early on and testing them for several years by having them go through different posts, could be a useful way to ensure a smooth transition of power. For example, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping is said to be tapped as the next president when incumbent Hu Jintao steps down in 2012, analysts say.
Woo also praised the collective decision-making process of the Communist Party's most powerful nine-member Politburo Standing Committee that deliberates the nation's key decisions.
``So, at the top level, it's always a consortium of nine people that decides. So, any extreme views are filtered in that process, meaning China is not likely to make an egregious mistake,'' Woo said, adding that the democratic process of selecting a new leader is a significant weakness because the new leader can completely disregard the predecessor's policy, leading to interruption of long-term national policy.
``These are just some of the things we've got to know because we live in China and we can compare the systems of two countries,'' Kim said, saying that as the Chinese quickly catch up, Koreans will expect their public servants to ramp up their dedication to public service.
``I tell this often to visiting Korean officials. I know my words may hurt their feelings. But I am an NGO person. It's my role to make constructive suggestions,'' Kim said.
For Kim, last year was a trying time as anti-Korean sentiment mounted.
Chung Shin-chul, a scholar on Korea-China cultural relations at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, recommended in recent research on the issue that Korean residents need to make more of an effort to integrate into the local community, rather than isolating themselves.
KCC has since been engaged in a vigorous public awareness campaign to bring the two neighbors' relationship closer by holding meetings designed to help create a mutual cultural understanding.
``We've been getting good responses as well as cooperation from our Chinese partners,'' Kim said.
The KCC is also engaged in many other activities, which support Korean business establishments. It also operates an emergency hotline for Korean travelers, and provides educational counseling for the 54,000 Korean students in China.
Lately, Kim is also paying special attention to a minority group among the Korean residents ― the elderly.
``I hope to build a Gyeongro-dang (a care center for elderly people) for them. I am discussing this matter with the Chinese,'' he said.