http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEOBJ1LK7kc
The United Nations Development Program recently released this video questioning various Chinese citizens, of many generations, about how they feel China should be like in 20 years from now. According to an article in Want China Times; "The randomly selected members of the public thus had the chance to share their vision for the future with more than 200 world leaders and thousands of delegates engaged in talks on sustainable development at the Rio+20 summit held in June in Brazil." Many requests were quite reasonable; for instants, not to stretch natural resources to their limit, no war, no terrorism and happy families. On the other hand, some issues that were brought up (most likely without the knowledge of anyone in political power) were quite shocking to hear, for the simple reason that many of these would never be seen as issues in Canada. Education was an important one and as one women puts it she wishes that "professional success will not be regarded as the main indicator of a person's success." Today, Chinese youth (15-24 years) have a 99% literacy rate and [Unicef, 2004-2008 data ] Chinese children typically start their formal education at age two. [ The New York Times “China’s Winning Schools?” Jan. 15, 2011 ] Many other surprising facts about the strongly intense education system can be spoken about, but how much is all this taking away from a genuinely happy life? If all that is to be done is study in order to get a job, to then work like a beast for the rest of your life... According to me, this is very important but should not be the absolute main priority of the people, nor of the government to in force this on the people.
Another topic that was brought up was that of the physically or mentally handicapped, which is in fact is something to pay attention to in every country because it is important that all citizens be treated equally regardless. One man says he wishes "That all mute people as well as physically and mentally challenged people can have equal opportunities for education and work."One young girl says; "I hope we will not be restricted to routines like I am." and another states that "People should dare to be adventurous; chase the girl you like, eat the food you want, make mistakes when you are young." I believe that although citizens cannot say as they wish about the Chinese Communist Party in power, the way they seam to describe the China they want is simple. A simple and just state where citizens are aloud to just "take it easy". More than three million people in China had taken part in the online conversation by the end of July to share their vision and make suggestions for a better world in the global The Future We Want campaign via social media.
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