Berkley Center

As a former competitive debater, I thought I’d already defended pretty much every position out there. Turns out, not so much.

A few weeks ago I sat across from my professor in a discussion class that included only one other student, trying to explain to him just why colonialism was really, really, universally acknowledged to be quite bad. Really.

"Really?" My professor was confused. "Can you give me any examples of where colonialism has gone wrong?"

My fellow student and I look at each other, overwhelmed. Where to begin? Africa and Europe? Or perhaps the later expansion into the Americas and Australia? Or how about Southeast Asia? Small pox blankets, viral plagues, slavery, displacement, genocide—we were dumbfounded.

Growing up, we were taught that colonialism is wrong, that it’s about exploitation and dehumanization, and that it leaves scars and squalor in its wake. This idea is so firmly embedded into our Western mindset that it took us a few seconds to truly process the fact that our professor was asking us to actually explain to him why colonialism is bad. We did our best, stumbling through our broken Chinese.

My professor presented a different view. Chinese people don’t grow up with the histories of African exploitation or indigenous genocides in their textbooks. They grow up with their own history of a communist revolution that resulted in widespread suffering, and the consequential uphill battle to regain economic footing. In China, almost everything can be judged in terms of economic development. And that’s exactly the ruler used to measure the idea of colonialism.

Take Hong Kong, the only city in China to have received a lot of Western influence and development in recent history. Nowadays, it’s one of the cleanest, most successful cities in Asia. People flock to visit, to live there, to reap the benefits of its Western influence. Take Taiwan, which had come under America’s wing after the Second World War. Isn’t Taiwan just a more democratic, cleaner, more evenly developed version of China? Or what about Japan, which had been rebuilt under the guidance and assistance of America? During the 1980s and 1990s Japan thrived while China looked on with confusion and envy. My professor laid out these examples.

When examining colonialism, perhaps China looks with envy to its near neighbors who had received aid and guidance from Western nations during the Cold War. Perhaps, in the context of its economic and social failures during that same period, Chinese people wish that they had received some more Western influence themselves. And even now, China’s path of development and its rise to the world stage have been coupled with its Westernization.

Of course, it can be argued (and on that day, we did argue) that the examples my professor gave may not actually be examples of colonialism, that these examples are not the normal results of colonialism, and that colonialism usually follows or causes violent conflict. But still, when thinking of developed nations’ attempts to acquire control over another nation’s development and economy, perhaps the Chinese are inclined to think positively. Or perhaps that’s just my professor.

But this has lead me to reflect on China’s position today, not as a nation that would welcome Western intrusion, but as a nation that justifies going into Africa and exploiting the people and resources there. Do Chinese people genuinely believe that their presence in Africa will bring prosperity and stability?