As a Chinese citizen, I certainly don't want to admit it. China is always a great country to me. One of the best cultures in the world.
Recently, many kids suffer from the milk-powder scandal in China. Some died. It's heart-broken news. Certain monitoring institution didn't do their job to keep an eye on the quality of dairy products. This is not fresh news though. In 2004, four years ago, almost 12 babies died from malnutrition after drinking milk that contained no nutrients.
Every time such tragedy (or some of you may call it 'scandal' instead) happens, the government announces that they will reform the entire dairy industry. But we never see any visible change. Maybe a city mayor got sacked, but would the problem be addressed through firing government staff members only? I'll say never.
The fundamental issue is that we lack of an effective law system to monitor such industry as dairy. It's not because people in China are bold to commit crimes like that, but related laws are problematic and far from effective to prevent crimes. It calls for the attention of the government people to carry out new laws to stop food contamination.
But how long does it take to create rules and how many people have to sacrifice for the outcome? How many babies does a law cost before people make it? I can't wait to see China prosper in all aspects, not only a good-looking Olympics game.
Recently, many kids suffer from the milk-powder scandal in China. Some died. It's heart-broken news. Certain monitoring institution didn't do their job to keep an eye on the quality of dairy products. This is not fresh news though. In 2004, four years ago, almost 12 babies died from malnutrition after drinking milk that contained no nutrients.
Every time such tragedy (or some of you may call it 'scandal' instead) happens, the government announces that they will reform the entire dairy industry. But we never see any visible change. Maybe a city mayor got sacked, but would the problem be addressed through firing government staff members only? I'll say never.
The fundamental issue is that we lack of an effective law system to monitor such industry as dairy. It's not because people in China are bold to commit crimes like that, but related laws are problematic and far from effective to prevent crimes. It calls for the attention of the government people to carry out new laws to stop food contamination.
But how long does it take to create rules and how many people have to sacrifice for the outcome? How many babies does a law cost before people make it? I can't wait to see China prosper in all aspects, not only a good-looking Olympics game.
2 comments:
This may surprise you, but I don't think the fundamental problem is that China lacks a system of law. The problem is that China has become a free market society. Free markets give everyone an incentive to act selfishly, especially the people who sell things. If they can raise their profits by making a bad product, they'll do it - even if it kills people.
Think about the USA. We have a pretty strong system of law, but we have the exact same kind of scandals over dangerous or poor-quality products all the time. Not long ago a meat company was found to be adding sick cows to the meat supply (as well as horribly abusing the cows). When profit is the most important value, this kind of thing just becomes a normal part of the culture.
I agree that free market which has given people a "freedom" of making money poses a threat to the welfare of the whole society. But as for China, the most effective way of regulating free market is to make a strong law.
That's why America has less cases of such scandals than China, isn't it?
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