OPINION

The Michigan Daily
Vol. XCV, No. No. 46-S
95 Years of Editorial Freedom
Managed and Edited by Students at
The University of Michigan
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the
Daily Editorial Board
Recycle bottles
W E LAUD the state of Michigan for recent moves to
clean up our lakes and rivers and to up-stepconser-
vation of energy and resources by making beer and soda
bottles returnable. But there is still much to be done for
conservation and we endorse the bill that proposes to add
California Wine Coolers to the list of recyclable items.
The wine cooler business is a big growth industry, said
the bill's sponsor, Senator William Sederberg (D-East
Lansing). Last year 1.7 million gallons of wine coolers
were sold in Michigan. Ultimately all of the empty bottles
must be disposed of and simply tossing the empties into a
landfill is a waste of space and resources.
Since the bottle law was enacted in 1978, solid waste in
Detroit was reduced by 5 percent. One out of every 20 lan-
dfills that would have been built before the '78 law didn't
have to be built after the law was passed.
Opponents of the bill that is s ^heduled to be considered
by the Senate at the end of September complain that prices
will rise and they will not have enough room to store the
returnables. They were also concerned with the health
risks that accompany the handling of dirty bottles.
However, a clause in the bill allows store owners to
reject wet or dirty bottles. Although prices may rise
because delivery trucks. will have to make more deliveries
in order to save room in their cargo space for the retur-
nables, the increased cost is negligible when compared to
the conservational perks.
Energy consumption is reduced by recycling because
bottles made from recycled material use less energy. Lit-
ter on the streets has also been lessened considerably since
the enactment of the law.
The mandatory deposit provides incentive for people not
to toss their empty beer and soda bottles into the streets.
The bottles that do litter the streets are usually picked up
by enterprising youths or street people who collect the
refund.
As for the gripe that storage space in the stores will be
cramped with all the returnables - it is better for storage
space to be filled than for the ground and streets to be filled
with recyclable bottles.
The Michigan Daily, encourages input from
our readers. Letters should be typed, triple
spaced, and sent to the Daily Opinion Page, 420
Maynard, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109.

Tuesday, August 6, 1985

Page 5

Capitalism, Confucianism, and
Communism co-exist in China

By Franz Schurmann
When conservative California
governor George Deukmejian
decided not to attend the festivities for
visiting Chinese president Li Xian-
nian, that reminded Americans that
China is still a Communist country.
Yet for the past decade, the media
have been portraying a China
gradually abandoning its Marxism to
open up to the West and rediscover its
Chinese roots.
The values of Marxism, Western
consumerism, and Chinese
traditionalism are utterly incom-
patible. It seems unthinkable that
China could accommodate all three.
Yet looking at the China scene today,
that is exactly what one sees.
DESPITE SOME official hints that
Marxism is not applicable to current
conditions, the Chinese leadership
remains staunchly Marxist in its
values and thinking. Marxism per-
vades the educational system, and the
Chinese Communist Party remains
the dominant institution.
At the same time, Western ideas
and products are pouring in. Chinese
farmers are snapping up color TV
sets, and TV is spreading like wild-
fire. China even has a "Dallas"-like
serial with people breaking their
necks to catcllthe latest episodes. The
spiraling presence of foreigners and
especially affluent Overseas Chinese
has affected ordinary Chinese with
the world's most powerful cultural
force, capitalism consumerism.
Yet China's roots are again begin-
ning to sprout. In most provinces,
temples and shrines are being refur-
bished. Confucianism - which
Chinese Communism once regarded
as a fearsome ideological enemy - is
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making a comeback. The classics
feature prominently in the tidal
waves of books rolling off the presses.
Scholars are again treating Con-
fucianism with respect.
THE NEW pluralism of ideas and
values arises from the dominant
pragmatic mood that now prevails. It
is exemplified in Deng Xiaoping's most
characteristic slogan: "Who cares if
the cat is black or white, so long as it
catches mice."
Yet only a decade ago, anybody
considered infected with capitalism
or Confucianism was brutally houn-
ded. And all of China's printing
presses ground out only one book: tens
of millions of copies of the little red
bible of Mao's quotations.
Conservatives cannot believe China
could have changed so radically inso
short a period of time. But it has, and
the explanation has to do with a deep
sense of history that most educated
Chinese share.
FOR CENTURIES, the Chinese'
have believed that human history
proceeds in cycles of war and peace.
Mao Zedong, the man who shaped
Chinese Communism, believed the
contemporary world was marked by
an era of war.
As a soldier, Mao developed widely
admired tactics of decentralized
guerilla warfare. But he also believed
that guerrilla armies had to be held
together through ideological unity.
Alien ideas were not allowed because
they could soften the will to fight.
When Mao's beliefs were carried over
to civilian Chinese society, they
created one of the world's most
totalitarian societies.
But the post-Mao leadership began
to change its mind about the era of
warfare when, first, the U.S. turned
from foe to friend. Then the Soviet

Union once again began soliciting
Chinses friendship. Internal op-
position has mostly vanished, while
'once deeply anti-Communist Over-
seas Chinese flock back to the
motherland to do business and
resume family ties.
Even as the U.S. and China nor-
malized relations in 1979, Deng also
decided to experiment with his "four
modernizations" in a pluralistic con-
text. Six years later, Deng could tote
up stunning results: farm output
zoomed, life expectancy rose rapidly,
standards of living rose in rural areas
and were getting better in cities,
residential and commercial construc-
then took off. China was finally on the
move.
Throughout China's history, eras of,
peace have been marked by
pluralistic tolerance.Confucianism in
such times easily shared the cultural
space with other creeds. Marxism
will remain the official ideology. But
the spirit of capitalism and con-
sumerism will spread, linking up with
age-old Chinese trading traditions.
And Confucianism will continue to
make a comeback because it is so
deeply rooted in the Chinese family
system which has survived the shocks
of revolution and war.
Conservatives make the mistake of
refusing to see that people, things and
countries change. Circumstances
changed and so has China. Americans
might wonder whether Deng's
reading of current history also ap-
plies to the rest of the world.
Schurmann is co-editor of the
China Reader and author of
Ideology and Organization in
Communist China. He wrote this
for Pacific News Service.

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