Open society!
Posted by: Elle on: September 20, 2009
Government officials in Shenzhen decided to respond to media in a open manner. They are changing their rules for the first time to allow journalists to have access on their government sites. This is one good example of open communication. There is open communication between the government, the journalists and the readers. In the past, Shenzhen’s government is rather sensitive to the information handled out by the media to the public only the information that they wanted to release to a submissive state-controlled media were allowed. This displays the limitation of one way communication which the readers would just accept what they saw from the news. They are depicted as passive targets.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_430493.html
In addition, it is an indication that China is moving towards an open society. I believe that Shenzhen’s initiative would push the country to be less corruptive and increase the transparency of govermental issues. China is developing due to its modernization drive but one concern that will hold them back is the relationship between the citizens and the government. An open society is necessary for the growth of a nation to reach greater heights.
Looking back at cases in 2008, where the Tibetans created commotion which rocked the country’s safety demonstrated the lack of active communication between the two. Communication cannot be achieved if there is absence of simultaneous exchange and mutual influence between the communicators. Open society can be achieved if the government trusted its people and executed their policies with high transparency. In this way, Citizens would then be appeased and build up trust in the politicians.
One message to bring across: Openness is linked to prosperity. Will China recognize the difficulty in realizing this principle? They have to if they want to bring their nation to a higher societal level not just verbalizing it.
16 Responses to "Open society!"
September 22, 2009 at 2:07 am
Hey,
I guess it’s going be really hard for the Chinese government to change from a Communist/ Bureacractic country to a Democractic society as after all they have stayed with the communist ideas ever since their last revolution.
Moving into an open society proves to be quite a difficult task as thousands and millions of people have to start taking in the idea of all information is open for all. The government is taking steps in cracking down on corrupted officials and part of this effort is due to media’ exposure.
Lucky for them, the new generation is supporting the idea of a democarctic society under the influence of other countries. But I don’t think China can evolve so rapidly into embracing an open media in just a few years. Baby steps still needs to be taken but it’s good that they are approaching it. 
Comment on mine too.
November 9, 2009 at 4:31 pm
I totally agree with you that it is indeed a drastic change for China to spearhead towards a more democratic society. Though it may be a bold step taken, but i believe as long as the relationship between the government bodies and the public can maintain mutual trust(this may take some time and only time can tell) it is still possible to achieve the degree of openness that they are looking at.
Personally, I think this change is feasible and will definitely bring benefits especially in exterminating corruption in the government. With more openness and transparency, more will be exposed to the public, be it good or bad. This will in turn garner more confidence, trust and support from the public masses in policies implemented by the government.
Thus, strengthening the bond between the government and its people and so a more cohesive society which will be beneficial for the progress of a country.
September 22, 2009 at 4:36 am
Hi there!
I liked your point when you mention that the Chinese government has to identify its difficulty in achieving an open society, which could be viewed as a hinderance to progress.
For a country that has always been rather legalistic and reserved, in terms of how freely they express themselves in public, I think it would take plenty of years to achieve the openness in the society. At least they took the first step! That’s great
Now let’s cross our fingers and hope that the Chinese government would not do anything that backfires.
September 22, 2009 at 4:36 am
Do comment at my blog too! Thanks 
http://becauseimacommstudent.blogspot.com
September 22, 2009 at 5:52 am
HI!!
Well, its been a long way for the Chinese- from being communist then moving towards democracy, its pretty tough making such changes. However, the Chinese should be given a fair chance even if it means them taking baby steps to their ultimate goal which is total “openness”. At least they appear to be trying now, so there might be a chance.
September 25, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I think it is indeed a good idea to turn towards a more open society.
However, I don’t feel that openess of a society does not really equate to prosperity. It is more of the ability to mould and adapt the country to advances around the world.
Kai Ting
September 26, 2009 at 3:39 am
I don’t quite agree that openness can actually lead to prosperity. Perhaps you might need to expand on that point. Let’s look at Taiwan, their society can be considered liberal and open, but they are plagued with many problems in their governance. Let’s look back at Singapore; I’m sure we can all agree that Singapore governance is conservative, even to the point of being draconian, but we’ve seen economic successes (at least till the recent economic slump which hit our national investments bad).
Of course that’s not to say that we shouldn’t look forward to a more open society. An open society becomes more inclusive; policies have room for debate and scrutiny; multi-cultural and multi-religious issues can be raised and discussed rather than to be kept behind closed doors and lead to a “can of worms”, etc.
Our Asian counterparts have taken steps to “open up”, and now China. I think it’s time for Singapore to also do more. That said, I believe everything should be done in moderation.
But I wonder if doing things in “moderation” leads to “moving too slowly”.
September 26, 2009 at 7:43 am
HI LINI!
I agree with you it is a good move by the government officials in Shenzhen to introduce Open Communication.
However, somehow this makes me think of Stomp, our citizen journalism in Singapore. This was a similar move by our government to introduce Open Communication. But i have NEVER been a fan of Stomp. In fact, i feel that it has more negative effects than positive. While it is a good move by the Chinese, the effects have yet to be seen.
Great post!
cforceleste.blogspot.com
October 5, 2009 at 1:55 am
I feel that it’s a good move for Shenzhen to introduce Open Communication. But given the history of China, and China being a such a big country, I believe it is still long before they really embrace and adopt this ideas completely. At least they have made a starting attempt and hopefully this would be good for them in the long run.
October 5, 2009 at 3:02 am
Allowing journalists to have access on their government sites doesn’t really open up the communications because whatever is put on the sites can still be closely controlled by the Shenzhen government. But allowing access means that the journalists and readers have more chances to find ‘problem’ with Shenzhen government. What this may lead to is hard to say, as not everytime the journalists and readers really want to find problem with the government. They just want to know more and make sure the governement is doing their best for them.
It is good that China is moving towards an open society, but we wonder how open should a government be at times. Remember the recent Tainted Milk case? It happened way before the Olympics was held but it was only after the Olympics did the world know about it. We can’t tell whether they have make the correct move or not. To many of us, we will prefer to know and stop the problem before it causes more harm to the people. But by keeping under the wrap, China may have make a cleverer move as the Olympic is still held there. And in the end, it may benefit more by sacrificing some. This may seems cruel but sometimes the government have no much choices either.
Well, I agreed that an open society is necessary for the growth of a nation and it is linked to prosperity. But, the correct amount of openness is important, as too much or too little may have adverse effect. Looking at the above mentioned case, can you imagine what the effect will be if the opposite happens? We cannot be too demanding at times as we may be wrong. We sometimes may miss a small detail and that why it may be better leave it to the government to decide. In this world, there are some things beyond our control, we just have to adapt to survive and not forget to be happy always. :>
October 16, 2009 at 3:01 am
while i think this is a good step towards the open society, the mindsets of the people still need to be changed. having lived in a conservative society for years, it takes time for the people to get accustomed to the new values and beliefs. it will not be easy, but it is definitely workable. i foresee this as a stepping stone for China to become the superpower as it exposes itself to the world.
November 6, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Hello! “Openness leads to prosperity.” I have to disagree on that, because openness can work both ways. Too much openness in communication, especially for a developing country towards a more developed country, could invite unwanted attention and lead to the other country imposing their culture on them (cultural imperialism) or even lead to foreign invasion. The more developed country may decide to take advantage of the developing country and also leech on its resources. Although benefits can be and are being brought to developing nations through more developed countries; I don’t deny that. Oh and… Perhaps we need to consider why China instilled this non-openness policy in the first place (before gradually opening up). There are social, political and economical reasons for this. Beyond the agenda of wanting to protect its power, I think the government (to a certain extent) also had the people’s interests at heart. Maybe at that point in time, when that policy was set up, non-openness was the best option to help China out of its economic, political and social instability. Through the years of progress, however, the needs of the country has changed, and that’s why the authorities are heading in a different direction.
November 8, 2009 at 3:11 am
I do agree with you that being open can indeed ease tensions between two parties. Such as, if north korea were to be open towards nuclear issues, i am sure that it can help to make its neighbouring countries less anxioous over the nuclear test carried out.
However, being open can also lead to more tensions. This is because people would be able to voice out their displeasure against any particular groups of people which they dislike which can in turn cause more chaos.
Bringing back to the point on China, I feel that it is difficult to totally eliminate corruption. This is because being such a large country, to be able to control every state, province and county would be impossible
Thus, i feel that this move can solve certain problems but only to a small extent.
November 8, 2009 at 7:20 pm
i just read an article 5 minutes ago that made me recall your post on open society..
http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/11/08/sph-an-insiders-confession/
maybe you guys can go and take a look.. it’s food for thought really.. what is repression really? what is freedom? what to do when freedom comes at a price?
=)
November 8, 2009 at 7:23 pm
of course i’m not saying that we should take whatever is mentioned at face value..
as of all internet (and print articles too).. it sets a food for thought.. but end of the day you need to read it carefully and sieve out biasness, stereotypes, and factual (or opinion) errors..!
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September 20, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Humans tend to hide things that they feel will have negative effects, be it upon themselves or other people. This is why people lie. Open communication may serve as a way for the people in Shenzhen to know more about their governments and participate actively in political issues, but sometimes, it brings problems like aggressive attitudes towards the authority using the shield ‘open society’.
Too many cooks spoils the broth. There are times when decisions need to be made without too many interferences.
Let’s hope that this policy will bring with it its desired benefits.