‘I Used to Think of Beijing as a Place Full of Hope’

The Chinese Dream, deferred.

Sharron Lovell and Tom Wang
Sharron Lovell and Tom Wang
Sharron Lovell and Tom Wang

A dream, in the truest sense, is a solo act. It can't be created by committee or replicated en masse. Try as you might, you can't compel your neighbor to conjure up the reverie that you envision. And therein lies the latent, uncertain energy in the concept of the "Chinese Dream." As the new central motto of Chinese politics, introduced by President Xi Jinping in 2013, it is an expression of the Communist Party's attempt to acknowledge the aspirations of its people. At the same time, wittingly or not, it is a provocative invitation to the public imagination.

A dream, in the truest sense, is a solo act. It can’t be created by committee or replicated en masse. Try as you might, you can’t compel your neighbor to conjure up the reverie that you envision. And therein lies the latent, uncertain energy in the concept of the "Chinese Dream." As the new central motto of Chinese politics, introduced by President Xi Jinping in 2013, it is an expression of the Communist Party’s attempt to acknowledge the aspirations of its people. At the same time, wittingly or not, it is a provocative invitation to the public imagination.

In a country that has long defined its interests in collective terms, people are no longer waiting for their goals and sacrifices to be decreed from above. In Sharron Lovell’s insightful short film, she shows us the Chinese Dream not as a slogan but as the possession of the ordinary young men and women who will determine China’s future. A migrant worker from Henan who says of his austere life in the capital: "In Beijing, all I have is this bed." A farmer’s daughter who is determined to find the "space to imagine freely." And, an idealistic student who wants nothing more than to "truly improve the lives of ordinary Chinese people." They live in the age of the selfie, of headphones, of the smartphone video. Each shows us that, in a city with a population larger than that of Australia, it is possible to be both alone and awakened by the urge to dream.

Evan Osnos

 

Sharron Lovell is a multimedia storyteller and educator. She is currently based in Beijing.
Tom Wang hails from central China, where he studied multimedia journalism. Wang currently lives in Beijing, where he works on documentary projects.

More from Foreign Policy

Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.
Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak

Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.
Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage

The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.
A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine

The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi
Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi

The Masterminds

Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.