"The Qin and Han Dynasties were heroic and heroic, and the romance of the Tang and Song Dynasties was passed down by Li Du. Thousands of years of glory and history, thousands of miles of mountains and rivers are majestic." - "Dream Back to China"
Our country is the same as India. In Asia, both countries have a large land area and one of the largest populations in the world. They are also among the four ancient countries with a long history and rich cultural heritage. Moreover, both of our countries were forced to open their borders due to invasion by foreign powers, and then entered the modern era. After the course of modern history, it began to strive to catch up and became an indispensable backbone of the international community.
Therefore, since World War II, it seems that we and India have been criticized by the world as a comparison of each other, and people in both countries also like to compare each other.
We can often see things like "How long will it take for India to catch up with China?", "The president of Yale University in the United States said he prefers Indian students", "Why do Indians always account for the high-tech talents in Silicon Valley?" Most "..." and other news reports, but Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew said: Don't always compare India and China, the two are not comparable.
Why did Lee Kuan Yew make these remarks? You must know that he is the founding head of Singapore and was once the supreme leader of Singapore. He has too many titles to give examples here, but the title of "Father of Singapore" is enough to prove his status. Even if he has retired, his His international influence is still huge. Former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon once bluntly said that he is an "Asian legend."
Why does Lee Kuan Yew think India cannot be compared with China? There are mainly the following reasons:
First of all, India's caste system inhibits its development in terms of social class.
The caste system in India is a social system based on the theory of blood. The hierarchy is very strict and is common in South Asia. Among them, India is the most serious. Today, India is still affected by the caste system.
Unlike the gentry and ministers in ancient my country, whether it is the scholar-bureaucrat class in the pre-Qin period or the later aristocratic system, social classes can actually be changed through acquired efforts. At the same time, this class division is not It is fixed but changes with family inheritance, but this is not the case in India.
The lower castes in India are too restricted and have no way to break through the ranks. Even though India has abolished the caste system from a legal level after independence from British rule, this influence still exists. People are born without When it comes to equality, even breaking down classes is difficult, so how can we work together to develop the country?
Secondly, India cannot compare with China in its reform and development process.
India became independent around the same time as the founding of the People's Republic of China. It declared itself a republic in 1950, but it was much later than my country on the road to reform. In 1978, my country's reform and opening up had already begun overnight. However, India was still seriously affected by the planned economy at this time. It was not until 1991 that India gradually transformed into a free market through foreign trade and investment.
We all know that India’s information technology talents are very outstanding and account for a high proportion in the Silicon Valley of the United States. At the same time, Bangalore in India is also known as the "Silicon Valley of Asia" and is the most developed city in Asia for information technology; However, looking at India's overall economy, we can find that the proportion of India's tertiary industry is still small. Two-thirds of the population still directly or indirectly rely on agriculture to make a living. Unbalanced social development has led to a huge gap in wealth distribution, which further curbs overall development of India.
Finally, India's state autonomy hindered India's development.
Like my country, India is also a multi-ethnic country. India has more ethnic groups than us, with more than 100 ethnic groups, but India is not as harmonious and family-like as our country. Although India has become independent, it is still a member of the Commonwealth and is greatly influenced by the United Kingdom. At the same time, India has state autonomy, with 27 states (provinces), 1 National Capital Territory, and 6 federal territories.
This kind of state autonomy is different from the state autonomy in the United States. Regional governments in India have a high degree of power. It can even be understood that the Indian Prime Minister may not necessarily be able to mobilize local leaders, which makes India unable to work together. ; Our country's democratic centralism not only ensures that the people are the masters of the country, but also ensures that the implementation of government decrees will not be sloppy, and all the people will work together to do great things, which is very beneficial to the long-term development of a country.
To sum up, although India has many similarities with China, the actual development is fundamentally different. This difference in concept and social form is based on the historical customs of a country, so There is no need to always compare India with China.