Looking back at a year of mixed blessings

Reform

Reform, reflection and redemption

Two stories bracketed 2013 for me, literally and metaphorically. The first, in February, dealt with Chinese hospitals' use - or lack of use, to be precise - of morphine, an effective analgesic for terminal cancer patients. The second, at the end of the year, took a retrospective and often hard-to-bear look at the 50-year practice of laojiao, or "re-education through labor", an extra-legal means of confinement.

Apart from the emotional maelstrom these topics generated for a reporter drawn into their orbits, the medical story and the political one share another common aspect. Both issues have their roots in the past: the Opium War in 1840 and events in the years that followed gave rise to China's enduring morphine-phobia. Meanwhile, the intense - many would say insane - ideologically centered political turmoil against the rightists of the 1950s and '60s fuelled the laojiao system. While morphine, for medical use, has taken on a political aspect in China, the resolution of the social, legal and political problems will require an anatomical approach that probes deep below the surface to reach its core.

When faced with members of a fast-dwindling group, men in their 80s and 90s who fought the invading Japanese 70 years ago, the strongest emotion I felt was guilt. For these men, the end of World War II meant the beginning of nearly three decades of suffering. They are the veteran Kuomintang soldiers whose triumphs and travails informed my September story Old Soldiers Receive a Badge of Recognition. In July, the government announced that all surviving KMT soldiers would be incorporated into the social welfare system, providing them with the same treatment formerly reserved for Communist soldiers who fought in the war. It's a belated apology to these national heroes, one that should evoke a mood of contemplation, rather than celebration.

The apology has been made not only by the State, but also by individuals who've finally confronted their pasts.

On Oct 7, Chen Xiaolu, the son of Chen Yi, one of the founding generals of the People's Republic of China, made an official apology to his former teachers at Beijing No 8 High School. As a youngster, Chen openly denounced them as "rightists" at the beginning of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). "Perhaps the time has come to redeem myself while I still have the chance," said the 67-year-old.

For many, 2014 is a year to look forward, by looking backward and inward.

The Party struck an emphatic note during the Third Plenary Session in November. Laojiao, a system in place since 1957, was thrown into the dustbin of history and many hope it will stay there forever. Throughout the monthlong interview process, I was most alarmed, and saddened by the words of He Fengming, a retired professor of Chinese whose "rightist" husband died on a laojiao farm in 1960. "Even with all the terrible things, none of us questioned the system or our fate back then," she said.

While it's hard for anyone to look at his or her own era from a distance, it's worth noting that, like flowers, free, independent thought needs soil in which to grow and bloom.

Keeping that type of thinking in mind could be an engine for continued reform; the government should work toward building a more open, congenial environment, both socially and politically. The Party's courage in delving into the controversial parts of its past may also enable it to rise above controversy in an effort to meet the future.

While talking to You Guangcai, a 94-year-old KMT veteran, at his Beijing home, I discovered a recently written article on his desktop, written with the same bravery and belief with which he once fought. The title: A Chinese Dream. "For the past century and a half, China has passed close by its dream many times," he wrote. "But despite, or maybe because of, what I've experienced, I've learned to dream a dream. This time, for one last time in my life, could this dream become reality?"

Further reading: Morphine: What the Doctors Administered, published on Feb 25, Veterans: NGOs Push Case for KMT 'Heroes', on Sept 24 and Laojiao: End of the Road for a Controversial System, on Dec 11