作者：易勇

编辑：钟然 校对：熊辩 翻译：彭小梅

        长期以来，中共叙事将中国的经济成就归功于其政权领导。通过对东亚文化底层逻辑的深度剖析，中国人的竞争力源于几千年极端环境筛选出的“生存基因”与“延迟满足”能力。对比日、韩、台、新等东亚经济体的成功，揭示了中国大陆经济腾飞的真相，并非制度神话，而是民间力量在政权权力稍作松绑后的自我修复与爆发。

        观察整个东亚文化圈，日本在废墟上仅用20余年便跃居世界第二大经济体；韩国、台湾与新加坡在缺乏资源的前提下稳居发达行列。这些地区从未经历过共产主义的教条统治，却同样实现了跨越式的腾飞。

        究其根本，东亚文明真正的核心竞争力在于一种被极端历史环境筛选出的“生存优势”。华夏大地在两千多年间经历了密集的战乱、屠杀与大饥荒，这种残酷的自然选择，使得活下来的族群骨子里刻着极强的耐受力和“延迟满足”的能力，为了长远目标，可以忍受当下极端枯燥、高压和艰辛。这种特质，才是中国人在现代工业体系中无往不利的“核动力”。这种力量早在政党诞生前就已存在于我们的血脉中，它不是权力的恩赐，而是祖先用血汗拼杀出的生命本能。

        中共常吹嘘1978年后的经济成就，却刻意回避了前三十年的荒诞与残酷。在那段黑暗时期，政权通过政治运动打断了中国人的腿，禁锢了百姓的双手。

        1978年后的所谓“崛起”，本质上根本不是什么“制度神话”，而是这个政权终于在崩溃边缘意识到，只要不再折腾，只要松开枷锁，让中国人融入全球化分工，中国人民就能凭借自发的勤勉养活自己。这就像是一个劫匪在打断你的腿后送你一副拐杖，然后每天在你耳边宣称，没有我，你就无法走路。中国人民的成功，完全是由于他们巨大的吃苦耐劳能力抵消了制度性阻碍。如果同样的文化土壤配合自由、法治的制度，产出的能量绝非今日所能比拟。

        讽刺的现实在于，在所有以华裔为主的经济体中，中国大陆的人均GDP依然处于落后位置。新加坡的人均产出是大陆的数倍；港澳台的富足也是不争的事实。同样的文化基因，为何在所谓“先进制度”下，百姓却要承受全球最长的工时、最薄弱的福利和最沉重的税收负担？       

        真相是中共的宣传掩盖了其掠夺性的本质。他们利用中国人的忍耐力，将劳动力压榨到极致，却将创造的财富挥霍在维稳、大撒币和权力寻租上。他们不仅掠夺了财富，更试图掠夺“解释权”，把中国人的坚韧说成是他们的教化，把中国人的成功说成是他们的功劳。

        拆穿这个“没党就没饭吃”的自卑骗局，中国人的成功，是几千年苦难筛选出的基因力量，是每一个在工位流汗、在烈日下奔波的普通人挣来的。

        历史已经证明，没有那个政权，东亚人照样能惊艳世界。认清这一点，不仅是为了戳破谎言，更是为了让每一个中国人拿回属于自己的，本就不该被窃取的尊严。

Tearing Away the Fig Leaf of “Institutional Superiority”: Who Is Harvesting the Sweat of the Chinese People?

Author: Yi YongEditor: Zhong Ran Proofreader: Xiong Bian Translator: Peng Xiaomei

Abstract: China’s economic achievements stem from the endurance and capacity for delayed gratification embedded in East Asian culture, rather than from institutional superiority. The so-called “rise” is in fact the release of popular forces after partial loosening, while the regime conceals its predatory nature and monopolizes the power of interpretation.

For a long time, the Chinese Communist Party’s narrative has attributed China’s economic achievements to its political leadership. Through an in-depth analysis of the underlying logic of East Asian culture, the competitiveness of Chinese people originates from “survival genes” and the capacity for “delayed gratification” shaped by thousands of years of extreme environmental selection. By comparing the successes of East Asian economies such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore, the truth behind the economic takeoff of mainland China is revealed: it is not an institutional myth, but rather the self-repair and eruption of popular forces after a slight loosening of state power.

Looking across the entire East Asian cultural sphere, Japan rose to become the world’s second-largest economy in just over twenty years from the ruins; South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore, despite lacking resources, have firmly ranked among developed economies. These regions have never experienced the doctrinaire rule of communism, yet they have achieved similar leapfrog development.

At its root, the true core competitiveness of East Asian civilization lies in a “survival advantage” shaped by extreme historical conditions. Over more than two thousand years, the Chinese land has experienced dense warfare, massacres, and great famines. This harsh natural selection has left the surviving populations with deep-seated endurance and the ability for “delayed gratification”—the capacity to endure extreme monotony, high pressure, and hardship in the present for long-term goals. This trait is the “nuclear power” that allows Chinese people to thrive within the modern industrial system. This force existed in our blood long before the birth of any political party; it is not a gift of power, but a life instinct forged through the blood and sweat of our ancestors.

The Chinese Communist Party often boasts about the economic achievements after 1978 yet deliberately avoids the absurdity and cruelty of the preceding thirty years. During that dark period, the regime crippled the Chinese people’s legs and bound their hands through political campaigns.

The so-called “rise” after 1978 is essentially not an “institutional myth” at all, but rather that this regime, on the verge of collapse, finally realized that as long as it stopped tormenting society, loosened its shackles, and allowed Chinese people to integrate into the global division of labor, the Chinese people could sustain themselves through their own diligence. It is like a robber who breaks your legs and then hands you a pair of crutches, while proclaiming every day that without him, you would not be able to walk. The success of the Chinese people is entirely due to their immense capacity for hardship, which offsets institutional obstacles. If the same cultural foundation were paired with a system of freedom and rule of law, the energy produced would be far beyond what we see today.

The ironic reality is that among all economies dominated by ethnic Chinese populations, mainland China still lags in per capita GDP. Singapore’s per capita output is several times that of the mainland; the prosperity of Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan is also an undeniable fact. With the same cultural foundation, why must ordinary people under the so-called “advanced system” endure the world’s longest working hours, the weakest welfare, and the heaviest tax burdens?

The truth is that the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda conceals its predatory nature. They exploit the endurance of the Chinese people, pushing labor to the extreme, while squandering the wealth created on stability maintenance, indiscriminate spending, and rent-seeking tied to power. They not only plunder wealth but also attempt to seize the “right to interpretation,” portraying the resilience of the Chinese people as their own cultivation, and the success of the Chinese people as their own achievement.

To expose this inferiority-driven illusion that “without the Party, there would be no food to eat,” the success of the Chinese people is the genetic strength forged through thousands of years of hardship, earned by every ordinary person who sweats at their workstation and toils under the blazing sun.

History has already proven that without that regime, East Asians can still astonish the world. Recognizing this is not only to pierce through falsehoods, but also to allow every Chinese person to reclaim the dignity that rightfully belongs to them and should never have been taken away.