I have been distracted of late by US politics and the economic crisis. Thus, I have not commented on the milk contamination scandal in China. Bottom line: Chinese diary producers, as many as 22 companies, have been adding a toxic industrial additive, melamine, to their product, in order to simultaneously water down the milk while maintaining what appears to be adequate levels of protein. Melamine can cause renal problems and kidney stones. Three children have died as a result, and more than 50,000 people have been treated for health problems. This is a gigantic story in China; informative posts can be found at Imagethief (this one, too), The New York Times, and China Digital Times. Roland has translated some things, too.
Mencius would be furious. On first consideration, he would see the same underlying problem here as the US economic crisis: an inhumane obsession with profit. Indeed, I could cite the same passage that I used a few posts ago as the beginning of the Mencian critique:
"Don't talk
about profit," said Mencius. "It's Humanity and Duty that matter.
Emperors say 'how can I profit my nation?' Lords say 'How can I profit
my house?' And everyone else says 'How can I profit myself?' Then
everyone high and low is scrambling for profit, pitching the nation
into grave danger." (1.1)
The milk producers are scrambling for profit when they spike their product with melamine. The bureaucratic overseers are consumed by profit when they let things slide (the first complaints surfaced last year but nothing was done to follow up), perhaps because they are on the take, or because they do not want to disrupt economic growth generally. And the Chinese media is captured by profit when they, too, look the other way, maybe upon orders from higher level political authorities, so that they will not embarrass the Party or nation in the run up to the Olympics, or court being shut down by government censors. No one comes out of this looking good.
Mencius would push the critique further, however. The public officials, at all levels, who were aware of the problem but avoided it would be singled out by him for particular condemnation. They are supposed to be looking after a broader public good, ensuring that the people have sufficient food and material necessities for the enactment of Duty and Ritual and Humanity. We might expect the venal milk producers to be "little people," of questionable moral character and in need of education by exemplary virtuous leaders. But those in positions of power have fundamentally failed in their public duty. They have not set the proper example and children have died and people have been sickened because of it. That is the very definition of inhumanity, for a Mencian:
Prince T'ien asked: "What is the task of a worthy official?"
"To cultivate the highest of purposes," replied Mencius.
"What do you mean by the highest of purposes?"
"It's simple: Humanity and Duty. You defy Humanity if you cause the death of a single innocent person, and you defy Duty if you take what is not yours. What is our dwelling place if not Humanity? And what is our road if not Duty? To dwell in Humanity and follow Duty – that is the perfection of a great person's task." (13.33)
It's simple, but government officials at various levels in China did not do the right thing.
Covering up the problem merely compounds the immorality:
…But in ancient times, when the noble-minded made mistakes, they knew how to change. These days, when the noble-minded make mistakes, they persevere to the bitter end. In ancient times, mistakes of the noble-minded were like eclipses of the sun and moon: there for all people to see. And when a mistake was made right, the people all looked up in awe. But these days, the noble-minded just persevere to the bitter end, and then they invent all kinds of explanations. (4.9)
I think it would be fair, in interpreting the text here, to place the "noble-minded" of "these days" in scare quotes: they are merely so-called, supposed "noble-minded;" they do not live up to the true demands of that title.
One last point: although there is a surface similarity between the Chinese milk crisis and the American economic crisis in that each is an expression of the profit motive run wild, there is an important difference as well. In the case of the PRC milk industry, actions were taken that led directly to the death of children. In the US case people have been hurt financially, but not mortally. Also, in the US there are actions that can be taken to respond and restore some of what has been lost for those with less power and influence (whether that actually happens is, of course, an unresolved question). In the PRC nothing can now be done for those children who have died.
For a Mencian, therefore, the milk crisis is worse.
The Useless Tree 
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