By Laurence Brahm

In the Chinese language, the word for “crisis” consists of two characters: “wei” meaning “danger” and “ji” meaning opportunity. Throughout China’s history, the nation and its people have responded to each crisis and challenge. They respond collectively and united in overcoming the danger of each crisis. More importantly, they turn each into an opportunity to re-build, grow and develop further.

During the SARS crisis of 2002-2003, China’s immediate response of the leadership was to build a hospital for one thousand patients. This was completed in seven days and seven nights, a remarkable period of time, amazing the world at China’s ability to respond so decisively. The SARS crisis helped China to upgrade all of its national sanitation systems and improve overall health care, and public awareness of the importance of personal hygiene, which is now part of the public education system as well. Moreover, the SARS crisis gave China the experience to respond to such crisis effectively.

Now during the current coronavirus epidemic, China’s leadership and people have responded with clarity and precision, drawing on the experience of the past. On January 23 the leadership made a decision to build a 33,900 meter hospital (Huoshenshan Hospital) for one thousand patients to address the crisis. The design was done within 24 hours and 1,500 workers and 280 construction machines went to work immediately. Within 36 hours all 5G and Internet as well as remote diagnosis systems were in place so they could transmit data and survey patients and within just 10 days, construction of Huoshenshan Hospital was completed, and the facility was handed over for use. On January 26 another hospital (Leishenshan Hospital) was ordered to commence construction for an additional 1,300 beds. More temporary hospital facilities are underway.

Throughout China’s past four decades of rapid economic growth it has met challenges of alleviating poverty and promoting education and economic advancement with unprecedented achievement. Within these thirty years China has removed 660 million people from poverty. The target for 2020 has been to eliminate poverty altogether. China has become a model of growth and development. Adopting Ecological Civilization policy as a response to pollution and climate change crisis, China has become a global leader in renewable energy and green finance. The emphasis on smart infrastructure to achieve commerce and connectivity has become a key to the Belt and Road Innitiatives that have brought so many developing nations together in a matrix seeking a common shared destiny of mankind.

However, with all of these positive changes, aspects of health care have lagged in many areas. The enormous task of reducing and now eliminating poverty through economic development, infrastructure and more recently environmental improvements, has been such a strong focus that other areas have required additional reforms and fiscal budgets to catch up. The reality is China does not have enough doctors and their work stress is too much. Facilities are not enough and medicinal regulation is required. While the coronavirus epidemic has presented China with one of its most dangerous challenges in decades, it also has pushed upon China an opportunity for major health care improvements and reforms in insurance, pension, health benefits across the social spectrum. It also raises an additional security concern of health security alongside the traditional security concerns as well as recently addressed environmental security. It is foreseeable that the years ahead will witness major reforms in the year ahead. This is in the Chinese spirit of turning danger into opportunity when facing crisis.

To a great extent this ability to overcome crisis reflects the inherent spirit of the Chinese people, thousands of years of combined cultural factors: the inclination for rapid organizational response in the Confucian tradition; the ability to adjust to factors of sudden change acclimate harmoniously to the forces of nature in Taoism; and the ability to think clearly in the present and respond to the future with reference to the past that is inherent in the Buddhist traditions of China.

Another factor is the ability of the government to respond quickly to crisis through the matrix of organization that has been established from grassroots to the center of government since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. This system of government organization is strong and resilient as it is built upon the common and shared characteristics of the Chinese people that have become an inherent part of their culture and cultural response to all situations. These cultural factors make the Chinese people resilient and responsive to crisis. Their positivity allows them to turn each crisis into a new opportunity. And that is exactly what will happen as they overcome this coronavirus epidemic.