There are two persons named Friedman in the news recently. The first Friedman is Milton Friedman, Nobel laureate and one of the key figures among the free market economists and advocates, who just died on Nov. 16th in San Francisco. Another Friedman, though less prominent in academic field but much more well-known within the circle of globalized elites and business opportunities seekers, Thomas L Friedman, New York Times Op-Ed columnist and the author of best selling non-fiction “The World Is Flat“, who is touring Chinese metropolis, giving his always-the-same talks on how the advancement in communication technologies are leveraging the playing field for people across the ocean and continents.

Photo courtesy of Keso 

Interestingly and accidentally, both of the two Friedman have visited China for several times, and both were acting as convey from the free and liberal West, persuading China, along with its immense labor and huge market, to open its border and play a key role in global competition. Their major difference is that, however, Milton Friedman came to China to talk with highest officials like Jiang Zeming and Zhao Ziyang on how to embrace the future trend, while the latter has come quietly, acting as an evangelical of Silicon Valley and receiving attention from media limelight spontaneously. How that counts? At least, it shows that the people from Great Middle Kingdom are now much familiar and welcoming the idea and life of been involved in the global playing field of business, technology and national interdependence, or the “Flattened World” as Thomas Friedman has been putting persistently in his book.   

Milton Friedman first came to China on the eve of rising consensus of market-oriented economy and the edge of student movement, which demands democracy consequently as a result of economic growth. Wu Xiaobo, who has been blogging on Mindmeters(one of the most read group blogs in China) on history of Chinese entrepreneurs and enterprises in 80s and early 90s, has wrote a note, telling an anecdote about him:

张五常陪同1976年诺贝尔经济学奖得主米尔顿·弗里德曼访问中国，他们受到了中央领导人的接见，弗里德曼是当时国际最知名的价格理论和货币理论大师，在会谈中，一向坚持自由市场的他极力主张中央政府应该放开价格管制，他认为中国的改革到了”最后的时刻”，在四川考察时，弗里德曼对四川省长说，”如果你想把老鼠的尾巴砍断的话，不要慢慢地一截截地砍，一下砍掉就行了，长痛不如短痛。”省长请教说”教授先生，你知道我们中国的老鼠是不同的，它们有很多不同的尾巴互相纠缠在一起，您先砍哪一根？”弗里德曼耸耸肩，没有回答。事后，张教授发表文章说，”我是有答案的，但我当时没有说，我的答案是，把所有的尾巴都一同砍掉。”邓小平采用了弗教授的建议，决定物价闯关，结果天下大乱

Zhang Wuchang accompanied Nobel Prize economist winner in 1976, Milton Friedman to visit China and met with the leaders from central government. Friedman was the most renowned guru of currency and price theories. In his talks, he always insisted to his utmost that the central government abandon its price control policies from his free-market point of view. He thought that the reform in China had come to a critical “last point”. In visiting Szechuan Province he told to the provincial governor:”If you want to cut the tail of a mice, don’t cut it segment after segment. Cut it together. Growing pain must be more exhausting.” The governor replied:”Mr Professor, the Chinese mouse is much different. All their tails are tied and bundled together, which one do you want to cut at first?” Mr Friedman shrugged and did not reply. Prof. Zhang published an article afterwards, said:”I have the answer but I did not utter it. My answer is to cut the tails altogether.” Deng Xiaoping adopted the suggestion of Prof. Friedman to lift and loosen prize control, only leading into national disorder.

So, gone is the mastermind of Liberal economist and probably the person inadvertently pushing the market reform of Chinese economy, do people, specifically Chinese people, commemorate and remember him as a giant? Not so, at least for the audience of mass media, mass consumption and mass culture. For this group of people, who worked in English-speaking multinationals and killed their time on Wifi surfing in Starbuck, Thomas Friedman is the only Friedman they can recognize, because his theory represented their dream of NASDAQ listing and overnight wealth, since in the flat world you would be equally cutting-edge and competitive with your American counterparts. But, is this vision of born-all-equal real and practical, against the reality of war on terror, nuclear proliferation, Islamic extremism and growing social stratification? Zhang Liang, a journalist who has dinned with him and conducted a mini interview, wrote on his blogs about Thomas Friedman’s own concerns about side-effect of globalization:

看《世界是平的》的最大感触是，作者对于全球化的进程和结果实在过于乐观了。但无论是NB学者，如John Gray，还是参与到具体实践中，同时也是NB学者的Stiglitz，都意识到，全球化是个复杂、不容乐观，甚至也许不会有好结果的进程。

When reading “The World Is Flat” my deepest impression is that the author’s over- optimism toward the process and outcome of globalization. But a real outstanding intellectuals like John Gray or Stiglitz, with their own first-hand experience and practices, realized that the process of globalization is much complex and less optimistic, and even can end up in disaster. 

无论在演讲时，还是饭桌上，Tom都在说一个问题：世界是平的，世界是不公平的，世界是残酷的。比如，如果中国不能解决好环境问题，那么未来投资就会快速转到其他国家去。没错，过去2个世纪里，作为世界工厂的英国和美国有着漫长的时间改善自己的环境，但中国没有这个机会了——饭碗和环境必须兼得，否则就什么都没有。

Whether on the podium or dinning table, Tom is always talking about one topic: the world is flat;the world is unfair; the world is cruel. For instance, if China can’t resolve its environmental issues, the future investment would rapidly flow to other countries. Yes, it’s right. In the past two centuries, UK and US, as the former manufacturers of the world, have a lot of time to improve their environment, but China do not have such a chance: either living and environment simultaneously,  or nothing.

他的假设也许是对的，但问题是，这的确不是一个可以乐观对待的问题：想两者兼得实现软着陆，几乎是没有可能的，或者一定会带来大量的”不满”，以及接下来的连锁反应。

His hypothesis may be right. But the real question is something that can’t be sovled with too much optimism. It’s almost impossible to solve the two conflicting issues concurrently and harmlessly. Or it can bring too many dissatisfactions and chained effects.

How do such an argument can convince people of higher education to neglect the approaching reality? One of his tactics is of course, a kind of rhetorics: repeating it over and over again, as Flypigs wrote:

弗里德曼是个优秀的思想者吗？或许是的。但又或许，这很难在一天的时间内充分地体现出来。如果时隔一年依然听到他在长篇累牍并且原封不动地背诵那个“哦天呐，他在告诉我世界已经被铲平，世界是平的！”的故事，如果一个仅仅参观了上海就对中国记者们说“别再对我说中国是一个发展中国家”的美国专栏作家在回答大部分提问时几乎都在玩“太极推手”的话，你会作何感想呢？

Is Mr Friedman a really good thinker? Maybe yes. Maybe not. This is something that can not be showed sufficiently within one day. How do you think if after one year you can still hear that he repeatedly and invariably cites his representative phrase:”Oh My God! The world is flattened! The world is flat!”?  How do you think when answering question, this American columnist, who have only visited Shanghai and then told Chinese reporters not to mention “China is a developing country”, always played with Yin Yang tactics to avoid sharp questions?

但不论是在《世界是平的》或者这一天的两场讲演中，找到这些痕迹似乎对于我这种粗枝大叶的家伙来说都是件并不轻松的任务。这一天最大的收获，大约就是学到了表达“Oh my god!”的n种表达方式 

Whether from his book “The World is Flat” or his speech during the two days, it is not an easy job for negligent people like me to find some hints. What I learned at that day is the numerous way to express “Oh My God!”.

Another interesting point is how Thomas Friedman, as a columnist, was received  by his Chinese counterparts? Obviously beside the greeting from NASDAQ-dreaming, tech-savvy and business-starting guys, this mumbling American was naturally suspected by serious writers, who worried that China’s problems can not be solved in such a single-directed way. Xu Zhiyuan, journalist and columnist for Financial Times Chinese website rebuked on FTChinese.com:

这个上海沉睡了四十年，苏醒过来，并因新力量的到来带上了新的色彩。尽管夸耀自己是一座典型的商业城市，但政治的色彩却无处不在。在过去的两个月中，一桩本地政府的丑闻暴露了权力与金钱的结合与相互利用是多么的显著。这座超过1300万人口的城市，也因为政治的压力，而没有一家值得尊敬的新闻机构，电视网络、报纸、杂志是用来传播时尚、消费、衣着、流行话语的所用的，它们热衷于评选女性化的美男子，举办浮华却空洞的 “风尚大典”，夜色下的黄埔江行驶的是架着巨大广告牌的游船，它和两岸的各种闪耀的霓虹灯光的商标牌一样，既诉说这座城市的自认的骄傲，也刺激着更多的人加入这场游戏——这座城市总是需要这样的强心剂，更昂贵的房价，更多的消费品，和类似的世界博览会这样的浩大行为。

Shanghai had been sleeping for forty years and waked up, stained with new color leading from the emergence of new power. Though claiming to be a typical commercial city, the hue of politics is everywhere. In a past two months, a scandal about the local government broke out, which showed how notable the connection between political power and money is. There is no respectable news organizations in this city with more than 13 million population because of political pressure. The TV networks, newspaper and magazines are all for the purpose of spreading fashion, consumption, clothing and pop culture. They are busy holding talent show for feminine boys and dashing but empty fad shows. Yachts are cruising on the Huang Pu River during the night, with its advertising billboard dazzling same as the neon lights along the river bank. They are telling self-pride of this city while stimulating more people to take part in the game. After all, this city always needs such strong catalyzer, more expensive house price, more consumer commodities and carnivals like World Expo.

在那个下午，我突然感觉到站在讲台上的托马斯·弗里德曼与上海在气质上是如此的相配。这位《纽约时报》的专栏作家的著作像是一本广告语大全，“Dos资本主义”、“凌志汽车与橄榄树”、“全球化3.0 ”，他迷恋于简化世界，用一种浅薄物质需求来取代人类内心深刻的生活意义的需求。

At that afternoon, I suddenly felt that Thomas Friedman, standing on the podium was so suitable for the temperament of Shanghai. This NYT columnist’s book is replete with ad slogans: “Dos Capitalism”,  “Lexus and oliver trees” “Globalization 3.0″. He was fascinated with the simplified world, substituting the needs for people to find profound meaning of life with superficial needs for material. 

At last, as a long time best-selling author, we should take a look at his book. Though we have known his agenda and argument already from his speech since his speeches around the world tend to be summarizing his whole book. Raymond Zhou, senior columnist and editor at China Daily wrote a book review on his blog:

对我来说，该书的前三分之二基本上属于老生常谈，如果你平时阅读主流媒体，里面的例子许多都上过封面故事。至于理论，也没有超出微观经济学+对外贸易基础课的范畴。简而言之，科技的迅速发展和经济全球化，消除了经济活动中的种种壁垒，使得世界趋于“平坦”……

For me, the first two third of this book is barely home truth. If you read mainstream media regularly, many examples presented in the book have been on cover stories. For the theoretical part it did not exceed the scope of Microeconomics and International Trade lessons. In short, the development of technologies and globalization of economy have removed the various barriers for business activities, thus flattening the World…….   

另一句咱们领导人会觉得很中听的，是引述《共产党宣言》中的一大段，是一位哈佛政治理论教授告诉弗里德曼的。书中引用了大约一页。令人惊讶的是，马克思和恩格斯在这一页的篇幅中，把弗里德曼花了两三百页才讲完的内容概括了起来，而且说得极为精彩。这篇1848年出版的文章，只要把“资产阶级”改成“企业家”，完全适用于当今世界。真是神人！

Another thing that will content our Dear Leaders is that his citation of Communist Manifesto, which was told by a Harvard professor of politic theory to Friedman. There is about one entire page in the book dedicated to citing it. Amazingly Marx and Engels have put their ideas so concise and splendid in this one page while Friedman takes 2 or 3 hundred pages to describe these ideas. This articles published in year 1848 was completely suitable for today’s world by substituting “capitalist” with “entrepreneurs”. How genius they are!