Today in the bookstore I saw a new book: China: Fragile Superpower: How China’s Internal Politics Could Derail Its Peaceful Rise, by Susan Shirk. (I’ll read it when it hits the public library.)
2 things are constant when it comes to China observers. The 2 billion armpit story - if every Chinese bought my deodorant, I’d be rich. I’ve got books going back 2 centuries with this theme
Second is that China is a house of cards that will collapse any second under the weight of various ills. Well, one day, one of these guys will be “right”
China does have some daunting issues around the environment and a greying population. Sheesh, I just spent 24 hours in Beijng. It was 100+ degrees and the pollution looked like LA circa 1980. Let’s put it this way, it made Shanghai air look clean.
I’ll concede they’d be more likely to open up to someone culturally closer to them (i.e. spoke their language)
It’s not the first, and I fully understand/appreciate the mentality of putting society before the self (Englands great for this).
Yup, that’s why they’re beaten. I didn’t say I don’t sympathize.
I have never met ANY western citizen that doesn’t have a problem with something his government is doing wrong.
I misunderstood your last point and took too long to change my last line so here it is:
No government gets better without change. No change happens without first criticism. Are you saying good government isn’t in China’s DNA?
However, we can agree that their current environmental record is shocking:
Why aren’t they opening nuclear power plants?
Coal plants are easy to build and coal is abundant in China.
they are doing both :eek:
I’d say if this is your benchmark, then that would help explain a lot of your conclusions.
I’m still frankly scratching my head at the idea the people you talked with would not criticize or say anything bad about the government. that’s quite different from my experience. I don’t spend a lot of time outside of big cities, but I do get out maybe 10 times a year and talk to the locals.
IMHO I think people are pretty fatalistic about their government (not all that different from a lot of countries), they’ve seen how much the government has changed for the better in the past 20 years (sure, off of a low base, but marked improvement), they know what happens with overt challenges to the ruling class, and are generally optomistic toward the future, etc.
There are plenty of people in china that a) remember the anarchy from before the revolution and b) remember the anarchy and political movements of the 50’s-70’s. There are also lot’s of 20-something rebels without a cause, and a lot of them jump on the nationalist bandwagon. Probably because it’s a form of political expression that is tolerated if not encouraged.
Common don’t do that. It was an example, not a benchmark.
I don’t know how you could have possibly done worse with The Great Leap Forward and 50 years later that organization is still in power.
I’m not talking armed insurrection. Just asking simple questions. WHY can’t I decide for myself where I’d like to travel or live. WHY can’t I decide who should be in power. WHY can’t I not access the entire Internet. WHY are students shot because they what answers to these questions. WHY is no one in trouble for this incident. Based just on my month there I don’t believe they even ask themselves anymore.
Not only is jumping on a national bandwagon not a rebel, but it has a cause.
China is arming.
Its worthless, under-equipped, demoralized & gigantic military, is being adequately armed & equipped for the first time.
And, it is ending its isolationist view of the World, realizing for the first time that the World has things it wants.
But not enough time has passed for China to unlearn the xenophobia. The term “barbarian” is still applied to all non-Chinese.
The combination of these trends is frightening!
China may well want to end its internal problems with an external war. Other countries have tried this, & succeeded.
Got a cite for this? What xenophobia are you talking about? the bamboo curtain fell a long time ago. Remember Nixon and his historic trip to China 30 years ago? I’m not being snarky but your post is something out of the cold war.
You’re right that China is drastically shrinking yet modernizing it’s military. You missed the point that it has already shrunk massively in the past decade plus. That was part of the deal for the Chinese military to leave the business sector 15 years ago, and by and large that has happend. Yet the Chinese still can’t successfully invade Taiwan. The ability of the Chinese military to project force beyond it’s borders is pretty limited. To do so to borders that really matter to the West in a geopolitical sense like say Japan, the US, Europe, etc are laughably non existent.