Originally Posted by
hunterboy
I wonder how many people that post here have been to China? I’m no apologist, but you have to see for your own eyes what they are achieving over there.
I have. Unlike some suggest it isn’t an authoritarian gulag. China is not North Korea. Plenty of Chinese grateful for their recent explosion in wealth and the ability to travel freely overseas. People are pretty much free to go about their daily lives, but collective well being is the most important value. Harmony of society is considered more important than individual rights in Asian not just Chinese culture, and this is something a lot of Westerners (especially Americans) need to understand. You are not going to change thousands of years of culture.
It’s not just their advances in China. Look at their Belt and Road Infrastructure program to build transport and utility links all over Eurasia, Africa and the Pacific. Yes, some can argue it’s a ploy to catch third world countries in a debt trap. But they still are providing brand new critical highways, railways and ports in countries which would never be able to afford them. What is China’s biggest western competitor (US) doing? Drone strikes? Foreign bases? What do you think the average citizen of the third world will appreciate more? China is shipping a lot of medical supplies overseas at the moment, gaining good favour and influence. Where’s the boxes of supplies with the US flag stamped on them?
It is like the wild East, but firmly controlled. My impression is that many Chinese are perfectly happy at the way they live.
I wouldn’t describe the country as “wild”. More civilised than a lot of poorer Asia. Brand new infrastructure criss crossing the country to a far better standard than some first world countries. Fairly safe to walk around most of the country at night alone. Low crime rate. A lot of communities socialise openly on the streets with their neighbours in some of the less urban areas instead of locking themselves in their homes which is what western society has evolved to. A big part of this social interaction is the so called “wet” market (in reality a farmer’s market), which holds an important place in Chinese culture. If any westerner thought their calls for them to be shut down permanently were going to be taken seriously they were deluded.