China - from the horses mouth

Post Reply New Topic

How do the Chinese see themselves? Probably not in quite the same way as people in the USA.

The Superpower - or not

China is a strange case. About a quarter of a billion of its people live in a modern industrial state with a rapidly rising standard of living. But the billion Chinese who live in the hinterlands have a very low annual income and are mostly covered with sh*t. The fate of China rests on its ability to bring the billion (their "99 percent") up to a reasonable standard of living.

ruveyn

What can the Chinese government do? There isn't enough work in the cities for too many immigrants from the countryside. Take the North West as an example: the Uyghur people cling on to their traditional way of life and they resent the Han Chinese who move into the area. If you follow this link you'll see the local leaders are not just sitting back doing nothing.

In this link a company tells of hopes and some problems
Iron in the north west of China

So... you're worried that the chinese havent taken enough jobs from us?
Dont worry- they will probably be able to steal even more jobs from us to give to their people!

Lol!
But seriously"

Not sure what you're asking.
How do the chinese people see themselves, as opposed to how the we americans see THEM. or as opposed to how we see ourselves?

China under Mao viewed itsself as "the leading nation of the third world" and not as "a superpower". Today they pretty much see themselves as competing with India for that same title.

China doesnt yet have gunboats on the Mississippi, nor a trading colony like Hong Kong off the coast of Britian. So it doesnt see itsself as having turned the tables on the western powers. Not yet anyway.

When you're speaking of either India or of China you're talking about a big chunk of the human race trying to vault into the 21st centurey overnight. Its not surprisng that this epochal move has been uneven in both huge countries.

Both countries have bigger populations than all of Europe. And European nations are not all equaly developed either.

Way back in 1980 India was already the eighth largest industrial economy in the world. It was the only third world country (including china) that was able to make all of its own weapons in wars ( it had a couple with Pakistan in the seventies). It had a space program.

It also had a half of billion starving peasants. But it also had 60 million affleunt educated people as well. So in the seventies India could be viewed (in words of one magazine)as a poor giant country of 600 million that contained insided it a middle sized dynamic country of 60 million that was size of France or of west germany.
That dynamic ten percent has probably grown since then.

So the fact tha china is a comparable combination of the advanced and the backward to India is to be expected.

So Im not sure why you find the expected to be so unexpected.