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No one claims that the Chinese are all happy. Happiness is subjective. It is internal and no one can help you achieve it except yourself.
What we are talking about is China's future directions and power dynamics with the rest of the world.
Chinese young adults are no more or less happier or have a sense of direction than their American counterparts. That's what happens to young adults in a rapidly changing society. You can go back twenty years and interview the Chinese and you would find even more such claims. They prospered didn't they?
All these issues shall pass. China will prevail. Their next generation will be highly educated with an edge on global competition. Our next generation are majority from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. And our leaders keep telling these people that they dont and shouldn't have to work hard to compete in the global economy. Then how do you compete?
China's only edge is cheap labor, and that advantage is starting to erode.
China Bleevers,.... You can't stop them. And they won't read real research either.
Tell a China Bleever that China has already destroyed itself with a demographic time bomb and that their population will begin to erode in about 20 years and you get all this USA Today nonsense about what a super power China is becoming.
I remember when Japan was 'becoming the super power'. But that was just 25 years ago. And I remember when it was Germany, before that. And Russia.
Look up: A Short History of China’s Doubtful GDPIt's written by people who actually know what they are talking about.
China's only edge is cheap labor, and that advantage is starting to erode.
Yes, very true. And even a lot of Chinese will admit there is very little actual innovation over there. They are good at building things and finding ways to do it cheaply- but most of them still admit that to see real cutting edge innovation, they have to look to the US.
A lot of college professors here in the US will say, too, how restricted a lot of Chinese students are who come here for further education. They are great at the things you can memorize or figure out via an established pattern, such as math- but when asked to think outside the box, to come up with new ideas as is often the case in higher education here in the West, a lot of these students get lost. So China's education system is not all it's cracked up to be- we keep hearing about how they are killing us in that regard, but it's really just in the math scores- and even those are cherry picked from some of the top schools in China, not representative of the entire country's student population.
Add to it, the GDP numbers they have been boasting over the last few years are in large part boosted by construction- construction of a lot of things such as the famous "ghost cities" that even after many years are not being used. Their economy is slowing down and if the construction bubble pops there, or the HUGE real estate bubble crashes, they will actually slip into serious recession. None of us should hope for that to happen as their economy has a great effect on ours- but there are enough very worrisome signs from there to make us all very concerned for what the next few years will bring.
China's life expectancy has rocketed from the past decade as medical services are now more accessible to the Chinese people. You must be brainwashed by mainstream media into thinking that China has massive pollution. Every country has pollution, and China's level is mostly acceptable.
You have to be kidding.
And the "every country has pollution" statement is just meaningless. Every neighborhood in New York City has crime - but the UES and Brownsville are worlds apart, no comparison. China is destroying its past physical heritage and its land in a headlong rush to embrace $$$$. Caveat emptor.
And the "every country has pollution" statement is just meaningless. Every neighborhood in New York City has crime - but the UES and Brownsville are worlds apart, no comparison. China is destroying its past physical heritage and its land in a headlong rush to embrace $$$$. Caveat emptor.
I second that comment- China's level of pollution is off the charts- in no way is it anywhere near "acceptable". Sure every country has SOME level of pollution, but in most developed places it is low enough that it is unnoticeable. In China it is everywhere, all around you, glaringly obvious. I have been there, to Beijing and Guangzhou- on several occasions. The sky often glows orange in the afternoon from the very thick pollution- you see people wearing masks over their mouth and nose when outside so as to not breathe in too much of it.
People here in some US cities will complain about air pollution, for example, when measurements may be higher under certain conditions but yet can still not hardly actually notice it- that is far different than it being so bad you can't even see the sky or the sun on an otherwise clear day.
Add to that the horrible pollution of lakes and rivers there- again that is absolutely off the charts. People have no idea how bad it is there until they see it for themselves.
Demographics will NOT hurt China. It has 1.35 billion people after all! Eastern European countries such as Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, and the Baltic States are still developing nations and all have declining population, but their GDP growth is still quite impressive. As for China, its population is actually still growing albeit at a very slow rate. It still conveniently added another 70 million in the past 10 years, and that is more than the population of the United Kingdom or France.
China and the rest of the BRICS will inaugurate a new global bank called the BRICS Development Bank to be headquartered in Shanghai. It will serve as an alternative to the World Bank and the IMF as it offers much lucrative borrowing terms than the harsh conditions imposed by the WB or the IMF.
China's ghost cities usually take a few years before they are filled with residents. When you see a ghost city, you should check again in a few years to see if things have changed instead of just looking at one side of the coin. Urbanisation is a massive movement in China so these so called new ghost cities serve as future habitats for the present rural Chinese.
Besides, haven't we heard of the same negative rhetoric about China over and over again?
I second that comment- China's level of pollution is off the charts- in no way is it anywhere near "acceptable". Sure every country has SOME level of pollution, but in most developed places it is low enough that it is unnoticeable. In China it is everywhere, all around you, glaringly obvious. I have been there, to Beijing and Guangzhou- on several occasions. The sky often glows orange in the afternoon from the very thick pollution- you see people wearing masks over their mouth and nose when outside so as to not breathe in too much of it.
People here in some US cities will complain about air pollution, for example, when measurements may be higher under certain conditions but yet can still not hardly actually notice it- that is far different than it being so bad you can't even see the sky or the sun on an otherwise clear day.
Add to that the horrible pollution of lakes and rivers there- again that is absolutely off the charts. People have no idea how bad it is there until they see it for themselves.
That isn't the full picture of the health condition of China and its citizens. The entire picture is that China's life expectancy increased substantially over the past 20 years.
China's technology is now very advanced and in some fields, the US has started to lag behind.
You are either woefully misinformed, or just plain lying. From 1990 to 2008, life expectancy in China rose just 5.1 years, to 73.1, but nearly every other big developing country had a bigger increase over that span, despite much slower economic growth. Since 2000, most of Western Europe, Australia and Israel, all of which started with higher life expectancy, have also outpaced China. Airborne particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5) caused 1.2 million premature deaths in China in 2010 alone. Rates of asthma are up over 40% the last five years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daywalk
That isn't the full picture of the health condition of China and its citizens. The entire picture is that China's life expectancy increased substantially over the past 20 years.
China's technology is now very advanced and in some fields, the US has started to lag behind.
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You can't stop them. And they won't read real research either.
