Inspired by the recent c/AskLemmy question about Myanmar.
As a PRC-born ethnic Han-Chinese person who currently is a US Citizen and reside in the US, I’m curious on what people think of my former country.
a plate
A ruthlessly effective technocracy that has achieved very impressive outcomes for their citizens¹ while also being a cultural / societal system I never want to live in. For some reason super obsessed with outside appearances.
1:
From 1995 to 2025:
- GDP/c: 603 to 13973
- Literacy rates: 77% to 96%
- University graduates per year: 900K to 10M
- Life expectancy: 33 to 77
- Railway km: 54616 to 160000 (50000 high speed)
- Urbanization rate: 29% to 67%
etc.
University graduates
You forgot the Gaokao that’s 10x harder than the US SAT/ACT 💀
I like the idea that these were your first impressions of China, as in you stepped off a plane, had one look around and thought “Wow, this place seems like a ruthlessly effective technocracy that has achieved very impressive outcomes for its citizens but it’s certainly a cultural-slash-societal system I never want to live in.”
I’ve been reading some terrible books because I enjoy listening to 372 pages we’ll never get back.
That reads exactly like a line in a few of those books.
Rice field to magalopolis in a generation. Absolutely wild speed of seismic change.
Overall amazing history and culture. Government is authoritarian worse than the current US. The Chinese people are smart and kind and very innovative overall. But among billions there is also a lot of fraud and copying.
Give it 6 months and the current US will be more authoritarian.
Absolutely fascinated by Chinese culture and mythology. I’m a cdrama fan especially costume and cultivation themes. I am currently taking a Mandarin course so I can read, write, and better understand the language. I hope to travel to China soon if the orange clown in the White House doesn’t ruin my plans. I even homebrewed a cultivation ttrpg based on Investiture of The Gods that my friends are playing through right now. They love it! For context I’m not an Asian person - just a neurodivergent person with a deep interest.
Tofu Dreg.
My stance is kind of 50/50 with China.
For one, they’re going to flame out even faster than America did. As time moves forward great powers last less and less time. America only held the crown for 80 years. Chinas got its own issues, especially with the population issues.
Yes, China has a laundry list of human rights abuses. We know all of them, I shouldn’t have to list them here. China also is an aggressor country, harassing their neighbors and intimidating them for often no reason at all, and when there is a reason, it’s territorial expansion. They steal IP, they steal identities and secrets (yes I know, stealing secrets is an everybody issue, and I’ll get to that, but it’s usually done with more class) and they gave our kids toys with lead in them. You could seriously go on for days on the bad stuff about China. The belt and road? Fuck, that’s so, so bad… However
They’re also leading in science and especially the environment. They’ve spent big money on their science, and it’s paid off in spades for them and it’s commendable from an international standpoint. No country on earth is fighting climate change harder than China. From advances in solar panels bringing the cost of clean energy down, and giving the ability to electrify places of the world that have never experienced it? That’s pretty dope. Plus their electric car tech is blowing up so hard that it’s actually kind of reasonable to tariff it, because they’re so far ahead.
Now the gre(a)y, I’m an American. Half the shit that china does that’s bad, was shit that we have been doing for generations. So yeah, china sucks shit. But does it suck more shit than America right now? I say no, but not by much, and mostly because a lot of the problems people try to put on China (i.e. pollution mostly) is because we facilitated that. If not them, it’d be our polluted air and water. And now, he wants to bring that manufacturing back here while deregulating pollutants AND enforcement. He saw 1990s Beijing and said “I want that for us”. But basically, other than China’s climate and science goals, were the same country. So the nod (barely) goes to China for being a more honorable or good country.
Authortarianism and censorship to the point where I can never return to my former homeland until that changes for the better. No worker’s rights. Human rights problems in the north and west in areas that weren’t part of China historically.
Possible conflict with Taiwan (if that happens than I’d be sent to the camps to die by orange cheeto).
1.4 billion people & had the One Child policy for the longest time.
Lots of enviornmental problems, air pollution (and apparently much of the country has really really hot heat indices in the summer, avg high of 40C and low of 30C already).
Really difficult language to learn (tried to learn it back when I was in school, couldn’t really and basically forgot it all).
the food, cuisine. szechuan numbing peppercorn. shenzhen tech. hongkong dresses. wing chun. samo hung.
“do not pursue lu bu”
Unfortunately, it’s trump squinting his eyes, and saying “China!” with a pause and a scowl. Rent free in my brain.
Second thing I guess is some bullshit where they were cracking down on Ramadan in a news article.
Third I suppose is the rich history and cultural tradition.
Wing Chun Kung Fu.
I think of China as a country that pretends to be communist while making cheap products that vary in quality. I also think of the nice people that live there though.
Chinese food, which i love.
Such an enormous country. Old people doing tai chi in a park. Little kids earning red stars at school. Government trying to control the population too tightly, yet somehow also lacking basic safety regulations. Good food.
A country and its flag. They sort of come up simultaneously in my head.
