MaoShanDong [none/use name]

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Joined 7 months ago
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Cake day: April 14th, 2024

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  • Another great example about how disconnected the average westerner is from the material condition that most of the world faces. If you even take a second to look at the conditions that were necessary to preempt revolutions like that seen in China, Russia, Haiti, or as we see now the resistance of the Palestinians it becomes quite clear the question is not whether there will be medicine for sick children or whether child support comes through. The reality is that there will be NO hospitals and NO organization to even process the concept of child support. The liberal tendency to put the cart before the horse and insert their idealized concept of revolution into what they think revolutionary times might look like is what I personally see as one of the greatest divides in thought between them and some of the older relatives in my family I have had the chance to talk to. For my older relatives that lived through the war and revolution it was do or die. Just goes to show how far away any real chance of revolution is here in the west.



  • This coincides with my own observations and from talking to friends and family on the mainland some large changes have occurred and only accelerated especially since COVID.

    1. Many people are very proud of the country and what China has been able to accomplish in the last half century or so. The old image of the mainland being some sort of backwater is more or less gone. The material gains and improvements of the lives of the people are impossible to deny and the accomplishments in science, culture, and many other fields is likewise impossible to ignore.

    2. Opinion of other nations especially the west and America are a lot lower as a result. This isn’t to say that most people hate or dislike the west. It’s more so a quiet disappointment in a lot of ways. For example I was talking to a cousin of mines about visiting Tokyo and her response was that it’s pretty mediocre. The prevailing opinion is that many places are nice in terms of unique atmosphere or culture but there’s really nothing you could not find in some province on the mainland. Between this shift in perception and the restriction of air travel by the west it’s no surprise that domestic tourism has become such a behemoth since COVID.

    3. These opinions have made it harder for the more liberal minded individuals to make any argument that are pro-western. The shiny western model that was so progressive and new 40 years ago has definitely lost its shine. I think public opinion while not explicitly leftist are leaning more and more towards that side. Even more reactionary members of the chinese diaspora I have talked to are having a much harder time justifying or defending their old positions especially if they have visiting the motherland in recent years. Overall, I think it will be interesting to see the natural development of socialist soft power in the coming decades and how it may affect our own ability to enact revolution and change in the west as the failings of capitalism become more and more obvious.



  • Wouldnt feel too bad keeping up with anything china related is tought. I’ve had this discussion with my father although the context was about biotech research. The fact of the matter is the gap in terms of language and culture between the west in China is just so vast that unless you live on the mainland or and have solid relationships with the right people you’re going to miss alot of things. This is true even if you are fluent in mandarin and go back for work on occasion like my father does.

    I guess it just highlights how idiotic most Western China watchers are though and explains why the American establishment can’t seem to understand what’s going on.





  • To go off on the point about projection a thing I’ve personally noted living in both countries is that when it comes to the issues of racism the entrenched nature of it in the western social consciousness and political establishment makes it a much different beast. Like there’s no political party in china that has a platform based on the disenfranchisement of a minority group and goes around advertising the fact that the first thing they’ll do when in power is to bus them out of the country. As such while there are undoubtedly racist individuals within China, I can think of one particular family member of mine who may hold such opinions, there is no concentration of said racism or a purposeful consolidation of that sort of sentiment towards larger more dangerous actions like here in the west. Considering the fact that most western countries were and to some lesser extent still are ethnostates when it comes to who holds actual power in governance, its not surprise they tend to project that thought onto China.