I only know one person who has been to Russia to ask those types of questions so this is 2nd hand information from one person's experience over there. But.. Russia is far better off than before. The state had more money during communist rule, but the people's lives improved. I get your point about it taking time. It makes sense. However, how long do you wait for change when change starts everyday that you wake up?
Fantastic point. I don't know how they faired. Do you know how cities like Chengdu, Nagqu, Hami, Shache, Xigaze, Yuxi are fairing now? I have concerns that quality of life differs across China just like it does the United States. When I traveled out to 13 different states in Western United States.. some places seemed worse than others. That does happen. There's no guarantees for happiness or wealth in Democracy, only a right to pursue both. And when things don't go well for large industries, the government hears about it. So it generally keeps things on an even keel. But you know what it's like here.. This is just a matter of whether you believe your people would fair better if they had a say in their governance. I mean this flare up in Hong Kong is going to happen over and over again if the Chinese people aren't heard.
huh? China 30 years ago was a socialist economy trying to transition into full blown communism. When Maoism was abandoned by the Chinese in 1982, foreign investment was allowed in, and the country thrived. Unfortunately, authoritarians piggy-backed on the success of capitalism and secured their rule, using economic success that they never actually achieved themselves as their platform. if democracy had flourished when foreign investment was allowed, China would have likely already surpassed the US as the number 1 economic power. Instead, they are less than half as prosperous as they could be. Don’t look at how much China accomplished. Look at how much they could have accomplished if the people hadn’t been brainwashed, and could make their own decisions.
OMG smaller countries fell into oblivion. @Mazulis an actual victim of the USSR and million of other people , this is an insult to them. Absolutely insane the post that I am reading right now. The lengths that some people will go at to support dictators.
Thx dude for the reply. I don’t disagree what you said. But allow me to gv u some more perspectives. My aunt is a very local Chinese who don’t even hv passport. She’s the one that would believe your so-called CCP controlled news type of person. But her son (around 35) would educate her how incorrect some news are, every time there’s a family gathering she says dumb things or just a private conversation between them on Wechat. Her son has not visited US yet but to Japan (Okinawa) he did. He couldn’t even speak proper English. They are an ordinary family. That way his mom, dad and ppl around him that never get to see the world got educated with more perspectives by him, one single person. He’s just one example. There are so many more ppl from China(all classes) that chose to travel to HK, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan or Philippines, Malaysia during holidays bcuz its easier to apply visa or affordable. All these countries hv free internet and not CCP controlled. It’s a fashion for us Chinese to travel abroad(tourism, study, business, immigration or as little as just watch Hollywood movies). And the other way around, you are regarded a not cool, nerdy ass person if you don’t. Oh and yes, state controlled news source are never popular in China esp among younger generations. Instead we even make jokes around how sometimes cute CCP is posting some old school Communist news. There’s an interesting atomsphere in China that we actually understand CCP are just doing their jobs (propaganding sth biased). But it’s not cool in China to blindly believe in CCP news source. Let alone they account for only a small part of our new source. As someone here once pointed it out, we Chinese are materialized in this era. I wouldn’t disagree. But for the same reason, we love to travel abroad just to look cool. And never underestimate the power of social media esp in China. We arguably spend the most time every day chking smart phones for information on this planet. One person’s experience would instantly impact 100 person in his/her social network. So for those we hvnt or unable to travel abroad, the massive amount of information from social media would reach him/her, on daily basis. And again. China is a pro US country (not in politics tho) as opposed to how your media like to paint us as an anti US evil land. So, yeah.
Was 15 republics and authonomies , 3 join European union and NATO ( Latvia Lithuania Estonia) , Goergia on its way ,Ukraine finaly get rid of Old Soviet syndrom and I believe on its way to happines ,the rest is unknown . Collapse of USSR however freed 270 mil people from communist one party rule. And I am not counting rest of Europe. East Germany , Czechoslovakia,Yugoslavia,Poland,Hungarya,Albania,Bulgaria,Romania. Yes make no mistake all these country’s were oppressed by communist socialist ideology. Eastern Europe was run by communist same as HK run by China only with less rights. I think they are very happy where they are right now. And there is no communist left.
Full of could’ve would’ve should’ve. Nobody can say that for sure. And who started capitalism in the 80’s? Please don’t tell me it was somebody outside CCP.
I have personally talked to many old people who lived through the USSR and other communist countries under their influence. I haven't met one that didn't have hatred in their eyes when talking about what they had to go through. This whole discussion is purely insane and mindblogging.
Most of points are fact, except that when there is crime happening, the news is all over the place in China as well. No cops in China will ever arrest anyone who posts any facts related to a criminal. We don't protect the harmony of the society by arresting those who report problems, who do it by arresting those who cause the problems. That's one of the main preconception about China you and many others here have which is totally wrong. Also I can make the comparison on Chinese social media, as long as its based on facts. I'll be attacked by other Chinese who holds a different view, but the government won't do ****. Actually the No.1 answer regarding the US on zhihu(Chinese version of Quora) , one of the most influential Chinese social media, does exactly that: https://www.zhihu.com/question/36068918/answer/69882711. On average, US people have a much better life than Chinese people economically, there is no denying of that. And this is the one of the main reason why the two countries have conflicts. US by themselves can't make their people have such a good life. They use dollar and Navy to ensure that other countries in the world are paying the price(migrate inflation to other countries, get cheap resources, get cheap labor etc). China wants to improve the quality of life of their people and have done it consistently over the last 30 years. US is unhappy about that because this will make them no longer the only big boss in the world. Supporting Hong Kong riots is one of the many approaches taken to slow down the development of China. It's laughable that you as a US citizen show off your life quality, and use it as a tool to attack the main force that resists US's global hegemonism.
Yes you are right.banning Google and tweet and media censorship shut down the door from china to the open world, which also increase Chinese happiness to some extent becoz you only can see what are allowed to see.if China can open Google and YouTube, the science and technology in china can be improved much further and developed faster.
Who gets to decide what the facts are? And China has stolen a lot of technology to catch up and build up its own hegemony. I can hear 30 years of over Chinese oversupply popping, will China have a Japanese lost decade(s) or a painful contraction? If you thought the US was a bubble... China says hold my beer. Deflation will be ugly.
China wasted around 30 years of it's time regressing in every way with the great leap forward and the cultural revolution. Just imagine what China would be like if it embraced capitalism in the 60's instead of wasting an entire generation with political in fighting.
not reallty, gov cannot control us over this, but they can influence companies stopping doing business with NBA. that's what happened in china, all companies cut off the relationship with NAB rite now while all the funs think DM was wrong and should not post things like that, but has no problem with NBA.
"When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them....."
Thanks for the education. Good to refresh my memory. What I meant by “fallen into oblivion” is you rarely hear a peep about the smaller countries on an international stage. And when you do, it’s normally some kind of scandal. For example the Ukraine news that popped up recently: Baiden’s family business there. Trump threatening the President to do dirty work for him. In a nutshell, they become US’s play dough - can be shaped any way US pleases. They may be wealthier, but I’m not sure that’s the kind of country I can be proud of. Apologies to any Ukrainians here that may be offended by what I said.