Ask Lemmy

Very interesting history and culture, plastered over with bland authoritarian turbo-capitalism that disguises itself as communism.

winnie the pooh

Uyghur people in concentration camps while tourists invade their homes

Massive cities with LED buildings, beautiful mountains with paved hiking trails all the way to the top and gondolas to get down, Long queues that are still orderly and move quickly, families eating large meals outside, friendly and very curious people.

I've spent a lot of time there. Compared to the west the cost of living is super cheap especially for all the options and amenities you get. Even in the hippest part of Chongqing I could rent an apartment 2x the size of my house for half the mortgage. If the US is headed towards a permanent authoritarian regime I would trade life here for over there. At least their dictator appreciates science and education.

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.

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.

Horrific dictatorship that commits atrocities.

People that have been subjugated and oppressed and have little to no value as humans to the CCP.

Became a world power by exploiting the working class.

Beautiful country and amazing history.

Chinese food, which i love.

The internet has really fucked my brain, because the first thing that comes up in my head is an old meme of The Orange One (back when he hadn't been president yet, and so was funny instead of scary) saying "CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA" (sorry)

AFTER that -- Disney's Mulan, and all the orientalist aesthetics that come with it (sorry²)

And AFTER that -- Years of internet discourse trying to convince me that a growth in Chinese international power would be worse than the US holding that position alone, which I find EXTREMELY hard to believe as a third world citizen whose home nation has been fucked in the butthole by the Americans like seven different times in lived memory (NOT sorry)

Then AFTER that -- The stories told by my one friend who lived there for a few months. To be honest they made China seem like a pretty cool place to live in. Or at the very least, a fun experience as an exchange student.

And AFTER all that -- Bootleg video games. They are interesting!

Rude, impolite and loud people. But not all Chinese people are like that. But the ones that are stand out the most.

• Interesting mythology and past.
• Technologically advancing.
• Many ethical issues against people by the Government.
• They are very into the illusion of being a paradise.
• If you are a person not from there, it can be a potentially traumatizing experience, depending on what parts of the country you go to.

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 issues 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, unless I leave).

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.... no thanks).

Really difficult language to learn (tried to learn it back when I was in school, couldn't really and basically forgot it all).

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.

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.

Technology city of Shenzhen, mountain range, great wall, Mulan, winnie the pooh, three kingdom, wuxia story, and mala peppercorn.

Ohh and it's my ancestral land.

Their authoritarian form of government which is definitely making me not want to ever visit China.

I am sure China is otherwise a wonderful country, I don't have a negative opinion of Taiwan at all, but the PRC needs their Gorbachev to come to power and liberate them.

a plate

Thiefs, low quality, dictatorship, murders, will probably try to fuck up my life in the future.

Order. Conformity. Mystery. Impenetrable language. Impossible writing. Eating anything that moves. Mindless nationalism. People who don't talk or even care about politics. Depressed single young people obsessed with shopping. Security cameras. Police. Airport-sized train stations. Electric scooters. Electric cars. Utopian-dystopian sci-fi.

Yes, I have been there multiple times.

PS: to be clear, I was very, very impressed by those trains and especially by the electrification of city transport. In Shenzhen the air is now cleaner than any big city in the West and with all the greenery and silence it really does have a utopian feel. The progress there is genuine, it's amazing, it deserves lots and lots of credit.