Chinese Economics Thread

[horse]

Explain the historical context for those less familiar

The Warring States Annals, or The Chronicles of the Warring States, it was a history book.

The topic was, you guessed it, the Warring States period.

That is how we know about the Warring States period, because of this history book.

But this is not just a history book. We have to remember that back in those days, books like this were written by the best minds there were among Chinese people.

This is a book of literature too. This was a book of short stories, very short indeed. These stories got right to the point, good literary style, and a lesson in there somewhere.

So when someone says this is straight out of the Warring States period, that means this is a story straight out of that book.

And that book was full of stories of political events, moral codes, intrigue, plots, and brutality. It was a great work!

Now for the specific story regarding the predicament that Australia finds itself in today, which was brought up by the poster who originally mention it, got to ask them which story was they thinking about from the Zhan Guo Ce. I don't remember, all I remember was a couple of stories. Not even sure if it was from there or some other ancient book, lol.

 

[2handedswordsman]

You are looking at extremes and failing to see the whole pictures. The vast majority of millionaires in the US are composed of hard working professionals or small businesses owners that managed to save and accumulate wealth over time.

Hm, i think that you are failing to see the whole picture and i hope it is not intented, just ignorance. For "The vast majority of millionaires in the US are composed of hard working professionals or small businesses owners that managed to save and accumulate wealth over time" there is a looooong chain of goods and services from all over the world, from places that abstract productivity measures very very low, even tens of bucks a month, when in US the basic workhour is paid about 8 dollars. That's why so many millionaires here and there. This is how wealth is accumulated. The Imperialist ponzi scheme. I know it happens that US got so many aircraft carriers, or imposing killing embargoes and tariffs but i suppose it's not your problem if accumulation continues normally as always...

 

[localizer]

Huh, I can see why China might have done the Australian coal thing:


Coal prices have been overall pretty depressed recently, far from peaks of last year.


Probably why Yongcheng Coal defaulted and they might be using this opportunity to recuperate some loses.

 

[escobar]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1344330040008433666

 

[Petrolicious88]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1344330040008433666

China basically agreed to give the EU greater access to the Chinese market. In return, the EU agreed it won’t further close itself off to China.

EU won a huge deal here. China just got the status quo because it’s afraid that the international situation might get worse once Biden takes office.

 

[NiuBiDaRen]

The next big thing in retail comes with Chinese characteristics​

Chinese apps are to 21st-century shopping what American malls were to last century’s

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Almost everyone in China knows “Austin” Li Jiaqi. The 28-year-old “Lipstick Brother”, started out flogging make-up products in Nanchang, a provincial city, and now sells them to millions by live-streaming on Taobao, part of Alibaba, China’s biggest internet retailer—once shifting 15,000 sticks of lipstick in five minutes. Some will recognise Chen Yi, nicknamed “Little Monster”, a 24-year-old girl-next-door from the coastal city of Qingdao who sells sunscreen, snacks and lots more besides to her 20,000 followers on WeChat, a ubiquitous messaging app: a nice supplement to her day job as a bartender. More obscure but no less enterprising, farmers and fishermen show off juicy apples or prize lobsters in short videos, digital showmanship accompanied by new delivery networks that allow city dwellers to procure the produce.

Such are the faces—lipsticked, sunscreened, weather-worn or besnorkeled—that have helped propel an explosion of e-commerce in China. In rapid-fire videos or days-long jamborees, they flicker across hundreds of millions of smartphone screens in a cyber-bazaar that in 2019 was almost twice the size of those of America, Britain, Germany, Japan and South Korea combined—and growing faster (see chart 1).

As online shopping has soared, even before covid-19 added extra fuel, Chinese internet firms have dreamed up new ways to engage consumers. In contrast to Taobao, the new ventures do not yet make money. But they are growing apace. Chinese tech firms are pouring fortunes into them. Some of this capital flows straight back out as subsidies to entice buyers and sellers to the platforms, which clearly cannot go on for ever. But the effervescence is here to stay—and Westerners are only starting to notice. “If you want to see the future, look at China,” Mark Schneider, boss of Nestlé, the world’s biggest food company, instructs his executives. Lubomira Rochet, head of digital marketing at L’Oréal, a French beauty behemoth, contrasts the bottom-up, “consumer-centric” vibrancy of Chinese e-commerce with the West’s “tech-driven”, top-down approach.

 

[Xizor]

China basically agreed to give the EU greater access to the Chinese market. In return, the EU agreed it won’t further close itself off to China.

EU won a huge deal here. China just got the status quo because it’s afraid that the international situation might get worse once Biden takes office.

Which is quite a good step.
Unless we all think China won't open up further.

It is certain that US will try to close off China, biden or not.

It is also certain that countries like India will try to be protectionist against China.

Europe will become the only high income region for China to tap into.

To have EU be neutral in the US-China confrontation is key.

 

[AssassinsMace]

Well the US can't organize anything economically against China without Europe. So just as long as Europe doesn't go along with the US, that is a huge roadblock against the US.

 

[Petrolicious88]

Which is quite a good step.
Unless we all think China won't open up further.

It is certain that US will try to close off China, biden or not.

It is also certain that countries like India will try to be protectionist against China.

Europe will become the only high income region for China to tap into.

To have EU be neutral in the US-China confrontation is key.

That’s true. The EU needs China. China needs the EU. But any deal or agreement must be win-win and fair.

 

[jshw31]

This deal made sense for both parties timing wise and I think both parties came away relatively happy. I don't think the EU would have followed Biden into some sort of anti-China coalition and I think both sides knows this but the threat was enough to give EU the largest leverage it's had in a while. The longer the EU waits, the smaller this leverage gets because it would force the EU to show its hand so Merkel was in a hurry to capitalize on this. On the other hand even though the odds of it happening were quite low, the outcome is too important to leave to chance so China saw this as an opportunity to lock in long term stability at an acceptable loss/cost.