Chinese Economics Thread

Minm

Junior Member
Registered Member
The point is all three were chiefly caused by Emperor Mao and His Personality Cult. I am trying to point out why having one single dude on top with all the power can wreak a lot of havoc.

I agree, in fact I think China has pretty much perfected the authoritarian model. Today the Emperor of China is the CPC itself. The CPC cannot be lobbied to favor any segment of the population unlike political parties in democratic systems, and with over 90 million members consisting of common folk, scientists, intellectuals, economists, doctors, intellectuals and businessmen, it has an unprecedented wealth of resources, experiences and knowledge to draw from. There is no entity better placed to be Emperor of China than the CPC.

Yeah, I am not betting on it. They are still very much a hermit kingdom and I think the Kim Dynasty is scared it will lose its grip on power if the country opens up and NK citizens start getting exposed to the outside world.
You're making the mistake of falling into the trap of seeing the world as democracies and autocracies. Both terms are actually very vague. There are actually far more political systems including universal suffrage democracy, republics, absolutist monarchies, feudal monarchies, aristocracies etc. A single party system like China, Vietnam, Taiwan before democratisation or Singapore is actually quite well described as a republic in which everyone can participate. Officials are promoted based on merit. The term People's Republic is pretty accurate.

North Korea is an absolutist monarchy. Officials are promoted based on the leader's favour. It's absurd to put it in the same category as China.

Democracy has a huge weakness in poor societies. You can buy votes. Democracy therefore fuels corruption. Officials are elected if they can buy enough votes and then proceed to extort those below them because they have to pay for the debts incurred when buying their position. This type of corruption of course also happens in monarchies and republics, but the act of voting makes this much worse. Look at African attempts at western style democracy for an illustration.

Another big weakness of democracies is that it polarises societies and destroys stability. Rich democracies may have a mechanism of removing a bad leader, but the democratic system is often responsible for getting a bad leader elected in the first place. Boris Johnson of Britain is one such example. He was elected because the people were given a choice between a bad candidate and one that was even worse. In a single party republic, someone like that would have never reached the top. Hitler was also elected. If Germany hadn't become a democracy after the first world war, there might not have been a second world war.


If you look at the evidence, it's politically stable systems that see the most progress. Europe's democracies during the industrial revolution were managed by kings and emperors, east Asia has experienced economic miracles under single party systems. Western style multi party democracy has crashed economic growth wherever it was introduced, including in Korea and Taiwan, the Philippines etc. Even the west is now suffering from democracy induced polarisation and instability while single party systems are much more united.
 

tygyg1111

Captain
Registered Member
Can you see something like the Cultural Revolution happening in a western styled democracy like the US, UK or Australia? As in the ruling party says "OK, no more school, in fact start beating your teachers and professors. Start defacing cultural artifacts." Do you think people would go along with that? Do you think opposing parties would stand by and do nothing? Don't exaggerate. Democracies have their weaknesses but one of its strength is its checks and balances (relative to authoritarianism).

Btw, do you know why the Cultural Revolution ended? Mao died. Imagine if Mao lived to be 90 or 100. Thank god that bastard loved chain smoking. If I had it my way Mao would have dropped dead the moment he proclaimed the PRC atop Tiananmen in 1949.
Mass media is a hell of a drug:

Australia: Turnbull, 2016: Ok, citizens of Australia, no more trade with China. In fact, start reporting your teachers and professors with Chinese links, no proof needed, suspicions are enough. Start defacing the highly fruitful relationship we had over the last 5 years. FF to 2020: In fact, we're putting the final touches into launching a probe into WMD's Covid origins.

US: elects Trump, we all know how the rest goes.

UK: Brexit

Mao reunified China after a long period of war and famine. Respect where respect is due.
 

supercat

Major
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but MUH at what cost?

China is curing cancer. Here's why it's a bad thing.
This is how dominant China is in the solar energy industry:

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Winter (global recession) is coming, and China is preparing.

China Considers $220 Billion Stimulus With Unprecedented Bond Sales​

  • Special bonds would be from the 2023 local government quota
  • It would be first time bonds are sold before start of the year
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Nutrient

Junior Member
Registered Member
It reads like satire lol

I agree with @Bltizo that
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is a little over the top, but it does say some truths.

China made it, it wasn’t supposed to make it, so now it must die. What a difference 5 years can make. China went from “crucial partner” to “number one threat.”

You know what’ll happen for all of us [in the Third World] if America’s sick wishes come true and its global thuggery does make China collapse? Nothing. Eternal repetition of the status quo. More enslavement, hijacking of our resources and weak corrupt governments, neo-colonialism, invasion, regime change, sanctions, MISERY.

And much more bitter truth that makes Westerners squirm. Plus some hope for the exploited and abused countries:

And when China gets to the top, believe me, it won’t be a repeat of the French, British, or American Empire. Not a single developing country on earth will be worse-off because of China becoming #1. There will be something good in this for all of us, so let’s wake up.
 

SanWenYu

Captain
Registered Member
On July 7, China starts boring tunnels of 194.8 km in total length to connect the Yangtze river with upstream of the Han river.

On completion, every year this water line will be able to move 3.9 billion cubic meters of fresh water from the Three Gorge reservoir to the Dan Jiang Kou reservoir where the west branch of the South-North Water Transfer project starts. It will keep the Han river upstream from running out of water in dry seasons.

The project budget is 58.235 billion yuans and expected to complete in 9 years.

人民网北京7月7日电 (记者余璐)记者从水利部获悉,今天,南水北调中线引江补汉工程在湖北省丹江口市开工建设。引江补汉工程是南水北调后续工程首个开工项目,是全面推进南水北调后续工程高质量发展、加快构建国家水网主骨架和大动脉的重要标志性工程。

引江补汉工程从长江三峡库区引水入汉江,经三峡库区左岸宜昌市夷陵区龙潭溪取水,沿线由南向北依次途径宜昌市、襄阳市和丹江口市。终点位于丹江口水库大坝下游汉江右岸安乐河口。输水线路总长194.8千米,多年平均引江水量为39亿立方米。
据了解,引江补汉工程静态总投资582.35亿元,设计施工总工期108个月,由中国南水北调集团有限公司负责建设运营,施工全程将采用隧洞自流输水,最大限度降低对生态环境影响。工程实施后,南水北调中线多年平均北调水量由95亿立方米增加至115.1亿立方米。同时,向汉江中下游补水6.1亿立方米,工程输水沿线补水3亿立方米。


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