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I would actually say that Xi Jinping was the darling of the Guangdong faction
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The kingmaker clan behind Xi Jinping
Some 2,000km south of Beijing, the Ye family pulls the levers of power
Chinese media outlets called Ye Xuanning "a power broker" and "a spiritual leader of the princelings," referring to the children of prominent and influential senior party officials.
Full article below
asia.nikkei.com/Politics/The-kingmaker-clan-behind-Xi-Jinping
archive.ph/ndth7
Why China Will Play It Safe
Xi Would Prefer Détente—Not War—With America
By
November 14, 2022[Comments]
Johnson is a professional China hand. He worked at the China desk in CIA for many years, before he joined think tank scene. He spent a few years as the China director at CSIS. And then I think he founded his own consulting group.
So this is a typical analysis of China/Xi from a typical US angle by a typical yet professional China expert.
That being said, I have decent amount of respect for him because he is as good as an American can possibly do in subject matters of China and Chinese political systems and Chinese leaders. One thing he was spot on: he said in a think tank occasion Xi is a formidable leader shortly after Xi took over around 2013, when the west was almost ignorant of who Xi actually is.
But he cannot avoid pitfalls as a typical China expert in that he often put his words or mind in Xi' mouth or head. Xi neither looks for a fight nor is afraid of a fight. Xi pretty much exercises conventional Chinese wisdom in geopolitics since the Spring Autumn Warring States (春秋战国), when Sun Tzu Art of War was born. On the other hand, Johnson is exercising his analysis with conventional Anglo-Saxon wisdom. Title says it all: it is US that seems to be looking for a fight, yet it sounds as if China was looking for a fight.
I would give that half of the merits. Xi definitely does not belong to the Guangdong faction. There was a widely circulated story that, when Xi was touring Guangdong (include Shenzhen) right after he took over, a prominent Guangdong faction elite said via a "megaphone" that Xi would not survive if he did not toe their "reform" line.
Here is the merit part. His father was the Guangdong first secretary when reform started and Shenzhen was just starting as an SEZ. In the ensuing years, his father once fell out of Deng's favor and it is said that the Ye family helped him. Xi's mother has been living in Shenzhen since the couple officially retired from the public scene. So if you label the Ye family as the mover and the shaker of the Guangdong faction, then I would say Xi would defer on some occasions. But Xi himself never belongs to either the Deng family or the Ye family.
Certainly the Guangdong faction in general and the Ye family in particular want people to believe the Xi on their side.
He's one of very few Western analysts I bother reading. The rest just get a click on the X button as soon as I read their names.
You are right. I am simply speaking from my inner idealist. I hope Xi seriously evaluates some of this stuff though. Internal society is just as important as external force. God forbid Chinese society becomes like Singapore, or even worse, XiangangExtreme cases call for extreme measures and small cases can be handled with minimal measures. It's a mental sickness to look good but still crave extensive plastic surgery to fix self-preceived minute imperfections but this is very very rare in the population. You coudn't possibly argue without being laughed out of the room that a woman who did a little dimple surgery or double-eyelid modification is shameful and disgusting and there are extreme cases where plastic surgery has afforded women who were born very ugly a normal or even better than average lifestyle. If you haven't felt what it's like to be an ugly woman, seriously, don't judge; it's oftentimes a life full of pain and tears.
Yeah that's not possible because no society will bully good-looking women. For a man to do that is against evolution. Men will covet vain and beautiful women; it is a driving force for men. Harness it to further society. Don't try to tell men they don't like vane and beautiful women, that looks aren't important. It's a fool's errand.
That's a total dream. Humans are animals and animals need to attract mates. Peacocks use their tail feathers; lions use their manes; men use our wealth and power and women use their beauty. Never try to break this because you will break yourself.
People's lives aren't just utilitarian. We want to enjoy living. I don't want to eat stale bread, eggs, broccoli and water then come home to a 5/10 just because I can survive that way; I want to eat steak and seafood and come home to Fan Bingbing with an hour glass figure and visible abs. I work hard for that because it's worth it.
Being ugly to save money isn't one of them.
That is indeed the ideal and it is even more crazy that the number can go down for short women but NOT up for taller women. 48kg is a magical number in Korea. However, regardless of whether the number is strictly followed, the important point is that it resulted in a culture in Korea where women are very conscious about their weight and looks and always strive to deliver. In -10 degree weather, they will go out in a miniskit and high heels because they are proud to always deliver and flaunt thier beauty. Korean women always strive to deliver beauty. This was what left the deepest impression on me when I visited Korea over a decade ago and my resolve from that was to make myself a man who would always deliver for my wife and family in response. It's been a great fuel for me! If it weren't that I want to raise Chinese kids to educate as patriotic STEM contributors to Chinese society, I would have happily married a Korean woman long before I met my wife.
No it's not. The skater Kim Yuna was 162cm and 47cm. This is a 47kg Korean woman (stage name IU) who is 167cm tall. I like that, not a corpse.
manqiangrexue
Brigadier
Goddamn, the West is such a bunch of schoolyard punks! Don't they listen to themselves to see if it's a good look before saying it in public? "We have more friends than him! Let's have a party for only like-minded people! Don't hang out with him; let's isolate him and make him feel left out." China and Russia, we have a responsibility to lift the world from the pettiness and ugliness of the West.