Both very informative perspectives. One of the most interesting statistics is the the chicoms have used more concrete in some period, say 5 or 10 years i can’t remember which, than we have used in this country EVER. Hard to imagine how they can make that much good quality cement. The energy demand to do that alone is mind boggling.
Someone sent me a set of pictures of all the great things they were doing in china. Impressive but it looked like a lot of well executed one-off copies of something conceived somewhere else, like here where the execution was blocked in some way. That is probably an excuse. You can’t take away from the fact they have done these things and made them work and done it quickly.
On the subject of fakery, lots of places in the Middle East are like that. Beautiful facades with nothing inside.
China are up and coming though and a force to be reckoned with. They are smart, industrious and many. They are not so much a house divided as we are. Communism has taken care of that. A benevolent dictatorship, if you can find one, is probably one of the better forms of government.
Well they have built several modern cities with high rises etc that are empty. Essentially all ghost cities, built because someone said build them but no economic infrastructure to support a population to live in them.
Yes...that pic vannrox posted has buildings VERY much like what is in Vancouver, BC
No question, they are able to BUILD THINGS like no country on earth. They don't really have to worry about things like eminent domain, or compensation. They just TAKE what they need. The main rail station in Shanghai has THIRTY platforms... most of which are High Speed trains that hit 300-350 Km/hr. (~200 mph)
They are much more monolithic in thought than we are. This is a disadvantage for us in this trade war. Starbucks and Apple are easily identifiable US brands that they can easily avoid. The government doesn't have to tell them to do it... they just will! And, our companies will suffer. Meanwhile, practically ALL of the things they send to us are components, or raw materials for US branded products. What Chinese product would we boycott? There aren't any.
Chinese people aren't worried about the United States. Most of them never even think about us. As a country, they are NOT our friends. They are clearly intent on flexing their new found muscle around the world. They steal technology with impunity. They see it as a matter of their own survival: To take whatever they need, and they work to make it better and BEAT us with it.
I guess... the only good thing about them is: It's rather easy to guess what their position will be on any topic. It will be: What is BEST for China. That's all they care about.. and, finally, we have a President who wants us to think the same way about ourselves.
The incredibly high concrete/Portland Cement consumption I believe was during the construction of the Three Gorges Dam.
The Chinese were buying all the available Portland Cement that could be loaded on a boat and shipped to the river.
It created shortages on the west coast, Florida and other Gulf Coast states. It also created shortages in Canada, and any other port areas that could load boats/barges of Portland cement.
The China building boom is crazy.
I have learned that one aspect of the boom is people with disposable income doing what Chinese have always done...invested in land/real estate. They reason that dynasties/governments may come and go but the land/real estate will remain.
The problem now is the apartment buildings the investors are buying are falling apart before the investors can turn a profit. Not good in the long run.
When people stop investing because they are losing money the bubble will burst and the China Miracle will turn into 40 miles of hard road.
The problem with benevolent dictatorships is they are one heartbeat away from becoming a despotic hell.
I prefer the Republic the founders gave us.
One reason the CCP has been successful in China is because the citizens have never known the freedom that western countries have had. They are accustomed to a top down government and just go with it.
I have read that chairman Xi is ramping up the nationalist fervor so much that foreigners who have lived there are starting to leave. Not sure how true it is.