Thanks for your informative post.
I have also spent some time in China.
America doesn’t even think about China, yet China is now the largest exporter on the planet, and rapidly growing.
I agree with your post 100%. Even if I take some issue with how clean it is there.
I believe there is some uncleanliness there, but there is some uncleanliness here as well.
I completely agree with your broader point however.
China is becoming the most important country on earth, to America, yet nobody really knows anything about the place.
We now buy a huge portion of everything we use every day from there.
America has in my opinion, become a huge sell-out.
We need to compete. Not sell out.
Bring back American businesses, to America.
I think you're correct, we don't know much about them. So why don't more people travel there???? I think that the would-be travelers know what they would find there: filth.
I do have to add that China isn't as obscure as you think it is. THINK of the beautiful things they make and export:
silk
porcelain/ceramics
art work
gems
furskins
nickel
feathers
gum/resin
pharmecuticals ships rubber sugar furniture
medical/technical/electronic equipment
Knitted/crochet clothing
machines AND engines (Machines require electricity and engines require fuel)
iron/steel products
plastic
vehicles
footwear
We used to consider it a joke. NOTHING seemed to read: "MADE IN THE USA." It always read: "MADE IN CHINA."
Americans would rather have cheap imports than work more. We COULD work more and produce many of these things but they wouldn't be so cheap. MONEY is what Americans SEEM to care about. Maybe I'm wrong but this import/export business doesn't belie that.
I GREATLY admire China's ability to made BEAUTIFUL things. Any country that produces so many beautiful things is worthy of much admiration.
Saudi Arabia produces NO beautiful things. I was there five years and I SEARCHED. I thought that the BLACK wedding dresses that women wore were UGLY, poorly made and, to me, not worth even one riyal.
here's the google search for the most stable currencies:
1. The Swiss Franc
2. The Singapore Dollar
3. The New Zealand Dollar
4. The US Dollar
I rate the Saudi riyal as the most stable currency on the planet. It's been 3.1-3.3 riyals to the dollar for eons, though today it's now 3.7. It will return to its normal rate.
The country has some beautiful rose stones. Many deserts have them and, since Saudi Arabia is a GIGANTIC desert, they DO have them and they are beautiful...produced by God, not the Saudis. They didn't mine them either.
We are STUCK with middle east petroleum because we WILL NOT leave our cars. If you travel to southern California you will STILL see OCEANS of bumper-to-bumper traffic on ALL its MANY, MANY freeways, ALL hours of the day AND NIGHT.
L.A. and environs cannot build enough freeways fast enough to cope with the traffic. They tried to add public transportation and it was a COLOSSAL failure. They won't leave their cars.
Here are the top ten MOST polluted cities in the world:
1. Ahwaz, Iran
2. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
3. Sanandaj, Iran
4. Ludhiana, India
5. Quetta, Pakistan
6. Kermanshah, Iran
7. Peshawar, Pakistan
8. Gaborone, Botswana
9. Yasouj, Iran
10. Kanpur, India
The top ten polluters in the USA:
1. Detroit
2. St, Louis
3. Reno
4. Cleveland
5. Chicago
6. Camden
7. Memphis
8. New Haven
9. Stockton, California (18% unemployment)
10. Oakland, California (The national crime rate in Oakland is a whopping 469-percent higher than the U.S. national average with gun-related crime at the top of the list.)
Sorry for being so verbose. I'm ON A ROLL!
I taught MANY Chinese students and one time I asked them how to tell the difference between Chinese and other Oriental Asians.
The answer:
Han Chinese(92% of all Chinese) have perfectly ROUND nostrils. The rest of the PLANET EARTH has oblong-shaped nostrils. It's true. There is a minority race of Chinese in far Western China who are NOT Han Chinese.
Lol. I would say to some student sometimes: "Oh look up there, it's a ... whatever." They would lift their heads and I could see the nostrils. It's true. Try it.
ROUND nostrils = Han Chinese
Oblong nostrils = the rest of the human race.
.
From Google: The Han Chinese are the largest ethnic group, where some 91.59% of the population was classified as Han Chinese (~1.2 billion). Besides the majority Han Chinese, 55 other ethnic groups are recognized in mainland China by the PRC government, numbering approximately 105 million people, mostly concentrated in the northwest, north, northeast, south, and southwest but with some in central interior areas.
The major minority ethnic groups are
Zhuang (16.9 million),
Hui (10.5 million),
Manchu (10.3 million),
Uyghur (10 million),
Miao (9.4 million),
Yi (8.7 million),
Tujia (8.3 million),
Tibetan (6.2 million),
Mongol (5.9 million),
Dong (2.8 million),
Buyei (2.8 million),
Yao (2.7 million),
Bai (1.9 million),
Korean (1.8 million),
Hani (1.6 million),
Li (1.4 million),
Kazakh (1.4 million), and
Dai (1.2 million).
WHODA thunk?