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Re #46

It is true that China tries to be another success story in E. Asia. The problem is that China has bull market mania mentality which makes them believe that they will leapfrog into an economic superpower in a generation, despite the level of corruption on the order of magnitude or two higher than S. Korea or Japan and other shaky economic institutions. In addition, it is swept into this globalist tide. The progress has been tough even in relatively small S. Korea which has only one ethinic group and culture to deal with.

China seems to brush aside such problems too easily. If China pushes too hard and play too loose, it will be burned badly. China is really poorly prepared for any serious setback of its economy. That is what I tried to say.

All developing countries, not just China, try to develop their economies as fast as possible. What else would you have them do? Voluntarily stay poor? And Japan, Korea, etc. all had "bull market mentalities" about their own economies before, so why do you want to selectively criticize China during its own fast-growth period? If you're worried about such a trivial thing as what kind of "mentality" others have and think Chinese should be studying the humanities curriculum instead of more immediate concerns like real economic development and progess, you have a strange set of priorities. China's got all the ingredients that all the other Asian "tigers" had several decades ago (one-party government, pro-capitalist policies, cheap labor, infrastructure, educated work force, work ethic, etc) but just on a larger scale than any previous "tiger," so people feel confident about China's economic future moreso than other developing countries'. Also, Japan, Korea, etc. were not "corruption-free" several decades ago either, but that didn't stop them from quickly developing their economies and becoming First World countries, did it? Countries don't develop into "corruption-free" First World countries overnight, but it is a process. Today's First World countries all went through similar phases as well. And China, despite not being "corruption-free," today attracts more foreign investment than any other country now. These investors (American, Japanese, Korean, etc.) have weighed the various investment opportunities available (including in their own countries) but prefer to invest in China instead.

Just for your information, are you aware that it was last year that Koreans first started to invest more in mainland China than in the US, about $300 mil. vs. $275 mil.? This is the first time in history that Koreans have ever invested in China more than in America. All the Koreans I speak to know in their bones that China is where the economic action is going to be over the next several decades. S. Koreans these days seem to actually hate the U.S., frankly.