The dark side of China

BBC ^ | Rupert Wingfield-Hayes

[Husker24]

Sounds like Hillarys dream come true.

[lone_conservative_law_student]

HAHAH!!!

[Blue Collar Christian]

This is what the Democrats want, and their venier is civil rights advocacy. Makes me want to heave.

[Centurion2000]

bump ...

[glorgau]

In it was a pink slip of paper she recognised as coming from her Primary school.

This is going on your permanent record young lady!

[TigerLikesRooster]

RE #1

A dossier for every Chinese ? They must have cut a lot of trees. The historians in the future may salivate about the mountains of records PRC compiled on every Chinese, though.

[tallhappy]

Until that changes, the fancy coffee shops and skyscrapers of Beijing will remain a veneer for a police state that relies on coercion and fear to maintain control.

That it took an incident like this to happen personally to him is a example of the problem.

Today China is a free wheeling market economy, its top executives are educated at Harvard and Oxford.

Even its Communist leaders hobnob with Bush and Blair, and talk of free trade and the fight against terror.

Another example of the problem -- this is fantasyland. The above statements are not accurate.

But such incredible exagerations are too common among the press.

[Quix]

And Dilldo and Shrillary are both working hard to bring it to a village, neighborhood and walls near you.

Gotta get some more FREEPCARDS done! Sigh.

[skeeter]

The powers that be in the PRC know that the very second they release their grip the whole country will come unglued.

[TaiwanSemiconductor]

Today's Third World republics are already unglued. Democratic Latin America as we speak is falling into anarchy. Democratic Indonesia and the Philippines are so weak and dysfunctional they've become breeding grounds for terrorists. In the past year, democratic Turkey and Brazil needed multi-billion dollar IMF bailouts. Democratic Venezuela is experiencing daily street clashes. The blacks in the democratic countries of Africa vote to steal the white landowners' land. If you make a list of all the Third World republics in the world and their various problems, it's no wonder that foreign investors much prefer to invest in China.

[skeeter]

If you make a list of all the Third World republics in the world and their various problems, it's no wonder that foreign investors much prefer to invest in China.

Stability in China is an illusion. That'll become more & more apparent as their economy continues to slip.

[TaiwanSemiconductor]

No, it's the blind belief that democracy automatically confers stability that is the illusion. Witness the chaos today in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia, S. Africa, Turkey, etc. While you predict that China may "one day" collapse, you totally ignore the reality that today's Third World republics are already feckless basketcases. Given the choice between being the next Third World democratic joke or following in the footsteps of one-party Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, etc., it's a no-brainer which path China will want to take. After all, after 50 years of democracy, has India become a mirror image of America yet?

[skeeter]

I'm afraid you misunderstand me - I'm not arguing in favor of democracy in China.

Many of my Chinese friends tell me Chinese are not naturally amenable to democracy - I'll take their word for it.

Frankly, I don't even think democracy could keep China from falling apart. One has only to look at Chinese history. It WILL happen.

[TaiwanSemiconductor]

People have been saying China will fall apart for the past 5,000 years, but China today is still alive while all those who predicted otherwise are dead and buried.

[TaiwanSemiconductor]

In general, democracy is rare in world history. Other than ancient Athens or modern democracy (over the past 200 years or), there's hardly anything to argue that democracy constitutes constitutes some sort of historical "norm." Quite to the contrary, authoritarianism is the historical norm and has proven itself to be more long-lasting and stable than the fleeting instances of democracy. Who knows? America may end up like ancient Athens.

[Yardstick]

Many of my Chinese friends tell me Chinese are not naturally amenable to democracy - I'll take their word for it.

Interesting that you say that. A Chinese professor of mine holds the same view. I asked him why the Chinese don't try to change their government, and his answer was that, to them, the present Communist regime is an extension of historical China -- that it is what China is. He said that most of the people dislike the communists, but they just consider this to be a rough time for China, with unusually heavy-handed rulers, and they have reconciled themselves to it. The idea of "throwing the bums out" isn't even considered, because somehow the bums are China. It's pretty wild. I think the Chinese are authentic collectivists and have been since ancient times.

[skeeter]

I think the Chinese are authentic collectivists and have been since ancient times.

Possibly, but it would be a mistake to believe that the Chinese are monolithic in their perception of the party leadersh in Beijing. Its a very regional proposition.

China has to have a overbearing central government, or they will decend into a collection of warring states, as they had done on & off for thousands of years.

As I said, all Beijing has to do is loosen its grip, just a little.

[skeeter]

Who knows? America may end up like ancient Athens.

I hope not. Then who'll buy China's trinkets?

[Constitutional Patriot]

This is why we have a 2nd Amendment and this is why the left wing wants to disarm us.