"I would never want to go to China.
Japan and South Korea could be nice to see, but China just seems like a place that you either get robbed on the street - or end up in jail."
What a completely ignorant and childish statement.
FFS sake, Shark.
Get beaten up on the street? You must be kidding. Petty crime is the worst you'll find from the people.
China have their own way of doing things. They always have. Their present system of government won't last for ever. And actually, those among us that enjoy western dominance should be thankful to Marx.
When/if they adopt a true free market and democracy, you better believe they'll surge out ahead.
They are without doubt a brilliant society. High IQs, a proven track record as the world's premier problem solvers and very hard workers. Can you think of three better markers for success? I can't.
Look at Chinese immigrants around the world. Are they benefit thieves or spongers? Do you find them locked up in disproportionate numbers? No, they arrive, work their asses off, educate their children and in a matter of one generation tend to enter the upper economic tiers of society.
So much so that US universities have begun discriminating against them in terms of entrance scores, despite their minority status.
Go back through history and find me a group with a more staggering history of ideas, inventions and technique refinement. Don't waste you time, China sit right at the top, alone and unchallenged.
Suffice to say that we all know the Chinese were great inventors but whatever inventions or technology you've heard of, it's probably only a small fraction of what they did.
Here's just one stupid one that was used as a kids toy...
A nightlight. Shaped like a lamp but with board blade propeller, similar to a motherboard cooling fan propeller, in the top. The sides of the lamp being cut out into the shapes of various animals or symbols. When you place a candle inside and light it, the hot air rises through the propeller above it, causing the lamp cover to rotate. The result is a spinning light show of animals and symbols on the walls of the room.
Silly right?
Not when you consider that nobody else at the time understood the movement of hot air or attempted to make use of it for practical purposes. There are logical steps in that small process. Logical steps that only they were able to make and be creative enough to make use of.
The list is endless. In fact, I might just dedicate a thread to some of the Chinese brilliance through history. And I'll likely start it b y requesting we all thank them for destroying the bloodthirsty Mongols without firing a single arrow.
What we consider literate and what the Chinese consider literate are two quite different things. They learn our alphabet just to make typing easier for themselves. Our simple A-Z is just used for root characters. Ja, they learn our alphabet in order to type their own characters.
Say what you like, but having the Chinese in our corner, as human beings, gives our gene pool a much greater chance of success in the fight to survive.
My most objective view would be that the Chinese people should be assisted at every turn in being economically, socially and religiously emancipated from their ridiculous government.
I'm fully aware that it'll probably be an unpopular opinion but my belief is that us Westerners, as a consequence of Chinese emancipation, will likely find ourselves a few rungs lower down on the ladder. And I'm fine with it because hard work and smarts are cornerstones of capitalism, and only a fool cries when he's beaten at his own game.
Just as a side note on this nonsense about cheap and often bad quality products from China. Don't think for one second that because we want cheap disposable goods and China supplies them, that they are not master craftsmen.
I was lucky enough to be involved with a Chinese framer years ago. The rudest person one could imagine but he approached his craft with a zeal that I've only ever witnessed in extremely religious people. He came across as rude because he was that focused on his particular craft, and if you had no information or technique to offer him then you were basically just another meat sack in his eyes. Superficially, you could be offended by someone with this type of approach to the normal social graces. Yet, if you took the time to understand the level of devotion the guy had to the quality of his work and that he saw small talk as a distraction from brilliance...what you take away is a brutal lesson in will power.
You understand that he sees himself as a link in a chain and he absolutely refuses be regarded as anything but the strongest.
Shark, you are so easily bloody brainwashed that it's actually a little embarrassing. Making a statement like you did above is either a result of media manipulation, sheer ignorance or both.
It's unfathomable, in the face of everything that exists in China, that anyone could simply write off seeing the place.
I thank my lucky stars that I'm not like you.