Phydeaux
Posts: 4828
Joined: 1/4/2004 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Aswad quote:
ORIGINAL: Phydeaux China averages 1/4 the per capita income of the US. Average is pointless. The typical Chinese household has half the income of the typical US household. quote:
China is an environmental disaster. They're also taking steps to deal with this, such as investing heavily in nuclear power and researching thorium power. Also, the US isn't exactly a model of environmental awareness or sustainable anything. quote:
Much of china's population is illiterate, and china's social institutions have not kept pace with the transition from third to first world economy. Don't mistake China for a homogenous country. Mainland China has a literacy rate of 98%, compared to the USA having 99% and Norway having 100%, so mainland China isn't further behind the USA than the USA is behind Norway. All 3 of them are doing great. However, the Tibet autonomous region has a literacy of only 62%, and several of the administrative divisions (e.g. Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mongolia) are in the mid 90s, pulling down the average. You already pointed out the aging population, and I'm fairly certain the rural and elderly population account for most of the illiteracy. Social inequality is the main issue here, and it's equally present in the USA, where the typical household income is one sixth of the average household income. Tibet isn't going to look anything like Beijing for the forseeable future, and this is to be expected. For comparison, if Israel were to integrate the Palestinian population, the load on the Israeli infrastructure would double overnight, completely overwhelming it. China has far fewer challenges to meet on this point than either of those two countries. quote:
On top of that, china is sitting on a real estate bubble the likes of which the world has never seen. You must never have been to Norway. The world has definitely seen the likes of it. quote:
And despite china's rapid militarization, it has nowhere near the military capability of the soviet union, let alone the US. Carrier targetted ICBMs or not. It has nuclear, and lacks the ambition of being world police. Thus, what it has is sufficient for its needs. quote:
Much of china's rapid progress as been the capturing of low hanging fruit. Actually, this was true, of a phase in Chinese history, but that phase ended while Latin was still a living language, ages ago. They expanded more than we did, early on, and so exhausted their surface resources before they developed the tech to harness subsurface resources. Later, we contributed our tech and lifted them out of that slump. Now, they're no longer in that position, and have what they need to keep going. As such, currently, while China has a ways to go in some areas, it has secured dominance in several key areas that will shape the future. Have you ever visited the Shēnzèn special economic zone? IWYW, — Aswad. I agree with much of what you said. China is doing x,y and z. None of these things will be completed soon, ie, in time to make china the most powerful nation on the planet by 2020. And yes. I've visited much of china. korean. japan. phillipines and norway - not to mention more than 80 other nations. But this part quote:
Actually, this was true, of a phase in Chinese history, but that phase ended while Latin was still a living language, ages ago. They expanded more than we did, early on, and so exhausted their surface resources before they developed the tech to harness subsurface resources. Later, we contributed our tech and lifted them out of that slump. Now, they're no longer in that position, and have what they need to keep going. As such, currently, while China has a ways to go in some areas, it has secured dominance in several key areas that will shape the future. is laughable. Let me show you a picture: http://www.google.com/#output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=china+gdp&oq=china+gdp&gs_l=hp.3..0l4.9891.12703.0.12937.13.11.2.0.0.0.297.2250.0j4j6.10.0...0.0...1c.1.18.psy-ab.SHWy7a2ZGpU&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.48340889,d.eWU&fp=ced7cd0ff581f505&biw=1024&bih=585 Chinese GDP was miniscule as late as 2000. The advancement of chinese society has happened in the last dozen years. Hardly since latin was a dead language. And the present rate of growth will slow.
< Message edited by Phydeaux -- 6/26/2013 5:04:33 PM >
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