Technology

Anti-China-Goods rant aside, I would also contest your claim they're coming up on the US. Growing up I was told this, and halfway believed it, but the evidence for a prosperous China just isn't there & the evidence against them is growing every day. Despite their numerous attempts to hide negative press. While still technically a formidable foe with power based on sheer numbers & basic technologies alone, China is a struggling world power riddled with problems, like a body with cancer. Effectively making them a paper tiger.

First & foremost, know this: China's worst enemy has, and always will be, China. The CCP rules with an iron fist, then there are unintended consequences. The one child policy (and people's preference to have their one child be a boy) created a terrible gender imbalance & consequences we see playing out today. As of 2021 & reacting to slowing birthrates and an aging population, the CCP now allows families to have up to 3 children. More on that in a bit...

Look into the Four Evils campaign, a movement that led to famine, the starvation of an estimated 20-30M people. It's a fascinating little read & a perfect example of going to extremes, and unintended consequences.

Some of China's GDP & "growth", kind of like the US, is fake. They've built entire cities nobody lives in, empty malls with no stores. It looks good on paper, all that construction & work being done. But how good is that work? And what's it all for, sitting empty, rusting/rotting/crumbling away into nothing? They, too, have a real estate bubble ready to burst.

Fake accomplishments & claims abound. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. They claim nuclear fusion. They claim they can turn deserts into lush, healthy forests. They claim amazing technologies & weapons, no you can't see them, but trust me bro our scientists have totally verified it multiple times. So legit. 🙄🙄🙄

Much like the US & UK, but on crack -- they're using all this technology to enshittify the lives of their residents. To press that boot of authoritarian rule more firmly onto their necks, controlling every aspect of their lives, cracking down on dissent, etc. Social credit scores like a Black Mirror episode (specifically S3E1, "Nosedive", a good watch!). The crazy COVID crackdowns, which led to...

The disenchantment of the youths, millennials & Gen Z. Granted this has been festering for years before covid, but all the weird social shit around covid led to the Tang Ping movement in China, informally known as "Let It Rot". An overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated youth slaving away for the CCP, facing an aging population to care for, has decided to just let it all rot. Juice isn't worth the squeeze. Why try to date, why marry, why have any children at all, let alone 3? What's the point of it all, to help the CCP? The assholes...running & ruining their lives? Nah. Let it rot. Very fascinating stuff, Google it.

So between their copy-paste or outright fake "innovations", their fake real estate & holdings, their poisoned food, their poor, impoverished populations, their aging population, their despondent & depressed youth, etc...I don't think things are looking so hot for China. The more you learn, the more the narrative unravels. It's pretty sad that they have so many people & don't dominate the world, but again, it's mostly China's fault. Even their own citizens resent China, with damn good reason. Ultimately, their actions (and inaction) will not allow China to succeed.