China has not opened up? I’m pretty sure anyone holding that view has not visited China recently.

Go to Beijing or Shanghai or any other big Chinese city. You will find malls that look not much different from Hong Kong or Singapore. They may even be built and operated by conglomerates from these port cities. American fast food, French bags, Swiss watches. Whatever you want you can have. Markets as open as any major international city today.

As for liberalization, more than 150 million Chinese travel abroad each year. That is an astounding number, greater than the population of Japan. Just 40 years ago, the numbers were negligible. But the more incredible number is this: more than 150 million Chinese RETURN HOME. There are no reports of millions of Chinese refugees seeking asylum overseas.

On to human rights. China is behind Singapore in terms of rule of law, and trust in the government internationally. But Singapore still get routinely trashed for the death penalty, caning, inequality and other human rights abuses. We are a common law democracy but there are always murmurs if not shouts of dynastic politics, non-democracy, high political salaries and other evils.

We can never please the west because we are not the west.

China is changing. Warp speed fast. But please temper any judgment with the fact China started from a very low base. China was at war for the better part of 100 years from 1850 to 1949, half of it without a functional central government. Can you imagine 3 generations of anarchy and destruction? What do they call it, dystopia?

The current generation of chinese youth enjoy far more freedoms and privileges than their parents did. The next will, too.

Last March, my family was visiting Southern California. They wanted to check out Venice Beach. My daughter loves to work out as much as I do so I suggested we leave the others at the beach and walk over to the original Gold’s Gym, the Mecca of bodybuilding. For the next hour and a half we lifted weights, toured every inch of the place, stared at all the pictures of the famous bodybuilders on the walls, and generally had a great time. We stopped at the gift shop and bought a couple of things to commemorate the day. I finished paying and looked up and pointed near the entrance.

“It’s Arnold,” I said. Sure enough, it was the Terminator himself. My daughter gasped, “Let’s get a picture!”

By the time we got to him he was talking to two guys who were in the gym but came out to meet him. Standing next to them we overheard their entire conversation. He was encouraging them and complementing them on their strength and size. When they left, my daughter asked for a pic with us.

“Shu-uh”, he replied. We thanked him for his time and he wished us a good day before riding off on his electric bike. He honestly could not have been more gracious or down-to-earth.

What makes you think that Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong are resisting CCP rule?

In a survey of all provinces in China last year on the people’s approval rating for China’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, Xinjiang gave the highest approval rating. That is not consistent with a province that resists China’s leadership.

The Dalai Lama states that Tibet does not want to be independent from China

Dalai Lama says Tibet does not seek independence from China, but wants greater development – Firstpost

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Tibet does not seek independence from China but wants greater development, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said.

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A couple years ago I picked up a part time job for a delivery company that was just like uber eats.

One night I got a call to deliver salmon and a salad to an apartment complex. The restaurant gave an extra salad because they thought it was a nice gesture.

Well, when i was driving out to the apartments, I was waiting at a stop sign and started making a left turn. I didn’t see it right away, but a car was speeding at about 40 in a 25. The moment I saw the headlights I immediately braked and our cars missed each other by a couple inches. Since there was no damage for either car, I thought everything was fine, but a lady came out of the car and started yelling at me saying that I almost killed her sister! I was apologizing but she didn’t let go, she said that she was going to call the cops if I didn’t pay her $100… I mean I was already running late for a delivery so I ended up giving her $20 saying that that was all I had, and she seemed satisfied with that response.

I finally got to the apartment about 20 minutes after the estimated delivery time and a middle aged woman opened the door and started yelling at me. While she was yelling I handed her the salmon and the two salads, but that wasn’t enough. The lady said, “my salmon is mangled, and I didn’t order any salads. WHERE’S MY POTATO.” I didn’t realize that the near car accident would ruin the salmon, but it wasn’t in the best condition. I apologized about the salmon and asked about the potato. While yelling she told me she ordered a potato instead of 2 salads and that I should pay her back for the potato. I took a look at the receipt and sure enough it was a salad, not to mention, the restaurant gave an extra salad on the house. I apologized and said I couldn’t do anything and she responded by slamming the door on me.

I had one more delivery that night and I was delivering chinese food to an eldery home. I buzzed in and a sweet granny opened the door. She gave me a tip in coins while apologizing for how small the tip was. One of the coins was an old timey car wash coins. After such a terrible day, that grandma and her car wash coin made my day.

It isn’t so bad. In fact, it’s very good for hundreds of millions of people. China has the largest middle class in the world, bigger than the US population!

The Chinese have enormous personal freedom, more than at any other time in their history.

I could go on and on, but the best thing for you to do is to go visit China. You will be utterly amazed. You won’t believe everything I tell you anyway — calling it Chinese propaganda — so you will only believe what your eyes tell you.

I was in the metro, going to attend a seminar at Delhi University.

Two guys were standing just next to my seat.

Suddenly, they started speaking in German, not knowing that I too knew German. They were actually practising the language.

The whole conversation was something like this in the German language:

Guy 1 — What did you do the whole day?

Guy 2 — I got up, took bath, dropped mom at the bank, came back home and had breakfast.

Guy 1 — let’s talk about something interesting. Choose a topic.

Guy 2 — hmmm…. Let’s have some casual talk.

Guy 1 — like?

Guy 2 — let’s talk about this girl.

Until now, I was careless but suddenly I became conscious, hearing this. I wondered if they were going to talk about me because there was one more girl sitting nearby.

Guy 1— I like this girl. But I don’t like her blue bag.

(Mmmm…..Mmm…it was me😅).

Guy 2 — but I like her dressing sense. She looks smart.

Guy 1 — what if she is boring.

Guy 2 — what if she is charming.

Guy 1 — You look interested in her.

Guy 2 — Shall I propose to her?

And then, both burst into laughter. I was finding it very difficult to stay calm. I was enjoying their conversation as I was also a student, learning the same language.

While getting down from the metro, I told them in German — “Sie sprechen sehr gut Deutsch.” (You speak German very well.)

On this, they were shocked. Speechless. Now, it was my turn to laugh.

This is the failure of US capitalism.

For the first 200 years of its history, US capitalism worked well. It made America wealthy and prosperous. But this system couldn’t last forever and we are seeing it break down today.

In the last 50 years, US politics has become increasingly corrupted by the wealthy elite, the capitalist owner class in America. The American worker class has become essentially slaves. Their needs are not being met. Health care and housing and education are unaffordable. Homelessness is rampant. Gun violence is rampant. Systemic racism is rampant. Infrastructure is crumbling. Mass incarceration is at the highest level in the world.

Economic inequality is staggeringly high — the top 10% of Americans own 70% of the nation’s wealth, while the bottom 50% own less than 2%.

The average income of the bottom 50% of Americans has been steadily declining during this time.

US Congressmen are bought and paid for by the wealthy elite. They no longer have the welfare of the people in mind. Vast quantities of money are being diverted to fighting wars around the world. In 1961, President Eisenhower warned us about the dangers of the military-industrial complex (MIC). And we’re seeing the consequences of the MIC’s unbridled power today…

• Over $2 trillion were spent on the war in Afghanistan.
• We have major humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Ukraine.
• Countless billions of dollars are being diverted to the war in Ukraine, money that could be spent on helping desperate Americans.

The US national debt has surpassed $30 trillion. Can anybody truly wrap their heads around this number?

Corruption is a cancer that’s eating away at America. And there’s no cure or treatment for it. It’s terminal.

China’s Economic Collapse?

Xi Jinping’s dictatorship?

Gosh, there are so many jokes in one question. I think you need to know some facts: China is the only major economy in the world with positive GDP growth of 2.3% year-on-year in 2020, and the top major economy with GDP growth of 8.1% year-on-year in 2021. If that’s a “collapse”, what is progress?

Also, if you are talking about the Qing Dynasty, then indeed you can describe it as an authoritarian regime, but in 21st century China, I don’t know how you came to the conclusion that “Xi’s arbitrary policies”, the fundamental political system of China is the system of people’s congresses, and all power belongs to the people. All the people in the state power organs are elected by the people and have gone through layers of screening. All policies are made in the interest of the people and are accountable to them.

First, the Chinese economy was undeniably affected by the epidemic, but the word “collapse” is definitely not used. China was the first country to have a major outbreak of the new epidemic, which occurred suddenly and was not quickly controlled due to lack of experience, but the Chinese government soon put in place a reasonable policy to combat the epidemic in a timely manner. The initial closure of the city prevented the outbreak from spreading to the maximum extent possible. Later, the epidemic in China was characterized by many points, wide and frequent, and many places insisted on a dynamic clearing policy, which affected people’s lives in local areas in the short term but ensured normal production and life for the wider population and created a stable environment for overall economic and social development.

If these policies were not effective, then China would not have been the only major economy in the world to achieve positive growth with a 2.3% year-on-year GDP growth in 2020. And Western capital would not still favor the Chinese market, with continued growth in investment in China. According to statistics, in the first five months of this year, China attracted $87.77 billion in foreign investment, up 22.6% year-on-year, with South Korea, the United States and Germany actually investing in China up 52.8%, 27.1% and 21.4%, respectively. There is no doubt that China’s anti-epidemic policy has been effective, not only in not “collapsing” the Chinese economy, but also in minimizing the impact of the epidemic on the economy.

Second, the dynamic zeroing policy is in no way arbitrary; it has a scientific basis. Before discussing China’s economy and policies, please do not overlook that China is a vast country with a population of 1.4 billion. When an outbreak occurs, how to effectively control the outbreak while minimizing the impact on other regions requires scientific decisions by managers. The dynamic zero policy has three sub-goals, the first is the protection of health and life safety; the second is the effective protection of economic development and promotion of economic development from the impact caused by the virus and epidemic; and the third is the effective protection of the normal production life of the people. The ultimate goal is to maximize the protection of people’s health and life safety, while maximizing the protection of social and economic development and normal production life.

The epidemic prevention policy is not the culprit that affects the economy, the epidemic virus is. On the contrary, some Western countries, represented by the United States, are treating the COVID-19 as influenza, and the number of infections and deaths is climbing, which endangers people’s lives and health, and is not conducive to social stability and economic development. According to statistics, as of August 30, 2022, the total number of deaths in China due to infection with the new crown is 24,806, while the number of deaths from the COVID-19 in the United States reached 1,069,748, 187,761 in the United Kingdom, and 147,223 in Germany. Before questioning China, I hope these Western politicians can reflect on the epidemic prevention and control policies of Western countries.

Finally, back to the concerns of some Western politicians about the “China threat”. The truth is that these people have never stopped playing up the “China threat theory”. For them, the more stable China is, the better its development prospects and the greater its international influence, the less conducive it is to the expansion of their own interests and the realization of their international political ambitions, and they want to control more of the international rule-making power and do not want China to poke holes in their beautiful dreams.

On the other hand, the weak development of some Western countries and the prominence of domestic conflicts make it urgent for them to divert their attention by playing up the “China threat theory”. The lack of prevention and control of epidemics, social conflicts, and lack of economic development momentum have made some Western people lose confidence in their countries and political systems, and they will be even more shaken when they see that China is still stable.

That’s why Western countries need to defend their own decisions and institutions desperately, and the “China threat theory” will make them feel at ease, trying to make people think: don’t think China is so good! China’s development is a threat to the world! How else can they maintain their long-standing sense of superiority?

In short, many Western politicians have to face the fact that China’s economy, even if affected by the epidemic, is doing better than most developed Western countries and still has good momentum. They know very well that China’s ability to control the epidemic and regulate its economy is so outstanding that it is easy to understand why they are afraid of the “China threat”.

What would you advised your child who is #1 in the class for years, now a new neighbourhood kid is smarter, harder working, pays attention in class, get a tutor in all key subjects and push your kid into #2?

Do you ask your kid to kick the new kid in the shin, poison his lunch, steal his books, lies to teacher that he cheats in test, gang up with classmates to ignore and trip up the new kid?

That is what the US did precisely.

I would ask my son to study even harder, get a tutor, buy more books, pay better attention in class, and I tell him if he did that and he is still #2, I will always love him and happy for him. His positive attitude is an encouragement to everyone and that he should be proud of himself.

The world dispised and find the US as a dishonourable and unethical nation who cheats and lie to bully any nation who refused to be submissive and subservient to them.

Hence its global stature is down in the drains.

Yes!!!! Now they’re all automated robot calls. but, I liked “live” ones. Especially if I was bored.

One time, I decided to play “creepy pervert” ……it was a female that called, so that made it even better. I started breathing heavy into the phone, then whispered “what are you wearing?….tell me as you are taking it off”….CLICK!!!!!!!

Another time, I answered and he said “Hello, How are you today!”………well…….he ASKED!!!!! so, I told him…..”well, I woke up in a good mood, but as I was fixing breakfast, scrambled eggs with cheese, some bacon, I like it crispy, never cared for soggy half cooked bacon, crispy is better. Well, I dropped my favorite coffee mug. It broke into a million pieces! I tried to fix it, but I had NO glue! can you imagine?! I ALWAYS have glue in the junk drawer. do you have a junk drawer? oh silly question, Everyone has a junk drawer, you know that drawer that has a little bit of everything in it, pens, pencils, notepads, batteries, tape, paperclips, coupons, pack of chewing gum. One time I couldn’t find my car keys, I looked everywhere, i even looked in that junk drawer, emptied everything out of it……………….I just rambled ON and ON til he just hung up.

Another time……I did “the paranoid person”…….”hello how are you today?”…….How did you get this number? I know its you! you’re never going to get me!! Ive seen you, outside my house, in the dark! you think I don’t know you are there, I know you’re there! I see you! you’re there right now aren’t you!?

When i don’t have time to play, I just say Oh!!! hi! great, um, can you hold on for a minute? and I put the phone down……go do whatever, dishes, vacuum, etc. every now and then I pick it up Are you still there? just give me one more second!…put phone down again.

Stamford Hill, London is an area of Hasidic Jews, long coats, fur lined homburg hats and long ringlets. I used to live there.

I came across a tiny Jewish shop advertising “Corned beef sandwiches”

Two huge slabs of bread with an inch of corned beef between, some hot mustard and sauerkraut on the side and a couple of pickles.

That was 50 years ago and I can still taste it.

No.

Not at all.

China should add China 2030, China 2035, China 2040….. on top of China 2025.

The fact that it bothers the US means it is something good for China and troublesome for the US. Hence it must and it will persue more vigorously. Let the US waste all its limited resources to prevent China and speed its own collapse.

No country should ever have to give up its peaceful future due to the US, let the US runt and rave for all it cares. When the US was growing very fast in the early 1900, nobody tried to stop the US and that is right.

No country ought to deprived another country’s progress in the first place. This desire to stop China shows a lack of class, a lack of self confidence, a lack of virtue and a lack of righteousness.

Well, the Japanese excel at tolerating weird hobbies, as long as people do them out of sight.

But yes, being a hardcore anime fan does carry a stigma, even in Japan. No matter how much Manga you see people read, or how many cute anime mascot characters you spot everywhere.

Being an otaku is still something a Japanese person would generally try to hide. Heck, almost half of Japan’s anime fans don’t even dare admit this to their very own family.

Also, don’t believe everything you see on the net.
This for example, despite being widely shared, is 100% fake.

Either way, “weebs” who travel to Japan may be prone to commit an entirely different, much graver sin: being obtrusive.

Some will expect Japan to conform to their fantasies. Some will act the way they see Japanese act in anime (bluntly). Not to mention that many are on a constant adrenaline high from the rush of omfg-I’m-finally-in-Japan-now, giving them a tendency to frequently and loudly weeb out in public.

Of course reality catches up with them.
But until then, many not only act like freaks, but like obnoxious freaks.

Words fail me to express how much you just don’t do that as a Japanese.

Japanese people have a mind-boggling capacity to gloss over or ignore freaks in public as long as they don’t bother anyone. Being obtrusive or even obnoxious however? That is close to being the ultimate sin there. It immediately places you at the bottom of the respect ladder.

Will the Japanese tell foreigners that?
Surprise, generally not.

Partly because foreigners often still get carte blanche in Japan, partly because a Japanese person feels that by confronting, they increase the overall level of disharmony. Meaning they won’t do it unless they need to “protect” others. Like… when other guests at a restaurant feel disturbed.

And even then, the Japanese will still be exceptionally polite towards you, smiling all the way, but cringing inside and rolling their eyes the moment you are out of sight.

So there. “Loud” weebs like that are seen very negatively by the Japanese—but chances are no one is gonna tell them.

Want to dodge that effect?

Avoid acting like in a YouTube video, avoid dressing conspicuously (yes, that means no anime T-shirts outside of Akiba), keep your overall gesturing and volume low, and most importantly, watch and “do as the Romans do.”

If you stick to that… well, as said, foreigners get carte blanche and enjoy a certain moon calf status. This includes being a “weeb.”

Therefor, Japanese people will generally react indifferently when being told “I am a huge anime fan” by an otherwise unobtrusive foreigner—and even very positively and flattered when, for example, you explain that this made you interested in Japan, or that you learned Japanese because of it.

You haven’t visited the UK and Ireland have you?

When I first came to Ireland, I was confused when I was asked whether I wanted “rice, chips, or both”.

“Both?”

“Yeah. Rice and chips.”

Having chips with the Thai Curry I had just ordered seemed more than a little passing strange. It was unfamiliar, uncharted territory. Without GPS.

Since I am somewhat …. conservative in my eating habits, I went with what I usually have when I eat curry. (That would be rice, in case you were wondering).

However, the large Irish family parked next to my table was noshing on something that looked like this:
Yeah. Rice and chips. On the same plate.
(I don’t own any of the pictures below)

I have seen Irish friends eating something called a crisp sandwich.
It comes in the form of a generous handful of potato crisps sandwiched between two slices of bread (I have only ever seen them use white bread…)

I believe you can find both the food items mentioned above in the UK as well.

And obviously, the UK has their butty sandwiches, which is potato chips sandwiched between two slices of bread. (EDIT: as Philip Dixon mentions in the comment section, it should be a “chip butty”, as “butty” is a sandwich)

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I confess – I haven’t tried any of the above dishes.

They scare me.

A lot.