Ever since last December 2019, the news out of America has been that of constant China demonization. There is nothing that China, or the Chinese could do right. That they are evil at a level unprecedented, and the only thing good about a Chinese person is if they were dead.

Ugh!

“Neocons” believe that the United States should not be ashamed to use its unrivaled power – forcefully if necessary – to promote its values around the world. Some even speak of the need to cultivate a US empire. Neoconservatives believe modern threats facing the US can no longer be reliably contained and therefore must be prevented, sometimes through preemptive military action.

Most neocons believe that the US has allowed dangers to gather by not spending enough on defense and not confronting threats aggressively enough. One such threat, they contend, was Saddam Hussein and his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. Since the 1991 Gulf War, neocons relentlessly advocated Mr. Hussein’s ouster.

-Neocon 101: What do Neoconservatives Believe?

Extreme?

You bet.

But that narrative is intended to drum up support for a war against China. It is immaterial if it is true or not. It just… is all part and parcel of a propaganda campaign that is needed to get Americans on a “war footing”. And make no mistake. They want another full-on World War. They want to see it [1] unify the nation against a common enemy, [2] decimate and destroy China for personal plunder, and [3] renew America as the dominant nation in the world.

Ah. There’s nothing that I can do about that. If America is going to fight another war, there’s nothing that I can do about it. I have as much power in this matter as an ant does against a stampede of rampaging elephants.

All that I can do, is duck my head. Then scurry out of the line of fire. When people ask me what I am doing and why, I point out what I am seeing, and they immediately get their shackles up! “How dare I even think such a thing!” They demand.

Fine, I say.

• Bio-weapon COVID-19. The United States would NEVER…
• Micro Nuke on the BRI in Lebanon. The United States would NEVER…
• Arrest of industry CEOS. The United States would never…
• Drones spraying swine flu to destroy Chinese Pork. The US would never…
• Ordering other nations to stop trading with China. The United States would never…
• Banning 5G, all Chinese phones, Chinese Apps. The USA would never…
• Cut trade, communication, and travel with China. The United States would never…

What ever.

Anyways. If you cannot see what the “end game” is with all the NEOCONS in the White House, you never will. It’s pretty blatant and “in your face”.

The only question is timing.

There is a shitload of domestic issues “on the table” right now, and the China events will figure into this calculus, for better or worse. I don’t know which, honestly. After all, it is an election year.

I talked to some close friends and relatives in the USA, all rabid Trump supporters, and they pretty much told me this…

Oh, Trump will get reelected. It's a certainty.

And China. Well, the USA will hurt China really bad, and they won't be able to do anything about it, because "we hold all the cards". Trump is playing 48 D chess. He's very smart, it's just that he has a really bad habit with social media. But, disregard that. He's really, actually a genius.

Biden is such a joke. He is actually physically living inside a closet. There is no friggin' way that he'll ever become President.

It WILL be world war III, and yes, I'm aware of that. But I'm ready, and so is the United States.

I think they are all delusional.

But, I still love them anyways.

OK. Well, I came across this article on my LinkedIN feed a ways back. I thought that it was pretty good. It comes up with other things, positive things to say about China. Which pretty much makes it completely unique. How many times have you read anything positive about China in any of the American press?

I think that the world needs to look at things in a positive way.

Don’t you?

What I Love About China

Published on March 4, 2020 by Jim Nelson, President, SHI Group Recruitment. Edited to fit this venue, and all credit to the original author.

Sentiment against China inside and out is pretty high these days. Some trends are concerning, but much endures for me. What I love about China is quite a bit. I am an American and have lived in China for over 20 years. I love America and cry when we sing “I am proud to be an American, where at least I know I am free.”

However, I have found things in China that I should mention. I know these comments are generalizations and there are exceptions, but these are things I have generally found to be true. Also, many things I find here I might also have found in other developing countries. I found them here. Finally, some of these lessons may have been things this Swedish American needed to learn more than some others from the US.

What I Love About China

1. Food.

China, Italy, and Mexico are the competitors for the American stomach for a reason. China is a food culture that I love and O, do not make them late for lunch.

2. Friends.

I never knew before I moved to China that most Americans are lonely and do not even know it. What I mean is that Americans like to talk about the weather and some highlights about our kids, but we do not go much deeper. 

I have an Afrikaner friend who lives in the States. He says that just when he feels the relationship is going deeper, the American will suddenly back off relationally.

Most Americans have an invisible wall that they do not recognize that no one or almost no one crosses. Remember the Simon & Garfunkel tune that says, “I am a Rock, I am an Island. I touch no one and no one touches me.”? That is America in so many ways.

We Americans do not get personal. 

For example, I can talk about religious faith or how much they earn with most anyone in China whereas you cannot touch that in America or you risk losing your friend. It seems I was open to something different when I came to China and discovered that in America we did not talk deep. 

I am glad to have become a deeper person here and less lonely. (Though I never knew I was lonely before I came)

3.  Be part of a group.

Americans are desperately independent. Freedom has come to mean that we do not rely on anyone emotionally or otherwise. This is related to 2 it seems.

Individualism has become extreme in America. In America, I pump my own gas and never talk to a teller at the bank.

I bought a house in China and borrowed US$60,000 from my Chinese friends and not a penny from my American friends.

Friendships have traction in China.

Americans would rather give me some money than loan any. When I first married my Chinese wife 14 years ago, I walked around the table to get a butter knife right behind my wife. She called me on it immediately. “Why are we married if you do not ask for anything?”

4. Relationship ties.

Americans give free gifts. We want no tie or outstanding debt as it were.

Chinese give gifts to create and buttress their relationships.

No one talks about a free gift here. 2, 3 and 4 are related here, and I am glad to accept this new thing. I think it has made me a better person.

5. The Chinese is a deeply emotional nation.

In 2001, the American Navy sunk a Japanese fishing boat and many Japanese school students died. No government angst was aired by Japan. The Americans apologized profusely and paid all costs for the losses. The families were upset and wanted apologies and got them. No one in Japan said we did it on purpose. It was a very sad rational event actually. 

In 1999, the US bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, it was all angst and blame and harsh words all across China, and no one in China even yet believes the Americans did this by accident. No students died, but three reporters did. China declared them maryters. No sense of that happened in Japan with the boat.

The Chinese people are an introverted deeply emotional people unlike the Japanese. Chinese mothers teach Tang dynasty poetry to their small children. China has a National Holiday to honor a poet who committed suicide. America honors the guy who made someone else die. 

The relation between America and China is a love-hate relationship and emotional from the top government to the bottom peasant. The relationship with Japan is not love-hate. It is more like business.

• I would describe the Americans as being an extroverted audacious shallow emotional country. 
• I would describe the Japanese as being a rational detailed private country. 
• The US relationship with China is invariably emotional.

Being a naturally rational person, I gained a lot from the perspective of a deeply feeling country. I learned to live in China.

6. They study history.

The Chinese are backing into the future with their eyes firmly fixed on the past. I love history and yet my countrymen had little interest. Here everything might be seen with eyes fixed on the past. Chinese when I first arrived might approach me and say “Do you love China for her 5000 years of written history?”

I have often enjoyed talking and debating history here in a land where most people still believe the South Koreans started the Korean War. Further, so hard for China to crack the habits of its past in child raising, medical thoughts and on and on.

They seem to say “Surely China could not have been wrong all these 5000 years?” They challenged me to think more about what is true and what I believe about the past.

7. Pedestrian Friendly.

I can ride a bicycle here and never need a car.

In America we must have a car as our cities are spread out and our public transportation stinks as we are desperately independent (see 3 above).

By 2013 Chinese people had stopped riding bikes, but I still do. Then out of nostalgia they started riding rental bikes but that got old fast. I still bike everywhere and love it. China is so dense that biking and walking are practical and subways and buses can fill the rest well.

8. Appreciate everything. Now.

I have learned to not take things for granted, like clean roads, and blue skies with white clouds, and clear understandable win / win relationships.

9. Happiness is an attitude. Not a place.

Happiness cannot be bought. I have seen some of the happiest faces in some of the poorest places here.

I guess I should stop. God Bless America and God Bless China, May they each learn from the other.

Conclusions

It’s a nice article. Of course it is another person’s opinion and where you live will have a lot to do with your experience. I live in Zhuhai China and every day is fresh, clean air, and blue skies. But that came with planning and strong prayer affirmation campaigns. It did not occur out of the blue.

If you are in an industrial zone, expect dirtier and grimier surroundings and a white hazy sky. It comes with the territory.

Where we live will influence your life, and your relationships.

I spent six years in Indiana, in the United States. I had a good job there, and I was making a good salary. yet, something was missing. I didn’t realize what it was until I left Indiana and moved to Mississippi, and then to Boston. It’s the people.

Boston folk are really fine open and friendly, and they might seem a bit brash and harsh, but that’s just their way of getting to know you.

Hey! You'se got a problem with that?

I am sure that Vice President Mike Pence (from Indiana) is a very nice person, but he probably doesn’t drink, he attends church regularly, and has a nice house in an upscale neighborhood. You can probably smile at him and he probably would hold the door open for you in a store, but having a deep heart-to-heart conversation with him would probably be out of the question. It’s not the Hooser way.

It’s not that, that is bad, in itself. The point is that where you live and how you associate with people is what defines the quality of our life.

Be it blue skies, fresh air, nice people that would do anything for you (including give you the shirt off their back), and cultural and social activities.

Life is what we make it.

You do not need to be constrained to live in the same area that your parents choose, nor associate with the same friends that you made in elementary school. You do not need to be stuck in a job that you chose when you were in your early 20’s, and you certainly do not need to be stuck in a relationship that is devoid of love, care, and happiness.

If the USA provides all your needs, emotional, spiritual, cultural, social and monetary, then I say there there and prosper. If that is not acceptable, then try China. And if China is not acceptable, then try another nation. Maybe Iceland. The point is that you, and you alone, define what your happiness is.

And if others don’t understand, well…

…that’s their problem.

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