The Chinese look at society very differently from the West, Tim Marshall reminds us (in Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World):
I once took a Chinese ambassador in London to a high-end French restaurant in the hope he would repeat Prime Minister Chou En-lai’s much quoted answer to President Richard Nixon’s question “What is the impact of the French Revolution?” to which the prime minister replied, “It’s too soon to tell.” Sadly, this was not forthcoming, but I was treated to a stern lecture about how the full imposition of “what you call human rights” in China would lead to widespread violence and death and was then asked, “Why do you think your values would work in a culture you don’t understand?”
The deal between the party leaders and the people has been, for a generation now, “We’ll make you better off — you will follow our orders.” So long as the economy keeps growing, that grand bargain may last. If it stops, or goes into reverse, the deal is off. The current level of demonstrations and anger against corruption and inefficiency are testament to what would happen if the deal breaks.
Another growing problem for the party is its ability to feed the population. More than 40 percent of arable land is now either polluted or has thinning topsoil, according to their Ministry of Agriculture.
[…]
There are now around five hundred mostly peaceful protests a day across China over a variety of issues. If you introduce mass unemployment, or mass hunger, that tally will explode in both number and the degree of force used by both sides.
I read somewhere that there are close to 15 million Chinese living in what is actually Russia due to the population just spilling over. Arable farmland to feed their masses is job #1.
MF
Long time site surfer. Buying this book.
The idea that there are widespread anti-government protests in China is utter nonsense, and anyone promoting those ideas is a liar or worse.
Our problem is that the Chinese model is working. China’s economy, already at least 50% larger than ours (which now lags behind India, too) is growing about three times as fast as ours. China has the most modern factories and transportation systems in the world, at least one and more likely two whole technological generations ahead of us.
China’s biggest problem is how to prevent the US from starting WW III, which “Biden” is determined to do. Fortunately, they have a friend in Russia, and a friendly Russia is worth much more to China than all of Siberia.
If the facts don’t fit into Theory, so much worse for those facts.
The confusion is caused by quasi-secular (or reverse hypocrite, per Chesterton) mimicry — adaptation of the Protestant theocratic power to “Separation of Church and State”.
It’s 1 to 2 fig leaves thin, yet the superficial observers make a mistake of thinking about the elements of a theocracy trying to proselytize by any means as if they were elements of states trying to do some realpolitik. Or, mix up Rome and Vatican. Then get more confused by how much it fails to add up.
While one side does not care to see the rest of universe outside of its box, while another does not see anything inside that box because it didn’t even notice the box, they cannot possibly talk about the same things. Understanding is illusory. Failures at even basic communication are inevitable.