15 Facts About China That Will Blow Your Mind

[Strong Eagle]

http://www.businessinsider.com/15-facts ... nd-2010-2#

[sundaymorningstaple]

Interesting eye-opening stuff there, SE.

[nakatago]

If only the politburo weren't such a bunch of **********, I wouldn't be afraid of a Chinese takeover.

But they are and I am.

[ksl]

One fact is for sure, the bubble will burst and when it does the unrest will be enormous and uncontrollable....The new Cities will be complete and the workers will be unemployed and I'm not talking a few hundred thousand that will have to be pacified, but a few hundred million of hard core workers that have been paid monkey nuts!

[sg_lover]

good post.. interesting

[anneteoh]

In the 1980s, I attended a talk given in London and listened to someone I recognised as one of the creme de la creme Town Planning govt scholar I met a few years back. He pesented a vision mission of China for the next decade that took my breath away. I was doubtful then, but the presenter had very concise ideas for any questions.
Strangely enough, there used to be a joke among school children in London that when China sneezes, the world will jump.
In the lst few years, there has been miraculous stories, with pictures everywhere on the net, on tv and in the press about the staggering advancement all over the mainland.
I still can't get my head around it but I have a favourable list to congratulate China :
1。aid to improving the infrastructure of many African countries as far back as the 60s
2. some women holding top positions in shipping companies and other multinational corporations
3. building the 'controversial' dams to ensure the dry North is well supplied with water
4. the desertification project that irrigate and grow grass under rope grids from the Gobi down to border of Beijing
5. the general upliftment of poverty-stricken Chinese
6. China is a serious partner in environmental issues.

Since 1983, China has made incredulous advancements in so many areas, it's mind staggering to me. I hope the comradeship and commune spirit of the 60s endear and will not be squashed by the harshness of materialism.

[JayCee]

There used to be a joke among school children in London that when China sneezes, the world will jump.

Ok, China has done incredibly well and I'm not taking away from any of that, but this quote above has me flummoxed. School children in London (or anywhere in England) talking about China? And this was in the 90s when it wasn't important like it is now. Maybe a few kids with Chinese parents said it, but the vast majority of schoolkids in London in the 90s wouldn't have given 2 hoots about China (why would they?)

Now there was a saying that if America sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold, but it's adults that say it not school kids

[anneteoh]

There used to be a joke among school children in London that when China sneezes, the world will jump.

Ok, China has done incredibly well and I'm not taking away from any of that, but this quote above has me flummoxed. School children in London (or anywhere in England) talking about China? And this was in the 90s when it wasn't important like it is now. Maybe a few kids with Chinese parents said it, but the vast majority of schoolkids in London in the 90s wouldn't have given 2 hoots about China (why would they?)

Now there was a saying that if America sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold, but it's adults that say it not school kids

Sure as rain, the school kids said that. To be precise, that came from a school in Greenwich around 1998. There were hardly any Chinese kids ( Vietnamese , yes) and if there were, they'd be too polite to boast or too poor to know. Most of the kids, ( it's a boys' school) were British, a few Turkish, Caribbeans, Somalis and Africans.
You'd be surprised - most kids were teasing me about Chairman Mao in the 80s and many were crazy about Bruce Lee in the 80s and Jackie Chan and Jet Li nowadays. Some of the kids even badgered me to watch the nascent Chinese football team then, in the 90s.
London school kids are world savvy, some possibly have 24 hours access to Google and other obscure websites. A Romanian schoolboy (new to Britain ) who was not even my student approached me in 2007 and started asking my opinion regarding Wushu versus Shaolin martial arts. Moreover, he insisted on giving me a small Kuan Yin on a string. Most touching.

PS They did say something in relation to the American sneeze... remember now that when I questioned them further, they also mentioned China's population. It could well be that they were making their own asociations about big countries' sneezes. Mind you, it wasn't in a geography lesson.

[JR8]

I hope the comradeship and commune spirit of the 60s endear and will not be squashed by the harshness of materialism.

The Chinese are probably the most legendarily materialistic people on earth (with Russians a close second). Given the choice, I'd suggest that communism is being booted out ASAP by the people wherever possible.

Is the rose-tinted view you have of communism not somewhat discoloured by the fact that you chose to clear off and live in the UK?

[JR8]

Food for thought from today's papers...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... asses.html

-------------------


Chinese schoolchildren to sit compulsory manners classes
By Peter Foster, Beijing 12:23PM GMT 24 Jan 2011

From primary school onwards, Chinese children will now receive lessons in the art of queuing, good table manners, how to respect their elders and betters and the correct way to write letters, emails and even send SMS messages.

Older children will be tutored in the arts of introducing oneself to strangers, dealing politely with members of the opposite sex, making public speeches and the rudiments of dealing with foreigners and (to Chinese eyes, at least) their strange ways.

"The goal is to let students know that China is a country with a long history of civilisation, rituals and cultures," said the guidelines which were published on the ministry's website.

Behind the lessons lie Chinese government fears that modern China, having outgrown the guiding ideologies of both Confucianism and Communism, has become an increasingly materialistic and empty society.

China's government frequently tries to improve the situation by launching patriotic campaigns against China's earthier habits, such as spitting, smoking in public lavatories, littering and queue-jumping, but they are mostly ignored.

"The campaign is very necessary for our society now," said Xin Tao, vice director of China's the National Assessment of Education Quality and a professor of Beijing Normal University told the state-run Global Times.

"It's true that many Chinese people aren't well-mannered." However poor manners might be a relative thing. "Without doubt, Chinese children are, by some distance, better mannered and more attentive than their English counterparts," said an English teacher who has taught in both Chinese and English schools, "the problem comes when they leave and enter wider society. They have to fight to get on."

[anneteoh]

I hope the comradeship and commune spirit of the 60s endear and will not be squashed by the harshness of materialism.

The Chinese are probably the most legendarily materialistic people on earth (with Russians a close second). Given the choice, I'd suggest that communism is being booted out ASAP by the people wherever possible.

Is the rose-tinted view you have of communism not somewhat discoloured by the fact that you chose to clear off and live in the UK?

Another typical gross generalisation. You must have taken in that they all wore the same clothes at one time and that's where you stopped unfortunately. One can see you're not even talking from personal experience.

I'm sorry if you harbour such deep resentment about my whereabouts. How do you know I'm from China? How do you know I only live in the UK？ You really should return and stamp my visa. LOL

[JR8]

I found the article interesting, and am unaware of communism being missed anywhere where it has been fully eradicated.

Maybe you're just trolling for a fight?

[Plavt]

Since 1983, China has made incredulous advancements in so many areas, it's mind staggering to me. I hope the comradeship and commune spirit of the 60s endear and will not be squashed by the harshness of materialism.

To say nothing of China's record on human rights, John Frazer's 'The Chinese' makes interesting reading as David Bonavia's book under the same title.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I found the article interesting, and am unaware of communism being missed anywhere where it has been fully eradicated.

Maybe you're just trolling for a fight?

Sorry, but I just gotta laugh. Pot, kettle, black? But we need to add me and longstebe to the mix as well!

[JR8]

I found the article interesting, and am unaware of communism being missed anywhere where it has been fully eradicated.

Maybe you're just trolling for a fight?

Sorry, but I just gotta laugh. Pot, kettle, black? But we need to add me and longstebe to the mix as well!

You're probably just jealous that I managed to get in there first