Just you wait, DarkCurrent, just you wait. It won’t be long until there is a Chinese people of Wa-Mart. Then China will really be something special.

ladyingray on January 24, 2013 at 2:59 PM

As Di Xin famously said at the Battle of Muye, “We’re fucked!”

Now to be realistic about this, I agree.
But even those of us in BFE/theSTIX have Internet access.
We all sit here in the rural country laughing our a$$es off watching PeopleatWalmart.com

Badger40 on January 24, 2013 at 1:53 PM

The US, at present, is certainly a generally more developed country. For now.

And is it really surprising that there are more internet users in the more affluent parts of the country?

DarkCurrent on January 24, 2013 at 10:56 AM

Now to be realistic about this, I agree.
But even those of us in BFE/theSTIX have Internet access.
We all sit here in the rural country laughing our a$$es off watching PeopleatWalmart.com

“One reason for optimism is that Internet penetration tends to grow with time and further development. According to the CNNIC report, 20 provinces saw double-digit growth in the number of Internet users in 2012, and provinces such as Ningxia, Anhui and Guizhou are among the areas with the fastest growth. “

Annual double-digit growth in internet penetration in 20 out of 22 provinces. Hmm…

Also no mention of the fact that in the last 10 years the number of internet users in China has grown from about 45 million to about 538 million, more than a 10x increase. Hmm…

And is it really surprising that there are more internet users in the more affluent parts of the country?

Didn’t you simply fail to look it up? Or did you look it up and then decide not to report it?

The Internet is making their deficient culture run up against the impossible goals of Western levels of prosperity with brutal levels of suppression and censorship. New ways vs. old. Last time, “Old ways” won the argument and until Marco Polo took a long walk we barely knew they existed. I wonder if the outcome will be different this time?

MelonCollie on January 23, 2013 at 7:45 PM

Deficient? You know, I’ve learned a lot in the past many years about China. I can thank my friend DarkCurrent for that.
I don’t have any illusions to the fact that they do have problems.
But so do we.
I will say this about cultures in general vs Western ideals.
Freedom & Liberty as defined by America may not be something people in other countries en masse may want or wish to fight for.
See the muslim countries for that.
It’s not our job to help other countries to become liberated. Unless they ask for our help, & it should be limited.
China is a much older civilization & it’s real easy to point fingers.
Let’s not forget something: America had a HUGE hand in helping China become communist.
That is shameful. And you have FDR to thank for a lot of that nonsense.

The 400 million who live in what we consider middle class
An Objectivist on January 23, 2013 at 10:39 PM

Who are the “we” in that sentence? A third of China’s population don’t live in anything near what *I* consider middle-class.

The Gini coefficient is a commonly used measure of income inequality, with a figure of 0 representing perfect equality and 1 total inequality.

Newsflash: Private INCOME does not create economic equality. What matters is how much SPENDING an incredibly tiny number of government officials control.

Oh, and here’s another little tip: the fact that the government’s “Fearless Leaders” are controlling OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY doesn’t make things more equal; it makes things a whole, whole lot less equal.

they’re trying to figure out how to balance their latent desire to maintain their totalitarian chokehold with the increasingly obvious modern fact that free speech and the free flow of information are conditions much more conducive to economic growth, competition, and prosperity.

I missed this, since I didn’t watch the inauguration.

The Chinese government wants very badly to get on the United States’ economic level, but how to efficiently do so without easing up on the many institutional checks hindering their people’s ingenuity, creativity, and entrepreneurship (and uh, oh yeah — their basic human rights)? Such a conundrum for them.

So in other words, they’re hitting the same wall they hit centuries ago, when they suddenly pulled in like a box turtle instead of soldiering out into the world and probably taking a bunch of it.

The Internet is making their deficient culture run up against the impossible goals of Western levels of prosperity with brutal levels of suppression and censorship. New ways vs. old. Last time, “Old ways” won the argument and until Marco Polo took a long walk we barely knew they existed. I wonder if the outcome will be different this time?

The Chinese government wants very badly to get on the United States’ economic level, but how to efficiently do so without easing up on the many institutional checks hindering their people’s ingenuity, creativity, and entrepreneurship (and uh, oh yeah — their basic human rights)? Such a conundrum for them.

…no problem!…JugEars is trying his best… to meet them half-way

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Whatever its many extravagant promises to the contrary in principle, ain’t no inequality like communist inequality in practice.

Coming soon to America…