Hey Peter, long time follower first time commenter.
I've noticed in several recent posts you made and also your most recent documentary (interesting watch) that you seem to think of modern China as an example of a communist/socialist society that others could aspire to. I think, however, that we should be careful before we look to China as an example to follow for most purposes. I don't know where you get your information about the country, but you should be aware they like to play fast and loose with the truth in their promotional material and propaganda.
I've been following some people who lived there for a long time and watched the changes unfold as Xi Jinping took over, and what they share seems to be plenty of cause for caution. You might say that's a biased source, but even random economics channels I follow are saying similar things to what they recently said, for example that China has been hiding more and more economic indicators. Why would they hide things that might be good news for them?
The guys I follow have a weekly podcast where they discuss various issues and a clips channel where they take bite-sized fragments from the podcast (and a few other channels). For example, to get back to the post's topic, there's one (https://youtu.be/oLMnVpuhGD0) where they explain how homeless people are actually just shipped off into the countryside so they can't come back. They may be sheltered in a bus for a couple of hours that way, but I think you'll agree that's taking a bit too much liberty with the idea of providing shelter.
Another clip that comes to mind is one where they explore the case of the vlogger who got silenced for vlogging about the pathetic pension an old lady gets from the "socialist-with-Chinese-characteristics" state and his attempt to buy her a decent meal with it (and ending up using his own money too; https://youtu.be/bI_qmHook7c).
You probably wouldn't find things like that if you look for them since they embarrass the government and thus are quickly erased. That's why it's nice to have people like that who can keep an eye on things that will quickly be erased.
You don't have to believe me, but if you even look at how their diplomats and officials behave on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, not to mention how the various channels and personalities that promote the Chinese government's talking points have an interesting tendency to all use the exact same stories and even wording even when they claim to be independent, you hopefully agree that taking at face value the media that is their mouth piece (e.g. Global Times, China Daily) isn't worth much either.
One other source I'd mention is the Great Translation Movement (https://twitter.com/TGTM_Official), where Chinese speakers translate various things taken from the Chinese internet to penetrate the language barrier to show the contrast between how the government portrays itself toward the outside world, what they publish for the foreign audience, and what they feed the domestic audience, not to mention what people think of various other places like Japan, Korea or the US. Note too that as mentioned above, if the government finds something to dislike, it will quickly make it disappear, so it's tempting to think those things are implicitly condoned.
I agree with most of what you say, including your message at the end of your recent documentary, but let's be careful what we believe about a country that is getting more and more opaque.
Hey Peter, long time follower first time commenter.
I've noticed in several recent posts you made and also your most recent documentary (interesting watch) that you seem to think of modern China as an example of a communist/socialist society that others could aspire to. I think, however, that we should be careful before we look to China as an example to follow for most purposes. I don't know where you get your information about the country, but you should be aware they like to play fast and loose with the truth in their promotional material and propaganda.
I've been following some people who lived there for a long time and watched the changes unfold as Xi Jinping took over, and what they share seems to be plenty of cause for caution. You might say that's a biased source, but even random economics channels I follow are saying similar things to what they recently said, for example that China has been hiding more and more economic indicators. Why would they hide things that might be good news for them?
The guys I follow have a weekly podcast where they discuss various issues and a clips channel where they take bite-sized fragments from the podcast (and a few other channels). For example, to get back to the post's topic, there's one (https://youtu.be/oLMnVpuhGD0) where they explain how homeless people are actually just shipped off into the countryside so they can't come back. They may be sheltered in a bus for a couple of hours that way, but I think you'll agree that's taking a bit too much liberty with the idea of providing shelter.
Another clip that comes to mind is one where they explore the case of the vlogger who got silenced for vlogging about the pathetic pension an old lady gets from the "socialist-with-Chinese-characteristics" state and his attempt to buy her a decent meal with it (and ending up using his own money too; https://youtu.be/bI_qmHook7c).
You probably wouldn't find things like that if you look for them since they embarrass the government and thus are quickly erased. That's why it's nice to have people like that who can keep an eye on things that will quickly be erased.
You don't have to believe me, but if you even look at how their diplomats and officials behave on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, not to mention how the various channels and personalities that promote the Chinese government's talking points have an interesting tendency to all use the exact same stories and even wording even when they claim to be independent, you hopefully agree that taking at face value the media that is their mouth piece (e.g. Global Times, China Daily) isn't worth much either.
One other source I'd mention is the Great Translation Movement (https://twitter.com/TGTM_Official), where Chinese speakers translate various things taken from the Chinese internet to penetrate the language barrier to show the contrast between how the government portrays itself toward the outside world, what they publish for the foreign audience, and what they feed the domestic audience, not to mention what people think of various other places like Japan, Korea or the US. Note too that as mentioned above, if the government finds something to dislike, it will quickly make it disappear, so it's tempting to think those things are implicitly condoned.
I agree with most of what you say, including your message at the end of your recent documentary, but let's be careful what we believe about a country that is getting more and more opaque.