Beijing -- more hopeful than U.S.?

[david_dawei]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/08/14/beijing.welcomes.you/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

 

Interesting opening to the article:

(CNN) -- It's a country in the headlines every day, on its way to becoming the world's biggest economy and perhaps even replacing the U.S. as the world's No.1 superpower. But how much do you really know about China?

 

 

and final sentence:

This country that spanned a continent and became the most powerful nation in the world is now afraid to build new things or try new ideas, because we're obsessed with losing what we already have. Beijing reminds us that ambition can make a difference.

[griz326]

Good article, David. I lament the cultural losses I see in China with each trip, but the people seem willing participants and it is their future to guide. My Lao Po exhibits boundless ambition and is happier than anyone I've known even though she is in her 50s. I believe she'll be making a bundle of money because she seizes opportunity. She is cut from the same cloth as the Beijing people being described in the article.

 

And yes, if the USA doesn't get on the stick, we will defeat ourselves; and very soon. It may be good for all of us to have hooks into China, because this place becoming like milk that's been in the frig too long.

[david_dawei]

Cultural losses... I had an interest talk with my wife today about various topics but one touches on this issue. She was lamenting how chinese chase anything which might seem interesting or profitable. She mentioned before that when the watermelon issue arose, their prices soared... and some rushed to start selling watermelon ! In a way, that seems to be how a free market should run; if you want to try your hand at something, you can... instead of the US version where businesses complain about competition and seek to have someone prevent it. I do think the corporation overthrow is not a good thing but it's unavoidable here.

 

Also, she mentioned how china's generation just doesn't care about things of the past generation. I asked her if she felt this was due to the "one child policy" but she said 'no. The internet'. Um... interesting take. Her feeling is that this is causing the most cultural loss in china. I told her: "You mean like they see 'Gucci' and so they become obsessed with 'Gucci'?" She laughed... because this portrays her sister-in-law.

[ChrisA]

Great artical.

 

Just was reading some of comments posted below the artical, it seems that most people are very narrow minded and probably haven't been oustide of the land of the free, sad that they don't explore more of the world, to open there brain dead minds, that there is more to the world than the USA. The world doesn't revolve around the USA, it's revolves around the entire world.

[griz326]

I've been reading books about China, Chinese philosophers & their philosophy, visiting China over a span of 30+ years, and making a home with a Chinese woman and her daughter...and still I know nothing about China.

 

Reading those comments is a sad commentary

[computerguy]

The USA is full of uneducated people, perhaps the USA's biggest failure is education... That's not to say China is any better, if the tables were turned the uneducated would still be in the masses. Before I came to China, I had countless people tell me, that I was going to a third world country, or a communist country and "be-careful what you say", ect.. Fact is, most Americans barely even know what the Qing Dynasty is, and then probably know Mao, and that's it. They need to dump a lot of the Cold War history between Russia and USA and focus on history relevant to today's society like China's in my opinion.