SamuraiBlue
Captain
Star wars being too hard to understand?????
That's a new one.
In any case shouldn't this be discussed in the movie thread?
That's a new one.
In any case shouldn't this be discussed in the movie thread?
Chinese Economics Thread
- Thread starter Norfolk
- Start date
Ultra
Junior Member
I think it is kinda hard for general Chinese to understand. You try to explain to them
or the Jedi or the Sith.... hell, even "alien" is a foreign concept! And I am not talking about outter space alien here...if you are a white guy you will know what I mean! You will instantly be a celebrity walking down the street there. Let alone the concept of outter space alien! While I was there, the TV series they shown are almost all Wuxia stuff, games they play are all Wuxia stuff too (oh and World of Warcraft).
Anyway, I think this is quite a bit off-topic...
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broadsword
Brigadier
According to
China is richer than Thailand, Dominican Republic; Botswana, World Bank & IMF give different ranking.
AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
Maybe Star Wars just didn't tick Chinese fancy
Compare to the american movie and TV series which are mostly set in present or the future (apocalypse seems to be extremely popular) with very very few exception (Game of Thrones!).
This kind of tells a lot about the culture - American looks to the future, while Chinese still looks into and hangs on to the past. This has to change, and this will change as China continue to modernize.
Well that's what I'm talking about. Force Awakens will undoubtedly do more than Phantom Menace but will it be up there with Transformers 4 and Furious 7? I know George Lucas has been a supporter of a certain religious figure that has a problem with China. So he has not had China on his radar when it comes to his movies. Since Disney now owns Star Wars, I'm sure they see what Furious 7 has done in China and they'll be disappointed if it doesn't at least match that. At the Star Wars Celebration over the weekend I heard the master of ceremonies mention the event was being streamed live in China. I'm sure there's probably some fans but not at the level other countries have for Star Wars simply because the Chinese have not been exposed to it as much. Streaming the event over the weekend wasn't about serving fans in China. It was all about advertisement getting the word out to get Chinese to watch it especially now that Furious 7 is about to break the record of top grossing film in China ever.
antiterror13
Brigadier
your figure are not that accurate ... please recheck
China' gdp per capita is > Irag, Thailand, Botswana, etc
Ultra
Junior Member
You guys are looking at the wrong one.
This one:
Gross domestic product (at purchasing power parity)
List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita:
You have to factor in the PPP to make it more or less an apple to apple comparison.
Deviations from parity imply differences in purchasing power of a "basket of goods" across countries, which means that for the purposes of many international comparisons, countries' GDPs or other national income statistics need to be "PPP-adjusted" and converted into common units.
I think it is kinda hard for general Chinese to understand. You try to explain to them
While I was there, the TV series they shown are almost all Wuxia stuff, games they play are all Wuxia stuff too (oh and World of Warcraft).
Anyway, I think this is quite a bit off-topic...
Star Wars is really more of a drama about its characters and their relationships with some social commentary akin to Shakespeare or the Greek classics rather than science-focused sci-fi. For this type of story there are cultural differences that don't connect as well with Chinese audiences as the wuxia stories and other Chinese classic, pop, or folk stories.
For science-focused sci-fi Chinese audiences are less cutting edge and I would say Furious 7 and Transformers are as sci-fi as they care to get as these are still rooted enough in everyday life for them to be interested, fast cars and robots rather than say black holes and alternate universes. Of course to a different degree the same applies to audiences in other countries.
China will evolve more or less like Singapore - a quasi-democratic dictatorship
It is said that Lee Kuan Yew had visited China many times and the close ties they have underlines China's desire to emulate Singapore's success (I think Deng Xiaoping even said it one time he like to see China to become more like Singapore). Singapore's political system and the success of its economy is what Chinese leadership wants to emulate and probably gives the closest model for China to transition to. A high income economically successful high technology society with almost zero corruption and a passive population with little dissent to the "centralized" leadership where they have no choice.
Deng Xiaoping on China's future and Singapore (1992):
If you look carefully all over Asia are quasi-democratic dictatorships, from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, to Thailand, etc some of which only in the past decade or two experienced short periods of opposition parties in power only to transition back one way or another to traditional parties.
Everyone can learn lessons from everyone else, just have to pick your cat, or cat part, regardless of whether it is a lion or pussy cat. Large countries actually have the benefit of possibly experimenting with a smaller country's country model at a regional level. And there are ways to scale policies up or down as appropriate.
American bosses and investors gave China the capital and know-how to become what it is today in order to keep bigger shares of the American pie to themselves and leaving American workers and many average Americans behind. Inequality also rose in China but what really matters is that the Chinese government is required in principle and by necessity to improve the lives of its weakest links while the US government is overly influenced by America's strongest links to primarily look after them, even at the expense of their weaker links. You are only as strong as your weakest link.
Obama is guilty of much staying the course of Bush Jr.'s foreign policies as well as continuing in the same direction in managing the consequences of the financial crisis. The blatant bait and switch of UN no-fly-zone turned US and colonial powers intervention in Libya was also both unnecessary and not worth the loss in credibility. Though Obama also tried to influence China and others through inclusion such as pushing IMF reforms which were opposed by Congress.
However to pursue the policies you described, which involves actively diluting international US influence and advantage, would be political suicide not just for Obama but for any Democrat. Even many Republicans would find it politically suicidal though they may find it less so because they are less beholden to American workers and poorer voters. Just like it took virulent anti-Communist Richard Nixon to normalize ties with China, it may take a similarly untouchable-on-the-issue politician to pivot US-China policy again.
But I also think you are being overly pessimistic on the US lead on the military front and there is still time for the US to switch to playing a win-win rather than zero-sum game in general, it would require a genuine change in attitude though.
