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[Lethe]

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Hello everyone I am Australian & I was wondering where to post this. I wasn't very impressed with Albo initially, but I watched this livestream he did from the Great Wall the other day & I thought he did a much better job than I expected of managing our relationship with China. It's been very humiliating watching multiple Australian governments bend the knee to the US & annoy our largest trading partner, & I feel like this was a turn in the right direction. I liked the jab at Trump with the "respect is important between countries" line, I very much appreciated his attempts to distance us from the "declare you'll defend Taiwan" insanity from Trump with reaffirming the One China policy & support for the status quo, and I thought it was hugely encouraging that he insisted we should have a positive relationship with China. At least in my circles, everyone I've talked to about it has been similarly happy with the change in direction.

My question is what, if anything, is the reaction like in China? Do Chinese netizens even pay attention to international news & diplomatic events like this, involving relatively "small/medium" countries like Australia? If they do, what sort of things are people saying about this visit?

As an Anglo-Australian, my input on this subject isn't worth much, but I think that Albanese and the present Labor government have managed to navigate "the small stuff" with China about as well as one could've hoped for. The extended state visit to China that is now occurring would've been unthinkable under the Morrison government or its hypothetical Dutton-led successor, and the many small steps that progressively bridged the gap from the previous complete freeze in diplomatic relations to the present state visit should be acknowledged. The issues that remain are the Big Problems, and those actually have very little to do with China. Rather, those problems are about Australia's conception of itself, our interests, and our relationship with Washington amidst that nation's escalating hostility towards China. On that subject I remain very pessimistic, but specific discussion of those matters is probably more usefully located in the AUKUS thread.

 

[Blitzo]

As an Anglo-Australian, my input on this subject isn't worth much, but I think that Albanese and the present Labor government have managed to navigate "the small stuff" with China about as well as one could've hoped for. The extended state visit to China that is now occurring would've been unthinkable under the Morrison government or its hypothetical Dutton-led successor, and the many small steps that progressively bridged the gap from the previous complete freeze in diplomatic relations to the present state visit should be acknowledged. The issues that remain are the Big Problems, and those actually have very little to do with China. Rather, those problems are about Australia's conception of itself, our interests, and our relationship with Washington amidst that nation's escalating hostility towards China. On that subject I remain very pessimistic, but specific discussion of those matters is probably more usefully located in the AUKUS thread.

FWIW I think the worth of one's input is not reflective of their background but of the logic of their arguments and reasoning, and yours has always been fairly incisive, and if anything it is more relevant in this specific topic (essentially Australian geopolitics).

As it stands, Australian geopolitical interests and attitudes to China have not particularly changed (which I consider logical and unsurprising) across successive governments. Essentially the "acceptable terms of long term peace and relations" that Australia desire between it and China are sticking points and that is not going to change short of major shaking of the regional or global order (if ever).

 

[StraightEdge]

[After reading about Gaokao and other related topic] Are the Chinese authorities increasing the number of colleges/universities? Feels like there is a general trend of demand for more high quality colleges/admissions.

 

[Matcher6130]

[After reading about Gaokao and other related topic] Are the Chinese authorities increasing the number of colleges/universities? Feels like there is a general trend of demand for more high quality colleges/admissions.

Yes they are. From 2010-2024 the number of higher-ed institutions grew from ~2500 to ~3100, or a new college/university every two weeks.

But that's still not enough. I believe it was former Education Minister Yuan Guiren who wanted to build up China's higher-ed to reach parity with the US beginning in 2010, and projected the country would need ~10K higher-ed institutions. Even if they built 20 new institutions a day, it would still take 20 more years.

Then there's the problem of human talent, which takes decades to cultivate. The best universities, even the best trade schools, rely on multiple generations of increasingly better educators, who themselves must be educated first. It's not a coincidence the best schools worldwide are all among the oldest.

 

[Matcher6130]

Yes they are. From 2010-2024 the number of higher-ed institutions grew from ~2500 to ~3100, or a new college/university every two weeks.

But that's still not enough. I believe it was former Education Minister Yuan Guiren who wanted to build up China's higher-ed to reach parity with the US beginning in 2010, and projected the country would need ~10K higher-ed institutions. Even if they built 20 new institutions a day, it would still take 20 more years.

Then there's the problem of human talent, which takes decades to cultivate. The best universities, even the best trade schools, rely on multiple generations of increasingly better educators, who themselves must be educated first. It's not a coincidence the best schools worldwide are all among the oldest.

Wow, remind me to never make posts on mobile. Second paragraph should've said:

"Even if they built a new institution a day, it would take 20 more years."

 

[supersnoop]

Yes they are. From 2010-2024 the number of higher-ed institutions grew from ~2500 to ~3100, or a new college/university every two weeks.

But that's still not enough. I believe it was former Education Minister Yuan Guiren who wanted to build up China's higher-ed to reach parity with the US beginning in 2010, and projected the country would need ~10K higher-ed institutions. Even if they built 20 new institutions a day, it would still take 20 more years.

Then there's the problem of human talent, which takes decades to cultivate. The best universities, even the best trade schools, rely on multiple generations of increasingly better educators, who themselves must be educated first. It's not a coincidence the best schools worldwide are all among the oldest.

When they talk about US parity, they are talking about real universities? Like their statistics aren't counting University of Phoenix or Devry and crap like that?

 

[Matcher6130]

When they talk about US parity, they are talking about real universities? Like their statistics aren't counting University of Phoenix or Devry and crap like that?

Yes real universities, ones accredited by institutions that are accredited by both the US Dept. of Education and Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

It sounds extreme but it's just a consequence of American history. Long story short, in the mid 1800s the Industrial Revolution made its way to the US, which collided with the adoption of the Prussian education model of generation-long education. Over time more and more higher-ed institutions cropped up and human talent was steadily built up over generations.

 

[qwerty3173]

I have a question about the TWZ website and I think here is the best place to ask. When other people are cross posting news from the website there seems to be a comment section with a lot of comments, but when I see the website myself there are always 0 comments and I can't even find the comment section. Do I need to do something to see the commentary or is there some sort of block built into the website?

 

[vincent]

I have a question about the TWZ website and I think here is the best place to ask. When other people are cross posting news from the website there seems to be a comment section with a lot of comments, but when I see the website myself there are always 0 comments and I can't even find the comment section. Do I need to do something to see the commentary or is there some sort of block built into the website?

Ad blocker

 

[Enestori]

Got a question about Xinjiang.
So, do people in Xinjiang get passports like other people and are they allowed to leave Xinjiang?

I'm clueless about this so if anyone knows pelase tell me.

I assume you are referring to Xinjiang Uyghurs. Westerners generally ignore the other 55% of Xinjiang's population - non-Uyghur Turks and Han.

In my recent travels, I’ve encountered Uyghurs in multiple provinces outside Xinjiang. I’ve personally seen Uyghurs running small businesses at tourist sites, visiting well-known tourist sites themselves, selling food in small shops (the Xinjiang dumpling was very good and different), and walking with kids along the beach.

I also spent substantial time in China around 15 years ago and sometimes - very rarely - saw Uyghurs during time. To be frank, the number of Uyghurs I see nowadays is ~10x higher than 15 years ago. However, it’s still rare.

According to Western media, there possibly was a period of ~3 years in which Uyghurs were not allowed to leave Xinjiang. I’m not sure whether or not that was actually true. In any case, they certainly live, travel, and run small businesses outside Xinjiang now.