What do Westerners get wrong about China?
Quote:
Your claims represent wishful thinking on your part
Find a single one of these 'my claims' then, that is not backed up. Put up, or shut up. Now, onwards and upwards (and this one applies very much to you, and several others here):-
What do Westerners get wrong about China?
https://www.redditstatic.com/desktop...imingPixel.pngdiscussion/original content
The biggest misconception of Westerners concerning China applies to the Chinese people.
A majority of Westerners believe that the Chinese suffer from living in a country that is a dictatorship. Westerners believe that the Chinese must have access to a Western-style democratic system in order to be truly happy.
It is a total mistake to think that.
The Chinese have always lived under an authoritarian system and they accept it perfectly in their majority.
The deal is clear: you have to follow the rules laid down by the Chinese Communist Party, and then you can continue to prosper economically.
By following these rules, more than 400 million Chinese have been lifted out of poverty since the early 1990s. This is unprecedented in history.
The Chinese are therefore behind their leader Xi Jinping, because they see that China's extraordinary economic development is ultimately benefiting them.
They are not in love with a fierce need for individual liberties as Westerners may believe.
They even think that the decline of the West is precisely due to their model of democracy. To each his own model of society!
https://www.reddit.com/r/Sino/comments/trwtrv/what_do_westerners_get_wrong_about_china/
Perhaps, when trying to take stock of others cultural values, and opinions, you should first take stock of your own cultural values, and indeed arrogance. I also found this 'opinion piece' quite pertinent- and no doubt provocative to some-
level 1doesntgetsocialcues
·4 hr. ago
The biggest thing is not what they get wrong about China, but what they get wrong about themselves. for example, democracy is inherently good regardless of outcomes to these people. But what does it matter if you voted for the government if the government is ineffective, incompetent, and stupid?
Governing is not a popularity contest. This is not high school where we're picking out the prom king and queen. Good governance is a life or death issue. See covid for an example. You only want the smartest, hardest working, the most devoted to public service, to govern--not some moron who doesn't think climate change exists.
Also westerners talk about people in China losing freedoms for the sake of economic development. This is so enraging. Who cares if you have freedom of speech if you're living in a tent underneath an overpass? What good does that do you? Tell the people who were lifted out of absolute poverty in China if they would like to go back to starvation as long as they can run around without a mask, die from covid, and make Winnie the Pooh jokes. The absolute disconnect from reality is astounding.
Also, do people in America think Chinese people just sit in front of a screen watching big brother all day? They go out to eat. Watch movies. Shoot the shit with friends and family. They enjoy memes, play games and enjoy life. Basically--not every right that matters is a political one and not every act is necessarily political. What type of cereal I want does not require me to have freedom of assembly. Also, anyone who has actually live in the west would immediately know that many of these political rights are just paper tigers. Reciting the bill of rights and the constitution and your right to due process is not going to stop you from being shot for driving while black.
Who cares if you can buy 20 different kinds of ketchup, can watch the bachelor, and say fuck joe Byron, if you don't have health insurance, can't pay your student loans, can't pay rent, and have to deal with crazy levels of gun violence? People in the west think their lives are so much better and that their government is inherently righteous--almost to a religious degree. It is not logical, but inherently biased. A lot of it is racialized as well as they are unable to believe or even consider the idea that a non-European nation could thrive outside of their influence. China is a living contradiction to white supremacy. It stands as a monument to the idea that those of us in the global south who spent literal centuries under a western bootheel are not passive subhumans who can be exploited or enslaved for western profit.
I also don't think they have any idea how short their political memory/attention span is. For example, no American is talking about how after the fall of Soviet Union that there was no reason to continue NATO or no reason to stop Russia from joining. That was not that long ago if one thinks long term. No one in Washington seems to remember their own mistakes, which is convenient. Meanwhile, the Chinese and their government can think back to the Opium Wars to realize their need for a strong military. They keep things in mind like the bombing of their embassy in Yugoslavia. They do not feign ignorance or have historical events go through one ear and out the other.
Overall, before we can get them to admit they're wrong about China, they need to come to terms with the fact that they wrong about themselves.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Sino/comments/trwtrv/what_do_westerners_get_wrong_about_china/i2oipom/?context=3
Of course, these are 'Views' or opinions. From China. Perfectly valid.