Can China Avoid the Soviet Union's Fate?
(Updated )

he People's Republic of China likes to compare itself with the United States. Both governments were forged to throw off the imperial yoke. Both are amalgams of many races and nationalities. Both are great continental powers capable of harnessing immense resources to promote national agendas around the world.
     Beijing's bosses cite these parallels to justify China's ambition of returning Taiwan to the fold -- forcibly if necessary -- and violently suppressing movements for Tibetan independence, Moslem separatism and religious tolerance. The party line: "In a few decades we will be as prosperous, unified and democratic as you Americans."
     Unfortunately, some observers see closer parallels to the former Soviet Union.
     Founded in 1910 to free Russian peasants from oppressive landowners and a weak imperial government, the Soviet government quickly and ruthlessly expanded into a superpower that rivaled the United States in military might and reach. On top of nearly 300 million citizens of several dozen captive nationalities, the Soviet Union became the puppetmasters of virtually every Eastern European government. By 1989 it was buckling under the burden of superpower competition. In 1991 the communists lost power to the reformist Yeltsin. The Soviet Union broke apart into Russia and a dozen independent republics. Today Russia is a nation of 150 million struggling to build a capitalist economy from the rubble of the communist meltdown.
     Among the Soviets' earliest converts were Mao Tsetung, Zhou Enlai and other young Chinese intellectuals who saw in communism salvation for the Chinese people from western imperialism and internal corruption. Mao's long struggle against Chiang Kaishek and the Kuomingtang would have ended disasterously without the support of dozens of ethnic minorities in northwestern China who believed his promise of ultimate political autonomy. Their help proved more valuable to Mao than the billions in American aid and direct military assistance to Chiang. By 1949 the Kuomingtang had fled to Taiwan and the PRC ruled the mainland.
     Beijing's bosses have been as ruthless as the Soviets in consolidating territory and suppressing separatist movements. But they have been far more successful in creating a functioning economy. They began capitalist reforms in 1979. By 2001 China's economy had become free enough to enter the World Trade Organization. For the past two decades it has grown at an average annual rate of 9%. Few of China's 1.25 billion go hungry and about 125 million enjoy living standards comparable to Malaysia and the Philippines. By some measure China has just surpassed Japan in GDP and will surpass the U.S. by 2025.
     But China's future as a united nation is far from assured.
     Even assuming peaceful reunification with Taiwan and victory over Tibetan separatists, Beijing's leaders face some big hurdles. They must integrate a billion subsistence-level farmers and workers into the consumer economy of the east coast or face ethnic discontent on a scale that would dwarf America's racial strife of the 1960s. Yet burdening the developed regions could breed separatist sentiment in Guangdong, Fujien, Manchuria and other regions. Over 100 languages and dialects are spoken in China. Long-suppressed religious minorities are becoming better organized thanks to the internet and other communications technology.
     Are China's prospects for staying united more like those of the U.S. or of the former Soviet Union? Nicki: "Steel shelling is used to keep the concrete from crumbling"

AC: "What are you talking about. Steel re-inforced concrete is done with steel bars in the concrete. There is no shell. Concrete is very stable and doesn't crumble, it is one of the strongest materials to with stand pressure. It is lateral forces which is what concrete is weak against, but the steel bars are not.

PHD in physics my ass...this information is taught in highschool."

I don't agree with you on every issue regardig China, but you are dead on RIGHT on this. HE doesn't know shzit about physics or any type of applied sicence if he says idiotic stuff like that. That's how posers are; they always trip up because they are not well-rounded intectually. They can copy a paragrraph from a book, but they can't apply it in a convincing way when they use the material themselves.
another voice
   Thursday, December 26, 2002 at 18:39:07 (PST)    [68.9.169.159]
"Actually...my discernment of that perfectly acceptable "disparague" and PHD's undeserved arrogance towards China was exactly what motivated my post..."

Cixi...you bore me with your "lower- class-British-accent-pretending-to-be-something smarter" routine.

"Let's be fair...after some of the discriminating comments that your allies have made to him...I would be deprived of any initial good intentions as well..."

Let's be fair. I don't want to point fingers, but Nicki did start the low blows, with his insults to anyone who disagreed with him. He accused everyone as being ignorant, ill-informed, illogical, stupid China lovers. I don't want to go back that far to bring back quotes.

Your feeling of kindredness with him is seriously playing havoc with your fake air of objectivity. And may I further mention, dear sir (trying to copy your pretentious British accent), that you are a hypocrite...Yes, a hypocrite. You came out here calling people names, people you've never talked to. You sling as much dirt as anyone else, so get off that moral acropolis you are clinging too.

You're not that smart, and probably everyone here has a higher intelligence quotable than you, so you are not fooling anyone. You bore me dude or old lady.
another voice
   Thursday, December 26, 2002 at 18:34:32 (PST)    [68.9.169.159]
"I'm available during China's nightime (American daytime between 23:00- 2:00 or during America's nightime, China morning.
If you really wanna test me, go ahead and call. You may be pleasantly surised."

AC, Nicholi is an English language teacher at Fudan or some other univeristy in Shanghai. That much is believable.
There are a lot of these teachers in China. The female ones are more there for the love of the culture and adventure more than anything else. The male ones are taken up by a lot of guys who go there for easy access to the "female ass," or "an ego booster" as they call it to go into a "short country," or because they are unemployed at home. Not to slander the whole group, there are a lot of sincere guys there tho.

As far as teaching anything else, he would have to be certified in order to be tenured or even allowed to teach.

A military special training certificate is not accepted as a PHD neither in the US nor in China. Surprisingly, they have very high standards in China and they are not lacking in technical talent...So much so that China is the biggest exporter of engineers and researchers to the U.S. These intellectual migrants in turn help the U.S. military industrial complex, directly or indirectly. You'll see the big US research universities filled with Chinese researchers.

For this Nicholi to flip it around and say he teaches in one of the top universities in China, riding a military specialist training certificate (Fudan is equivalent to Columbia U.), is just science fiction.

But I do believe he teaches English there or somewhere else in Shanghai, so testing him on restaurants is just a waste of time. Then again, he probbaly is sad enough to drive to a specific location and come back with an answer.
another voice
   Thursday, December 26, 2002 at 18:17:40 (PST)    [68.9.169.159]
"First off the Mag Lev train is another example of China being able to "leap frog" technology because they are not overly burdened by lagacy technology"

I see the great innovation in the Mag -Lev train however, I don't think you actually realize how much more maintenance and problems can exist in a Mag- lev system. I suggest you read up on this. Secondly, until recently, China would not have had the money to build Mag Lev railway. The individual train cars cost almost 4-5 times as much as a standard Rail road train.
The maintenance is twice what the standard is and Perhaps you have forgotten that America, unlike European countries with Mag Lev railways sticks to one standard and doesn't change its track width state to state nor, would it change its track type. A Mag Lev system needs an extirely different track.

Are you done hopping from internet bar to internet bar in Shanghai on your 50 cc putput scooter yet?

----Thats why I'm not giving up any more details. This way I do not have to get any stupid side comments.

"Buldinging a train system that reaches Tibet and the less developed parts of China. Is their way of extending the 20 years of economic expansion in the cities to the rural area of China."

Actually, only 13%
(CIA Worldfactbook files: CHINA)
of China's land is ariable. They aren't expanding into the west for a long time to come unless they figure out how to grow crops in the sand.
America was different in that 25% of The US mainland, Alaska and Hawai are arable. Expanding to our west we have the ports on eithr side of the bondary.

"Also your comments on homes is incorrect as well. Construction is faster in asia in general because they are not held back by union workers. Construction in SK, Taiwan, Japan, PRC are always cheaper and faster because of this fact."

-It is not incorrect. These buildings are "thrown up" rather than built. Right now, In some rooms of my apartment without Heaters, the room temperature is th exact same as the outside. ALL of your so called "insulator" concrete walls are below 0'c.
NOT HELD BACK by union workers? rephrase this statement:
"China doesn't build safely". Hell in America, I'm willing to bet 90% of PUXI and 40% of Pu Dong would be torn down because of the violations of building codes in regards to safety and fire. My apartment is on the 6th floor yet, there is only one way out.

And don't give me tis ENERGY Efficient speech BS because the way Chinese apartments are rigged, it is a miracle half this country doesn't explode.
I have a heater box connected to the main water line. In order to have hot water, I have to #1 cut on the gas valve, #2 push the button on the box, #3 turn on the water pump. I had to call the landlord twice because of leaking Carbon Monoxide setting off the alarms.

And FUSES? Oh good LORD. Dont these people understand the theory of a circuit breaker? Why is it that I turn on my computer, AC, stove and 2 lightbulbs (100 watts) and BLOW A FUSE?
Then, you can't just flick a switch, you gotta pull out a ceramic fuse and MAKE your own fuse. What the hell is this????

You know what I did? I stuffed my new fuses with metal thicker than 3 hangers together. I was determined not to have the fuses blow on me a thrid time. "China's Nuclear Power facilities will explode before this fuse goes out"

"Now in asia there is another reason why they don't like carpeting. Hygiene. "
Is Hygenie also the theory behind DRAGGING a pig that has been split open behind a bike? Is Hygenie why food is left outside before it is cooked, uncovered and unprotected? Is hygenie why the bathrooms in most areas are just tiled walls to pee on? (Ive got pics of this).
Is Hygenie why Chinese hospitals are worldwide known for unhygenic conditions? What? I can't hear you.

" Steel re-inforced concrete is done with steel bars in the concrete. There is no shell. Concrete is very stable and doesn't crumble, it is one of the strongest materials to with stand pressure. It is lateral forces which is what concrete is weak against, but the steel bars are not"

PErhaps you haven't really seen enough of China. perrhaps you also do not know anything about geochemistry. China's rains are acid rains around 5.2 PH because of the incredible pollution here due to the burning of fossil fuels and recombinants in the air. Perhaps you are not aware what CHEMICAL erosion does to concrete in these conditions. Perhaps in your dropping out of AC you forgot that Concrete weathers easily due to its granular crystaline structure. Perhaps you forgot that the buildings and ground here is almost the same material and 50% of the roads and sidewalks in provinces other than Beijing are crumbling/weathering badly away.

-----Another Voice has taken the time to write three back to back explanations of why I am not who I say I am with unsubstantiated claims and poor evidence. No big deal, since he is not worth comment, I wont give him one. Somebody tell this poor excuse for a computer nerd to please write about CHINA which is the subject at hand.
ask NicholiServia PHD EMP
nicholiservia@hotmail.com    Thursday, December 26, 2002 at 17:55:23 (PST)    [211.156.1.71]
Nicholi Servia PHD EMP,

Your a good man. How you like China so far? Take care and Happy New Year.
Nokia
   Thursday, December 26, 2002 at 12:36:33 (PST)    [24.239.152.113]
Nicholi Servia PHD EMP,
Are you paranoid? So are you Jing Cha, if not you would not respond to Kinko man. He is the one refering to you about the insult you made a long time ago. No, we are not the same people. If we have the same IP is because we have different people using this computer. Sorry.... And don't be too paranoid, please.

Why didn't you use the name Jing Cha, why you changed it? I like your post only if it is fair. Your always welcome to speak you mind, thank you very much, and you are the man.
Nokia
   Thursday, December 26, 2002 at 12:11:48 (PST)    [24.239.152.113]

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