China is very much the “all my friends are smiling just out of frame” meme as a country.
Comparing support for the government in US and China is just futile. That comparison is another one these guys love to bring up.
I think it’s undeniable that most Chinese are supportive of the party at a basic level.
Two of the things the party is great at is ensuring there’s as little space as possible between loving China and loving the party (this was a big lesson stemming from 1989) and setting up local officials to be the culprits if a policy directive leads to a bad outcome (“If only the great Tsar knew of our suffering…”)
Not to mention, opposing the government in the US is mostly about wanting to replace the people in power with different people. In China it’s changing the system such that absolute chaos would ensue, and there are people still alive who lived through that.
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satisfied with life, absent some victimhood that prescribes rebellion for the infinity +1 time
that’s the definition of insanity lol
The survey of 1,824 people found mixed public attitudes, with 55 per cent in favour of “launching a unification war to take back Taiwan entirely”, with a third opposing it and the remainder saying they were unsure.
Given the extreme sensitivities around the issue, it was perhaps surprising that some 22 per cent of respondents said they were fine with the two sides keeping separate political systems “with unification not necessarily being the end game”, compared with 71 per cent who said this was unacceptable.
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“Foreign internet sites are only blocked in China because they don’t follow PRC regulations. It has nothing to do with censorship.” (This is actually a common talking point)
https://twitter.com/wafarris/status/1664322971958390784?t=NsqSlVu8BIW2eZd3jNvFMA&s=19
This has been making the rounds. It’s a translation of a post written on Chinese social media.
The situation with trains has actually gotten much better since I left China in 2019. Now if you book online (with ID), you don’t need a paper ticket and your ID acts as your ticket (also have a much shorter line in the boarding area because the machines don’t recognize foreign passports so I go through the special gate on the side). Before, even if you booked online (with your passport number) you still had to wait in line at the station to print out your ID and you might get stuck behind some guy with a binder of IDs booking tickets for the whole company.
I got assigned last week to work a Chinese Super League soccer match in Wuhan this coming Sunday. (Live updates over the phone to facilitate in-game gambling sort of thing).
To get a ticket I found the club’s wechat mini-program. In order to book a ticket from there you need to input your name and Chinese ID number, so that’s out. I asked their customer service and they said no tickets are sold at the stadium on gameday.
I found on their Weibo page a post about tickets for the match being available offline starting tomorrow at 9 spots around Wuhan (which is a massive city–closest is over an hour away via public transport from where I live).
Without Mandarin knowledge I’d have been completely lost from the start. Absolutely insane for a top-flight club.
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So the nearest place listed for buying a ticket in person was the east pavilion of the stadium. The stadium complex is huge, it has areas for every sport.
I get to the east pavilion, about a km walk from the entrance to the complex entrance (fence all around), and there’s no one. I climb the stadium steps and it’s just gates to let people into matches.
I found a security guard at the entrance to the badminton courts building and he insists you need to buy a ticket online. I show him the screenshot showing they supposedly sell tickets offline here and we walk and there’s a small stall outside the gates of the complex. The stall is closed. There’s a phone number on the front and I am able to reach a guy. He’s first confused why I don’t just buy a ticket online, but says he will come after I explain. Fifteen minutes later he arrives. He goes into the stall, starts to open it and tells me to come Saturday or Sunday and promises me there will be a ticket for me.
China has a lot of conveniences. Sometimes.
Country seems like it has been become a lot more xenophobic than when I was there in the early 2010s.
I never remember having to go through that type of bullshit to get a train ticket. I just bought a train ticket and that was it. Sure, I had to provide passport information whether buying on or offline but that was it. Once I had the ticket, I was good to go on the train. Ditto for hotels and the like.
The places not accepting cash thing is quite new to me. Most of the places I frequented during my days in China were cash only. Unless you went to a place in the mall, an upscale restaurant or an international chain of some kind, you were paying with cash.
My experience is that the vast majority of places still take cash, but it’s an inconvenience for them and you’re a weirdo for paying with it.
In Shanghai all the major convenience store chains have self-checkout and most of the time there’s no one really watching them.
Just the idea of fighting through a bunch of Chinese people holding out their UnionPay card to get a bowl of baozi from a middle-aged man at a food stand is too weird an image for me.
You pay for baozi by scanning a QR code and inputting how much you owe. If the stand is at all busy I feel like it’d be hard for them to notice if someone doesn’t pay. China is definitely a highly trusting society in that regard.
Even the old ladies selling produce on the sidewalk have a QR code for payment.
Oh wow that’s why I tell my students that anything I say about China is probably outdated. So much has changed so fast.
you what now? 
Found out about the company via a Facebook ad when I was in Taiwan in 2020. You learn the verbal commands for a sport (it’s all pretty simple) then can apply to work pro or college games all over the world. Basically go to the match, take some pictures for proof you’re physically there, and just give the updates over the phone to someone in The Philippines. That info is then relayed to the company’s clients in real-time.
If you ever placed an in-game bet on Taiwanese volleyball or women’s basketball from 2020 to mid-2021 you likely have me to thank.
They do a ton of leagues in the US, I was able to do all of Wisconsin’s men’s and women’s basketball games in 2021-22. IMO its a pretty elite side hustle for extra cash if you like sports. If anyone is interested feel free to contact me.
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Didnt realize China has such a youth unemployment. A lot of the 11 million fresh graduates in 2023 wont find a job. And apparently leadership doesnt give a fuck. XI reportedly told them “Eat bitterness”. He wants them to into the rural areas of the country, work hard and help developing them. I dont think that this will work out great for long.
Article(in german): Keine Jobs für junge Chinesen: Xi will Chinas Jugend auf dem Land schuften sehen - n-tv.de
The scenario where Qin Gang really is just sick but the leadership has decided to treat it just as they would if it were a scandal in order to balance their range would make a great movie.
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What’s the gossip? Did he sleep with Xi’s wife or something?
Oh man, you’re in for a treat.
So Qin Gang was China’s ambassador to the US and then became Foreign Minister.
Western media has had some bad reporting (imo) bits about him being deep in with Xi. He’s the FM, of course Xi values him. The most absurd is that Qin’s wife baked moon cakes for Xi’s wife and he’s been marked to get promoted to the big leagues since. Reminds me of the time I built Xi a gingerbread house and he hooked me up with a permanent residency card
Anyway, he gone. Been about a month now. Since the early days of him not existing there have been rumors of him having a kid, in America, with a reporter from Hong Kong.
The rumors come from a few social media posts from the supposed mother. On his birthday she posted about dad being away for work on his birthday. I believe early this month she was found (rumored?) To have flown private back to PRC (absurdly expensive obv).
He has been replaced by a former Foreign Minister and his info has been scrubbed from the internet. So he’s getting the treatment of someone who has effectively been disappeared. In China this is usually a temporary situation.
So overwhelmingly Occam’s Razor suggests there is a situation more than “he’s just ill”, but it’s China so you can’t fully discount the possibility.
I think there’s a great Sklansky take in this in that if it really is just that he’s sick, this is a classic example of a world leader balancing his range. DUCY?
Poker wins. Again.
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