The Chinese Are Coming

[imcarthur]

This is very worthy of your time. The reporter goes beyond the usual media story of Chinese trade proliferation & he dives into the local importance & impact of same in various parts of the world. A pretty fair & balanced viewpoint overall & reasonably apolitical. Each part is an hour.

Part 1: BBC Documentary - The Chinese Are Coming: Africa

Part 2: BBC - The Chinese Are Coming: Brazil – USA

I fully realize that the usual gang of twits will probably PARFify this but it does deserve a wider audience imho. It looks like it was originally broadcast on the BBC in February. Full credit to them & to the reporter: Justin Rowlatt. BBC Website: The Chinese Are Coming

fwiw

Ian

[Dottore]

The Chinese have locked up every available corner of the world that has the resources they need to continue to grow. This has been the cornerstone of their foreign policy for years.

[Jeff964]

the chinese also roughed up Batman (Christian Bale).



http://http://entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=690366

[futuresoptions]

Originally Posted by Dottore

The Chinese have locked up every available corner of the world that has the resources they need to continue to grow. This has been the cornerstone of their foreign policy for years.

Dot, I think that you are one of the most intelligent fellas on this board. Don't always agree with your position, but I always enjoy reading your responses...
(Wanna get a room? lol)

[motion]

No kidding... Dottore, you must be very well read.

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by Dottore

The Chinese have locked up every available corner of the world that has the resources they need to continue to grow. This has been the cornerstone of their foreign policy for years.

You get it. That is the point of the documentaries.

Ian

[nostatic]

Amazing what they did to/with the neodynium market a little while back. Foreshadowing...

[imcarthur]

Yes it is, Todd. And inevitable it seems. In the narrow view, they are flooding markets with goods & 'stealing' jobs. In the wider view they are buying resources, governments & establishing future consumers. In Angola as well as Alabama.

Ian

PS btw I was party to a discussion about neodymium . . . . maybe later . . .

[Bill Douglas]

Small Pacific Island nations hold us (New Zealand) to ransom; getting us to pay for and to build hospitals and roads for them, by saying that the Chinese will come and do it for free. What they don't realise is it's not quite free. The last thing we want in our area is a Chinese nation because the Pacific Islanders didn't read the small print.

[wdfifteen]

Thanks for posting the video links. I was visiting a friend in a Lisbon suburb a couple of years ago. The general store there was called "the Chinese store." It was owned, staffed, and stocked by Chinese. They are apparently all over Portugal and Spain. It seems that if there is a nickle to be made, the Chinese are there making it. Perhaps a nation's strength and influence are better measured by the ambition and hard work of its people than by its arsenal.

[74-911]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Perhaps a nation's strength and influence are better measured by the ambition and hard work of its people than by its arsenal.

We, as a nation, seem to have forgotten that.

[LakeCleElum]

Originally Posted by Dottore

The Chinese have locked up every available corner of the world that has the resources they need to continue to grow. This has been the cornerstone of their foreign policy for years.

Resources and Real Estate. Vancouver is a prime example, right?

[GWN7]

Hongcouver is what it is known by now

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Dottore

The Chinese have locked up every available corner of the world that has the resources they need to continue to grow. This has been the cornerstone of their foreign policy for years.

As my fiancee just said, "the Chinese have been merchants for over 4K years. They figured this stuff out a long time ago."

And to quote Deng Xioping, "it doesn't matter if it is a black cat or a white cat - if it catches mice it is a good cat."

The west is toast...

[cmccuist]

I wouldn't bet on the inevitability of China being the global hegemon long term. They've got some real demographic problems to deal with. They're going to get old quickly and they're still mostly communist.

Spengler on China

If China fails to promote fertility, though, the aging and eventual shrinkage of the population will pass a point of no return around 2040. The proportion of elderly dependents will jump to 40% in three decades, which is difficult but not impossible to manage; but unless China regains replacement fertility well before then, the elderly dependent ratio will rise to 60% by 2060, and the Chinese empire will implode.

[nostatic]

interesting reflection materials here

Great Leap Forward (1956-1960)

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by nostatic

interesting reflection materials here

Great Leap Forward (1956-1960)

Those are great, and very much in demand by Chinese collectors today. Some of these motivational posters fetch ridiculous prices at auctions today. And they are a nice snapshot of collectivist thinking.

I have a gorgeous piece from that era—a black & white silk weaving of the Great Helmsman—that is so fine it could pass for a photograph. I will see if I can photograph it and post it.

[shbop]

I wouldn't bet on it either. The Chinese have not yet had to deal with the pesky effects of capitalism on a large scale. Their population is enormous while only a few, relatively speaking, have benefited from the aroma of cash and the rush of capitalism. It has begun to spread though, and as a result cries for more personal freedoms and democracy are just around the corner. As this thirst grows, and it will, the Chinese will be forced to look inward. The effect will slow China's sprawl, barring an environmental disaster, or two.

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by shbop

and as a result cries for more personal freedoms and democracy are just around the corner.

You have every personal freedom in China today, with the possible exception of the freedom to stand on a soapbox and say that those in power are corrupt arseholes. Not sure how important that freedom is. I'm sure I felt differently about this years ago.

Remember that China has absolutely no democratic traditions. Most of the Chinese I know don't give a toss about democracy. But they do care deeply about a regime that is stable and provides economic opportunities.

I think there are all kinds of issues facing China today—but somehow I don't think that more democracy is high on that list in any meaningful way.

[nostatic]

China was "looking inward" thousands of years before the US was born. Patience is ingrained into the culture.