7 ms·

They might take over the world (I think it's unlikely), but in my opinion, the main reason isn't their political system: it's human capital (1/7 of the world po

by Cyph0n 9y ago

They might take over the world (I think it's unlikely), but in my opinion, the main reason isn't their political system: it's human capital (1/7 of the world population) and homogeneity (very cohesive culture due to China's history). Western countries lack the former, India and others lack the latter.

wavefunction 9y ago
That's why they have all those knife attacks and bombings and hundreds of young Tibetans self-immolating in protest. All that 'Chinese homogenity' and 'harmonious society.'
- wjn0 9y ago
  I'm curious to know the ratio of these crimes to population, as compared to Western countries. Harmonious != 100% peaceful.
  - PakG1 9y ago
    100% this. Violent incidents in China pale in comparison to the US in terms of both scale and frequency. Take into consideration proportion of population? No comparison at all.
    - baq 9y ago
      There's no comparison because the data isn't there, not because the news report on something or not.
coumygen 9y ago
Human capital doesn't automatically indicate economic prowess; you have to remember there's around 700M in China that still lives in rural areas with under $1 a day, and they can't get the jobs in urban cities because those jobs are going away due to moving to cheaper SE asia countries, robots, and lack of skillsets.
- pcnonpc 9y ago
  The current statistics in 2017 is around 600 million in rural area. Their monthly income is 3300 yuan or around 500 USD, more than $15 a day. According to World Bank, a country with $6000 USD a year is upper-middle income. If you count their rural areas as a nation, its GDP is $3.6 trillion around the same size as Germany, 4th largest in the world.
- Cyph0n 9y ago
  But it does indicate potential for economic growth... South Korea is a good example of an economy that has outgrown the available human capital.
- visarga 9y ago
  Yes, but among many poor students there can be plenty of very smart and talented ones. When you have 1.4 billion people, you got a lot of chances. The prospect of a better life and the parenting culture geared towards education are powerful motivators as well.
- kercker 9y ago
  From Word Bank: "According to China’s current poverty standard (per capita rural net income of RMB 2,300 per year in 2010 constant prices), there were 55 million poor in rural areas in 2015." Your statement "there's around 700M in China that still lives in rural areas with under $1 a day" is simply wrong. [1] http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/china/overview http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/china/overview
thisisit 9y ago
It's more of forced homogeneity than something driven by their history. They ban anything remotely resembling a different opinion.
echaozh 9y ago
The Muslims have both, they're sure taking over the world.
- Cyph0n 9y ago
  No, we are actually not homogenous at all. Even Arabs are pretty culturally divided, especially the Middle East vs. North Africa. We do have a sizable population though. I would argue that the main barrier between Arabs and unity is authoritarianism.
- richardknop 9y ago
  Muslims are actually very diverse group. Not only Sunni / Shia rift which is major one but also differences between African/Middle Eastern/Asian Muslims. I think Indians and Chinese are much more culturally homogenous and more likely to take over world.
- jsharf 9y ago
  Islam is not a homogeneous culture. Totally different.
kibwen 9y ago
I think you're vastly overestimating China's cultural homogeneity. 30% of the population (so, a greater number than the population of the U.S.) doesn't even speak Mandarin. Just like in India, regional loyalties are very strong despite modern attempts to unify; see the continuing efforts to wipe out Cantonese, a language with 60 million speakers in China and that is mutually unintelligible with Mandarin: http://www.businessinsider.com/china-is-forcing-its-biggest-cantonese-speaking-region-to-speak-mandarin-2014-8 http://www.businessinsider.com/china-is-forcing-its-biggest-... . And this isn't happening in some backwater part of the country; in addition to Cantonese being the official language of Hong Kong, Canton (a.k.a. Guangdong) is the most populous province in the country, and the location of Shenzhen itself.
- est 9y ago
  > Cantonese, a language with 60 million speakers in China Most of cantonese speakers can speak mandarin as well.
  - kibwen 9y ago
    That doesn't refute my point; most French Canadians can also speak English, and yet French Canadian retains its own distinct subculture, so distinct that Quebec has repeatedly voted to secede from Canada. Language is merely one very obvious indicator of cultural heterogeneity, and the point remains that China is not nearly as culturally unified as the typical Westerner understands (which should not be so hard to believe; it's a country with a freaking billion people!).
    - CoolGuySteve 9y ago
      > Quebec has repeatedly voted to secede from Canada. I believe your point may be refuted by the fact that you state outright lies like this whopper here.
      - y4mi 9y ago
        seriously? it took me 1 second to google and confirm its truth. or is 1995 too long ago for kids these days? also, refuting one argument does not shoot down unrelated arguments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_referendum,_1995 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_referendum,_1995
PakG1 9y ago
Judging from the populism happening in the US and various European countries, it seems that Western countries currently lack the latter too. See Trump's base, anger leading to Brexit, anger in Greece, etc.
- baq 9y ago
  Anger fueled by fake news that Russian extraterritorial propaganda department happily spreads with three help of their army of professorial trolls.
odiroot 9y ago
You shouldn't overstate the homogeneity. We're probably more homogeneous here in European Union. Granted, China is a log bigger. The biggest industrial centers (like Guangdong or even Shanghai) don't even use Mandarin on a daily basis. Yes, alas, the thing that makes this whole thing going is the central government.
- dilemma 9y ago
  All metropolitan areas use Mandarin mainly.

by Cyph0n 9y ago

wavefunction 9y ago

That's why they have all those knife attacks and bombings and hundreds of young Tibetans self-immolating in protest. All that 'Chinese homogenity' and 'harmonious society.'

wjn0 9y ago
I'm curious to know the ratio of these crimes to population, as compared to Western countries. Harmonious != 100% peaceful.
- PakG1 9y ago
  100% this. Violent incidents in China pale in comparison to the US in terms of both scale and frequency. Take into consideration proportion of population? No comparison at all.
  - baq 9y ago
    There's no comparison because the data isn't there, not because the news report on something or not.

coumygen 9y ago

Human capital doesn't automatically indicate economic prowess; you have to remember there's around 700M in China that still lives in rural areas with under $1 a day, and they can't get the jobs in urban cities because those jobs are going away due to moving to cheaper SE asia countries, robots, and lack of skillsets.

pcnonpc 9y ago
The current statistics in 2017 is around 600 million in rural area. Their monthly income is 3300 yuan or around 500 USD, more than $15 a day. According to World Bank, a country with $6000 USD a year is upper-middle income. If you count their rural areas as a nation, its GDP is $3.6 trillion around the same size as Germany, 4th largest in the world.
Cyph0n 9y ago
But it does indicate potential for economic growth... South Korea is a good example of an economy that has outgrown the available human capital.
visarga 9y ago
Yes, but among many poor students there can be plenty of very smart and talented ones. When you have 1.4 billion people, you got a lot of chances. The prospect of a better life and the parenting culture geared towards education are powerful motivators as well.
kercker 9y ago
From Word Bank: "According to China’s current poverty standard (per capita rural net income of RMB 2,300 per year in 2010 constant prices), there were 55 million poor in rural areas in 2015." Your statement "there's around 700M in China that still lives in rural areas with under $1 a day" is simply wrong. [1] http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/china/overview http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/china/overview

thisisit 9y ago

It's more of forced homogeneity than something driven by their history. They ban anything remotely resembling a different opinion.

echaozh 9y ago

The Muslims have both, they're sure taking over the world.

Cyph0n 9y ago
No, we are actually not homogenous at all. Even Arabs are pretty culturally divided, especially the Middle East vs. North Africa. We do have a sizable population though. I would argue that the main barrier between Arabs and unity is authoritarianism.
richardknop 9y ago
Muslims are actually very diverse group. Not only Sunni / Shia rift which is major one but also differences between African/Middle Eastern/Asian Muslims. I think Indians and Chinese are much more culturally homogenous and more likely to take over world.
jsharf 9y ago
Islam is not a homogeneous culture. Totally different.

kibwen 9y ago

I think you're vastly overestimating China's cultural homogeneity. 30% of the population (so, a greater number than the population of the U.S.) doesn't even speak Mandarin. Just like in India, regional loyalties are very strong despite modern attempts to unify; see the continuing efforts to wipe out Cantonese, a language with 60 million speakers in China and that is mutually unintelligible with Mandarin: http://www.businessinsider.com/china-is-forcing-its-biggest-cantonese-speaking-region-to-speak-mandarin-2014-8 http://www.businessinsider.com/china-is-forcing-its-biggest-... . And this isn't happening in some backwater part of the country; in addition to Cantonese being the official language of Hong Kong, Canton (a.k.a. Guangdong) is the most populous province in the country, and the location of Shenzhen itself.

est 9y ago
> Cantonese, a language with 60 million speakers in China Most of cantonese speakers can speak mandarin as well.
- kibwen 9y ago
  That doesn't refute my point; most French Canadians can also speak English, and yet French Canadian retains its own distinct subculture, so distinct that Quebec has repeatedly voted to secede from Canada. Language is merely one very obvious indicator of cultural heterogeneity, and the point remains that China is not nearly as culturally unified as the typical Westerner understands (which should not be so hard to believe; it's a country with a freaking billion people!).
  - CoolGuySteve 9y ago
    > Quebec has repeatedly voted to secede from Canada. I believe your point may be refuted by the fact that you state outright lies like this whopper here.
    - y4mi 9y ago
      seriously? it took me 1 second to google and confirm its truth. or is 1995 too long ago for kids these days? also, refuting one argument does not shoot down unrelated arguments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_referendum,_1995 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_referendum,_1995

PakG1 9y ago

Judging from the populism happening in the US and various European countries, it seems that Western countries currently lack the latter too. See Trump's base, anger leading to Brexit, anger in Greece, etc.

baq 9y ago
Anger fueled by fake news that Russian extraterritorial propaganda department happily spreads with three help of their army of professorial trolls.

odiroot 9y ago

You shouldn't overstate the homogeneity. We're probably more homogeneous here in European Union. Granted, China is a log bigger. The biggest industrial centers (like Guangdong or even Shanghai) don't even use Mandarin on a daily basis. Yes, alas, the thing that makes this whole thing going is the central government.

dilemma 9y ago
All metropolitan areas use Mandarin mainly.