9 ms·
> For example the Yangtze River Delta has more than 100m people (more than any European country) and GPD(PPP) per capita similar to Italy I won't make such com
by dis-sys 8y ago
> For example the Yangtze River Delta has more than 100m people (more than any European country) and GPD(PPP) per capita similar to Italy
I won't make such comment by completely ignoring the wellbeings of other hundreds million people who live just a couple hours drive from the so called Yangtze River Delta. To name a few examples -
Anhui province is so poor to the extent that it is offensive to ask people questions like "so you came from Anhui?" in Shanghai.
http://www.sohu.com/a/212534231_578851 http://www.sohu.com/a/212534231_578851
Henan province has 100 million population on its own, it is nothing really different from the least developed part of Africa.
http://www.sohu.com/a/196108368_100023515 http://www.sohu.com/a/196108368_100023515
Those are real people & real lives. How the other 100 million slightly better off Chinese living in Shanghai or Beijing doesn't change the absolute poverty suffered by those hundreds millions not living in tier-1 or tier-2 Chinese cities. Anything painting China as a rich/developed/modern/high tech country is nothing else but cheap propaganda.
Let's make it crystal clear - China's GDP per capita is below the world average. The OP article further pointed out that such reported GDP figures might be inflated as well. When the GDP per capita is below world average, how it is not a poor country significantly under developed?? The only real risk China can possibly pose to the world/west is the fact that a collapsed China can trouble the whole world/west.
When China is damn poor, it is thus much easier to develop and grow 6-7% each year. It is like cutting 1s is easy when it takes you 20-25s to run 100 meters, but it is close to impossible to do the same when you are already finishing 100 meters in 11s. China's GDP is growing 6-7% not because it is smart/modern/strong, it is the complete opposite, it is because China's GDP per capita is well below world's average!
- hungryhobo 8y agowhich is exactly why trump's trade war is do ridiculous, china is still a developing country, let her enjoy her developing country benefits
- refurb 8y agoJust because you’re trading with a developing country doesn’t mean you should agree to unfair trade practices.
- hungryhobo 8y agounfair how? certainly not according to WTO
- Latteland 8y agoUnfair in that at least until recently, it was basically a standard requirement that IP must be shared when building a factory in China, there was a required Chinese ownership component. That is unfair
- ido 8y agoAnd the Ukraine is just 500km from Vienna. I don't dispute China is a developing country, I just think a lot of westerners don't realize how huge and - in parts - how developed it is. People hear "China is a developing country" and think it's comparable to countries like Bangladesh or Cambodia. But the tier-1 cities and their peripheries are not some tiny enclaves of wealth like Singapore, they are huge - bigger than major European countries. The fact that poor/undeveloped areas are relatively nearby does not make them less developed than the fact that Moldova and Kosovo are in the EU's backyard make Germany undeveloped.
- seanmcdirmid 8y agoChina is upper middle income, so its wealth is comparable to Mexico, Brazil, and Thailand. Now, many people don't really get how rich those countries are either (e.g. many Americans think Mexico is an undeveloped struggling place when they are biased by a borderlands and illegal immigrants that are very different from the rest of Mexico).
- dis-sys 8y ago> Ukraine is just 500km from Vienna those are two vastly different independent countries. > how developed it is can we just cut all cheap talks and focus on undisputed facts and numbers? the undisputed facts here is extremely simple - 1. China's official GDP per capita is well below world's average. 2. The research in the OP article shows such official figure is highly inflated. You can keep painting China as "developed" or "developed in some selected areas", the above undisputed facts won't change. Hundreds of millions of Chinese live well below the world average standard when it comes to their economic lives. Selectively ignoring the real life situation of hundreds of millions just to back what you believe is not that convincing.
- ido 8y agoCan we have a more subtle and less one-dimensional discussion? I'm not claiming you are wrong.
- chewz 8y ago> When the GDP per capita is below world average, how it is not a poor country significantly under developed?? Perhaps cause it is not possible that every person in the world would be living above world average? Especially in the country that is home to almost 1/6 of total world population. In many countries there are huge regional differences but I hope that after 30 years of growth even people living in poor provinces of China are better off. Even if the statistics are trumped up for propaganda reasons.
- xster 8y agoWhile I agree with the points you're making, I'm not too sure how much generalizable wisdom there is to extract from it. Forget a couple hours drive, I could take a 30s elevator ride to the ground floor in SF and see widespread medieval levels of existence.