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While this is an excellent article (admittedly I stopped around half its too long) that refreshes most of my obsolete memory of China, I do think the author is

While this is an excellent article (admittedly I stopped around half its too long) that refreshes most of my obsolete memory of China, I do think the author is a bit too optimistic. From what I heard from my startup founder friends, it’s becoming increasingly hard to innovate without government relationships (many founders do though, some from family some from bribery). The “national team” is coming to many consumer segment as well so the space is squeezing. Let’s see where this trend goes, I think the golden age of entrepreneurs are ticking

gruez 5y ago
>The “national team” is coming to many consumer segment as well so the space is squeezing. Can you expand on this? Are you talking about consumers wanting to buy chinese brands (eg. huawei instead of apple), or some sort of officially state sanctioned brand?
- whoevercares 5y ago
  More on the to-C technical startup founded by overseas Chinese who returns to the country. The national team now is disguised as private owned companies and have unfair advantage to supply chains, even better pricing with cloud providers
- justicezyx 5y ago
  No, he wont provide much concrete evidences. This so called national team, is a myth. It never manifests itself. Apparently, national team backed national captical, executed by nationally-owned enterprises, are not agile and innovative enough when competing with private businesses. That's simply a human nature-driven market econmomy law. Chinese people are not living in an alternative universe where economy laws do not apply.
  - whoevercares 5y ago
    Meh not so fast.. it’s China, it has plenty of talents and execution is not a concern. Take ride sharing as an example, those stated owned enterprises CAN do tech! > Other major state-owned automakers have rolled out their own ride-hailing brands: FAW Group established Yiqi Chuxing in 2019; Hong Kong-listed Dongfeng Motor launched Dongfeng Chuxing in 2018; https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.kr-asia.com/chinese-automakers-bet-on-ride-hailing-future-amid-slowdown-in-car-sales https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.kr-asia.com/chinese-automak... I don’t have data to prove they competed unfairly to DiDi though but we know didi has been punished to death now
beloch 5y ago
Anybody living and working in China and writing about it has to conform to certain viewpoints, or they'll be unable to continue as they are. This letter is interesting in several ways, but you'd be wise to approach it from the angle of it having been approved by the government. Anything remotely negative has to be balanced by big positives (or negatives about Hong Kong).
- vehemenz 5y ago
  Exactly. Any Chinese citizen writing on the same topics would need a high degree of formal education outside of China, English proficiency, and the ability to publish anonymously on the real Internet. It's a high bar.
- pphysch 5y ago
  > This letter is interesting in several ways, but you'd be wise to approach it from the angle of it having been approved by the government. Which government? Beijing would absolutely not allow the publication of a piece that uncritically regurgitates Washington's narrative about "mass detention of minorities". It's Saddam-has-WMDs-and-is-allied-with-al-Qaeda all over again. Fool me once. It's best read as a letter for Western/liberal audiences. That is clearly the intended audience.
  - WoahNoun 5y ago
    >"mass detention of minorities". It's Saddam-has-WMDs-and-is-allied-with-al-Qaeda These aren't equivalent. We have plenty of evidence of the Uyghur genocide from 3rd party journalists and satellite imagery. The only evidence for WMDs came directly from a new government agency (named "Office of Special Plans") created by Dick Cheney and not independently verified by any 3rd parties.
    - pphysch 5y ago
      > We have plenty of evidence of the Uyghur genocide from 3rd party journalists and satellite imagery. No, we don't. The vast majority of primary "evidence" comes out of the ETIM lobby (WUC, Adrian Zenz, et al.) and war lobby (ASPI, etc). All of it massively signal-boosted by the mainstream corporate media. Both sources have a very, very clear (conflict of) interest in manufacturing anti-China sentiment. Grainy satellite imagery of ordinary schools and prisons is only admissible as "concentration camps" if you're a shameless propagandist. It's quite literally the same playbook as "Saddam's WMDs", with similarly cynical goals. Because it worked. And it's been similarly effective at duping the average media consumer.
chongli 5y ago
I didn’t read all the way through but what I got out of it is that socialism is destroying the traditional Chinese character of Beijing. Not exactly a glowing portrait of the central government!

gruez 5y ago

>The “national team” is coming to many consumer segment as well so the space is squeezing. Can you expand on this? Are you talking about consumers wanting to buy chinese brands (eg. huawei instead of apple), or some sort of officially state sanctioned brand?

whoevercares 5y ago
More on the to-C technical startup founded by overseas Chinese who returns to the country. The national team now is disguised as private owned companies and have unfair advantage to supply chains, even better pricing with cloud providers
justicezyx 5y ago
No, he wont provide much concrete evidences. This so called national team, is a myth. It never manifests itself. Apparently, national team backed national captical, executed by nationally-owned enterprises, are not agile and innovative enough when competing with private businesses. That's simply a human nature-driven market econmomy law. Chinese people are not living in an alternative universe where economy laws do not apply.
- whoevercares 5y ago
  Meh not so fast.. it’s China, it has plenty of talents and execution is not a concern. Take ride sharing as an example, those stated owned enterprises CAN do tech! > Other major state-owned automakers have rolled out their own ride-hailing brands: FAW Group established Yiqi Chuxing in 2019; Hong Kong-listed Dongfeng Motor launched Dongfeng Chuxing in 2018; https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.kr-asia.com/chinese-automakers-bet-on-ride-hailing-future-amid-slowdown-in-car-sales https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.kr-asia.com/chinese-automak... I don’t have data to prove they competed unfairly to DiDi though but we know didi has been punished to death now

beloch 5y ago

Anybody living and working in China and writing about it has to conform to certain viewpoints, or they'll be unable to continue as they are. This letter is interesting in several ways, but you'd be wise to approach it from the angle of it having been approved by the government. Anything remotely negative has to be balanced by big positives (or negatives about Hong Kong).

vehemenz 5y ago
Exactly. Any Chinese citizen writing on the same topics would need a high degree of formal education outside of China, English proficiency, and the ability to publish anonymously on the real Internet. It's a high bar.
pphysch 5y ago
> This letter is interesting in several ways, but you'd be wise to approach it from the angle of it having been approved by the government. Which government? Beijing would absolutely not allow the publication of a piece that uncritically regurgitates Washington's narrative about "mass detention of minorities". It's Saddam-has-WMDs-and-is-allied-with-al-Qaeda all over again. Fool me once. It's best read as a letter for Western/liberal audiences. That is clearly the intended audience.
- WoahNoun 5y ago
  >"mass detention of minorities". It's Saddam-has-WMDs-and-is-allied-with-al-Qaeda These aren't equivalent. We have plenty of evidence of the Uyghur genocide from 3rd party journalists and satellite imagery. The only evidence for WMDs came directly from a new government agency (named "Office of Special Plans") created by Dick Cheney and not independently verified by any 3rd parties.
  - pphysch 5y ago
    > We have plenty of evidence of the Uyghur genocide from 3rd party journalists and satellite imagery. No, we don't. The vast majority of primary "evidence" comes out of the ETIM lobby (WUC, Adrian Zenz, et al.) and war lobby (ASPI, etc). All of it massively signal-boosted by the mainstream corporate media. Both sources have a very, very clear (conflict of) interest in manufacturing anti-China sentiment. Grainy satellite imagery of ordinary schools and prisons is only admissible as "concentration camps" if you're a shameless propagandist. It's quite literally the same playbook as "Saddam's WMDs", with similarly cynical goals. Because it worked. And it's been similarly effective at duping the average media consumer.

chongli 5y ago

I didn’t read all the way through but what I got out of it is that socialism is destroying the traditional Chinese character of Beijing. Not exactly a glowing portrait of the central government!