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Thanks for the links. They were interesting. Two comments: 1) The survey was taken amongst urban inhabitants: "...this sample covered 115,000,000 of the 615,00

by kaptain 14y ago

Thanks for the links. They were interesting. Two comments: 1) The survey was taken amongst urban inhabitants: "...this sample covered 115,000,000 of the 615,000,000 urban inhabitants..." Which of course leaves the roughly 704 million rural residents unsampled. I don't fault the survey process; it's clear what they're after and they were transparent with the process. But it's difficult for me to say that this is representative of a whole country when clearly the sample was taken of the urban side only. (Of course, urbanization is expanding in China but my point still stands). Also, note that the actual survey has a question asking about locality (metro/urban/rural)). I'm assuming this was skipped for the Chinese respondents. Rural respondents might have been even more enthusiastic in their response to these questions, but I doubt it; most folks that I meet from rural areas don't have that kind of mentality. 2) "Trying asking about it in a better Chinese university." This underlines my point. Many well known (i.e. "successful") startups in the US are founded by people that have went to Harvard, Stanford, Caltech, etc. but this isn't a pre-req for being a tech entrepreneur (or any type of entrepreneur for that matter). There's a number of notable entrepreneurs that didn't go to college or finish that have found success. Why should it matter that I go to a better Chinese university? Further, the better the Chinese university the less representative that individual is of the overall population; those individuals are highly selected based on their Gaokao test scores (and possibly their family connections). I was overly optimistic with the assessment of my university (Ningda). It's not even in the third tier according to this standard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_985 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_985 (Edited for grammar.)

cheshirecat 14y ago
I think it's cool that you know 985 :-) 985 is like Tier 1.5, so they are already decent comparing to the other 2000+ universities in China. But I never heard about "Ningda"... Most common rural guys I know want to be a boss deep in their hearts, but they are less likely to reveal that to a foreigner. Chinese people are quite shy about their dreams. On the other hand, it is probably better to ask this question in urban regions. If someone goes to a Texas farm and ask their opinions on founding Internet Startups, probably the answers won't be very encouraging as well. One thing I like about the Gaokao (University Entrance Exam) system: it is good for one thing - the family connections matter less than in US for this matter. As long as your score is impressive enough, you are in Tsinghua / Peking. And that's why I have some faith in China. China has this "Exam to Win" system for 1400 years: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_examination http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_examination which explains why the Chinese are so good at it. Take a look at the President of China (Hu Jintao). He has no family background at all (surprise), and got into the best university by his own efforts. But we only heard media fussing about Obama being the American Dream. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu_Jintao http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu_Jintao "Though his father owned a small tea trading business in Taizhou, the family was relatively poor. His mother was a teacher and died when he was seven, and he was raised by an aunt. Hu's father was later denounced during the Cultural Revolution, an event that (together with his relatively humble origins) apparently had a deep effect upon Hu, who diligently tried to clear his father's name.[6]" People who studied Chinese Politics 101 knows the de facto ruling authority of China is a group of 9 persons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politburo_Standing_Committee_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politburo_Standing_Committee_of... and after Mao and Deng, no one has such power to overwhelm the other eight. Talk to a Chinese about Hu being a dictator and he wil laugh. (Yes, the Communist Party is dictating, but there are ~80 million people in it. No, I am not one of them. Actually I find it a bit scary that almost all of the smartest young people I know are now in it, and they are not naive teens - most of them are i-bankers / phds in top WallSt firms and US universities. Think about what will happen in 20 years). Interesting enough, all of the 9 persons has no connections as well (except for the newly elected and soon-to-be-president Xi, who is the son of a former Vice-Premier. China is following the same path as every other developed country). What's more interesting: they are all Engineers. Shocking fact: China is a country running as a machine (at least at the highest level). Engineers couldn't care less about the people, but you can bet the country surely "move fast and break things". China = Crazy Startup (and yes, employees do suffer. No talk of democracy in companies). Consider this: if China is really so deeply corrupted, how come it is also developing so fast? Eventually the lawyers and businessmen will take over and people will talk about China being the "largest democracy". Good thing for the people. I am not sure whether it will be good for the country. Aren't the people more important than the country? Or not? Tough question. I think it depends on the development stage. TL;DR: The Chinese system is bad for the people. But it works well for the country. China is very corrupted in some sense, and highly effective in another sense.

by kaptain 14y ago

cheshirecat 14y ago

I think it's cool that you know 985 :-) 985 is like Tier 1.5, so they are already decent comparing to the other 2000+ universities in China. But I never heard about "Ningda"... Most common rural guys I know want to be a boss deep in their hearts, but they are less likely to reveal that to a foreigner. Chinese people are quite shy about their dreams. On the other hand, it is probably better to ask this question in urban regions. If someone goes to a Texas farm and ask their opinions on founding Internet Startups, probably the answers won't be very encouraging as well. One thing I like about the Gaokao (University Entrance Exam) system: it is good for one thing - the family connections matter less than in US for this matter. As long as your score is impressive enough, you are in Tsinghua / Peking. And that's why I have some faith in China. China has this "Exam to Win" system for 1400 years: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_examination http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_examination which explains why the Chinese are so good at it. Take a look at the President of China (Hu Jintao). He has no family background at all (surprise), and got into the best university by his own efforts. But we only heard media fussing about Obama being the American Dream. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu_Jintao http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu_Jintao "Though his father owned a small tea trading business in Taizhou, the family was relatively poor. His mother was a teacher and died when he was seven, and he was raised by an aunt. Hu's father was later denounced during the Cultural Revolution, an event that (together with his relatively humble origins) apparently had a deep effect upon Hu, who diligently tried to clear his father's name.[6]" People who studied Chinese Politics 101 knows the de facto ruling authority of China is a group of 9 persons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politburo_Standing_Committee_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politburo_Standing_Committee_of... and after Mao and Deng, no one has such power to overwhelm the other eight. Talk to a Chinese about Hu being a dictator and he wil laugh. (Yes, the Communist Party is dictating, but there are ~80 million people in it. No, I am not one of them. Actually I find it a bit scary that almost all of the smartest young people I know are now in it, and they are not naive teens - most of them are i-bankers / phds in top WallSt firms and US universities. Think about what will happen in 20 years). Interesting enough, all of the 9 persons has no connections as well (except for the newly elected and soon-to-be-president Xi, who is the son of a former Vice-Premier. China is following the same path as every other developed country). What's more interesting: they are all Engineers. Shocking fact: China is a country running as a machine (at least at the highest level). Engineers couldn't care less about the people, but you can bet the country surely "move fast and break things". China = Crazy Startup (and yes, employees do suffer. No talk of democracy in companies). Consider this: if China is really so deeply corrupted, how come it is also developing so fast? Eventually the lawyers and businessmen will take over and people will talk about China being the "largest democracy". Good thing for the people. I am not sure whether it will be good for the country. Aren't the people more important than the country? Or not? Tough question. I think it depends on the development stage. TL;DR: The Chinese system is bad for the people. But it works well for the country. China is very corrupted in some sense, and highly effective in another sense.