Tag: chinese

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Asia

Why are the Chinese a more materialistic people than that of the Western brethren?

Developing countries tend to be more materialistic than developed countries. This is because in a poorer society with a lot of population, there are very few ways to stand out and prove your worth.

One of the easiest ways to ‘prove’ that you are higher social status is to buy expensive clothes or electronics or a car/house – because those are hard to afford for most of the population. So being able to purchase those things is an indicator of wealth and status. And higher status means more benefits, access to better networks and connections to more powerful people etc.

In a developed society, the middle class is already wealthy enough to afford most of the things that a developing society would consider ‘status symbols’. Therefore even if you buy a fancy Lexus or Mercedes or expensive Chanel bag or iPhone it doesn’t really have as much as impact on your status as it would in a developing society. In a rich neighborhood, who cares if you own a Tesla or Lexus? So what? does it make you a better person?

In developed societies, increase in your social status comes almost purely from merit – you have to be really earn your higher status either through being an entrepeneur or getting a promotion or being able to network well with people. Just buying expensive stuff isn’t really going to get you anywhere in society.

This is also why in poorer communities in the US, especially black communities (because more blacks are impoverished on average), they tend to show off or brag more about the things they own. Whereas if you are Bill Gates or Warren Buffet for example they don’t really care what they wear or what they own anymore. They wear $30 sweaters from Ross and Marshalls. At that level of wealth it doesn’t matter what you own anymore. This is also how you know that Donald Trump probably isn’t really all that rich – or he is really insecure – if he feels the need to show off or brag all the time.

So being materialistic is not really exclusive to China. Chinese people just seem the most prominent conspicuous consumers out there because there are so many of them. But I think its a sign their middle class isn’t fully developed yet to a point where most people would be able to afford these luxuries. Thus creating the demand for status symbols. India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Africa, Middle East etc in these places I would also presume buying expensive items to be an indicator of your social status.

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Politics

Why is China saying the US military brought coronavirus to Wuhan?

Probably to deflect any blame from themselves. Recently, China and Chinese people have taken a ‘whatever the US does we can do too’ approach where they accuse US / Americans of being hypocritical or arrogant or bullying other countries, then they do the exact same thing. That’s why you will never see China ever apologize for anything anymore – because the US never apologizes so why should China? So much for being better than other countries right? Just take your enemy and try to be exactly like them.

As for the conspiracy theory itself, there’s no basis, of course. There’s conspiracy theory articles floating around like this: COVID-19: Further Evidence that the Virus Originated in the US – Global Research

Here is the main part of the article that is the crux of the theory:

“It would seem the only possibility for origination is the US because only that country has the “tree trunk” of all the varieties. And it may therefore be true that the original source of the COVID-19 virus was the US military bio-warfare lab at Fort Detrick. “

Of course, there’s all so many things wrong with this statement.

  • Only the US has the ‘tree trunk’ of all the varieties of coronavirus? Coronaviruses originate from animals, which could be anywhere. In the case of China, because of the wild animal trade, that is why it is so likely that it originated there – because a wild animal stacked on top of another one in a tightly confined space in a market, then eaten by humans is a good way for a virus to mutate and transmit between carriers and eventually get to humans. It doesn’t just come from a place where a lot of other coronaviruses are. That’s not how viruses work. Why did SARS originate in China and MERS originate in the Middle East if supposedly, America is the source of every virus? Or were those failed CIA operations too?
  • Why the immediate jump to conclusion that it was the US and not any other Western country? Why wouldn’t American military basemen all be infected? Would that not have happened sometime in the past?
  • It makes no sense for American operatives to sneak the virus into China – first of all the virus doesn’t only target ‘Chinese genes’ (what is that anyways? We’re all genetically 99% similar anyways) and it clearly infects everyone. You think Americans biochemically engineered a virus with a 2.5% mortality rate, then snuck it into China, thinking it won’t eventually get out and kill Americans too? completely ridiculous
  • If Americans really wanted to sabotage their #1 biggest trading partner and shut down manufacturing of all their products (again – why would they do this??) – there’s better ways to do it – a virus that only kills the old and the weak and has great potential to spread worldwide is probably not the best way.
  • Chinese government (like Xi would have said this not some low level spokesperson tweet) would have officially said something about this if there was clear evidence that USA caused this. It would have caused irreparable damage to China-US relations. Instead, China is sending out masks to countries who are in need of it – again if America bio engineers were behind it China would have retaliated against the US by now. We know from experience that China quite easily retaliates (THAAD – South Korea, Huawei CFO imprisonment – Canada, Trade War – USA). China would have definitely retaliated by now.

That’s why this conspiracy theory is completely ridiculous – there’s no logical sense in there. It just raises more questions than answers – which is how you know a theory is a conspiracy theory

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Categories
Asia

Are Japan and Korea really colonies/puppet-states of the USA like so many Chinese users say?

No, Chinese netizens just have an unfortunate inferiority complex so they feel the need to put down other countries to make themselves feel better about their country. What does US Puppet state even mean anyways?

Usually when Chinese netizens say this, it means that the US military has some control over that country therefore it’s a ‘puppet’ state. Well how many countries does the US military have a presence in?

Where in the World Is the U.S. Military?

Over 70+ countries. So I guess that’s a lot of US ‘puppet’ states eh?

In day to day life, this doesn’t really matter or have an effect on the lives of normal people. Yes, Korea shares joint command of their military with the USA and Japan’s constitution was written by the USA, but that doesn’t mean either country just bows down (as Chinese people like to say ‘like a dog’) to the US’s demands.

In fact, Korea can and has turned down demands from the US before: South Korea refuses to pay US$5 billion to cover cost of US troops

In every other way, Korea/Japan elects their own president, runs their own politics, and the USA has no influence in that.

I think China often uses this putdown to Korea/Japan because they are jealous that Korea/Japan developed much earlier than they did and still have higher GDP/capita so per person, Koreans/Japanese are still generally more well off than Chinese are. Plus, their soft power is far more recognized globally than Chinese soft power (Chinese wuxi isn’t exactly in high demand like kpop concerts or Japanese anime are).

So what can a Chinese do to make themselves feel better? Well, accuse those countries of not being independent, that’s what. And especially since USA is China’s enemy right?

Well, actually USA is China’s biggest trading partner – so much for being independent from the USA. It’s kind of a moot point to accuse other countries of being too dependent on America when your own country imports $150B worth of goods from America every year.

 

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