Check out these shots of Chinese engineering, and tell me that you think China’s ascendency to superpower is hype.
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10 comments
Comments feed for this article
July 14, 2011 at 10:05 pm
Anonymous
If we learn Mandarin, we might be fit to work in Chinese fast food restaurants. America is busy defunding and dismantling public education, and a Mandarin immersion school would probably be viewed as un-American.
July 15, 2011 at 7:05 am
Mitch
Well, yes. But can they grow high-THC weed?
July 15, 2011 at 7:18 am
Erasmus
Sure, China will probably become a member of the minuscule “super-power” club, and whatever hype accompanies its ascension will be merited. But the concept of “super-power” is what is being hyped. As our experience in countries from Vietnam to Iraq to Afghanistan should have taught us, a muscle-bound military prowess is next to useless when fighting small-scale, indigenous uprisings. And when a third-rate power like N. Korea acquires the Bomb, all “super-power” calculations go out the window. Furthermore, countries can descend as quickly as they rise: remember the Soviet Union, or the “Rising Sun” country of the 1980s (Japan)? — I wouldn’t worry about China: they have internal problems that may cause an implosion, and this country spends far more on education than our rivals. (There’s a lot of misinformation on this subject — and money is not at the root of our problems in education).
July 15, 2011 at 7:52 am
Noble
America would still be building such wonders if “manufacturing” and “infrastructure” hadn’t become dirty words over here. America’s failure is political.
July 15, 2011 at 8:16 am
Mitch
Infrastructure is spelled t-a-x-e-s. Manufacturing is spelled t-a-r-i-f-f. Both are heresy to the cult propagandists who now hold the country hostage.
July 15, 2011 at 10:01 am
Anonymous
For there time in history Ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire were the “superpowers”. This was accomplished on the backs of unlimited and neverending slave labor not a free society. All that we see in China today is no different.
They have the US by the balls along with everyone else who wants to play ball with them. Everything is new and shiny, looks fantastic and amazing, but will it stand the test of time? How long will China become the “superpower”, as you have painted for this blog?
I am surprised Wally-World was not pictured as a China “superpower” or engineered marvel?
July 15, 2011 at 11:33 am
Bruce Ross
This week I picked up a copy of Tony Judt’s “Reappraisals.” In the introduction, he talks about recent loss of all historical memory of the 20th century — and in particular the seeming inability of anyone today to understand why fascism and communism might have been so compelling and attractive in the first place.
I look at the way China operates — they’ve built hundreds of miles of high-speed rail line in the time it’s take California simply to debate where the route should go — and I feel the pull. This even though I’d never for a moment want to live in a place that treats its citizens the way China does. (Need a million villagers to move for a dam? No problem!) I think I’m not alone.
July 15, 2011 at 12:50 pm
Sally
then of course, there’s this:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/07/15-3
July 15, 2011 at 2:37 pm
Plain Jane
China graduates more honor students every year than we have students. It’s a lot harder to get things done in a democracy than a dictatorship which is why our business leaders prefer to do business with dictators. He gets bribes and weapons and his people get the shaft. How devoted to democracy are such businessmen really?
July 16, 2011 at 5:15 pm
ED Denson
It’s hard to know what to think about China. Anyone who has been there can tell you that there is an incredible wave of construction going on, the scale of which nothing in the USA can approach. Freeways, bridges, hi-rise buildings, fast trains, advanced factories, and exciting architecture. On the other hand the air is full of pollution on a scale not seen in the USA for decades – which will bring a health crisis about; and many people are desperately poor. Water pollution is deadly in places. Wages are low and working conditions often terrible.The central government is not in detailed control of local governments, and there is a culture of corruption which leads to abuses of workers and citizens. And while they build, they are not so interested in maintenance so some new buildings are already showing damage from the elements. But a huge middle class is emerging, and if the stats about education are correct they will outstrip us in science and technology before long. Ying yang, which will come out on top?