Such an enormous country. Old people doing tai chi in a park. Little kids earning red stars at school. Government trying to control the population too tightly, yet somehow also lacking basic safety regulations. Good food.

Chinese food, which i love.

Unfortunately, it’s trump squinting his eyes, and saying “China!” with a pause and a scowl. Rent free in my brain.

Second thing I guess is some bullshit where they were cracking down on Ramadan in a news article.

Third I suppose is the rich history and cultural tradition.

Wing Chun Kung Fu.

Authortarianism and censorship to the point where I can never return to my former homeland until that changes for the better. No worker’s rights. Human rights problems in the north and west in areas that weren’t part of China historically.

Possible conflict with Taiwan (if that happens than I’d be sent to the camps to die by orange cheeto).

1.4 billion people & had the One Child policy for the longest time.

Lots of enviornmental problems, air pollution (and apparently much of the country has really really hot heat indices in the summer, avg high of 40C and low of 30C already).

Really difficult language to learn (tried to learn it back when I was in school, couldn’t really and basically forgot it all).

My stance is kind of 50/50 with China.

For one, they’re going to flame out even faster than America did. As time moves forward great powers last less and less time. America only held the crown for 80 years. Chinas got its own issues, especially with the population issues.

Yes, China has a laundry list of human rights abuses. We know all of them, I shouldn’t have to list them here. China also is an aggressor country, harassing their neighbors and intimidating them for often no reason at all, and when there is a reason, it’s territorial expansion. They steal IP, they steal identities and secrets (yes I know, stealing secrets is an everybody issue, and I’ll get to that, but it’s usually done with more class) and they gave our kids toys with lead in them. You could seriously go on for days on the bad stuff about China. The belt and road? Fuck, that’s so, so bad… However

They’re also leading in science and especially the environment. They’ve spent big money on their science, and it’s paid off in spades for them and it’s commendable from an international standpoint. No country on earth is fighting climate change harder than China. From advances in solar panels bringing the cost of clean energy down, and giving the ability to electrify places of the world that have never experienced it? That’s pretty dope. Plus their electric car tech is blowing up so hard that it’s actually kind of reasonable to tariff it, because they’re so far ahead.

Now the gre(a)y, I’m an American. Half the shit that china does that’s bad, was shit that we have been doing for generations. So yeah, china sucks shit. But does it suck more shit than America right now? I say no, but not by much, and mostly because a lot of the problems people try to put on China (i.e. pollution mostly) is because we facilitated that. If not them, it’d be our polluted air and water. And now, he wants to bring that manufacturing back here while deregulating pollutants AND enforcement. He saw 1990s Beijing and said “I want that for us”. But basically, other than China’s climate and science goals, were the same country. So the nod (barely) goes to China for being a more honorable or good country.

the food, cuisine. szechuan numbing peppercorn. shenzhen tech. hongkong dresses. wing chun. samo hung.

“do not pursue lu bu”

Absolutely fascinated by Chinese culture and mythology. I’m a cdrama fan especially costume and cultivation themes. I am currently taking a Mandarin course so I can read, write, and better understand the language. I hope to travel to China soon if the orange clown in the White House doesn’t ruin my plans. I even homebrewed a cultivation ttrpg based on Investiture of The Gods that my friends are playing through right now. They love it! For context I’m not an Asian person - just a neurodivergent person with a deep interest.

Overall amazing history and culture. Government is authoritarian worse than the current US. The Chinese people are smart and kind and very innovative overall. But among billions there is also a lot of fraud and copying.

The internet has really fucked my brain, because the first thing that comes up in my head is an old meme of The Orange One (back when he hadn’t been president yet, and so was funny instead of scary) saying “CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA” (sorry)

AFTER that – Disney’s Mulan, and all the orientalist aesthetics that come with it (sorry²)

And AFTER that – Years of internet discourse trying to convince me that a growth in Chinese international power would be worse than the US holding that position alone, which I find EXTREMELY hard to believe as a third world citizen whose home nation has been fucked in the butthole by the Americans like seven different times in lived memory (NOT sorry)

Then AFTER that – The stories told by my one friend who lived there for a few months. To be honest they made China seem like a pretty cool place to live in. Or at the very least, a fun experience as an exchange student.

And AFTER all that – Bootleg video games. They are interesting!

Technology city of Shenzhen, mountain range, great wall, Mulan, winnie the pooh, three kingdom, wuxia story, and mala peppercorn.

Ohh and it’s my ancestral land.

The sets of fancy expensive-looking porcelain plates and cups my older relatives all had on display in a glass-fronted cabinet for use on some theoretical special occasion, but no occasion was ever actually special enough to allow anyone to use it.

Very rich culture, and the government.

Proper tea.

Complicated. Big.

A collection of a wide range of geography, languages, and peoples. Held together by a mix of national pride, iron fist, and a solid record of on the whole very good for most people improvements in life quality in living memory.

Big. Brazen. Splashy. But with an inability to face problems, and a resignation to the world as is. An almost fatalistic attitude paired with naïve or blind optimism on its dexter side.

A place filled with potential, as well as already existing food, culture, history. But hard to find much of it as modernity does a speed run towards uniformity and mass production, while historical sites are rebuilt as poured concrete facsimiles.