Im glad the Germans are on our side. We still use German technology in many of our weapons systems. Genji- your 56 years vs 230 years comparison is downright retarded. 'England' has been around for what 1000 years now? Or was it 1066? Oh either way, according to your logic its taken the English 900+ years to get to where they are today! They must be total idiots! Well, being that the China has been around for 2000+ years and they are just getting it.... Either way, China has too many internal problems to start anything major. They havnt even figured out the concept of voting Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Wrong. You are only thinking in terms of 20th century progression. For at least half of China's history, it was one of the top 3 dominant countries/empires on earth. It was only recently (1700s and onwards) that China started to fall apart as Western nations started adopting capitalism and started to see the connection between science and mathematics. China has only very recently (1970s) started to adopt capitalism, and since that time, it has achieved the fastest economic growth in history. So what Genji is saying is correct when referring to 56 years vs 230 years. In addition, although Chinese science was way ahead of Western science pre-1700s, they never saw the connection between science and mathematics. That connection is what gave Western nations a huge edge in terms of technological advancement; thus, economic and standard of living advancement. Another example of this is Japan. When did they start accepting capitalism? When did they start industrializing? It's been about 100 years now. And look at them now. I know it's hard to accept, since we're Americans and we like to think we're on top, but sometimes when facts are in our faces, we have to accept it. Within our life time (yours and mine), China will have the highest GDP (real and nominal) on earth, barring any world wars or improbable worldwide economic collapses. This is the same position that the Brits felt during WW2. They never wanted to accept that a former colony (us) would be better than them. In fact, a lot of the soldiers resented us, because we were unscathed and ready to rumble in WW2. They were just as ignorant as us. But look at us now and look who's on top Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Soon, we're going to be in the Brits position and China is going to be in our position. I hope we're not as ignorant and in denial.
You guys refer to a country and all its population as one in the same. China is... and the Chinese are. Germany is...and the Germans are.... How can you simplify and overgeneralize like this. Politics and people in any country are much more complicated than this.
Why should China make trouble? Is every leader like Napoleon or Alexander the great? Will every nation try to conquer the world as soon as conquering the world becomes remotely plausible? Why do we all want to conquer the world; just because it is there? Why do we fear the other; just because they are there? There is no rational reason for China to make trouble, but are humans rational?
Interesting question. In the end, from our (American) point of view, a dominant China will be "trouble", only because we'll hate to see ourselves not being on top. And if China becomes economically dominant, they have EVERY right to do everything for their own interests. It's not as if we Americans are guilt-free in 100 years of economic dominance. We didn't do things for the sake of others, unless it benefited us. Our foreign policy is geared towards enriching American corporations and citizens. Similarly, when China is the head-honcho in the economic dinner table, they will do things that will benefit their corporations and their people, and we can complain all we want, but it won't matter. We can only hope that their policies will also benefit us. In our lifetime, we'll soon see how it feels like to be 2nd best again. I don't like it myself, but that's the reality of economic cycles.
You have a nice sense of humor. Did you also post this? http://sciforums.com/showpost.php?p=1273052&postcount=30
Are you being serious here? Am I the only one who does not love or hate any group? I love individuals. There are good and bad people in China. If only 1% of China is aggressive, why exactly would China need to be destroyed? Can't you seperate the good from the bad? Also currently, we are not at war with China, at least as far as I know. And I hope we never have a war with China because it would end the world.
Yes, every nation will try to conquer the world because every nation has it's Napoleons and Alexanders. Every nation has it's Hitlers, it's Ghandis, it's Einstiens. No personality type is race exclusive or exclusive to a location on a map.
no I am not being serious here. At the time when I wrote that note, bunch of Chinese had annoyed me but not letting me sleep (*its a long story)...so I decided to take retaliation....
* they started singing charaoke in freacking chinese with their girlfriends...first of all it was loud...second of all I didnt understand anything...third they girls were like hitting on guys (I got totally depressed cause I have no girlfriend)...and like I wanted to sleep.
Posted on 12-18-06, 10:13 AM Years ago the tiger was young and we fed it, and now the tiger is close to being mature. When the tiger recognizes its power and strength, is it going to be thankful and friendly, or is it going to overpower us and ---? Now over four years later, I ask the same question again.
I don't mean to diminish China's accomplishments, but you're comparing apples and oranges here. China didn't need to do any of the research and development into Relativity, Quantum Physics, nuclear physics, fission, the Manhattan Project, etc. These things were all developed decades earlier by countries like the USA with almost no oriental contributions outside Japan, and largely spoonfed to the Chinese by the USSR and other trading partners. You might as well say it took the US 200 years to acquire electricity and modern China took less than 50... well it took me less than 1 minute to change a lightbulb, but I didn't have to invent or manufacture that lightbulb from scratch. Uhm... a population 3 times as large as western Europe and twice as much land, with mounds of dirt cheap labour happily exploited by a ridonkulously corrupted government that eagerly colludes with the foreign capitalists it's supposedly in power to fight. Next to no pollution controls either, heck they can't even stop their own industrialists from cutting corners and producing poisoned baby milk (repeatedly). And it's a wonder that China's economy grew so fast or so large? Their GDP is still less than half of America's and, without some total game-changing revolution in their environmental policies, there isn't enough oil being drilled on this planet to close the gap. How do they plan to do that, when their own government thinks their citizens are too stupid to handle uncensored reality? Do they expect the market for rubber dildos and plastic dishwashers to keep doubling indefinitely? Edit: Geez, I just realized I'm replying to a thread that died 4 years ago... Well I'm not the one who went and dug it up, so oh well.
Yup, that's the way things generally work....nations/civilizations developing later generally take what has been invented by others. There are many examples in history i.e Ancient history (compass, printing press, gunpowder from the East to West), England vs US Industrial Rise, Modern History (China and the US today). In this case your speaking of nominal GDP correct? I generally agree that China's GDP still has a ways to go before catching the US's, but there are indications by others that in some measures the two are closer then expected. http://blogs.barrons.com/stockstowa...nce-board-china-gdp-could-surpass-us-in-2012/ Note: I don't necessarily agree with the link above (PPP is subjective to me), but just pointing it out. Yea...seems the OP is bringing the topic back up. Mods, should this thread just die or continue on with the discussion?
I think PPP is worth looking at, but I don't think it tells the whole story by any means. A pound of vegetables might cost 50 cents or whatever in local Chinese markets, some small fraction of whatever it would cost in the US, but if Chinese demand were suddenly to rise 25% or supply to drop 25%, I imagine that would cause hyperinflation in the price of essential goods. Might be dirt cheap to crank out 10 airplanes, but if they wanted to make 1000, suddenly major shortages come into play and the unit price skyrockets. I have no idea what China's economy will look like in 20 years, I just don't see any indications that they can expect a 10% annual growth rate all the way through, especially when they start maxing out foreign markets, and their own government thinks the average Chinese citizen is too stupid to use Google safely (of course we all know it's really about protecting the Communist Party bourgeoisie).
