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.

Edit: sorry didn’t recognize your lol username, you’ve probably seen me bloviate on my xianxia addiction before.

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.

A country and its flag. They sort of come up simultaneously in my head.

A ruthlessly effective technocracy that has achieved very impressive outcomes for their citizens¹ while also being a cultural / societal system I never want to live in. For some reason super obsessed with outside appearances.

1:

From 1995 to 2025:

• GDP/c: 603 to 13973
• Literacy rates: 77% to 96%
• University graduates per year: 900K to 10M
• Life expectancy: 33 to 77
• Railway km: 54616 to 160000 (50000 high speed)
• Urbanization rate: 29% to 67%

etc.

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.

I think of China as a country that pretends to be communist while making cheap products that vary in quality. I also think of the nice people that live there though.

Massive cities with LED buildings, beautiful mountains with paved hiking trails all the way to the top and gondolas to get down, Long queues that are still orderly and move quickly, families eating large meals outside, friendly and very curious people.

I’ve spent a lot of time there. Compared to the west the cost of living is super cheap especially for all the options and amenities you get. Even in the hippest part of Chongqing I could rent an apartment 2x the size of my house for half the mortgage. If the US is headed towards a permanent authoritarian regime I would trade life here for over there. At least their dictator appreciates science and education.

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.

Very rich culture, and the government.

That piano riff. You know the one.

Tofu Dreg.

Horrific dictatorship that commits atrocities.

People that have been subjugated and oppressed and have little to no value as humans to the CCP.

Became a world power by exploiting the working class.

Beautiful country and amazing history.

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.

Chinese food, which i love.

Better than USA.