Why China isn’t Scared of Robots

[@PolyMatter]

Happy new year! You can watch the latest episode of my Nebula Original series, "China, Actually" on Nebula. Nebula (the entire streaming service) costs just $2.50/month with an annual subscription. go.nebula.tv/polymatter See you on Nebula!

[@bprogressive]

No technical background 😂 It is not Trump or sleepy Joe.xi is a hydroelectric engineer from a leading Chinese university.

[@bprogressive]

Though it is Western propaganda still it holds some truth same herein India.

[@matpk]

​@HammirHadaMost British Honkonese immigrate to UK already. Others to Canada and Australia 😂😂

[@AndrewGeierMelons]

Heilongjiang province is in northeastern China, not north western. Your words didn't match your map and it confused me so I looked it up. Northeastern :)

[@watchman835]

@@AndrewGeierMelonsIt is just another propaganda piece, north, south, it doesn’t really matter. The point is China is bad.

[@youcantata]

Not just China, South Korea is also become robot heaven. She has the highest robot deployment per capita or GDP in the world. Not just car factory floor, but restaurant kitchen on the street corner, many robots are widely deployed in Korean factories and stores, shops at breakneck speed.

[@umjackd]

That would be an interesting video to learn more about.

[@davidk.d.7591]

It's interesting how similar China and Korea can be. Korea also has the same tech obsession. That's why they always have the highest per capita stats for this kind of stuff. 5g, charging stations, etc

[@aoh4905]

@@davidk.d.7591 Also has the highest per capita in luxury sales. Europe loves Korea and China lol... Not saying it's a good thing but it's weird how progressive and fast some countries can be.. also can be scary.

[@hououinkyouma1458]

South Korea is basically a corpostate

[@MimOzanTamamogullar]

Small nitpick I know but you generally don't refer to countries as "She" unless you're personifying that county. "It" or "They" would be more accurate.

[@haobowang7522]

LOL he literally puts Mihoyo's motto "Tech Otakus change the World" in Chinese on the thumbnail

[@raihanrusli2720]

I guess he never mentioned hoyo in his videos, at least youtube ones

[@lcs.1094]

mihoyo basically made the only successful export of the whole Chinese cultural industry in last two decades, pretty ironic if think about it (well short video streaming might be another)

[@JmKrokY]

Genshin Impact do be money making

[@MorbidEel]

@@lcs.1094 The actual most successful thing just exporting. "Made in China" went from something seen on a label occasionally to people asking "what isn't made in China?"

[@mighty-roman]

@@lcs.1094 Nope. Currently, it's EV. China's electric vehicles can beat Tesla's ass and then some. The reason they gave Musk access to the Chinese market wasso that their domestic EV companies could learn from Tesla. It's cheaper with better software and should be out in EU soon. PS: _Not really pro-China or sth. Just stating facts. I'm hoping that China could improve it's semi-conductors so that US companies could have some competition and the prices would drop overall for the entire world._

[@王子源-r3o]

The image in 3:25 is the typical town view of south eastern China. For the north eastern region, you may just grab a image of any Khrushchyovka community rather than leaving people with utterly false image

[@dremc1000]

Thank you for pointing it out.

[@yibosun4091]

Heilongjiang is obviously a NorthEASTERN province at 0:24 when you show it on the map, not Northwestern.

[@kiva4090]

yeAh, i think he made a mistake

[@hobog]

​Or it was easy comment bait​@@kiva4090

[@JA-vz1nl]

yea I just made this comment too, you're right

[@LUNE.44]

It's also not "above" North Korea, it's to the north of it

[@deerbeau]

​@@kiva4090He made a lot of mistakes in this video.

[@yiluo1466]

4:08 this is simply NOT true, most people in the big cities like Shanghai, Shenzhen are from other places of China.

[@theredbar-cross8515]

The point about being "permanently" rooted to your place of birth simply isn't true. If it were, you wouldn't have massive migration out of the Chinese Rust Belt of the Northeast. There are many ways to relocate your "hukou" (residence permit), and hundreds of millions of Chinese have done it, probably closer to a billion over the last 40 years of industrialization.

[@ihatecabbage7270]

this channel is extremely ignorant, it is catering to mostly anti china folks on KZbin, mostly Americans, mostly fear thier own shadow.

[@samodhmadhavan]

Please elaborate. We are interested to know

[@d.b.cooper1]

It's simple, farmers/peaents move to the cities. Ubranisation is what's driven China's growth. If that's changing it's likely cause the govt has seen the issues we have in the west whereby wealth/opporunity/growth is heavily reliant on mega cities, so encourage people to stay local to prevent brain drain/wider local collapse of economy. I'm sure there's incentives to stay local but they're not extreme, it's like saying in the USA cause you get heavily discounted tuition fees if you go to a local college vs out of state so the govt is basically forcing people to stay where they're born. Whilst partly true, it's not as extreme as it sounds, but alas like most things with China they sound scary to the rest of is@@samodhmadhavan

[@胡文-l3s]

@@samodhmadhavan Only a few cities have restrictions, but most do not. The reason for the restriction is the limited capacity of the city. So this kind of city tends to attract talent.

[@why_are_you_gae6729]

@@samodhmadhavan Most often municipal governments would offer Hukou relocation programs to attract young talent. So for example Chengdu’s Tianfu tech district offered hukou relocation to anyone who was employed there and held a bachelors degree or above.

[@kevinsips3658]

I like that they call it overtaking on a bend. Regardless of the implications, it’s a cool term to use.

[@TL-fe9si]

There's also "overtaking by switching to another track". For example, this is used when switching from traditional cars to EVs. In the old track (traditional car industry), it might be too difficult to catch up due to all these patents, etc; you bet big money on the emerging new track.

[@helloworld9811]

The Chinese are called 弯道超车, Theoretically, it should only use last-ditch effort, but the CCP believes that humans can always win against heaven （人定胜天）， so they simply don't care about the cost of failure. Since they can always reshape the narrative due to them having control of the media.

[@bimasetyaputra8381]

Pretty sure it means the same thing. You overtake on the bend by quickly adopting new technology faster than the other guy.@@TL-fe9si

[@2x2is22]

Makes you wonder about racing culture in China. Like if they got NASCAR or NHRA

[@Q花-q6d]

Who doesn't know how to step on the accelerator in a straight line? Fast in corners is really fast. ae86 wins gtr

[@HenningGu]

14:55 I went to China last month and the sheer number of delivery workers and "Uber" drivers in Shanghai was staggering. And it still isn't enough to fulfill the demand, all of the Meituan delivery drivers had multiple orders to deliver at the same time.

[@Watch-0w1]

Who is creating all those demands? The 9-9-6 worker?

[@sultan9givewey]

@@Watch-0w1 you know a billion people cannot cook any meal at home because 996

[@JC-sl7bs]

​@@Watch-0w1What's wrong with those workers? Do you expect the homeless to call for that?

[@Watch-0w1]

@@JC-sl7bs just asking >.>

[@BahamuyPY]

En mi país se trabaja desde las 7 a.m hasta las 10 p.m de lunes a sábado, y no veo a la prensa diciendo que estamos siendo explotados.

[@PhilCrimmins]

15:30 this point is out of date. Delivery drivers were indeed reckless until it became a social issue back in 2021z since then, they’ve changed the regulations and the repercussions of being late are negligible

[@dmitryrybin7831]

As a guy living in Shenzhen, i can assure you delivery drivers are reckless and have no license and no basic physics knowledge. Totally unregulated industry resulting in many crashes per day (usually involving two delivery bikes)

[@PhilCrimmins]

@@dmitryrybin7831 I lived in Beijing, Chengdu & Chongqing for 11 years until I moved away recently, and you know as well as I do that everything in Shenzhen is turned up to 11 and is not representative of the whole country. I can only speak to my experience, but I remember the outrage when people found out that delivery drivers were causing accidents just because they were going to be late, and there was a major push to remove these punishments. I read an article at the time about it, and the overwhelming sentiment was that people didn't mind getting their food late if traffic was less dangerous. It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't do that in Shenzhen, but that's because Shenzhen is way more cut-throat a place than pretty much anywhere else in China.

[@liquidiced]

@@PhilCrimminswhat’s makes it’s so much more cutthroat?

[@TheRealIronMan]

Its western media, everything about China is at least 5-10 years out of date, watch it for entertainment and the superior propaganda, not to actually take the information seriously, China would do well to learn how to do propaganda from Americans, you guys are laughably bad at this.

[@summess5567]

But somehow, this is NOT a problem in the USA or UK? The thing is clearly a human rights abuse WHEREVER it is in effecrt.. and computer programmers have designed an App which works for the WORKERS and delivers a etter wservice to the customer ... but, of course, the TekLords and the Stock Market have to suppress that.

[@TL-fe9si]

China simply have too many educated engineers, workers. "You don't want to work 996, fine. There will be plenty of people who would take that offer to replace you. Perhaps someone from a worse economic background, etc." is a common response I see when people argue about working conditions in China. The supply of talent is larger than the demand due to China's earlier policies expanding higher education.

[@danhtran6401]

What good is your educational system when all you're doing is pumping out ghost cities, tofu projects, collapsible bridges to nowhere. How much education do you need to get rid of systematic corruption?

[@TL-fe9si]

@@danhtran6401 If all that eduction does is pumping out ghost cities and tofu projects as you said. Then it doesn't do much good, and the West can just rest in peace and leave China alone, right?

[@Jyryp]

@@danhtran6401You wont get rid of it in government system like china has. Its a fantasy, that it would change in any meaningful way unless there was some big change in government and even then, its easy to slide back into it or become even worse.

[@JohnLiu-gf7iz]

人们努力工作是因为成功的机会多，并且生产效率还不够高。中国人还需要在努力10年才能超过美国的生产效率，并让自己的后代过上更好的生活。另外，勤劳不应该是人类的美德吗？

[@cheng-s8r]

@@danhtran6401 如果说提供人民更好的居住环境，不让人民生活在帐篷里，提供更好的出行方式，，让人民有更好的生活方式，提供更好的学习环境，让自己的人民更容易获得更好的学习环境，是完全错误的， 你认为你的政府应该做什么事情呢？让自己的人民吸毒？让自己的人民住帐篷？让自己的人民天天到哪里都需要开车？ 还有什么是鬼城？为什么整座城市一起规划建设在他没有完成之前叫做鬼城？ 你现在来中国看看，西方媒体十年前报道过的鬼城，现在那个城市不是住满了人？

[@ribaldi]

Used to work at Silicon Valley. Overworking engineers isn’t unique to China.

[@marley720]

Buti highly doubt that you would have worked 9-9 6 days a week. Thats 72 hours per week...

[@zzzyyyxxx]

Silicon Valley's overworking is not comparable to China's

[@ribaldi]

@@marley720 and more… one year I had one day off during Thanksgiving. A good friend of mine goes home on average @ 1 AM. I thought we were crazy until I've seen some emails coming from various groups.

[@annannz9047]

@@marley720 996 doesn't even sound that bad to Asians. My dad used to work seven days a week.

[@elmohead]

Lol architect in Sydney here. Deadline? We live in the office for 2 weeks. Don't forget crunch times for game Devs.

[@rusticbox9908]

3:40 My in-laws are from Heilongjiang, they've moved to Beijing and got a few flats in the suburbs during or just before this period. I'm not sure what you mean by unable to move away means...

[@TheGIGACapitalist]

If social services are tied to where you are born doesn't that basically incentivize stagnation in those areas that have fallen behind?

[@udhayakumarMN]

then how can he sell a nebula subscription ??😂

[@samuelthecamel]

Sounds like quite the opposite of communism to me

[@warrio6]

It's primarily for social control, everything else is second thoughts. Every other communist states all have similar system like the USSR, Vietnam, North Korea, etc.

[@davidk.d.7591]

@@warrio6 not really. It's more of an ancient East Asian thing. South Korea had it for a long time and only removed it this century. It's complicated. The government wants to remove it already but their are things they have to tackle first. I doubt it'll last another decade though

[@warrio6]

@@davidk.d.7591 sure, family registration might exist in previous era, but it didn't tie to access to social programs, school, jobs, healthcare, familial possessions, and miriad of other things like it the hukou system did. The USSR pioneered this system to control dissidents, population movements, and it fit perfectly with the central planned economy. That's why all communist countries will keep this system alive in 1 form or another, because it offers them the best social control tools.

[@obsidianstatue]

Sure Heilongjiang is a rustbelt province, but the cities and towns are WAY better managed than that of the US rustbelts. Social services, city renewals are all happening despite the rustbelt status. This is because China's centralized fiscal system. Ironically the few images of "rust belt" neighborhoods you used in the video are from old neighborhoods of Shanghai.

[@robezy0]

He also makes it sound like people are trapped in those places, yet Heilongjiang's population has decreased by 16% in a single decade. Despite the hukou system, Chinese people are the most mobile people I have ever met.

[@obsidianstatue]

@@robezy0 China has universal healthcare insurance, it's not like the people living in less developed parts do not have access to social services. In fact Heilongjiang has some of the most lenient Gaokao scores in China, just a few days ago there were some protest about Heilongjiang residents not wanting people from outside of the province to take part in Gaokao exams in the province, taking up their children's spots.

[@robezy0]

@@obsidianstatue Yes, I'm not disagreeing with you, just meant to add to your comment.

[@eugeneng7064]

Heilongjiang is also seeing a revival in services due to tourism. Not sure how the other two rustbelt provinces are doing, but Harbin seemed to be booming when I was there last year

[@haochengzhai7156]

...他忘了说黑龙江是中国最大的产粮区。

[@Calslock]

6:05 Hmm... I'm pretty sure US didn't exist during neither medieval nor renaissance era...

[@drybowser666-bo3kl]

The PRC's empire of china also didn't too...

[@OkarinHououinKyouma]

China didn't exist before 1950

[@paleking1526]

@@drybowser666-bo3klwhat’a your point then? China doesn’t exist? PRC is the only regime that has ever existed in the current land of China? Pathetic.

[@howietang1878]

4:20 wtf you talking about ,you know why the fertility rate in Heilongjiang is low? It's because young people have gone to work in big cities in the south. What you said about medical insurance and endowment insurance is even more groundless. All cities in China are competing for high-caliber talents, and some cities even offer "housing subsidies" to attract talents.

[@howietang1878]

Taking Shanghai as an example, as long as you work in Shanghai and pay social security and taxes for 7 years, and have no criminal record, you can apply for the Shanghai "hukou."

[@therealscot2491]

Good luck getting houko then. ​@@howietang1878

[@yaoyuzhu2392]

I have a different explanation: China has too many engineering students. They are over-competing with each other, so the most hard-working ones are left to get the job.

[@Yin_Esra]

At 10:07, that's not China, that's Minsk, Belarus :)

[@Shadow_banned_by_YouTube]

Lol who cares it’s just western propaganda in the end

[@booaks2980]

Fortunately that's not China

[@turtlesoup8134]

Does it matter? This video is targeted for anti China groups. Even if he shows Antarctica to be Chinese they will believe it.

[@domenico_ginny6164]

I think he knows that

[@james7286]

China: doubles down in technology West: at what cost?

[@KaleTong]

lol classic！

[@Homer-OJ-Simpson]

Beijing worker, are you hurt that chinas economy is quickly on a decline?

[@Homer-OJ-Simpson]

James7286 of Beijing!! Making the typical Beijing worker comment

[@troodoniverse]

at the cost of extinction?

[@IStoreGas]

I was born in Harbin 40+ years ago. That place was nothing but cold. But it’s not as drab as you make it out to look. Harbin especially is pretty metropolitan.

[@SamuelSo1018]

这就一反华频道，你和他较什么真😂

[@IStoreGas]

@ idk, i feel Polymatters isn’t as bad as most of the channels here on China. Especially the fear mongering ones. You have to remember, this is the west. You can’t have non-anti chinese views, never mind pro-chinese views.

[@Seicks]

in your "Myth That China Lifted 800 Million People Out of Poverty" you said that the Chinese government's contribution to China's progress was negligeble or even deleterious, while here you say that the Chinese government's has the "scientific and technocratic expertise" to make a "sweeping economic restructuring", so what is it? Ininfluential or influential. And also your understanding of the decline of Heilongjiang seems superficial and misleading. The north-east of China has been declining not because the government shifted the spotlight from it, but because it opened to market economy, which led to southern costal regions outcompeting the cold north.

[@breadcat5402]

he is a weatern liberal, he loves technology, if you met him in person he would tell you how mych he loves democracy but still hate that democracy elected someone he didnt like, like far righg parties

[@VinLim]

It is unfortunate that this video was built on so many false information. From the location of Heilongjiang, to the Chinese aspirations, the inter-provincial hukou system, to the policy motivation. Coupled with many choice of words and narrative unfortunately made this a straight up hit piece

[@Homer-OJ-Simpson]

Most people on here defending China are Beijing workers. Tell me, do you think millions of Uyghurs have been sent to camps over the past 7 years or so?

[@无语-s7d]

中国网站上关于美国的视频足够准确，因为在美国学习过的人很多，而且大多数中国人会说英语。然而，英文视频中关于中国的信息都是主观猜测，他们甚至不愿意去中文互联网上查。事实上，中英文互联网的用户数量几乎是一样的，任何中国理工科大学的学生都需要掌握英语，并具备大学及之前的英文论文阅读能力，而要查询论文，他们必须使用谷歌。大学图书馆也可以访问中国以外的互联网。我周围的几乎所有学生都可以访问英语互联网，并依靠机器翻译自由导航。因此，几乎大多数年轻人对几个英语国家的事实了如指掌，甚至中国视频网站上的一些人也经常开玩笑说，他们可能比这些国家的大多数本地人更了解这些国家的历史。但令我惊讶的是，为什么一些可以在打开机器翻译的中文互联网上随便搜索的内容可能是错误的 我来自中国东北，在中国各省之间移动比在欧盟国家之间移动要容易得多。在中国的互联网上，偶尔也会有中国和整个欧盟的比较，比如几年前中国的GDP刚刚超过欧盟的时候。

[@无语-s7d]

The videos about the United States on Chinese websites are accurate enough due to a large number of people who have studied in the United States and most Chinese people can speak English. However, the information about China in the English videos is all subjective speculation, and they are even not willing to go to the Chinese Internet to check. In fact, the number of users of the Chinese and English Internet is almost the same, and any Chinese science and engineering university Students are required to master English and have the ability to read English papers in college and before, and to query papers, they must use google. University libraries can also access the Internet outside China. Almost all students around me can access the English Internet and rely on machine translation to freely navigate. Therefore, almost most young people know the facts of several English-speaking countries inside out, and even some people on Chinese video websites often joke that they may know more about the history of these countries than most native people of those countries. But I am surprised why some of the content that can be searched casually on the Chinese Internet with machine translation open can be wrong I am from northeast China and it is much easier to move between Chinese provinces than between EU countries. There are also occasional comparisons between China and the whole EU on the Chinese Internet, such as when China's GDP just surpassed the EU a few years ago.

[@jeremyheung6582]

@@无语-s7d a lot of Chinese people can speak English,YES. most Chinese people can speak English,NO.

[@jeremyheung6582]

这个频道一直有种反华倾向，不知道怎么总是刷到他

[@yuantan9292]

12:18-12:21 This is factually wrong: Xi Jinping has a degree in Chemical Engineering. For others in the Politburo, a large portion of them had experience in STEM fields. For example: Hu Jintao (former president) has a degree in hydroelectric engineering. Li Qiang (Premier) has a degree in agricultural mechanization. Han Zheng (Vice President) has no STEM degree but had a career in the Shanghai Chemical Equipment Industry company and later Chemical Industry Bureau of Shanghai's Municipal Gov. The age of 70 is above world leader medians (around 62) but IMO very normal, and plenty of world leaders including both Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin are older. 13:20-13:31 This graph can be very misleading: While it can be argued that a crackdown have an impact, a number of other factors (US-China tension, the pandemic, the general slowdown in the tech sector) in the same time period would also have had just as large an impact, especially considering that the Y-axis is "USD stock price". 14:01-14:05 A graph that uses "projections after 2021" is a terrible evidence to support "population began to shrink in 2021". 14:13-14:30 Neither of the graphs makes a claim on "companies responded by shifting production". Additionally, the graph presents data from 2004 to 2020, but quotes "Rozelle et. al. 2020" (source: link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41294-020-00137-w ) which presents a survey data that ends at 2017. 14:50-14:57 This connection is flimsy at best, those trends appears nothing alike and would likely be the combined result of many other social and economic changes during the time.

[@degol5692]

He doesn't like to let facts get in the way of his stories.

[@MattsAwesomeStuff]

"This is China's northwestern province of Heilongjiang." ... *province is in the north-east, not west*

[@Alexa-hh8so]

the "optimistic about the future" stat is pretty dated i think. alot has happened since 2015

[@tommyzty1089]

Exactly, take another survey now I bet China’s numbers would be a lot lower

[@deadlock_problem]

Everything is censored in China you can't be unoptimistic about china's future

[@Larry-Lobster]

@@deadlock_problemcope harder

[@orterves]

​@@deadlock_problemI'm guessing you've never actually been to China.

[@FemboyLegendGD]

@@deadlock_problem Do you think you have not been affected by propaganda by commenting that?

[@MorbidEel]

5:28 No idea where or how it originated but I have heard people from back in the days of Mao there were rumors among the rural villagers that "1 American farmer could do the work of 100 Chinese farmers"(memory is a bit fuzzy on the ratio). Growing up if you hear stuff like that from your parents and grandparents it is not hard to get the idea that you really gotta catch up. I am forgetting some other stuff but I remember thinking "if those things were actually true America would be some sort of paradise". It doesn't help that there are some people who immigrate and return with tall tales even up to today.

[@melt6894]

Technically it would be true considering China wasn’t industrialized. One farmer in American with access to tractors and heavy farming equipment can definitely do that when compared to Chinese farmers. Back when industrialization was big in the US at least. Nowadays most factories are in Asia.

[@rainwhitez6165]

The inter-provincial migration is more like emigrating to another country. For example, Shanghai has the point system which gives points to every quantitative merit of an applicant (phd +30, graduates from local universities +10, qualified job titles +5 etc..) much like Canada's express entry system. If you meet the cut-off line, you get yourself a Shanghai hukou. This makes you qualified to buy a condo in Shanghai without marrying to a Shanghainese and your children can take the university entrance exam in shanghai (again, without marrying to a Shanghainese), which can be less competitive than most other provinces. That's moving from less developed places to a tier-one city. Other cities have lessened the control of migration furthre and some provincial capital cities are handing out hukou to any recent graduates from the local universities. it's way easier to move around these days, though your national id number (start with provincial and regional codes) does not change even if your hukou changes.

[@zannierzan9634]

easier if you're well educated. Imagine how hard it would be for labour workers. Yet to be educated means taking a degree, and the cut throat entrance exam is in the way.

[@ylchen2569]

The United States is falling behind in the robots competition, so they made this video.

[@domenico_ginny6164]

This is simply untrue on multiple levels.

[@GoldTau-s5j]

China has a lot more people to figure out what to do with as robots take over

[@younglv1345]

Actually, if you are paying tax and social-security contributions for like more than 36 months, your children are able to go to public schools in most China cities, even if you come from other cities. If you have a bachelor or higher degree, you can get a local Hukou without any difficulties. Therefore, you have the same right as a local citizen.

[@zannierzan9634]

Well, what about the labourers? Even worse, informal and seasonal workers who don't contribute to tax and security because they can barely afford to live there? This is such a disgrace that a country calling itself socialist treats workers like dirt

[@magiclamp4644]

1. My wife is Chinese and there are lot's of options for her to move her huko (resident permit) to other cities. Your research is flawed. 2. Chinas goal is not being better than the USA. ( lol if you like it or not, fact is - in so many aspects China is far ahead already.) Their goal is to make life better for Chinese people.

[@therealscot2491]

How's the going?

[@alyxandernwu5044]

A comment from Reddit which I strongly agree with: I personally see his videos on China as one interesting viewpoint, presented in a clinical manner befitting someone with at least a little bit of social science academic training. He doesn't strike me as someone who has lived through China's dynamic changes in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, and as a result, he mostly fails to truly grasp how Chinese people 'feel' and 'think.' His content aligns with what you'll typically find in the China Studies branches of most American colleges' political science departments: either a sterile and somewhat judgmental Western analysis of the Chinese condition or an uncritical regurgitation of the latest trendy Chinese dissident's non-fiction. Consequently, I find most of his content to be sterile and robotic, failing to capture the true desires of human beings, which is a major factor in shaping history. Having said that, I want to be clear that I regularly watch his content, and I think what he does is still way better than 99% of what's out there on MSNBC or FOX News.

[@taikoboda]

Your videos about China are often quite insightful, especially the one about credit score system. However I have to strongly disagree with you this time on the "pride wage" claim. There were people thinking like this perhaps decades ago, but not anymore, not when mountainous mortgage looms over their head. Chinese tech workers know they are underpaid, but so is every other profession, and tech is already the highest paying jobs there is. They work long hours because they want the money, and they are making good money, comparatively speaking. You will not get real answers in an interview, they are almost forced to always put a grandiere spin on everything they say. Like my parents in law, they would never say anything along the lines of "I want these stuff", it is always "these stuff are good for the family/health/elderly" etc.

[@Kevin-kd6hf]

I don’t see how a developing country can catchup and reach to the top of the world without hard working spirit. This culture of resilient hard work is not exclusive to China but is also prevalent in South Korea and Japan. South Korea, having successfully escaped the middle-income trap to attain developed status, epitomizes this ethos even more profoundly. Imagine that you are a mid range performer in your class and wants to catch up with the front runners, you have no choice but study harder longer and party less, especially when the front runners are probably smarter than you. I think this spirit is also esteemed in the US. The nation's ability to maintain its leading position is significantly indebted to its capacity to attract top talents worldwide, who are able to do diligent and effective work. Less complaints are also more linked to the influence of Confucianism, which instills a sense of obedience. This is again across East Asia, not only in China. It’s more of a cultural thing. TBH, I just found this video a bit too biased by attempting to attribute every cause to propaganda, etc,overlooking the broader cultural context.

[@testacals]

Yeah, He likes to portray it as the evil CPC doing things but the idea of "Our citizens have to do more to catch up with developed countries" is a very normal viewpoint to asian countries. Also the working conditions are much more insane in south asia. At least the chinese folks can see some form of progress/change in the country as a payment for their hard work but in south asia, we don't even have that luxury.

[@FirstNameLastName-uu9qv]

Most westerners have trouble understanding those things because they have never experienced direct or generational poverty. As an African who comes from a country that has been in the gutter of mismanagement and poverty since it’s inception i will gladly give away a lot of my rights for economic development what will i or my family gain from free speech with an empty stomach and no future for my kids. If you come from a country that has been prosperous and developed for a long time that even your grandparents have no idea what poverty is and can’t tell you stories that keep you humble and grounded you start to take things for granted and complain about the slightest things.

[@whodatboi2567]

The issue isn't that they have to work harder but more so they have to do so while being poorly compensated. What use is a country reaching the top if most of it's citizens aren't well off for it.

[@testacals]

@@whodatboi2567 But their compensation is going up. The video itself points out that chinese labour is much more well paid than it used to be.

[@whodatboi2567]

​@@testacals I think the fairer criteria would be to compare it to a global average of sorts. You could be earning more than ever before yet still be earning peanuts.

[@DavidGravesExists]

When I lived in China, I worked with several Chinese that went to university overseas and had the opportunity to stay and make good money. Whenever I asked why they came back to China, there were always two answers- 1. Filial piety (and, among the women, the requirement by their well-connected fathers that they take a Chinese husband that had been arranged for them). 2. A sort of religious devotion to the idea of helping China "defeat" the West so that their grandchildren could live in a China that was the world's sole superpower.

[@changliu3915]

Return to historic norm you mean.

[@davisdelp8131]

@@changliu3915 yeah how that historic norm go. All I saw was stagnation and wasted opportunity in the end. It was their own hubris that failed them, and into a century of humiliation and possibly even a second one.

[@JohnLiu-gf7iz]

@@davisdelp8131是的，西方人的傲慢无知让我们快速超过了他们。我们以为需要100年才能赶上西方，没想到再用10年就可以远远超过西方。

[@cheng-s8r]

西方是谁？。如果不是迫不得已，又有多少人愿意去一个自己陌生的环境工作。没有家人，也没有从小玩到大的好朋友。 在你的国家，热爱自己的国家是错误的吗？

[@NeostormXLMAX]

@@davisdelp8131amerimutt seething 😂😂😂

[@Т1000-м1и]

Can't imagine computer workers even caring about politics in a serious way where I'm from

[@overlooting2195]

Clickbaity title that does not answer the question posed in any way

[@johndawson6057]

Right? Bro just wanted to hate on China😂

[@Watchwatch122]

Standard PolyMatter video, clickbaiting with China lmao

[@plutoh28]

Title: "Why China isn't scared of robots" Videos Answer: China embraces technology as a strategy to overtake western economies regardless of the consequences.

[@tranquoccuong890-its-orge]

the answer: China worships technology so of course it isn't scared of robots legit answer to the question "why is China not scared of robots" innit ?

[@Т1000-м1и]

I'm going to China binge this channel on Friday

[@BrianKipngetich-ms7oq]

Great seeing you back, I had really missed you😊

[@lupita3689]

PolyMatter: “Nearby countries like Taiwan”. Chinese hackers: crack knuckles.

[@ohhi5237]

chinese: thats already in china

[@pumfeethermodynamics3286]

region of china

[@eric9069]

There is only one question, if China is so miserable, why is the United States so afraid of China? After so many years of theories about China's collapse, why is China getting stronger and stronger? Why can't theory match reality for decades? Doesn't anyone find it strange? It's really interesting.

[@turtlesoup8134]

shhhh....don't try to wake people pretending to be asleep. Instead try to dissect this amazing propaganda. I am so lost for word at how facts can be used to push ridiculous and cartoonish image of evil China. This kind of propaganda, no matter how effective today will eventually fail if the China kept rising, but how can China learn from this technique to compete for a voice that can convince others that the west is actually failing....oh wait....they can see it for themselves...no need for over the top propaganda.

[@loyalcav1575]

My theory is the fact that China isnt strong right now, Its seeking stability which to the CCP is needing. Another hard part is finding the truth in two governments that wants to hide information they dont want to be let out.

[@dudewhodoesstuff8959]

Absolute GDP vs GDP per capita. I wouldn't predict China catches up on a per capita basis, but your power is more determined by absolute GDP.

[@kalenooc4938]

​@gdp per capita is not that important when you have large population and very large GDP just look how much these mini countries have of GDP per capita and they can't defend themselves dudewhodoesstuff8959

[@ngolong4070]

China is getting stronger and stronger, but also slower and slower. Just like Japan is still technically getting stronger. Just look at how your stock market in HK is doing

[@karlk7070]

Chinese breathes - what? How dare they consume our air... Such a security threat.

[@qinghuiyu6522]

First minute in and there’s already a mistake, Heilongjiang is north EAST nor north WEST.

[@2Links]

yeah probably just misspoke but not great

[@seendidthegreat4814]

You can see visually it's north east. This was not a factual error but a spoken one.

[@lazyreal6024]

are you stupid, its 90 degrees from north korea, it is north east

[@bprogressive]

No technical background, Xi is a hydroelectric engineer from a leading university.

[@bprogressive]

The whole Chinese politburo is engineering graduate. All 7 of them😮

[@paulkadzielawa4514]

I gotta say, I love how well-researched these episodes are. I've watched you for years now, but recently I've gotten curious about where you get your information from. Lo and behold, not only do you have a link to all of your sources, but it is actually scary how much time and thought must have been put into making even one of these videos! Honestly, you are one of my favorite educational video producers. Thank you for all your hard work and making the world a smarter place.

[@paleking1526]

😂did you not see any of the comments where false information and pictures in this video are pointed out? This channel is pushing a sinophobic agenda from day 1. The guy is probably hired by CIA.

[@eccentricbeliever7]

Maybe they figured wasting the nations riches on tech would be better than wasting it on military contractors?

[@38WorksGr8]

In China, those are the same thing. Tech companies are legally obligated to surrender data, systems, and expertise to the military if ordered to by the military.

[@eccentricbeliever7]

@@38WorksGr8 Not the same as just giving the money to the military and nothing to the tech sector though, is it

[@38WorksGr8]

@@eccentricbeliever7 That's correct. Giving it to the military directly is just burning the money.

[@OriginalDonutposse]

@@38WorksGr8in the US, factories can be taken over by the government for pressing military or public health need as well. And our data is all available to the government at all times. Look at the fbi and cia and nsa ties between Amazon web services, Tesla, fakebook and the rest.

[@grid-panda]

I state two facts 1. From 2000 to 2022, Heilongjiang’s population decreased by approximately 4.5 million, with most of these people migrating to southern provinces in China. 2. Although the total GDP of Heilongjiang Province is declining, per capita GDP is actually increasing significantly due to population reduction.

[@gilgilgilbear]

The pictures selected for the video are not from the Northeast region, and have obvious characteristics of southern cities or rural areas. This video is too perfunctory. The content is also nonsense. Chinese people have the right to choose where they live, as long as they meet the requirements of working years in other cities (or buy a house). I grew up in the Northeast. My local classmates with good grades mostly went to Beijing or south China to work or live . Of course, there are also many people who stay in the Northeast. The development of the Northeast is not that good as south, but it is definitely not as lifeless as described in the video. Our country's current positioning of the Northeast is mainly to develop modern heavy industry and large-scale agriculture, and encourage Northeasterners to go to the southern region, which is warmer and more economically dynamic by higher college acceptance rates.

[@Andrew-rc3vh]

You are having you cake and eating it in parts. On the one hand you say China bad because China is less competitive showing the huge rise in wages. Later on you say China is bad because workers are unhappy they are not getting paid enough.

[@Dominus_Potatus]

QR Codes for payment might be the best solution that is popularized in China. While western is using NFC or any wireless technology which few people has. China and SEA are pushing QR Codes which is cheaper to implement aince everyone has smartphone and vendor only needs to put paper and maybe smartphone to check.

[@vylbird8014]

Cheaper, which is the only reason they are favored. They have a few security problems that make fraud very easy. Imagine, say, distracting a casher and quickly putting your own QR sticker on top of theirs. NFC payments are a lot more tech-heavy to set up, but they are very hard to defraud. It can be done, but it's a lot more difficult.

[@zetaforever4953]

@@vylbird8014 Huh? I'm in India and there's a speaker at the back of every shop/roadside vendor which calls out each payment as it's recieved. As in, it calls out the amount recieved. So the shopkeeper knows the customer didn't just transfer half the price of the item and leave. So there's no way you could get away with replacing a QR code. Maybe you'd catch a couple of small transactions, if you're lucky. But the scam wouldn't last more than a few minutes.

[@yuantan9292]

@@zetaforever4953 @vylbird8014 Additionally, since the QR code is linked to a payment account (which is then linked to an ID or bank account for tax reasons), law enforcement can go after the fraudsters. And if it is some unusual/anonymous/overseas account, the payer's app can usually notice and decline payment. With that said, IRL scammers sometimes commit identity theft on normal law-abiding people and use accounts under their names to pass those checks, but then that is much harder and riskier that scammers usually use that for higher-profile crimes than stealing mon-and-pop shops.

[@jeffbenton6183]

Just to clarify, you're not arguing that this is *unique* to China, right? Here in the US, people pay with their phones all the time. They don't use QRs, but they do use something like Apple Pay or Samsung wallet. EDIT: I read "NFC" as "FTX" and was confused why anyone would try to pay for something in the US with crypto. Just to clarify, what I was describing is, in fact, NFC. I was a little surprised though, since not everyone here has NFC, but not using NFC myself, I would've never have thought that I ought to be using QR codes instead of cash or card (I think my phone is NFC-compatible, but I haven't bothered to use it).

[@Slav4o911]

QR codes are best, it's sad there is no such payment method in my country. By the way I hate credit and debit cards and my smartphone does not have NFC. Also with Wechat in China you can send money to other people, not just paying at the store... we don't have anything like that. Credit and debit cards can't be used to give money to friends and family.

[@riskinhos]

6:00 THE PORTUGUESE DIDN'T STEAL MACCAU!!! IT WAS NOT EVEN EVER PORTUGUESE TERRITORY!!!! The Portuguese had jurisdiction over the Portuguese community and certain aspects of the territory's administration but no real sovereignty. Portuguese helped the Chinese defeat the pirates, they were allowed to settle in Macau!!!!

[@56independent]

6:33 The irony of the overtaking car being an american flag design

[@greentea6013]

chinese workers being locked to their city of birth when it comes to public services has to have some kind of loophole or way to break out... while i was born in the states, my dad was born in some rural starving village 8 hours into the mountains of chengdu. he was able to get a college education in chengdu, beijing, and eventually sent abroad to the US. all on the government's dime because his family had 0 in savings (his brother died of starvation). though this was in the 80s-90s.

[@jeffbenton6183]

I think the PRC government was encouraging rapid urbanization at the time. Maybe there was an exception to the policy for people leaving rural areas, or maybe the policy didn't exist at the time.

[@masterblazx]

There are a lot of immigrants from different provinces. They are reported as if they were from their original province when in reality they are working in another province that offers higher paying jobs. They still don't have public services though

[@helloworld9811]

Somebody asking about why the Hukou （户口）is still there. The answer is that the central government and local government do not have the same objective In terms of Managing people. The people who get privilege don't want others to get the same privilege as they do. The elite in Beijing and Shanghai don't want to share education and medical resources with migrant workers. Using the "hukou system" to artificially create different classes within China like a caste system to incentivize workers around the poor province to come to the big city and work for them at low wages, in the promise that their children may be able to enjoy the local Welfare system In Beijing and shanghai (usually never, but they want you to "believe" that's the case if you work hard enough. ). Basically like the old Rome or the modern USA, "You fight for the army, you get free citizenship". This type of system is useful for maintaining China's internal stability of 1.4 billion people. Also, the poor region wants the "Hukou" to have remained as well. If the "hukou" is abolished, then Everyone will rush to the big city, and never come back. "Huko" will force people to return to their hometown and spend money In their place of birth, to prevent them from ever coming back from the big cities. Then these rural areas will be in further decline.

[@eugeneng7064]

​@@helloworld9811considering many manufacturing jobs are moving inland, this may no longer be necessary for long

[@tranquoccuong890-its-orge]

@@eugeneng7064 this is a logical move from some aspects PRC gov probably doesn't want too much people & capital to accumulate on the coastal cities just how would they do it and how successful it would be though; doing like this is like swimming against the current

[@hippopotamusbosch]

And they weren’t afraid of viruses…until they were afraid of viruses.

[@davidk.d.7591]

Not true. They always have been afraid of viruses. Particularly good of the SARS Cov variant

[@hippopotamusbosch]

@@davidk.d.7591 now that I think about it, they are a culture of people who bow instead of shake hands or kiss cheeks. I stand corrected. Covid response was still tragic.

[@udhayakumarMN]

what you think , Chinese used chopsticks for ?? they hell out of sacred of virus from ancient time ...

[@Mierkegaard]

Not afraid of the virus, but of the zero-tolerance policy towards the virus

[@chillmaino828]

Their scientists just came up with 100% lethal covd

[@jackyjia41]

I feel like these problems you talked about should not be attributed to china but capitalism in general. You make it seem like these problems only exist in china but in reality, every capitalist country has them. Some even worse than china. What nations should work towards is removing the profit motive and reduce the influence of big business in government.

[@hernanuliana9111]

A lider without technical background? Xi Jinping it's an engineer like most Chinese head of states since the reforms in the 70s. How do you explain hundreds of millions of migrants from the interior to the cities in the last two decades if they are compulsory bind to their original province? How you explain the level of innovation if the majority are "con men" in the private enterprises and "yes man" in the burocracy? This is not good for the western Hegemony, it's time to be critical with the stupid propaganda we consume because if we don't understand China now and use critical thinking to overcome our problems in three decades will be late to reform the economy of the western capitalism. Every year for the last 15 years I read and watch "the imminent collapse of China" and the measurement under US and Europe parameters ("house bubble", "youth unemployement", "birthrate") without context. "the great slowdown of the economy" when China growth is still over 5% (and is a modern capitalized developed economy and not a low cost labor one like in the 1980-2000). The West is like the Soviet Union only thinking in bigger military spending and trying to convince the people that his opponent is a lie in every aspect. You know how that went Right?

[@testacals]

what's the context regarding youth unemployment ?

[@jeffbenton6183]

It sounds like you're insufficiently "critical" of the "stupid" pro-PRC "propaganda you've "consumed". You're a hypocrite. For one thing, there's no way of knowing if China's growth is still over 5% - even the government does not trust it's numbers. Japan, South Korea and Singapore have all risen economically as fast or faster than China, and they have much higher per-capita GDP figures, showing that whatever China successes are, other Asian nations have done even better. The West doesn't think in terms of bigger military spending - only the US does that; Europe has been underinvesting in defense until the invasion of Ukraine shocked them into action. PolyMatter also doesn't speak of an "imminent collapse of China" - rather, continuing challenges. I don't think you're aware enough of who you're criticizing to do it competently. By the way, plenty of his other videos have given context to China's low birthrate, youth unemployment and the conditions which will probably lead to a housing bubble (eventually). These aren't metrics that - magically - only matter in the US and Europe. These are objective metrics that have considerable explainary value everywhere. Two of those parameters are known problems in Japan and South Korea, for instance.

[@cheng-s8r]

@@testacals 16到24岁，百分之80的人都在上学，剩下的百分之二十，也是因为考研究生失败想再考一年，或者想要考公务员。25岁之前中国父母很愿意为自己的孩子提供更好的学习平台让自己的孩子有更好的生活平台。 你可以搜索一下中国工厂招不到人和中国青年失业率低是同时进行的，上面的解释应该对你有所帮助

[@doujinflip]

​@@testacalsYoung graduates can't get jobs commensurate to their studies because Chinese government actions suddenly discouraged their biggest sources of employment: real estate due to the housing bubble they're trying to deflate cutting the need for sales staff, and education due to an ideological push for "common prosperity" by ending paid after-school tutoring. So now they're doing gig work as delivery drivers and such because it's at least more flexible than clocking in to some far-flung factory every day whose orders are subject to cancelation and the facility to sudden closure.

[@dungeonbrownies]

This is one of best videos y'all have put out in a minute. The psychological wage is a super interesting idea, and I can see it not only as natural but necessary. Where countries with extremely harsh work cultures for even their "soft" jobs see it as the price of their leaps and bounds, watching other countries where they're less willing to do the same either make near zero progress or at worst, decline, feels like an impressive proof of the same.

[@ohhi5237]

the fuck you on, overtime leads to suicide and depression not happiness

[@Obscurai]

In the west, it sometimes called "national security" at the national level, or "vision" at the corporate level. The early days of silicon valley was dominated with the idea of "changing the world". For example, an early motto for Microsoft was "Information at your fingertips". These slogans and mottos are not much different than the grand goals and statements from China. Slogans and mottos are the tools of politicians and corporate leaders around the world.

[@Harmonikdiskorde]

The 'psychological wage' reminded me of how MLMs justify the lackluster 'earnings' of newcomers.

[@ArawnOfAnnwn]

This is something neoliberals don't get when they criticize both nationalism and communism. Both those ideologies, for all their flaws, inspire people. Modern neoliberalism has nothing like that, hence people are deeply dissatisfied despite higher living standards. China today is kinda combining both - ostensibly it's communist, but increasingly it's also nationalist. Whatever other issues one may have with that, it does allow them to leverage the 'national revival' idea to push people more than in the west.

[@billycao2653]

it's just simple. The government tells the people they are part of the modernization of the country. If people there does observe that if they work harder, life becomes better and living environment is improved. It would give people positive feedback. Then encourage them to work harder again. Imagining in 1970s, if you were the people who joining the Apollo program and finally, watch people landing on moon. You would be proud of yourself and your group. The same thing happens to SpaceX nowadays. The difference is that China make the nation's target ( the rise of China) become everyone's. And it is also the willingness of Chinese people since last 150 years, china was invaded by many great powers(England, france, germany.......). And it was a shame for Chinese people because china once became superpowers several times in ancient times. To go back to original position just like ancient times is the willingness for every chinese people. It is interesting to see other civilizations once becoming superowers in history like IRAN, turkey. The western world puts special attention on them and what they are doing is to suppress these civilizations so that they could not change western world in future.

[@vincentas1]

10:05 is actually in belarus, mkay, its the new airport district

[@qiangwang9514]

技术宅拯救世界真的蚌埠住了。。。

[@oikichow1862]

今期的封面標題一定是個懂華文化的人改的 😂

[@qiangwang9514]

你说抄米忽悠slogan，这风格又不像。 你说他没抄吧，这可是陈年老梗了啊。 我的评价是，团队里大概率有三蹦子开服玩家。

[@tykep1009]

日本語のオタクがそのまま中国語に輸入されてるの草なんだ

[@mRahman92]

Oh God no. . .at least they won't successfully reproduce. The drones in the sky making QR codes are definitely cool, on the other hand.

[@huli7963]

@@tykep1009not really, it is just cultural appropriation

[@davidmin3583]

This felt like one of the weakest I've seen from polymatter. Some claims are really not nuanced, eg skipping to mobile payments is because it's far cheaper to deploy than to have millions of POS terminals. The confident gross simplifications to dubiously support a narrative is not the quality I'd be expecting from this channel.

[@Larry-Lobster]

So many of his China videos are exactly that. Gross oversimplifications, ignoring nuances and other factors, purposeful negative and sinister language/framing, all to push a narrative surrounding China’s rise as something that can be palpable to Western audiences.

[@michaelscott5653]

How so? Considering its a sub 20 minute video, I don't expect PhD level thesis examination of the issues. You have university researchers for that. Many parts necessarily have to be oversimplified.

[@doujinflip]

​Right, if it's too detailed you end up losing the audience and likely getting some details wrong. What's important is the overall idea, which in this video is that China expresses a lot less inhibition toward technological experimentation because it feels that there's no other way to improve its global relevance without bringing up alternatives and challenges to its own sociopolitical order (as culturally-unique "soft power" artistic products love to do).

[@cllncl]

They'll call it dictatorial but they'll never call it a failure

[@helloworld9811]

Somebody asking about why the Hukou （户口）is still there. The answer is that the central government and local government do not have the same objective In terms of Managing people. The people who get privilege don't want others to get the same privilege as they do. The elite in Beijing and Shanghai don't want to share education and medical resources with migrant workers. Using the "hukou system" to artificially create different classes within China like a caste system to incentivize workers around the poor province to come to the big city and work for them at low wages, in the promise that their children may be able to enjoy the local Welfare system In Beijing and shanghai (usually never, but they want you to "believe" that's the case if you work hard enough. ). Basically like the old Rome or the modern USA, "You fight for the army, you get free citizenship". This type of system is useful for maintaining China's internal stability of 1.4 billion people. Also, the poor region wants the "Hukou" to have remained as well. If the "hukou" is abolished, then Everyone will rush to the big city, and never come back. "Huko" will force people to return to their hometown and spend money In their place of birth, to prevent them from ever coming back from the big cities. Then these rural areas will be in further decline.

[@tianrongzhang2522]

When someone wants to sell a theory, he tends to credit everything to it. This is what I read behind your narrative. Yes, pride is important, but it is not a new thing to China that was employed only since CCP; it is there throughout the noninterrupted history of it, and you don't necessarily can make the same work in another country, especially one highly dependent on immigrants. One of the very important factor to counteract the negative feelings is just the improvement in living standards. When you say workers in China are being underpaid than the counterparts in, say, the US, you are just comparing dollar to dollar, which is not reasonable. The embrace of technology is ensuring the convenience, safety, etc. which in many other countries you have to pay for. You can have robots replacing workers in a factory, but: Do you employ millions' of agents so they do what the surveillance do? Do you hire extra staff for every shop to handle parallel transactions like electronic payment can do? There are just so many sectors where technology and workers are not against each other so the workers also enjoy but you seem to be intentionally avoiding the mention of them. In terms of situating the unemployed, which is the part you likes talking about: Detroit, once being the heart of auto industry of the US, has turned into nothing and is the US handling that well? TSMC from Taiwan is not happy with workers in the US who are so inefficient and lazy. Is being laid off and staying lazy the answer better than being laid off and joining a new industry that is less regulated because it is new, like food delivery and live streaming? Not to mention these industries are seeing more regulations because as you likes to reinstate all the time, policies are always later than the problems because otherwise you won't feel the problem to begin with and why would you assume that to be the case when it is a new industry? You also said that joining these industries is not appealing, but do you honestly think live stream is worse than working in a pipeline? As to why Chinese are more tolerant to the more intensive work. Japan, a developed country, also has the problem of overwork. Do you also blame them for having a communist government? Do you think that is also a problem of pride? Just like you showed to people, technology is the only choice because the payment of the workers are increasing (and you fail to join the connection of this with why workers are not angry which I am curious why). By education and also the propaganda which you seem to frown at to some extent is exactly tell people that this is going to happen and must happen. Obama once said, as I paraphrase here, it is unimaginable if every Chinese live in the same style as Americans. Have you thought of why he said this? Does not that ring something to you that maybe, while Chinese are being underpayed, some people are being overpayed? Does that make you curious, if not for the hegemony, the imperialism, and the more remote colonialism, why would there be such difference? The fact that China was humiliated is not fictional and it is still unevenly treated now. People share the hope of the rise of China, join the great cause of reviving China, not just because of pride, but because they know that is inevitable. They do not simply parade, argue for more holidays, etc. like in France, in the US, etc. because that is not going to solve the problem. The entire country is being payed less, and you cannot just count on the employers to be more generous. There clearly is still headroom for China's economy so why don't they make sure they achieve that growth first? Because that is actually the part where the overpayment of some other countries are obtaining? Apart from that, I find you trying to bind technology with problems that are not caused by technology. Workers that works in another city than their hometown have existed well before 2010 which you believe is the start of the mass adoption of technology. Haven't you heard of ChunYun? Who do you think are travelling home back then? The enforcement of labor law was not good enough and albeit improving is still inadequate, but that too is nothing new. In all, I do feel happy for you that you seem to have come to some theory which you believe is a surprisingly simple action pattern that every thing CCP does can fit in, but do ask yourself some question first: Is it unique to China? Should there really be a simple action pattern? Is the government or in some extreme case of you just the leader that powerful? Can you do any better or have any other country done better?

[@elek_]

if those stats are true it's kinda cool that so many chinese are optimistic about future.

[@davidk.d.7591]

When the country has visibly gotten better for the past few decades, it's hard not to. I'm sure the stats might have dropped a bit now

[@VladLad]

They arent anymore, thats for sure. Housing bubble collapse is not something china can recover from. For hope to exist you must belueve things can actually get better, the chinese are realizing they will starve much like their forefathers, and that their forefathers' sacrifices have been for nothing.

[@danhtran6401]

Like their missiles looking forward to being filled with water...

[@J_X999]

​@@VladLad Fucking INSANE amounts of copium. You have no idea about what's going on in China, but you have somehow conditioned yourself to believe that China is about to enter a famine. That's called delusion. And a fuck tonne of it as well. You'll probably call my a CCP bot and throw a tantrum after reading this.

[@J_X999]

​@@danhtran6401 Another example of copium....

[@sanjose4239]

00:05 China has aggressively embraced automation and robotics in its economic restructuring. 02:52 China's new economic order favors rich urban areas, leaving behind millions in depressed cities 05:19 China's objective to surpass the United States 07:43 China's focus on technological advancement and its impact on its economy 10:18 China's government invests in tech without ensuring practical use. 12:44 China's shift towards 'high-quality' technology growth 15:11 Chinese workers face poor conditions and limited rights. 17:37 Chinese tech workers aren’t exploited, they’re part of something bigger than themselves!

[@plutoh28]

Chinese tech workers are exploited. A 12 hour work day 6 days a week with relatively low wages for their trade is exploitation. It seems that the common rationalization is that "they're working for something bigger than themselves" which might be enough for some workers, but I'm sure many still have a human inside of them that is aware of how abusive their country is.

[@valuedcustomer94384]

That 'version' of history that you mention about European imperialist powers exploiting China is the accurate version.

[@zake64]

Meh, there are some countries to absolutely feel bad for in that regard. China is not one of them. They had an empire too, but were simply outmatched.

[@CaptainFAL]

Skill issue. Cope.

[@theforsakeen177]

@@zake64 you must not be aware of what japan did there if you believe that, nor the fact that most of those aggressive chinese empire were actually just non-chinese conquerors like the yuan or the qing. when Hans were in charge they tend to maintain good relations with their neighbors.

[@testacals]

@@zake64 They had an empire but they were never imperialistic. Ever chinese empire only tried to take full control the chinese civilization.

[@valuedcustomer94384]

@@CaptainFAL Irelevant comment.

[@ThishandlefeatureISdumb]

They didn’t skip pagers. I remember my dad having one when I was young. It got phased out fast though.

[@bsobro]

What do you expect from western channels that lives on “china bad” motto and dismisses every progress achieved?

[@blazer9547]

​@@bsobro progress through human rights violations is no progress. That's why probably why millions of Indians and chinese illegally immigrate to the US for better opportunities 😂.

[@FranciscoJG]

He probably didn't mean it 100% literally.

[@jasonmack7976]

Never in a million years I thought I would see 科技宅拯救世界on KZbin. I guess our culture does make it pass the fire wall

[@ishanbajpai6940]

What does that mean?

[@TL-fe9si]

@@ishanbajpai6940 TECH OTAKUS SAVE THE WORLD

[@Shadow_banned_by_YouTube]

@@ishanbajpai6940it means 技宅拯救世界 you silly

[@movzfast]

How do you make it past the firewall? Vpn? How easy is it to get access to a vpn and how common is it in china?

[@ragnarokws2670]

​@@movzfast imagine using vpn is ban in China 😂

[@pumfeethermodynamics3286]

the comments on all these chinese videos realizing how dumb these kind of "china problem" videos are, makes me happy.

[@pumfeethermodynamics3286]

I like how you purposefully dont mention how this rise in technology is meant to counteract the demographic crisis. because you want people to think that the demographic crisis of an ageing population is still a crisis. you dont want to acknowledge that half of china's current massive technology and automation drive is to resolve the issue of an ageing population in the economy.

[@domenico_ginny6164]

I don’t think so, all nations are starting to do automation. China is just one in the long list. I’m sure China is aware it will also serve this purpose though. Which is good for them.

[@PS3b]

I see you didnt watch the whole video or just dumb

[@qingyangzhang6093]

I took a 15% cut to my annual salary when I moved from China to the UK (in US dollar terms). But because my working hours at my Chinese employer kept gradually increasing (from 40 hours to 68 per week), and taking into account the extra holidays I gained, I had a 20% gain to my hourly wage. My quality of life still took a big hit because I didn’t need to rent in China. But I’m motivated by more than money.

[@zallaevan]

I have been following your videos since long ago, as I am quite interested in the geopolitical actuality of China, my home country. Being an expat, like the US citizens like to call themselves when being immigrants, this topic hits home. My family are from that exact Province, and all the stories and tales that my grandparents have told me about their past match the argument of the video perfectly: they were officers (accountability and police) for the State when they joined the workforce, and the decline of local economy, the bribes and nepotism, the exodus of the local population and the decrease of overall importance of the region plus the lack of interest and investment from the Central Government is very tangible and were always present in all their anecdotes. The repercussion of the transition from a fast-growing and booming second-sector economy to a technologically-driven service economy is really a great leap forward (pun intended) for the overall economy of our country but has undoubtedly left scars along its way. I hope one day people start to see the wonderful scenery (or what's left of it due to contamination and exploitation) and culture of the Northern part of the Middle Kingdom.

[@JamieR2077]

Great prospective! I wish we could hear from more Chinese people on these videos! Where do you live now? Ps - great comment about westerners calling themselves expats when the immigrate to another country, I guess because calling themselves immigrants has a bad connotation? I'm going to start asking my friends who live overseas how they treat American immigrants there 😂

[@luv2code]

The speech is so slow it sounds normal speed at 1.75x.

[@lord_of_love_and_thunder]

The desire to catch up with the West came across strongly to me in Deng Xiaoping’s biography. But the reason for the preponderance of this desire is that alternate visions of China were simply quashed by the one-party state.

[@hughmungus2760]

theres a host of historical and cultural reason why china would want to do nothing but catch up with the west regardless who was in charge.

[@IamHandsome4u]

One party state is the reason they developed much faster than anyone on this planet.

[@doujinflip]

This is why Taiwan is considered a mortal threat: the continued existence of a democratized ROC is living proof of what a Chinese ethnostate could be without the Party.

[@andyfu9651]

​@@doujinflipThat's only true when KMT is in charge, and when they called themselves Free China. Now Chinese see DPP's Taiwan as traitor who is desperately trying to erase their Chinese heritage and create a Taiwanese identity.

[@hughmungus2760]

@@doujinflip that might have been a thing in the 2000s, but today the mainland looks at taiwan and sees a dysfunctional disneyfied version of what china should be. Taiwan might as well be a chinatown in the US for how much its sucking up to the US.

[@linebear-dv6yd]

Chinese old saying: The ignorant are fearless

[@musiqtee]

Well, can we really deduct what kind of economy - Chinese semi-socialism (capitalism added) or the western hyper-liberal financialized capitalism - is the most “wasteful”? At this time, people (non-owners of capital revenues) in the global north increasingly seek “strong man” leaders and societal conformity by rule of law. Are we then in our right to criticise the global south and China, without also pointing to our own changing societies? We are not on a good path. We’re increasingly individualistic, reductionist and losing the sense of meaning and condemning anything “collective”. At the same time, we’re supposed to trash the far east and most of south America and Africa as they realise that their struggles have a commonality from the neoliberal narrative? I’m not saying that “they” do everything right, fat from it. But, shouldn’t we realise how we made our own “western” choices, and that said choices kick our own butts more than China does so? We’ve tried to be “efficient” for 40 years now, and that efficiency pays our own corporations WAY more than our societies, communities and even our national budgets. We can’t build meaning by corporate growth - it’s starting to hurt us, while our own richest individuals are laughing back. What’s really different from China’s communist party - our corporations aren’t democratic either…! 👍

[@doujinflip]

What's common is the lack of viable competition, whether it's one-Party China or corporate-captured America. What's different is that America has been there before during the Gilded Age a century ago, where government trust-busting and the allowance for labor unions prevented the even more drastic deconstruction which anarcho-communists violently pushed for. China though has always been an autocracy that gets ever more brittle over time until the state suddenly shatters; the closest alternatives being the separated and only recently-democratized ROC on Taiwan, and the much more ethnically mixed Singapore (whose Chinese population largely hail from the more culturally distant southern provinces).

[@musiqtee]

@@doujinflip How would you actually frame “competition” going forward? There are no more “white spots” on the world map, where earlier times’ growth could be extracted. This is why the global north (OECD) went for financial growth instead - that’s where the “competition” pushes immaterial values upwards. This shift was allowed by changing legislation after Nixon & fed decoupled the USD. The difference is that China puts a lid on private financialization - as “the west” used to do after the turmoil of the 1920’s. The Breton Woods and New Deal agreements were indeed the basis of “the guilded age”. WE (also Europe’s pre EU countries) held corporations back legally to *uphold* competition. A corporate shareholder wants to consolidate and outsource, so when WE across OECD tore the legal stop sign down - we get to today. Since most working people get angry HERE we blame whoever we can outside our borders. And we may well democratically *choose* autocratic leaders by “free will”, that’s already happening. Remember that both Russia (a short time) or Turkey were fairly open, until their top brass changed their laws, backed by their richest. In all of this, Chinese people don’t seem to revolt, but travel and trade all across the globe. We hate that, they don’t seem to - neither does a growing G77 now counting 135 countries. I don’t *defend* this - but I can count…

[@in4ser]

Yes there are always collateral harm in centralized planning but the North East has not been forgotten. The tensions with the West and the refocus towards stronger Sino-Russia relations has lead to a boom in cross-border trade (now over $200 billion) and the creation of joint science and technology parks like in Changchun. Just as the One Belt One Road is facilitating the development of Central and Western China, the North East will also benefit from its shift towards Eurasia with Russian (and lesser extent N. Korean) partners.

[@源王-v4m]

看来先生您比我这个东北人还要了解东北的困境😂原来我们不能自由移动，就业、医疗、子女教育只能在出生地享受😅继续加油多加宣传吧

[@kiren717]

哈哈

[@SirMrBerk]

so they set concrete goals for local politicians and promote/demote based on their success? is that supposed to be bad?

[@umjackd]

It's effective in terms of overall big numbers, but not good at course correction or more nuanced goals. Like he said in the video.

[@justkev6277]

The idea as you stated isn't bad, but the metrics used aren't necessarily helpful.

[@wsxgfhccr]

It can be pretty bad because it incentivizes people to game the system to get promoted. "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure". Imagine a village that has a cobra problem and the local government puts out a bounty for dead cobras. The unintended consequence could be people breeding cobras and selling their corpses. Similarly in China's case, it has resulted in a glut of useless tech/robotics industry like the video explained.

[@jasonaricheta3310]

When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure

[@felipe21994]

The thing is the usefulness of the things produced, if you have to build 100.000 cars for your city that has 50.000 people, then 50.000 cars would be redundant and not used, you would say it's an exaggeration, but that happened with bicycles and it's happening with electric cars

[@relacionomia]

11:00 this mindset is THE SAME as angel investors: they put some money in many very risky startups. The one that profits will profit so much that pays the others losses twofold

[@user-july6]

Only watched 4 and half minutes, there already are millions of mistakes. Do your research dude.

[@alanwong9550]

If he have done reseesch properly, 90% of the video in this channel would not be published at all.

[@littlewhiterabbit7363]

So many contradictions to jump to a preset conclusion. Chinese labor cost is rising so fast, but Chinese people are so underpaid. Chinese people don't have mobility, yet there are so many migrant workers. Chinese heavy industry caused so many environmental damages, but Chinese tech is so evil. What do you want Chinese people to do man? Who is doing propaganda here? And what is up with all the military shots in this video? What does that have anything to do with anything? How many wars did China fight, and how many wars did the West fight in the past few decades?

[@henryzhang2019]

Use some biased “truth” to support your statement is not enough. If like you said ppl stuck in the their city. Why is the biggest seasonal migration happens in china during Chinese new year. Do the Simple fact check.

[@alexanderbarron8574]

I am an African American who graduated from Heilongjiang University in 2019. Harbin is a beautiful place that deserves attention.

[@celine_2084]

I can't believe an American content creator is criticizing China for innovation and technology... Just kidding. But it seems that China is winning in capitalism in every perspective (replacing workers with robots) and as a manufacturing powerhouse no one can beat it on proficiency. btw, it is also hilarious to see people describe China's "competitive mindset" as "zero-sum" lol. Don't be too self-esteem, China is no longer focused on beating America. It's more focused on doing business in global-south countries for there's much more economic potential (if you know one or two things about China's foreign policy and its diplomacy) Reflection on whether this mindset of focusing too much on technology is dangerous or not is a good thing. But I don't agree with your narrative that "China is crazy about racing the competition with the US" omg it's just like the USSR and robots are nuclear bombs...You describe China as just like the USSR in that good old Cold War narrative. The government is not a bunch of insane power-hunger politicians who want to beat America in this "competition" (remember who's the first to say we are in a "competition"? lol). Rather, Chinese leadership always has the most conservative mindset when it comes to how to manage the country (if you read Chinese history you would know it for sure).

[@mRahman92]

Are you saying there's no competition? No one is losing or lagging behind in the adoption of tech? At first I thought the US was hopelessly falling behind, but to now know there are no losers is a quaint realization.

[@bulldogcoma420]

This person writes like a Chinese whose English is juuusssttt good enough. Curious...

[@NickBurman]

The reason there is/was a Russian cultural presence in Heilongjiang was the former Chinese Eastern Railway, that arm of the Russian Transsiberian Railway straight across northern China which avoided the long loop following the Amur River. The railway was staffed almost entirely by Russians; their presence gave birth to a community along the line. A former co-worker of my father's was one such person - ethnically Russian, but born in Harbin and whose father was at one time the CER's Harbin Shed Foreman.

[@directxxxx71]

Correction: During Mao period, China established an independent and complete industrial system especially heavy industries like mining, steelmaking, petrochemicals, and heavy machinery, because of isolation policy from the Western world. That was the basis for building infrastructures and providing raw materials for the manufacturing companies and economic take-off in the Deng Xiaoping era and . Moreover China's illiteracy rate decreased significantly during the Mao era.

[@discursion]

"The World Is Getting Better", a 2015 survey that has very recently lost all relevance for the Chinese.

[@ariavachier-lagravech.6910]

I need to ask something about the last part though If the majority of them feels like they are working for something larger than themselves then why are there so many Chinese youth straight up giving up and lay down on the street? Or how a lot of them feeling stressed out and doesn't feels like living? Are you sure the author of those books aren't super biased?

[@tomikexboii5403]

Very simple. Just look at the current demographic pyramid of China. It is dominated by the 45+ year olds Pre-One-Child Chinese Boomers. People who lived through Mao's insanity. China was so low at that time that the only other way was just going up. This group skew the opinion polls EXTREMELY via sheer number and lived experience. Let's just say the dichotomy between Chinese Boomers and Zoomers is even more extreme than between American Boomers and Millennials.

[@testacals]

Those two situations aren't contradictory. You can feel like what you doing is important while also feeling the pressure of it.

[@HairLessBush]

U do realize that there are many percentage/demographics of different people feeling differently. Right?? For example think of it like== 20% of people love tomatos but other 20% doesn't they like carrots instead other 20% likes both and another 20% hates both carrots and tomato.

[@Slav4o911]

There are a lot of people in China... some are doing one thing others are doing another. It's not like all Chinese youth "lay down on the street". That's just some small percentage.

[@helloworld9811]

The simple answer is not everybody believes in the bullshit, I don't believe that 没有共产党就没有新中国 bullshit.

[@calebmccardell7030]

Still the absolute smoothest ad transitions on this entire platform

[@deadlock_problem]

sponsorblock be like what

[@richardmackenzie1878]

Leave it to PolyMatter to make optimism about the future, technological innovation and pride sound so ominous when it's about China. Imagine what the tone would be if this sense of optimism were said about Americans today? American schadenfreude knows no bounds...

[@deanzaZZR]

"China Bad" sells in social media

[@AsgardVenture]

You already got your weekly paycheck from the CCP?

[@justanerd414]

A lot of this has to do with the china-evil US-good propaganda

[@VladLad]

Polymatter is also wrong. The chinese arent optimistic at all, the real estate bubble in china popped, and it will never recover. The chinese are starving like their forefathers, and they live in a culture of thieves, cheats, and frauds.

[@DavidGravesExists]

There are plenty of Americans (and others) out there making millions of videos criticizing America. If that's what you seek, I'm sure you can find it. A content creator that focuses on China isn't required to bash America simply because they are American.

[@Dreamprism]

I've wondered... does PolyMatter just speak slowly or does he artificially slow down his audio? Just asking out of curiosity. I don't have a problem with it because I can easily watch at x1.25 speed so it sounds normal.

[@CaptainManic2010]

I love your productions. Content regardless....it's very entertaining and interesting.

[@robertgibbs6698]

It also helps that the CCP is ideologically flexible enough to automate jobs away and not have to worry about the backlash. In the USA it would probably come off as some corporate led consipracy ran by the government to bankrupt the workers or something. Heres to hoping china will choose to switch to post scarcity economics in a just and equitable manner.

[@elmohead]

They can do that because they have social security. You know, communism socialist stuff...

[@theburden9920]

@@elmohead ironically they dont have pensions like the one we have here in the us hence why they have one of the largest savings rate in the world.

[@harshityadav8698]

​@@theburden9920Where did you get your info on china not having a pension system

[@elmohead]

@@theburden9920 yeh the CCP doesn't force you to save up so they are free to spend however they want. Freedom!

[@doujinflip]

There is a pension system in China just like there's a state-run healthcare system, but what the Chinese government provides through both are so laughably inadequate that it's practically not worth doing the paperwork for.

[@search3684]

There is an incorrect in about 25 second, Heilongjiang is located in north-eastern of China

[@Tinil0]

It's certainly a strong benefit to have that ideological backing in workers, but it's tenuous and isn't sustainable long term. And like the 彎道超車 analogy fundamentally must imply, overtaking on a bend is dangerous. It may be gutsy and effective some of the time, but the reason that not EVERYONE can do it is it has a high failure rate. They are basically playing blackjack and hitting repeatedly, and getting awfully close to 21 and still hitting. Their authoritarian, one-party state may have built-in resistance to unrest, but it comes with a breaking point that if reached results in CATASTROPHIC failure instead of marginally worse unrest. Can China have the wisdom to know when to stop pushing the gas? I'd say no, but not because of anything inherently Chinese, humans as a whole just really really bad at knowing when to hold. And especially with how much "winning" China has done with it's bets in the recent past, it's far too easy to see the CCP push their luck just a tiny bit too hard one of these days. Though I want to stop short at the usual "CHINA IS GOING TO FAIL!" doomcrying that we see everywhere. It's pretty easy to pet on "Eventually things will turn!" because...well, given enough time frame, you are always guaranteed to be right, but it's not prescient at all, it's just creating open-ended conditions to being right that you can exploit no matter what happens. You're never wrong, just "too early".

[@SUNRISE-ri9hp]

我在我看到的这个作者的每个视频中留下了评论以赞扬他。我认为你对中国的描述非常真实（包括批评）。中国百姓中，某种意义上尤其东北部，像黑龙江，一部分百姓对共产党抱有部分负面态度，但仍然承认共产党执政的必要性并且爱国。我们可以看到 ，中国像世界上绝大多数国家一样，并不完美，也并不全是错误，这个国家因为它历史、文化、国际地位、经济体量等的特殊性，经常被讨论。我希望不会有太多人仅凭情绪地诋毁它，但客观而正确的论述是被欢迎的。对于国内的历史上的错误，确实被掩盖了许多，这种审查制度某种程度上是管理十四亿人必须的。我们确实被巨大类似长城的网络防火墙管理着，但实际上它只管理那些没有能力翻墙上网的人（心智未成熟的学习能力不足的未成年人），使用VPN观看外网是被默认的允许的。 I leave comments praising this author on every video I see. I think your description of China is very true (including criticism). Among the Chinese people, especially in the northeast, like Heilongjiang, some people have a partially negative attitude towards the Communist Party, but they still recognize the necessity of the Communist Party's governance and are patriotic. We can see that China, like most countries in the world, is not perfect, nor is it entirely wrong. This country is often discussed because of its unique history, culture, international status, economic size, etc. I hope not too many people will denigrate it based on emotion alone, but objective and correct discussion is welcome. It is true that many of the country's historical mistakes have been covered up. This censorship system is necessary to manage the 1.4 billion people to some extent. We are indeed managed by a huge network firewall similar to the Great Wall, but in fact it only manages those who are unable to circumvent the firewall to access the Internet (minors with immature minds and insufficient learning ability). Using VPN to watch external networks is allowed by default.

[@02Tony]

Correction, Macau was given to Portugal long before any other Europeans arrival when China was still strong.

[@zsarimaxim692]

No. It wasn’t given but was allowed to stay there and trade. There was no transfer of sovereignty and administration to Portugal, not until 1887 after the Opium Wars.

[@02Tony]

@zsarimaxim692 Portugal had been paying rent to China for a permanent lease for Macau in 1557, they stopped paying after the opium wars as China was too weak to assert itself. Extra land was taken by Portugal later on in the 1800's but returned to China soon after.

[@hobog]

9:20 unfortunate how XJP isn't subject to automated evaluation like the CCP+communists should be as a whole

[@CarFreeSegnitz]

Completely missed… “to whom do the benefits of automation flow”. The fear in Western capitalist economies it’s feared that automation is going to lead to lower wages and unemployment. Companies are incentivized to adopt automation in order to reduce their labour cost. We see it now with Chat-GPT and Dall-E, authors and artists are threatened with replacement. The mere threat is enough for creatives to keep their head down. Bolstering that is the explicit assumption that “no job=homeless & starving”. Automation then is a huge driver of wealth flow to fewer hands. China has clearly made sure that wealth is spread out. Sure, China has some billionaires, but as with the example of Jack Ma, China does not tolerate the deification of the rich. Chinese infrastructure investments spreads its national wealth around. The Chinese have decades of experience of national and personal growth so technological optimism translates to personal optimism. They don’t fear for their survival in the face of automation.

[@VladLad]

That moment when china lifts people out of poverty by chsnging the definition of poverty. Bam, you are still poor, we just pretend you arent.

[@doujinflip]

​Right, the wealth isn't getting "spread out" as much as confiscated or just not made out of fear of adverse action by the state. The Chinese people don't protest because they never got the money to begin with.

[@004307ec]

too many errors in this video, around 4:30 the pension cannot move to other place in the past but you mght get a new account at another place. And now it can be moved anywhere. The student are not rejected in the past, it is even easier to choose between public schools than nowadays.