Why China isn’t Scared of Robots

Use go.nebula.tv/polymatter for 40% off an annual subscription of Nebula (that's just $2.50/month!)
Watch this video ad-free on Nebula: nebula.tv/videos/polymatter-w...
Sources: pastebin.com/BGLJEUdp
Twitter: / polymatters
Reddit: / polymatter
Email: [e-mail]
Support independent creators like PolyMatter on Nebula: go.nebula.tv/polymatter
How I Make These Videos: skl.sh/2OW1YQR
Audio Editing by Donovan Bullen
Editing by José Gámez
Motion Graphics by Vincent de Langen
Writing, Thumbnail Design, and Direction by Evan
This includes a paid sponsorship which had no part in the writing, editing, or production of the rest of the video.
With music from Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com
With video from Getty Images
With video from Reuters
With maps provided by MapTiler/OpenStreetMap Contributors and GEOlayers 3
With video from The Associated Press

[@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

[@neoelias0713]

@@lcs.1094 what about the rest of the world?

[@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?"

[@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

[@user-wi1hj4mm9f]

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

[@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

[@user-fu6vk8ks4i]

@@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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？

[@user-nx4dj8or3b]

@@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？

[@user-dw7cp5ee5f]

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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@yiluo1466]

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

[@Yin_Esra]

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

[@No_one_cares_about_Ukraine]

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.

[@MattsAwesomeStuff]

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

[@ylchen2569]

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

[@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?

[@user-iv9zs5cv7y]

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。

[@user-iv9zs5cv7y]

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]

@@user-iv9zs5cv7y 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

[@JamesChenisKing]

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.

[@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?

[@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...

[@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.

[@BrianKipngetich-ms7oq]

Great seeing you back, I had really missed you😊

[@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。

[@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.

[@quoccuongtran724]

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 ?

[@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.

[@user-jb2qj8lz3z]

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

[@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.

[@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."

[@user-cd4bx6uq1y]

I'm going to China binge this channel on Friday

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@lupita3689]

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

[@ohhi5237]

chinese: thats already in china

[@pumfeethermodynamics3286]

region of china

[@vincentas1]

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

[@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 😂

[@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.

[@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😮

[@tayloreverard2039]

just finished watching this on nebula, but I wanted to leave a comment thanking you - China is unimaginably big and complex and there is so little information to try and understand it properly. This particular video, not to take away from your others, made me much less uncertain about such and important story in our modern world

[@xoho3462]

I feel the same. It is oversimplifying some major shifts that is happening in china.

[@deker0954]

China means nothing.

[@kaouecheomar5282]

Reminds me of " Technofetishism " from the 3 body problems (the Dark forrest)

[@johnwang3120]

But alot of big cities who have high demand for workers also make it very easy to" migrate" over and access all the public services

[@CaptainManic2010]

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

[@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.

[@user-cd4bx6uq1y]

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

[@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

[@No_one_cares_about_Ukraine]

@@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 😂

[@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.

[@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。

[@user-nx4dj8or3b]

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 😂😂😂

[@karlk7070]

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

[@56independent42]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@lyntoncampbell1425]

Shenzen was a fishing village

[@hamzarashid7855]

can you do a new video on these teir 1 cities in china in 2024?

[@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....

[@makimikkelson]

Just followed you on Nebula ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@arjaytalosig]

Your color palate for the title is so Germany (black red and yellow) 😊

[@EugeneBuvard]

Would be nice to take into account recent development in Heilongjiang.

[@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

[@quoccuongtran724]

@@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

[@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.

[@search3684]

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

[@benjiang2600]

Heilongjiang is in the NE, not NW

[@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 ...

[@user-ob1ik7ou3k]

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

[@chillmaino828]

Their scientists just came up with 100% lethal covd

[@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.

[@bryf2787]

good video!

[@TTTMyChina-go1jg]

4:06 It's nor correct. Th main issue(I don't think it's a problem now) is the college entrance examination. In China, the quota is allocated by provinces. For other policies（Health care etc), had change about 10 years ago. So the whole section are not correct here

[@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.

[@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.

[@ethimself5064]

The Gilded Cage🤣Good Title

[@calebmccardell7030]

Still the absolute smoothest ad transitions on this entire platform

[@deadlock_problem]

sponsorblock be like what

[@user-july6]

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

[@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.

[@roro4787]

That's how Asians speak, it's not just Chinese. If you talk to my parents in India, they talk everything in grand perspective of family tradition, leniages, country, family etc...its now the different cultures are! One is not superior or inferior. They are just different. If you don't understand that, it's just silly

[@serf__]

Thanks for your insight. It’s very interesting to hear how things are changing so fast in China’s society.

[@allensu9363]

0:22 northwestern province in the northeast lol

[@luv2code]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@pumfeethermodynamics3286]

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

[@CGP05]

I never knew that China has a region that is similar to the rust belt in the US, that's very interesting

[@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.

[@theforsakeen-9014]

@@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.

[@shinchan-F-urmom]

As a Chinese, I find your videos really great, but recently you have become somewhat biased towards china. Anyway my entire university fella watches you, but ofc with a huge grain of salt

[@osb1945]

Your on quora right

[@shinchan-F-urmom]

@@osb1945 uhh no

[@pumfeethermodynamics3286]

yea he's very biased against china

[@stayfree870]

Why is the narrator talking slow like Rod Serling of Night Gallery?

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@paljain01]

0:21 isn't it north eastern?

[@vc6327]

Programmer in big company is paid quite well in China

[@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.

[@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".

[@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.

[@BagMonster]

And here I thought automation would be another aspect of China's Reckoning...

[@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.

[@GrandmasterBumfluff]

I think the Yougov survey at 5:02 is slightly outdated, taken at 2015 when things were still relatively good by their standards. Chinese taking the same survey now may have a much different view.

[@haruzanfuucha]

They're still more optimistic than Americans are

[@averagepeopleproductions7023]

“Northwestern Province” Points to Northeast

[@somebodyhere3160]

This thumbnail is just cursed. The german colors, and not to mention the Mandarin characters "技术宅拯救世界“ which don't make any sense. Perhaps you wanted to say "技术它拯救世界", which means technology saves the world.

[@oikichow1862]

×× 宅 can means xx nerd. in this case, tech nerd save the world

[@oikichow1862]

Usually we do not put "it" (它) in front of a noun (tech)

[@EeeLife]

"技术宅拯救世界" is the slogan of game company MiHoYo. "TECH OTAKUS SAVE THE WORLD" slogan is a literal translation from a Chinese internet maxim "技术宅拯救世界" .

[@oikichow1862]

@EeeLife it is kind of funny that the CHN title (should be?)target on CHN user, but somehow non CHN user are able to translate it and misunderstand it. tips (Google translate is just for reference, Especially translating Chinese)

[@EeeLife]

@@oikichow1862 No. I don't think they use Google translate for this one. They know exactly what they are putting on there, they purposely used the MiHoYo's slogan to attract Genshin/Honkai/StarRail gamers to click. You can see other Chinese comments around this.

[@ogjk]

"Because Ping woke up one morning and wasent scared of them."😂 Some aspects of thier culture is just hard to understand but certainly hilarious as many are.

[@amazon4716]

Well They have already gone automation. Some manufacturers are almost 90 percent automation.

[@Low_commotion]

To rephrase your point, CCP investment in tech is much like VC investment in San Fran, the advantage for the US is that VC firms _can fail_ if they spend on too much snake oil. Tech is & will always be 90% worthless or minimal value. It's tough to judge which new technologies in what configuration (B2B? Consumer? As a service? Open source?) will have large civilizational significance except in hindsight. Hell, people (& governments) once thought _light bulbs_ would forever be a novelty and _blimps_ would be the main method of air travel. Which is why it's crucial that a society use private players with actual skin in the game to invest in tech, rather than dictatorial boomers picking winners from an ivory tower.