Move to Hong Kong?
The standard of living is much, MUCH better in China than in Hong Kong. HK is stressful.
China is choking the Internet
121–130 of 160 posts
Re: China is choking the Internet
#122As I write this I too am having to go through a VPN to access the world. Even when it works properly, I constantly have to "play the VPN game." I really don't have the time to list out every item from jhancock that I disagree with, but pretty much all of them made me grimace. And I find it poignant that he no longer lives here. I too live in Shanghai and have for the past 5 years. I came here looking for another view…
Your finding that I am not in Shanghai at the moment says nothing poignant. My family came back to the U.S. for a bit for family reasons: my grandmother is 99 and I wanted to spend time with her. My mother is getting a bit old and I wanted my son to spend time with her while he's still a young boy. There are certainly things about China that I personally am thankful for a break. Air and noise pollution mostly, and ha…
Political analysis is often hard because you can't control all of the variables. However we can look at very similar groups under different modes of governance.
Hong Kong. British-derived institutions and law. 12th on the Corruption Perceptions Index. 1st on the Index of Economic Freedom. Outranking the USA in both.
Taiwan. Democracy. 37th on the Corruption Perceptions Index. 27th on the Index of Economic Freedom.
China. CCP rule by many names. 79th on the Corruption Perceptions Index. 140th on the Index of Economic Freedom.
Regarding your experiences of the people not caring, perhaps the locals know what happens when they disagree and have become passive (as well as knowing that there are career damaging aspects beyond outright oppression)? You know they did fight a civil war over many of these issues and the rebels went to Taiwan? Public debate gets very heated in Taiwan on many issues. There are still protests in Hong Kong on the anniversary of Tienanmen Square massacre.
There are many countries throughout Asia that use an "Asian values" cultural argument to deflect criticism from the West. I would just say that where people migrate to when given the opportunity is highly suggestive.
N.B. The IEF draws from the CPI for part of its ranking, but includes a lot more than that.
Re: China is choking the Internet
#123[deleted]
Re: China is choking the Internet
#124There seems to be a great market DPI and other "security" focused technologies. You can always sell such products to Governments. That being said, I find it hard to believe that the internet can be censored and regulated. It just takes too much time and effort to be worth it. Whatever the technology used, there will always be workarounds. There is no such thing as foolproof technology. More and more its seems like a…
The ruling class of the PRC is currently willing to keep power by any means necessary . I'm hesitant to bet against a ruling class while it still maintains its own Gulag ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laogai ) and gets 65% of the country's organs for transplant from those it executes ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_harvesting_in_the_People%... ). Yes, someday it will likely all come tumbling down, although I thi…
Why does it have to come tumbling down? Can't you see a way forward where things improve without violence? There isn't one ruling class. I've seen government power change several times in Shanghai and at the national level over 10 years. You sound very pessimistic. What are doing to make the world a better place?
Here are a few suggestions:
* If you are a Chinese national, go home and become a member of the party, vote, and get involved in making your country better.
* If you have a method to fix one of the many problem in China (pollution, energy, etc.) you should go show it to the person in the Chinese gov that handles such policy. If you've got a great solution, I can get you touch with people that will listen.
Re: China is choking the Internet
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
I understand your current frustration. If you expect everyplace you go to be just like home, your bound to be frustrated. As far as "quality" IT solutions go. Well, lets see here: I helped the Shanghai gov make an e-workflow solution for procurement. This cut down on costs and kickbacks a lot. I helped several Chinese banks become online banks. Some of my middleware code processes billions in transactions without bre…
I lived in Mountain View (California -- where Google is located) and I had to call the police twice because I heard gun shots over the creek behind my apt complex. In China I go to the ATM at 2am and it's totally safe.
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
--Ben F
Re: China is choking the Internet
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your finding that I am not in Shanghai at the moment says nothing poignant. My family came back to the U.S. for a bit for family reasons: my grandmother is 99 and I wanted to spend time with her. My mother is getting a bit old and I wanted my son to spend time with her while he's still a young boy. There are certainly things about China that I personally am thankful for a break. Air and noise pollution mostly, and ha…
Political analysis is often hard because you can't control all of the variables. However we can look at very similar groups under different modes of governance. Hong Kong. British-derived institutions and law. 12th on the Corruption Perceptions Index. 1st on the Index of Economic Freedom. Outranking the USA in both. Taiwan. Democracy. 37th on the Corruption Perceptions Index. 27th on the Index of Economic Freedom. Ch…
Those ranking systems may be better than nothing. But they are not an excuse to look down on another nation. They also do not account for the effects their system has on other systems.
I am not going to entertain a HK/Taiwan vs mainland history debate with you. The past is the past.
My posts here do not claim that China doesn't have plenty of problems to solve. Would it be too terrible to lend a hand in making it better instead of hurling insults and demanding today's leaders of China to apologize for mistakes of yesterday's?
Re: China is choking the Internet
#127As I write this I too am having to go through a VPN to access the world. Even when it works properly, I constantly have to "play the VPN game." I really don't have the time to list out every item from jhancock that I disagree with, but pretty much all of them made me grimace. And I find it poignant that he no longer lives here. I too live in Shanghai and have for the past 5 years. I came here looking for another view…
America is better off currently mostly because it is newer. As time goes on the US will become more and more like China: more corruption, more pollution, less human rights.
The current US government is older than the current Chinese government. Major pollution became a problem during the industrial revolution, which started in Europe and North America. And when did the Chinese people have any more human rights (not just better conditions, but a right to those conditions) than they have now?
Re: China is choking the Internet
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
I understand your current frustration. If you expect everyplace you go to be just like home, your bound to be frustrated. As far as "quality" IT solutions go. Well, lets see here: I helped the Shanghai gov make an e-workflow solution for procurement. This cut down on costs and kickbacks a lot. I helped several Chinese banks become online banks. Some of my middleware code processes billions in transactions without bre…
I lived in Mountain View (California -- where Google is located) and I had to call the police twice because I heard gun shots over the creek behind my apt complex. In China I go to the ATM at 2am and it's totally safe.
Comparing Mountain View to China... wow, China must be alot smaller than I thought.
Re: China is choking the Internet
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cost of living ain't low, unless you live in a village. Shanghai is more expensive than NY. A beer is 45RMB, and that's for a Bud, not a fancy micro. Live like a local and you forgo comfort for cost. Anything foreign or of genuine quality is 2x the price as the western world. Even HK is a deal, unless you have to buy or rent property.Every time I go for business, I do all my shopping for 100% originals, not fakes. Th…
Really, you complain about China because a Bud is 45 kuai?!?! Of course anything foreign is more expensive than the west. You realize you are in the other side of the world, right? About the CCP making a mint off the US: Keep in mind that is the US that's selling treasuries.
> Of course anything foreign is more expensive than the west. You realize you are in the other side of the world, right?
Actually that has more to do with Chinese currency manipulation than anything else. By refusing to adjust their currency appropriately, foreign goods are unaffordable to most domestics. This is the reason their economy is growing at amazing rates -- it's not magic. Long term this will cause problems, such as local property bubbles and potentially tariffs imposed on their exports as other countries get pissed.
Re: China is choking the Internet
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
I try to keep up with EU technology law, but I'm afraid I only keep up with specifics for individual countries when its widely covered. You can keep your hat on :P Many things that our intelligence agencies do disturbs me as well, and in fact the policy on the NSA telecom cooperation case as well as other areas where I consider the government to be acting unconstitutionally are my biggest gripe with the Obama adminis…
> They did break a US law interacting with people under US jurisdiction. I disagree with you there, it was the people in the US that were under US jurisdiction, betonsports was not an American company and so American jurisdiction does not apply to them. The fact that the guy was arrested on a sealed warrant is quite telling, if he was really in violation of the law in his jurisdiction they would have applied for his…
>The drugs scenario you describe is being acted out every day by the way.
Thats why I used it. And it makes those dealers criminals in the US. I didn't mean he was under US jurisdiction when he broke the law, I meant he broke a US law which had effect in the US where the law applies. The US acknowledges that he did not break the local law where he was at the time, but he was one half of an action (or actually I guess millions of actions) that was in violation of US law and took effect under US jurisdiction. I can't remember what it is called, but someone in a reddit or HN discussion a few weeks ago introduced me to the legal concept whereby being a party to such a transaction extends personal jurisdiction to include you. Since he was not breaking UK law he could not be extradited, but once he was on US soil he could be arrested for the crime he committed.
I was discussing at work the other day how I am what I described as an "internet libertarian" so I'm also opposed to all of those laws being enforced against actions on the internet, but I don't dispute the legal right they have to do it.
>it should not be a requirement of a business abroad to even be aware of all the laws and statues of countries where they are not based
Unfortunately, as with laws in most places (I'm not aware of any such places actually), ignorance is not a defense. While it may be taken into account while determining your punishment, it does not absolve you of guilt. The judge in that case specifically addressed, when a request for a lesser sentence was made, her belief that the defendant knew what he was doing was a violation of US law.
>My point of view would be 'absolutely not'.
From your explanation I take it you misread the question, and actually believe that this person should not be arrested (and should be immune). Lets take it to the extreme then, and suppose that I live in a country where hiring contract killers is legal and only the actually murderer can be punished. If I paid for someone in the US to be murdered, the US government should not be able to arrest me when I come to the funeral?
The internet does make it much easier to do business with people all over the world, and that should be taken into account when trying to apply local laws to foreign actors, but saying that a sovereign state should have no right to take action against people who violate their laws (in which part or all of the action takes place or has effect within their territorial jurisdiction) goes way too far.