China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data • Hacker News Board

Re: China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data

#81

Post by ThinkingGuy » Thu, May 31, 2018, 12:54 AM UTC

valarauca1 wrote: post #76

iamconfused wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe it wouldn't have taken so long. ;p

If you consider 50 years to go from having 99%, while also stabilizing an entire nation's food supply, and becoming an economic super power on par with EU/US then I hate to see what you consider fast. Oh we should also talk about their entire coastal region we’re devistaed by land war and Japanese occupation.

I don't have a source for this, but my understanding is that much of the improvement in China's literacy rate came from the government's redefining of "literate" down to about a 1st or 2nd grade school level.

Still, I can't help but be happy at how so many people's lives have improved so greatly in such a short time.

Re: China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data

#82

Post by sametmax » Thu, May 31, 2018, 12:55 AM UTC

ludston wrote: post #18

Congratulations to China and the Chinese people who have managed to measurably improve their livelihoods over the last few decades.

And given the terrible air, water and soil pollution they suffer from, this means the rest must be really, really top notch. Or that we don't have all the metrics.

Re: China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data

#83

Post by Iv » Thu, May 31, 2018, 12:58 AM UTC

radicaldreamer wrote: post #45

theparanoid wrote: post #32

The US lifespan is decreasing due to opioid overdoses. Similar to Russia in the 90's with alcohol.

With a lot of the fentanyl flowing into the US market being made in China, it's almost like a reverse opium war between the east/west.

Make no mistake: the opioid epidemics is pretty much a self-inflicted harm. It is what happens when you underfund actually useful drug programs and let corruption (relabelled 'lobbying') by pharmaceutical companies run unchecked.

So yes, sure, China will make business if they can, but they are not "out there to get you".

Re: China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data

#84

Post by rgbrenner » Thu, May 31, 2018, 12:59 AM UTC

valarauca1 wrote: post #58

ludston wrote: post #18

Congratulations to China and the Chinese people who have managed to measurably improve their livelihoods over the last few decades.

没有共产党就没有新中国

google translate converts this to:

Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China

But considering the party that the communists replaced were the Nationalists... who are in control of Taiwan.. which is even richer per capita than China (31k/person)... that seems unlikely.

Can you explain more why the Nationalists were successful in Taiwan, but you believe they wouldn't have been in China?

Edit: this is not to say that I believe the Nationalists would have been more successful than the Communists in China.. China is certainly a far larger task, both in building out a larger country and pulling more poeple out of poverty. So this is a sincere question about your opinion on the nationalists.

Re: China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data

#85

Post by intopieces » Thu, May 31, 2018, 12:59 AM UTC

gggibi08 wrote: post #24

This study is backward looking; it hasn't taken account of China's current set of factors that could skew the lifespan down tremendously for average Chinese citizens. Factors such as 1.) Air pollution. In your typical big cities, e.g Beijing, it average AQI 100-150 for the past 10+ years https://young-0.com/airquality/ . In other lower tiered cities, it average between 50-100. Just to compare, WHO recommend only AQI…

All valid points. The good news is that China has big ideas for dealing with these, and will actually implement them.

I have no love for the CCP. I think they are an oppressive regime that unduly subjects their people to censorship and control. But I do respect that they invest in infrastructure and solving big problems for their people.

The US seems to have given up. It seems to think that the problems we face are unsolvable by cooperation and have resigned us to crumbling roads, poor health outcomes and failing schools so corporations can flourish.

Re: China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data

#86

Post by Iv » Thu, May 31, 2018, 1:00 AM UTC

kizer wrote: post #5

Healthy and subject to a "social credits" system. I'd rather be morbidly obese than have the government force me to play a social status game.

The US has credit ratings and secret no-fly lists. I really fear what the CCP will do with their scores but so far it seems to have a lower impact on peoples' life than the US' system has.

Re: China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data

#87

Post by Iv » Thu, May 31, 2018, 1:01 AM UTC

asdsa5325 wrote: post #6

How is this article related to Hacker News?

Many of us go to China on a regular basis. Some people may even consider living there. Knowing that it is now not that bad of a place to raise kids is interesting.

Re: China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data

#88

Post by est » Thu, May 31, 2018, 1:03 AM UTC

gggibi08 wrote: post #24

This study is backward looking; it hasn't taken account of China's current set of factors that could skew the lifespan down tremendously for average Chinese citizens. Factors such as 1.) Air pollution. In your typical big cities, e.g Beijing, it average AQI 100-150 for the past 10+ years https://young-0.com/airquality/ . In other lower tiered cities, it average between 50-100. Just to compare, WHO recommend only AQI…

All you listed are likely urban problems. China has like 1B country population.

Re: China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data

#89

Post by nimrod0 » Thu, May 31, 2018, 1:03 AM UTC

valarauca1 wrote: post #76

iamconfused wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe it wouldn't have taken so long. ;p

If you consider 50 years to go from having 99%, while also stabilizing an entire nation's food supply, and becoming an economic super power on par with EU/US then I hate to see what you consider fast. Oh we should also talk about their entire coastal region we’re devistaed by land war and Japanese occupation.

There were horrible problems that derailed progress, it's pointless to deny them. On the other hand, some of the suffering came externally, like sanctions and embargoes designed to make life miserable and induce the country to fail/the regime to collapse. Also military threats that depleted meager resources and made normal investment impossible.

What can be said is that, given this set of very difficult challenges, whether self-induced or not, the outcome, such as it is, is a commendable one.

Re: China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data

#90

Post by valarauca1 » Thu, May 31, 2018, 1:04 AM UTC

rgbrenner wrote: post #84

valarauca1 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

没有共产党就没有新中国

google translate converts this to: Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China But considering the party that the communists replaced were the Nationalists... who are in control of Taiwan.. which is even richer per capita than China (31k/person)... that seems unlikely. Can you explain more why the Nationalists were successful in Taiwan, but you believe they wouldn't have been in China? Edit: this is not…

I don’t believe they’d be successful in China because they weren’t historically.

Also we can compare how a nationalist, democratic, and capitalist country of similar size, population, colonial explotation, and natural resource wealth would fair in India. Which again makes the PRC come out rosey.