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YC China and Qi Lu

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Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#271

Post by seanmcdirmid »

tanilama wrote: post #176
natch wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering that there are over 300 million, yes million, people in China who do not speak Mandarin, I'd say yes one could get by. I'd even venture to say many of these 300 million people also do business in China. But yeah, I know what you meant.

> Considering that there are over 300 million, yes million, people in China who do not speak Mandarin I don't think your numbers are right. Tibet has 4 million population. Xinjiang has 20 million, among which 50% are Han. Those are only 2 provinces where I can think of that doesn't require Mandarin to get by in certain area. The rest of China, at least, could understand Mandarin without problems.

Tibetan parts of Sichuan have many non-mandarin speakers, though these are technically a part of greater Tibet anyways.

Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#272

Post by chimeracoder »

Eridrus wrote: post #243
Gwaih1r wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure nominal GDP is the right metric to be using to compare market size? By adjusted (PPP) GDP it's China, EU and then the US. Those billions can go a lot further in China and the EU than they can in the US. https://www.thebalance.com/world-s-largest-economy-3306044

You want money in nominal terms, so PPP doesn't matter. EU is not really a single market, they have unified regulations, which is helpful, but at the very least language differences mean you're doing custom work for every country.

> EU is not really a single market, they have unified regulations, which is helpful

The EU doesn't really have unified regulations. I mean, regulations passed at the EU level are unified, but countries have a great degree of country-specific regulations themselves.

Now, technically states within the US have the ability to regulate things at the state level, but due to various aspects of Constitutional law (the Commerce Clause, and case law such as the Sherman Antitrust Act, etc.), there are far fewer state-specific regulations that companies have to worry about for interstate commerce within the US than international commerce within the EU. Unless you're dealing with very specific regulated industries (money transmission, health insurance, etc.), you generally don't have to worry about a lot for basic interstate commerce in the US.

Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#273

Post by dang »

avcdsuia wrote: post #187
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many foreigners have VPNs, but many do not. They aren't the easiest thing to set up, and they often close shop a few weeks after you pay a yearly subscription fee. Email: I use outlook.com, but I shut my gmail account long before gmail was blocked. I'm weird. maps: Apple Maps on an iphone works well enough. Not sure if gmaps on Android works or not. Many Google services still work even if a few are blocked. Browsing:…

For crying out loud, even using github based services like 'go get' or homebrew without proxies is a real pain in the arse, stop defending your 'it's not that bad' view cos it is.

Please don't cross into flamewar mode. We're trying to avoid that here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#274

Post by natch »

stevechu wrote: post #157
natch wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering that there are over 300 million, yes million, people in China who do not speak Mandarin, I'd say yes one could get by. I'd even venture to say many of these 300 million people also do business in China. But yeah, I know what you meant.

If you mean that these 300 million do not have Chinese as the first language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_China then it would be correct. But every kid growing up in China has to learn Chinese in school (plus TV etc).

Wrong. A lot of people grew up before this started. And no, I removed the Mandarin-as-an-additional-language people from the number already. (Mandarin 1st + Mandarin as a 2nd or 3rd languages speakers) = 1.1 billion. Population of China, 1.4 billion. 1.4 billion minus 1.1 billion is 300 million.

Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#275

Post by dang »

bitxbit wrote: post #244
PaulHoule wrote: post #221

Of all places they could go. China appearing to succeed at a time when democracy is on the ropes is a dangerous trend for democracy. When you import goods from China, you import repression. Short-termed capitalists might think the repression applies just to workers, but China is a country with no human rights, no property rights, no rule of law. The Chinese government reserves the right to take anything you "own" the…

I like how comments like these get immediately downvoted. It is _almost_ as if the big red is monitoring comments on HN. ALMOST.

Please don't break the HN guidelines by insinuating astroturfing or shillage without evidence. That's an internet trope that poisons everything it touches.

If you think you see evidence of abuse, let us know at hn@ycombinator.com. In this case, though, what you're seeing is evidence of the topic being divisive. It's natural for a large community of users to include opposing views.

Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#276

Post by echevil »

kaptain wrote: post #107

The political concerns are real. It's too cynical to say that YC just cares about money, though. There would be better ways to create an incubator than to do it like this, if that were the case. One obvious question that hasn't been raised is: "Why not base it in Taiwan?" It's still "China" (for some definition of China), you can still get access to the talent that you want (you just have to try a little harder), and…

> "Why not base it in Taiwan?"

Because the startups are simply not there. Why doesn’t US YC base in Puerto Rico

Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#277

Post by nojvek »

gdsdfe wrote: post #235
jumelles wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Caring about human rights is silly?

That's not what I am saying ... It's silly to think that 'investors' will ignore such a giant opportunity just because there's human rights issues. It's just naive!

Yes but this is not just some random investor. This taints the brand that is YC.

The statement they are making is “we don’t care about oppressive governments and ethics. As long as we’re churning out billion dollar unicorns, we’ll invest in anything”.

I have a lot of respect for China, I also know China may be the most likely to use AI against their citizens to suppress them. Do YC funded companies really want to enable that?

What does YC really stand for?

Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#278

Post by chimeracoder »

AJ007 wrote: post #222
google_censors wrote: post #192

It's amazing that a company that Paul Graham co-founded is getting into bed with an authoritarian government notorious for its human rights abuses. To succeed in China you can't go against the government. So is he going to be pushing as hard for political change in China as he is in the US, or will he remain silent as his company reaps the profits?

I would like to see a statement that YC China will not discriminate based on ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation and more importantly will not support startups which create technology which make doing so easier.

> I would like to see a statement that YC China will not discriminate based on ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation and more importantly will not support startups which create technology which make doing so easier.

I too would like to see this, but no such statement exists for YC at large (outside China) either.

Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#279

Post by natch »

tanilama wrote: post #176
natch wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering that there are over 300 million, yes million, people in China who do not speak Mandarin, I'd say yes one could get by. I'd even venture to say many of these 300 million people also do business in China. But yeah, I know what you meant.

> Considering that there are over 300 million, yes million, people in China who do not speak Mandarin I don't think your numbers are right. Tibet has 4 million population. Xinjiang has 20 million, among which 50% are Han. Those are only 2 provinces where I can think of that doesn't require Mandarin to get by in certain area. The rest of China, at least, could understand Mandarin without problems.

You're just going by intuition, which can be misleading.

Guangdong province alone is 100 million people. Some of whom are Mandarin speakers (1st or 2nd or 2nd+ language). But many are not, not even as 2nd or 2nd+ language speakers. And their predominant language is Cantonese. Many people grew up before mandatory Mandarin education was instituted. There's a similar situation in other huge provinces all around China, especially southern China.

Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#280

Post by 394549 »

est wrote: post #186
nullifidian wrote: post #132

>to ensure that the benefits of that are fairly spread throughout humanity. What about Uighur internment camps YC money will finance through taxes?

yeah what about US corporations exploiting cheap Chinese child labor as a manufacturing base.

>>> to ensure that the benefits of that are fairly spread throughout humanity.

>> What about Uighur internment camps YC money will finance through taxes?

> yeah what about US corporations exploiting cheap Chinese child labor as a manufacturing base.

I don't think the grandparent poster is OK with that either.

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