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China’s Millennials

lrb.co.uk

21–30 of 111 posts

Re: China’s Millennials

#21
post #12

They seem to be having a good time and some old man is uneasy about it. Nothing to see here. The thing about uneasy old men, is they are happy only if everyone shares their uneasiness or someone shows up and holds their hand and tells them everything will be all right. If neither happens they get more and more cranky.

I have no idea what you’re referring to. Have we read the same article? I haven’t seen the part where the author expresses that they are uneasy about millennials, the whole article is mostly descriptive.

Re: China’s Millennials

#22
> They were offered free software that would enable them to dodge the Great Firewall of China – which blocks almost all major Western news sites and social media outlets – and browse the internet without restrictions. There was some surprise when it turned out that even elite students in China had little interest in finding out what Westerners were thinking. Only 53 per cent of the participants had activated the software (even after repeated reminders), and about 14 per cent of the ones who had activated it uninstalled it shortly afterwards. Active users were browsing content which wasn’t political.

If you’re a University student randomly offered “free software” to bypass the firewall of course you’re going to be acutely aware that your activity is still being monitored. Probably monitored even closer than usual. I’m not sure their browsing habits really indicate their interests in that scenario.

Re: China’s Millennials

#23
post #13

I'm not Chinese, and this article seems too...broad? I guess you can say anything about Millenials from anywhere, with condescending tone, and get pageviews.

Where do you see a condescending tone? I didn’t feel that way when reading the article.

Re: China’s Millennials

#24
post #10

>Now she is thinking of giving up the citizenship she worked so hard to get, and moving back to an authoritarian China where guns and drugs are strictly forbidden – at least her son would be safe. To quote a friend, "all 'authoritarian' states (really, all states) distribute their 'authoritarianism' unevenly. that you aren't experiencing any right now doesn't mean it isn't being done, it just means you're not part of…

Indeed. This was highlighted in the overthrow of Iraq. It was undoubtedly an authoritarian state where dissenters and minorities were murdered. However, non-dissenters from the ethnic majority were largely free to go about their business. The destruction of the state made the place entirely unsafe, with an interruption of basic food, medical and energy supplies.

The invasion happened in March 2003. Sixteen years later the country is still at war at the edges, as part of the larger Syrian civil war. Car bombs still happen in cities.

China appears to have chosen safety over freedom. The outcome is horrendous for minorities (Uighur etc), but for the majority?

(By comparison, the Chinese civil war's combat period lasted about nine years, with a wikipedia death toll of about nine million people. The war is still not formally concluded.)

Re: China’s Millennials

#25

I skimmed it, but didn't see much mention of something that I think is pretty big to my generation (I'm '83) in the West: counterculture, protest, etc. It's not as big as in the 1960s and 1970s had been (before I was born), but still, it was definitely a pretty big element, and LGBTQ+ and social justice seem to be important topics that affect many people here in the West. Here, much of this is expressed -- or social…

I'm guessing you're being downvoted for the pretty uninformed, tone deaf statement below.

>In China, everybody fully supports the government, don't they? I mean that what the Party does, has 100.00% approval rating at all times, there are no Facebook groups for discussing it, there is no activism protesting anything or driving for any kind of change, and everyone there just totally supports everything. (In Mainland China).

No they don't have 100% support. Where are you deriving this information?

Your point about Facebook is sort of bizarre. Are you aware that China has famously blocked Facebook?

There is activism, too. For example https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qidong_protest

Re: China’s Millennials

#26
post #13

I'm not Chinese, and this article seems too...broad? I guess you can say anything about Millenials from anywhere, with condescending tone, and get pageviews.

I concur. The writing also somehow lacks much depth, at the start it addresses how they crazily follow the son of a rich and his lavish style then jumps out and turns back on money and work ethics without much thoughts on this. He seems just casually drifts around in any issue he can pen on.

A side note, Pornhub also is often praised on reddit for less toxic comments than like youtube

Re: China’s Millennials

#27
post #13

I'm not Chinese, and this article seems too...broad? I guess you can say anything about Millenials from anywhere, with condescending tone, and get pageviews.

The weird thing to me is that it's not like the term "Millennial" was self-adopted by the generation it describes. It was pretty much involuntarily assigned to them. And the word alone just has such a lightning rod quality to it.

Re: China’s Millennials

#28
post #23
post #13

I'm not Chinese, and this article seems too...broad? I guess you can say anything about Millenials from anywhere, with condescending tone, and get pageviews.

Where do you see a condescending tone? I didn’t feel that way when reading the article.

Just an overall impression, in the idea that "Millenials are this", "Millenials are that". Most of the times when someone frames a group of people into common characteristics, it sounds condescending to me.

Re: China’s Millennials

#29

I skimmed it, but didn't see much mention of something that I think is pretty big to my generation (I'm '83) in the West: counterculture, protest, etc. It's not as big as in the 1960s and 1970s had been (before I was born), but still, it was definitely a pretty big element, and LGBTQ+ and social justice seem to be important topics that affect many people here in the West. Here, much of this is expressed -- or social…

> In China, everybody fully supports the government, don't they?

Do they? I remember a Chinese friend telling me about how elections worked in his town. When he was a student, their voting cards were checked by the teachers to make sure they supported the principal's friend. So maybe 100% support on paper, but definitely not 100% voluntary. (That's only one small part - there's definitely more opposition, not full support either way)

Re: China’s Millennials

#30
post #12

They seem to be having a good time and some old man is uneasy about it. Nothing to see here. The thing about uneasy old men, is they are happy only if everyone shares their uneasiness or someone shows up and holds their hand and tells them everything will be all right. If neither happens they get more and more cranky.

There's no need to inject sexism.

The article is about men and women.

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