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An update on YC China

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: An update on YC China

#161

Post by tossAfterUsing »

lidHanteyk wrote: post #146
tossAfterUsing wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

user may be Chinese national, but name calling ("brainwashed") probably isn't the best way to encourage the sorts of open dialogue that will be necessary to change their views

Lucky 10000: Go look up the etymology of "brainwashing".

lol... nice find.

brainwashing (n.) "attempt to alter or control the thoughts and beliefs of another person against his will by psychological techniques," 1950, a literal translation of Chinese xi nao. A term from the Korean War.

https://www.etymonline.com/word/brainwashing

Re: An update on YC China

#162

Post by criddell »

iooi wrote: post #44
jessewmc wrote: post #11

Strange optics not to mention the elephant in the room. I could see them hitting some roadblocks and wanting to try again to get into China, but that would be a reasonable thing to come out and say. It also would be reasonable to come out and say they've changed their minds due to political climate or some other risks. Instead its... the new guy is busy?

They probably have a significant investment from Chinese LPs. It could put those investors in a very awkward situation if YC was more explicit with their statement -- we've all seen how childishly defensive the Chinese government can get.

That money isn't that important. History isn't going to look back and think that YCombinator should have done more to look out for the wealth Chinese investors.

Re: An update on YC China

#163

Post by tossAfterUsing »

skybrian wrote: post #152
tossAfterUsing wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Step 2: globally orchestrated sanctions on a fascist dictatorship Step 2b: hopefully we avoid WWIII

That might work for a smaller country like South Africa, but China too big for that. China could probably make everything it needs itself, or learn in a decade or two. So it sounds to me like a new iron curtain, leaving both sides poorer and the people caught in the middle suffering from the separation. (And good luck fighting global warming.) But though there's a lot of pressure to choose your side, I doubt every co…

> China could probably make everything it needs itself, or learn in a decade or two.

Even the elites want out... i'm not sure the system wouldn't eat itself before then.

Re: An update on YC China

#164

Post by throwawaybbb »

skybrian wrote: post #152
tossAfterUsing wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Step 2: globally orchestrated sanctions on a fascist dictatorship Step 2b: hopefully we avoid WWIII

That might work for a smaller country like South Africa, but China too big for that. China could probably make everything it needs itself, or learn in a decade or two. So it sounds to me like a new iron curtain, leaving both sides poorer and the people caught in the middle suffering from the separation. (And good luck fighting global warming.) But though there's a lot of pressure to choose your side, I doubt every co…

>That might work for a smaller country like South Africa, but China too big for that. China could probably make everything it needs itself, or learn in a decade or two. So it sounds to me like a new iron curtain, leaving both sides poorer and the people caught in the middle suffering from the separation. (And good luck fighting global warming.)

The majority of the US and Soviet population was better off with the iron curtain than without in real terms. The US median hourly wage only surpassed that of 1968 in the last 3 years.

Re: An update on YC China

#165

Post by incompatible »

brink wrote: post #8
paulddraper wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's dishonest/opaque about this? YC is generally Bay Area-only, and after consideration they decided to stick with that.

There's no real reason why given. It seems that HN's "No politics" policy flows over to their blog updates as well.

The reason given was "change of leadership", i.e., from Sam Altman to Geoff Ralston. Interestingly, Geoff wrote: "we are just working on launching YC China and I'll work hard to make sure Qi Lu has everything he needs to make that go well" after he was appointed, so it doesn't seem like he started out with different ideas.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19969490

Re: An update on YC China

#166

Post by iudqnolq »

nradov wrote: post #98
pcbro141 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ~1 million Uighurs the Chinese government has in concentration camps. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/16/world/asia/ch...

Supposedly ethnic Han Chinese men are also being assigned by the government to sleep with the wives of detained Uyghur men. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/cosleeping-103120191...

Sadly the tabloid-style coverage of this horrific Chinese government policy is causing people to discount the broader issue.

The Chinese government sent government workers to take time off their normals jobs and live in the homes of Uighur Muslims suspected of disloyalty to the Chinese government. More than a million Uighur households had monitors sleeping in their rooms and watching their lives for troublesome signs like the children not using patriotic greetings or the parents wanting to keep Muslim dietary guidelines.

In this article "relatives" refers to Han Chinese government monitors and "little brothers" and "little sisters" refers to the Muslims they watched.

> The relatives were given written guidelines on how to conduct themselves. Based on reports from Uighur contacts in Urumqi and Khotan, such manuals provided guidelines and forms that needed to be filled out and then digitized for security databases. In a manual that was used in Kashgar prefecture, relatives were given specific instructions on how to get their little brothers and sisters to “let down their guard.” The manual, which was posted on the internet but taken down just as this story was going to press, advises relatives to show “warmth.” “Don’t lecture right away,” it suggests, and show concern regarding their families and bring candy for the children. It provides a checklist that included questions such as: “When entering the household, do family members appear flustered and use evasive language?” “Do they not watch TV programs at home and instead only watch VCD discs?” “Are there any religious items still hanging on the walls of the house?”

> The manual instructs the relatives to tell their little brothers and sisters that they have been monitoring all internet and cell-phone communication that is coming from the family, so they should not even think about lying when it comes to their knowledge of Islam and religious extremism.

> The manual also instructs them to help the villagers alleviate their poverty by giving them business advice and helping out around the household. They were told to report any resistance to “poverty alleviation activities.”

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/10/26/china-nightmare-homesta...

Re: An update on YC China

#167

Post by fiblye »

pcbro141 wrote: post #62
paulddraper wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly is the elephant in the room? U.S. tariffs? Honk Kong unrest? IP violations?

The ~1 million Uighurs the Chinese government has in concentration camps. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/16/world/asia/ch...

I don’t think any major business in the world cares about this. They only care about things that affect their own revenue streams, and the average consumer isn’t boycotting companies for not doing anything about it.

Seriously. Show me one major corporation that cited this as a reason for pulling out of China. I’m not justifying the actions—I’m saying western industries don’t care about genocide. Because they don’t.

Re: An update on YC China

#168

Post by yorwba »

koboll wrote: post #135
dangxiaopin wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my opinion, one party California is a fascist state. Hey, SF just elected a Chavist as a DA: that person actually went and helped Hugo Chavez administration. By that yardstick, doing business in California is also immortal.

There's no point responding with anything other than derision to this kind of deliberately obtuse and bad faith deflection.

You should have flagged it. HN is not made for derision.
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