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Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

theguardian.com

191–200 of 224 posts

Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#191
post #142
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> China in recent years has reduced inequality After many years of increasing inequality > the US has done absolutely nothing to curb discontent, the same discontent that has led to the election of a fascist leader. I cannot imagine possible definition of "fascist" that would include the US and exclude China. China has far more fascist features than any other major country - personality cult, courts compliant with th…

I didn’t say China wasn’t fascist, I only said that the US is moving in that direction rapidly. I am talking about trends not necessarily the state of things at this moment.

[flagged]

Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s missing in most European places because there’s little need for it. When there is a need, Europe does pretty well. At least relative to the U.S. For example, Europe built the completely novel floodgates for Venice. It’s been very successful as far as I’m aware when it was heavily doubted before and throughout its development. On the other hand, the U.S. won’t even contemplate building something similar to protec…

Keep in mind China has construction more than just from population capacity; it's also a shell game for local districts to get taxes and for "investment" by locals who are told it'll always go up, just like the American market. And then at the top level, China views it as a "make work" project to keep industry going.

well, doesn't trump want to get the US industry going? i see an opportunity there. invest billions into infrastructure and demand local development of technology used for it.

Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s missing in most European places because there’s little need for it. When there is a need, Europe does pretty well. At least relative to the U.S. For example, Europe built the completely novel floodgates for Venice. It’s been very successful as far as I’m aware when it was heavily doubted before and throughout its development. On the other hand, the U.S. won’t even contemplate building something similar to protec…

US infrastructure is increasingly terrible, true. But high-speed rail isn't probably what I'd point to as the most glaring problem. No doubt the TGV and Shinkansen are impressive, but the longest route in Japan (Tokyo-Aomori) is 675km compared to 4000km from Los Angeles to NYC (assuming you could it make a straight line, which you couldn't). Not to say I wouldn't be delighted to even have service from San Diego to Se…

If you’re going to do HSR you have to think smaller than coast-to-coast. Think of that as the final stretch goal from a well laid out network spanning the places that it makes sense because past a certain distance you’re never going to outcompete airplanes and we have an extensive array of airports all across the country. Even Los Angeles to San Francisco should have been the stretch goal rather than the original goal, with the original goal to build Los Angeles to San Diego, Los Angeles to Las Vegas, then Los Angeles to Santa Barbara and Los Angeles to Bakersfield.

Maybe in parallel you could also: improve the trackways between San Francisco and San Jose, maybe build Sacramento to San Francisco, Sacramento to Stockton (and maybe extend that to San Jose and Fresno, with a San Jose to Santa Cruz stretch goal). Other stretch goals: Sacramento to Redding, Fresno to Bakersfield.

Instead we’re building the Central Valley segment first, in part due to the insistence of the Obama administration when Los Angeles to San Diego would have made way more sense and been up and running and in revenue service sooner.

Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#194
post #154
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Western societies are blinded by the narrative their governments have fed them in the last 50 years: China Bad. But us in 3rd world countries have the ability to see both Western and Eastern societies' development and compare it ij a more unbiased way. Frankly the China bet looks more successful.

This is nonsense, ~zero rich people in third world send their kids to study in Shanghai instead of Boston or immigrate to Beijing instead of NYC to park their capital. In fact it’s the rich Chinese who continue to move to Vancouver and London and Irvine to escape China and have a better future.

that is provably false. there are many african students in china. and they all must have some amount of wealth from home to afford that, at least compared to the local average which is a lot lower than in the west.

Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#195
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the western world (and rest of the world following western world) has one rule (the only rule): make the super rich richer, everything else is just marketing to accomplish that. Home prices are completely out of reach for most people in UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia (coming soon to a country near you!). You're overpaying to live like a 1920's postman: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tGPHcteG9dY Create art…

Housing shortages aren't a result of some nefarious plot to make the super rich richer. It's more complex than that. We need to build more housing, and there are various reasons why that isn't happening. Many of them are well-intentioned and even good (high safety standards dramatically increase the cost of new buildings).

Ah, the classic "good intentions" argument. Picture this: a well-meaning monkey sees a fish struggling in the water. Wanting to help, it pulls the fish out and lays it in the sun to dry. Proud of its good deed, the monkey beams with satisfaction—proof of its altruism! In the monkey world, it's now a hero, basking in praise for its selfless act. Monkey does a TED talk how we can save billions of fish, signs book deals, influencer deals, shills for scams, and so on.

On the 'high' standards: It is all wooden sticks and drywall, completed by 2 minimum wage unskilled labor with a nailgun. None of the homes in US withstand anything, insurance keeps going up. If standards are high, why is insurance going up significantly?

Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#196
post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US infrastructure is increasingly terrible, true. But high-speed rail isn't probably what I'd point to as the most glaring problem. No doubt the TGV and Shinkansen are impressive, but the longest route in Japan (Tokyo-Aomori) is 675km compared to 4000km from Los Angeles to NYC (assuming you could it make a straight line, which you couldn't). Not to say I wouldn't be delighted to even have service from San Diego to Se…

If you’re going to do HSR you have to think smaller than coast-to-coast. Think of that as the final stretch goal from a well laid out network spanning the places that it makes sense because past a certain distance you’re never going to outcompete airplanes and we have an extensive array of airports all across the country. Even Los Angeles to San Francisco should have been the stretch goal rather than the original goa…

> Maybe in parallel you could also: improve the trackways between San Francisco and San Jose

They did, sort of, but not to HSR, just by electrification.

https://www.caltrain.com/testing

https://www.caltrain.com/?active_tab=route_map_tab&center=-1...

https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/caltrains-switch-to-elec...

https://airqualitynews.com/cars-freight-transport/electrific...

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c01096

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/04/07/caltrain-ridership-in...

Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#197
post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’re going to do HSR you have to think smaller than coast-to-coast. Think of that as the final stretch goal from a well laid out network spanning the places that it makes sense because past a certain distance you’re never going to outcompete airplanes and we have an extensive array of airports all across the country. Even Los Angeles to San Francisco should have been the stretch goal rather than the original goa…

> Maybe in parallel you could also: improve the trackways between San Francisco and San Jose They did, sort of, but not to HSR, just by electrification. https://www.caltrain.com/testing https://www.caltrain.com/?active_tab=route_map_tab&center=-1... https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/caltrains-switch-to-elec... https://airqualitynews.com/cars-freight-transport/electrific... https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estle…

I know, but that was outside the specific scope of HSR so I excluded that to keep the discussion focused.

Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#198
post #112

German television made a very interesting documentary about the city a few months back: https://youtu.be/p49QRxO_n2c

Interesting - not available for me (in Germany!)…

If nothing else helps, maybe https://mediathekviewweb.de/#query=Wenn%20-%20es%20nacht%20w... will do?

Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And good luck if you want to grab a taxi and you have long hair Please explain

Pretty much when I tried to grab a taxi, and it was pretty much every day two times, I could see Taxi were free(no people inside, and now I can't remember if I was the light on or off, but meaning they're just free to take you) no one would stop for about 10 minutes. Sometimes 1 passed and I was able to get it, but usually it was 5-7 cars passing me by.... Someone mentioned people were not accustomed to males with lo…

The vast majority of Chinese people use Didi or other Apps to call taxis. Those vacant taxis you notice are likely en route to collect their pre-booked passengers. Nowadays, hardly anyone flags down taxis on the roadside anymore - even Chinese citizens find it challenging to get a cab this way. Admittedly, this situation creates difficulties for elderly individuals unfamiliar with smartphones, who mostly depend on family or friends to arrange transportation for them.

Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#200
post #154
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Western societies are blinded by the narrative their governments have fed them in the last 50 years: China Bad. But us in 3rd world countries have the ability to see both Western and Eastern societies' development and compare it ij a more unbiased way. Frankly the China bet looks more successful.

This is nonsense, ~zero rich people in third world send their kids to study in Shanghai instead of Boston or immigrate to Beijing instead of NYC to park their capital. In fact it’s the rich Chinese who continue to move to Vancouver and London and Irvine to escape China and have a better future.

The old-guard rich people don't, that much is true. But the middle classes sure as hell are.

There's the fact that Chinese companies are basically hoovering up all the talent. In Latin America, Huawei alone eats up entire graduating classes of engineers. Pretty much every 'industry' event in any sector is nearly 100% Chinese. University staff are increasingly forming themselves via Chinese companies, and are thus transmitting that to their students. Chinese scholarships are popping up like mushrooms. Again, Huawei alone has provided more of them in the past year than the US Embassy has done in the past three decades.

People still dream about going to the US, sure. But MAGA is doing their damned best to whittle that lead away.

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