The Thoughts of Chairman Xi • Hacker News Board

Re: The Thoughts of Chairman Xi

#31

Post by crdb » Sat, Oct 14, 2017, 3:35 AM UTC

hydrogen18 wrote: post #5

tristanj wrote: post #2

It's also worth reading the leaked 2009 US diplomatic cables about Xi published by Wikileaks. They're cited by the BBC story and give a lot of background. The source is from a former close friend of Xi who is currently a professor at a U.S. university. https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09BEIJING3128_a.html I found this section quite interesting. Familiarity with the West and Taiwan ----------------------------------…

It's rather remarkable to read this about a current leader of a nation like China. I've always enjoyed reading autobiographies because figures often relate a personal evaluation of those they worked with. A sort of mini biography within an autobiography. I feel like these sort of evaluations often tell you much more than an "history" book can tell you about a person. For example, Albert Speer wrote that although Adol…

You may enjoy Lee Kuan Yew's biography, The Singapore Story, and to a lesser extent his more recent Conversations with Tom Plate. There is a lot in common between Xi and Lee's thinking and way of doing things.

Reading the BBC and Wikileaks texts, the events fit neatly in the "Singapore experiment with a billion citizen" narrative which the PRC has been doing since Deng Xiao Ping, ethnocentrism excepted.

Re: The Thoughts of Chairman Xi

#32

Post by mcny » Sat, Oct 14, 2017, 3:37 AM UTC

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #16

mcny wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

25. (C) Based on personal experience, the professor noted, Xi is very familiar with the West, with a sister in Canada, an ex-wife in England, a brother in Hong Kong, many friends overseas, and prior travel to the United States. As far as the professor can discern, Xi's family and friends have had a good experience in the West. The professor contrasted Xi's experience and attitudes toward the West with those of people…

> I think the best thing is to just disable pre in mobile. That sounds great, do you know how to do this? I'm on Firefox mobile so user styles might be an option

I think it is best to fix this for everyone.

Dang, looks like adding white-space: normal; in pre and pre:hover in the css can make things much better for mobile web users. Can we consider it? Demo on Firefox nightly https://i.imgur.com/j4qvqfo.png

Edit: https://stackoverflow.com/a/27126549

Re: The Thoughts of Chairman Xi

#33

Post by justicezyx » Sat, Oct 14, 2017, 3:54 AM UTC

Iv wrote: post #30

wisty wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His anti-corruption campaign is the main one. There's a focus on "tigers" and "flies" - high profile targets and a general clean-up of low-level corruption. It seems like quite a lot of the "tigers" were opponents of Xi. Also, he gets compared to his immediate predecessor (Hu) who was was very bland and worked more on a consensus model.

But his anti-corruption campaign really looked like an anti-corruption campaign. I understand that they can be used as power tools but what are the elements to believe this is the case presently?

People never fight for the fighting's sake, they fight for profit, all sorts of profit.

Why Xi wants to put down the tigers and flys?

It's because those are in his way to achieve his idea of "revitalize the Chinese nation". Because those people are having different ideas on how to do the same thing, or entirely having a different purpose.

Conveniently, it's always been true that absolute power comes with absolute corruption. That has never been more true since the economic take-off of China. And anti-corruption has always been the most effective weapon to put down powerful people.

Re: The Thoughts of Chairman Xi

#34

Post by justicezyx » Sat, Oct 14, 2017, 3:58 AM UTC

LiweiZ wrote: post #25

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't 6/4, but May 35th (5/35). It isn't completely scrubbed, many know it happened, they just don't talk about it because (a) they don't care and (b) they aren't allowed to (in that order). Historical reflection is where the Chinese gov really clamps down, and even the cultural revolution is taboo even if everyone knows just about what happened. Kent state happened so long ago that most American students just don…

AFAIK as a Chinese, the 1938 incident is known to many since it was said to be Jiang's decision. As of Changchun, I saw that topic a few times in some forums 10+ years ago. The things people want to know change over time as well. Now, China is feeling its power and strength like a growing teenager (not very accurate, but you get what I mean), so the glory of the past, now and future is what people want to know. Zhanl…

> "growing teenager"

This is an incrediable naive and patronizing phrase to describe China's accumulation of power.

As a matter of fact, China's ascending is the most peaceful and constrained among all past super powers in the world history.

Re: The Thoughts of Chairman Xi

#35

Post by swang » Sat, Oct 14, 2017, 4:17 AM UTC

mslate wrote: post #9

dmoy wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not wrong about some mainland Chinese refusing to believe (or never learning in the first place) anything about 6/4. My wife is among them, or used to be at least. Then again if you ask the average US freshman if the US military shot and killed a bunch of student protestors, you'd find a number who wouldn't believe you. Difference is in the US a trivial we search answers that question for you, while in China a…

For everyone else who doesn't know what "6/4" refers to, it refers to the date of the Tiananmen Square protests: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1...

A Day To Remember. A short video where they ask Chinese University students, "what day is today." Filmed in 2005...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCPkkGArVy4

I watch this clip a lot around the 6/4 anniversary. This is not the original copy, that's somewhere on Vimeo I think.

Re: The Thoughts of Chairman Xi

#36

Post by projectant » Sat, Oct 14, 2017, 4:33 AM UTC

Iv wrote: post #18

norswap wrote: post #13

I find the parallels between Xi and Putin fascinating: both had "modest" origins (or modest spells in the case of Xi) and much publicize them. Both were not really accounted for much, simply managing to rise through the ranks without making a wave, and always scrupulously deferring to authority. Both were nominated to the head of their respective party as a compromise or a strawman. That is until they took power, aft…

Can someone explain to me why Xi is considered to have "consolidated his grasp"? This seems to be a well accepted idea but I don't see what substantiates that. He starts his second term as prime minister of China, and serving two terms has been the norm in recent times. I did not remark China becoming more authoritarian under his rule. I do not see indications that he may stay after 2022, his scheduled depart. What d…

- Accumulation of many titles, not always held by the General Secretary. Sometimes this is Xi gaining a title of an already existing leadership group, sometimes he has created new groups, such as the "Central Commission for Integrated Military and Civilian Development" ( which is about funding military industries, sort of like the US military-industrial model ). Titles like this mean he has effective policy control over many branches of China's administration. His ability to create new groups shows his ability to reform the bureaucratic hierarchy.

- Anti corruption campaign, restore legitimacy in party with regard to people's opinions, level some playing fields, purge the party of corruption and also strengthen ideological and political support for Xi.

- Xi has been called "The Core", this term was only ever used for Mao and Deng.

- Anti-corruption has also focused on military. Result seems to be Xi has greater control of and greater loyalty from the military.

- The PLA garrison in HK broke tradition this year to address Xi as "Chairman", instead of "Commander" --a first. Perhaps this reflects that while usually the leader also Chairs the Central Military Commission, as Xi does, Xi's power is less figurehead and more effective.

- Xi has achieved many things internationally that have not been done by China ever: first overseas military base, in Africa; taking control of disputed islands in its coastal waters in defiance of neighbours; creation of the ambitious, "One Belt One Road", infrastructure, trade and investment project, to expand China's influence along a "new silk road" Westward; and exercised tighter control over old and new media, with very effective online censorship.

- In summary, he does a lot, has made many changes, is always in the news cycle as an effective leader, and has presided over a very successful period for China both with regard to domestic growth and stability, and international standing and ambitious expansion.

Re: The Thoughts of Chairman Xi

#37

Post by KGIII » Sat, Oct 14, 2017, 4:38 AM UTC

justicezyx wrote: post #34

LiweiZ wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAIK as a Chinese, the 1938 incident is known to many since it was said to be Jiang's decision. As of Changchun, I saw that topic a few times in some forums 10+ years ago. The things people want to know change over time as well. Now, China is feeling its power and strength like a growing teenager (not very accurate, but you get what I mean), so the glory of the past, now and future is what people want to know. Zhanl…

> "growing teenager" This is an incrediable naive and patronizing phrase to describe China's accumulation of power. As a matter of fact, China's ascending is the most peaceful and constrained among all past super powers in the world history.

Peaceful and constrained to whom?

I guess a better question, so that I can understand, is when are you considering their ascension to have begun?

Also, the person you responded to is Chinese. I suppose they can be patronizing if they want? In fact, I can't think of a person more able to be justifiably patronizing. I find criticism from within to be better than criticism from abroad, generally speaking.

But, mostly I just am curious about what point in time you're using as the start of China's ascension. If it is 1990, I'm inclined to agree. If it is 1945, I am skeptical.

Re: The Thoughts of Chairman Xi

#38

Post by KGIII » Sat, Oct 14, 2017, 4:42 AM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #24

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #11

To me, this sounds a lot like "Make China Great Again". Temperamentally, of course, Xi is almost the exact opposite of Trump...

Obama made Xi look like Winnie the Pooh. Xi must be much happier with Trump, as unhinged he is.

Alright, I have to ask. How did he make him look like Pooh? When I think of Pooh, I think calm to the point of naive, not very smart but sometimes philosophical, friends with all, and very fond of honey.

I'm well and truly confused. This is not entirely unusual.

Re: The Thoughts of Chairman Xi

#39

Post by kccqzy » Sat, Oct 14, 2017, 4:48 AM UTC

germinalphrase wrote: post #3

tristanj wrote: post #2

It's also worth reading the leaked 2009 US diplomatic cables about Xi published by Wikileaks. They're cited by the BBC story and give a lot of background. The source is from a former close friend of Xi who is currently a professor at a U.S. university. https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09BEIJING3128_a.html I found this section quite interesting. Familiarity with the West and Taiwan ----------------------------------…

It's an aside - but is there a way to read quotes like this on a smartphone without constantly scrolling left and right?

I have written a bookmarklet that sets the viewport width to 800px (I wrote the bookmarklet on a Mac and have iCloud sync it over to my iPhone). It’s as easy as changing an attribute of a meta element. Makes the font size a bit small though.

Re: The Thoughts of Chairman Xi

#40

Post by LiweiZ » Sat, Oct 14, 2017, 5:10 AM UTC

justicezyx wrote: post #34

LiweiZ wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAIK as a Chinese, the 1938 incident is known to many since it was said to be Jiang's decision. As of Changchun, I saw that topic a few times in some forums 10+ years ago. The things people want to know change over time as well. Now, China is feeling its power and strength like a growing teenager (not very accurate, but you get what I mean), so the glory of the past, now and future is what people want to know. Zhanl…

> "growing teenager" This is an incrediable naive and patronizing phrase to describe China's accumulation of power. As a matter of fact, China's ascending is the most peaceful and constrained among all past super powers in the world history.

I specifically mentioned that analogy was not accurate. I have to add that it's the kind of feeling that directly reflects teenager's physical growth, taller, quicker, faster, stronger, etc. Perhaps my original analogy led you to relate to the emotional side more. Especially in western societies, that can turn to more physical impact. Teenagers in China actually have that kind of things as well, but there is simply less room for them.

Another thing is, in a world with several nuclear weapon equipped states, can two such nations simply confront with each other? Look around east Asia, you have to play very carefully.

So I guess there should have been more context to put in to have a better idea of what I was trying to deliver. If some big and vague words can explain, yeah, it's cultural difference, too.