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Beijing is banning all foreign media from publishing online in China

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Re: Beijing is banning all foreign media from publishing online in China

#51

I am not a sociologist, political scientist, or an economist. It appears that China is too big to govern and has become a diseconomy of scale. China has 160 cities with over 1-million people in them (US has 10 cities) and I think it's a miracle that the lights still work and they have running water. When you double the size of a plane it it becomes 4-times heavier (Observe what it takes to fly a B-52). The PRC seems…

It's no miracle, the bureaucracy is as huge as the cities. Even in a shit tier city like Zhanggong, Jiangxi they employ hundreds of people to monitor social media. I imagine the number of people employed for things that actually matter must be many thousands.

Re: Beijing is banning all foreign media from publishing online in China

#52

I am not a sociologist, political scientist, or an economist. It appears that China is too big to govern and has become a diseconomy of scale. China has 160 cities with over 1-million people in them (US has 10 cities) and I think it's a miracle that the lights still work and they have running water. When you double the size of a plane it it becomes 4-times heavier (Observe what it takes to fly a B-52). The PRC seems…

It's odd between mainstream media talking about how China is becoming the main power ignoring structural issues of that kind. But that's only a 'theory' so far, how to know if China will evolve into tumor or functioning organism.

These things work until they suddenly stop working. The USSR was considered to be as wealthy as the USA until a few years before its end. Few people really saw it coming, and they were not believed by the media.

Re: Beijing is banning all foreign media from publishing online in China

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's odd between mainstream media talking about how China is becoming the main power ignoring structural issues of that kind. But that's only a 'theory' so far, how to know if China will evolve into tumor or functioning organism.

These things work until they suddenly stop working. The USSR was considered to be as wealthy as the USA until a few years before its end. Few people really saw it coming, and they were not believed by the media.

Is there a good summary of this anywhere? Sounds incredibly interesting.

Re: Beijing is banning all foreign media from publishing online in China

#54
post #50

Xi Jin Ping is worse than King jong un. He is a stupid and arrogant leader. He want people in China to call him "习大大(xi big big)", but actually we like to call him "习包子(xi bao zi)"

I don't speak chinese; can you explain why xi bao zi is not flattering? Thanks!

Re: Beijing is banning all foreign media from publishing online in China

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's odd between mainstream media talking about how China is becoming the main power ignoring structural issues of that kind. But that's only a 'theory' so far, how to know if China will evolve into tumor or functioning organism.

These things work until they suddenly stop working. The USSR was considered to be as wealthy as the USA until a few years before its end. Few people really saw it coming, and they were not believed by the media.

Europe doesn't have enough room to host China.

Re: Beijing is banning all foreign media from publishing online in China

#56
From the Chinese government point of view they have several good reasons (for them) for doing this, chief among them (in my opinion) saving face and controlling mass opinion.

When China was the huge success story it was, until recently, they were far more tolerant of criticism. Even then, the Chinese Government would clamp down very quickly on criticism. Right now their tolerance is pretty much zero. They do not want to admit or even hear that they have done anything wrong or that China has significant problems.

They also greatly fear any kind of mass action. During the boom years, with high employment and everyone happy, there was little chance of mass action. Now with entire industrial areas becoming ghost towns, high unemployment, no pensions and growing poverty, mass action becomes a real threat.

Re: Beijing is banning all foreign media from publishing online in China

#57
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These things work until they suddenly stop working. The USSR was considered to be as wealthy as the USA until a few years before its end. Few people really saw it coming, and they were not believed by the media.

Is there a good summary of this anywhere? Sounds incredibly interesting.

Check out the link [1] for a quick intro. Personally I'm not sure that China today is quite like the Soviet Union just before the end of the cold war.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#Final_years_.281985.E...

Re: Beijing is banning all foreign media from publishing online in China

#58
post #22

And so it starts. Economic collapse will prompt the dictatorship in China to - Increase anti-foreign rhetorics in media. Don't like it, Microsoft? tough - Ban Foreign services. Don't like it, Uber? tough - Devalue Yuan by 50%. Don't like it, Apple? tough - Nationalize foreign assets. Don't like it, Ford? tough

- Devalue Yuan by 50%. Don't like it, Apple? tough Actually, I think Apple would love that. Decreases their manufacturing costs. :)

Potentially 50% decrease in sales in their 2nd largest market though? That sounds really rough...

Re: Beijing is banning all foreign media from publishing online in China

#59

I am not a sociologist, political scientist, or an economist. It appears that China is too big to govern and has become a diseconomy of scale. China has 160 cities with over 1-million people in them (US has 10 cities) and I think it's a miracle that the lights still work and they have running water. When you double the size of a plane it it becomes 4-times heavier (Observe what it takes to fly a B-52). The PRC seems…

China has historically been too big to govern. Few regimes over the last 2500 years have managed to hold any major portion of what is modern day China under a single rule for any amount of time. While the PRC may make token shows of aggression on the world stage, all of their arrows are really pointed inwards.

Re: Beijing is banning all foreign media from publishing online in China

#60
post #21

This is pure insanity: "Quartz contacted the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology from Hong Kong asking for further clarification on how the rules would work, but the ministry said it could only reply to faxed questions that came from a reporter with a mainland press card."

Could international press community do something like embargo all mainland reporters?

"isolating closed regimes is like 'threatening a drowning man with a lifeboat'" - Ian Bremmer, the J Curve: http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1071855.html
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