Bro, we shouldn’t wear the “china bad” goggles and have a pessimistic view on things, but we shouldn’t be immensely naive either. Weibo in general is a shit gauge for public sentiment. The government will heavily censor stuff, PR companies will pay to censor some things and promote others (to promote or demote certain celebrities and consumer choices), and then there are the hordes of under educated and radical feminists, nationalists, racists, etc.
I feel that the r/sino subreddit and the old genzedong subreddit and this lemmygrad are actually a lot better to gauge sentiment. Most people here don’t have china bad prejudice, and are educated, and have seen the world (either lives abroad or has vpn, has okay english ability so can consume foreign content). Opinions and viewpoints formed by people like this actually makes sense and is logical. Most of the opinions, if allowed, on Weibo (also Douyin), are conceived “just because”, and they can’t really find any solid arguments as to why.
I’ve had my fair share of discussions with people on Weibo and Douyin (mostly non-political, as political stuff is discouraged), and I give an argument and they reply with slogans or arguments filled with fallacies, and do not rebuttal any of my points.
Unfortunately intellect is a scarcity anywhere, China included. If I get the chance I definitely want to revamp the education system in China. Make high school mandatory and free. Provide free lunches and uniforms so school isn’t cost prohibitive. Give non-Beijing|Shanghai|Guangzhou|Shenzhen schools the same great teachers, buildings, equipment. Okay I stray far. Main idea: analyzing weibo sentiment is great for appeasing certain groups of people, but horrible if you want to make the right decision.
I’ve thought about this back a few years ago with the constitution rewrite. Xi’s third term was practically guaranteed at that time barring a coup.
Term limits are definitely not bullshit. They are immensely useful in limiting the powers of a leader, which in general is good for the country. Deng Xiaoping wrote term limits into the constitution so that no one after him will hold power for too long, increasing the risk of them doing too much harm.
Indeed, Chinese leaders are pulled through the ranks, and only those with immaculate cv’s have a chance at holding the ultimate office, but power corrupts, and extreme power extremely corrupts. They can keep their vision in sight for 10 years, but after numerous decades they could lose themselves and become tired, and hence become corrupt, indulgent, and short sighted. Take the Tang dynasty emperor Li Longji. He did a wonderful job at the start of his reign, improving the lives of many citizens and bringing the country to another level (kaiyuan era). But then he lost that drive and listened to music all day and during the tianbao era lots of bad things happened as a result.
Another thing is term limits help force retirement at a sensible age. I myself have no problem with Xi’s third term, as he is doing great and there is a lot of stuff he hasn’t finished yet and which are extremely beneficial to the country. But if he takes a fourth term, he will be old. Really old. Look how Biden is doing. Look at how confused Hu Jintao looks right now. People like that need to make way for the next generation, but without limits in place they likely won’t release their power, especially if they are old and confused, especially if power has corrupted them for quite a while.
I don’t know about you or others, but I definitely know myself. When I go to stuff like recreational skating, I have fun and then skate until I collapse, unless there is a time limit and I get kicked out after 2 hours. Is it good for me to overexert myself, causing blisters and muscle aches and stuff? Definitely not, but at that moment I’m just so caught up I don’t want to leave. Just one more lap, try one more thing. Sure I have shit self control, but I’m sure Xi Jinping feels the same way when he eventually thinks about leaving office.
When we are kids, are parents drag us away. Adults are expected to exert more self control, but we might be able to do so for normal things, but immense political power is to the grown man as halloween candy is to the child. Self control at that level is way too much to ask; after all our leaders are still human, not demigods.
Of course de facto term limits could be imposed. A retirement age perhaps (Xi is ignoring the 67 retirement tradition so something more enforceable). Since it is unlikely someone young makes it to party secretary then a suitable retirement age effectively limits their term length.
I agree, not much was going on during Jiang and Hu era. Also since both Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao are alive still people might be more reluctant to discuss them.
I’m not a subscriber to Kremlinology. I’m just curious and want answers to questions that I have. As a person with low EQ, it would really help me if I understood what was going on in Wang’s head and why he made such decisions. Maybe next time I’m with my boss I can remember the lessons here and it’ll help me not do something wrong.
to be fair at this level people are seldom dragged away. Throughout history, losers of power struggles are usually allowed to retire, self-exile, or commit suicide on their own terms, giving them 体面. So not being dragged away does not necessarily mean that all is well; an escort could either be to protect you or contain you and outsiders could never tell the difference.
But if I had to take a guess, Hu enabled Xi’s ascension to power, and I think that Xi Jinping respects Hu Jintao. Of course I don’t know for certain that this is the case, but just what I would feel if I were in that position.
For me personally, I was just too young to actually have an opinion. I only saw his face in the news and all I knew was “hey that’s our leader”. Only a few years after Xi Jinping’s ascent to power did I mature enough to consider what Xi is doing right and doing wrong. Given that many of those online are rather young (plus the internet is a relatively new concept in China anyways; bilibili was founded 2009, 3 years before Hu Jintao’s retirement), they might share my sentiment; for us Hu Jintao just kinda existed, and we don’t know enough to have any opinions; only for Xi Jinping did we actually see his policies in action and actually have opinions on what he is doing.
same. I second the theory that he was removed so he doesn’t do something inappropriate and embarrass himself and taint his legacy.
But then, why did Wang Huning stop Li Zhanshu from helping Hu Jintao? This is quite puzzling to me.
Old age does not discriminate. If Biden can have his… “moments”, then unfortunately Hu Jintao very well could have his too. He might have been steps away from embarrassing himself on live television, but luckily some people still wanted to perserve his image as a good leader of China, and removed him from the meeting with haste.
Although borderline creepy, I don’t take too much of an issue with this guy if these posts are the only thing he does. I tend to give people charitable interpretations, and from the posts it seems that he is just mentioning that the foreign students have better style and fashion. I’m a guy, but it definitely would be flattering if someone made a post and complimented my style and personality. At least in the post he did not make any harassing remarks; if he has done more over the line things elsewhere then feel free to correct me.
But of course, anti-Asian racism is rampant, and students definitely should be vigilant. There will be people who are not just complimenting you on twitter.
The only issue I see with this is it promotes ableism, and is detrimental to society’s acceptance and care for the disabled and others unable to work. The core of socialism should be “do as much work as you can, get as much food as you need”. For some, the amount of work they can do amounts to pretty much 0.
that’s quite sad, and very capitalist. I’d wish that the gas could be diverted to someone who needs it, perhaps only for the cost of shipping (so free + shipping and handling). Although I’m not sure what countries are cold and struggling to afford gas to heat their homes. Most poverty stricken places seem to be in tropical regions.
yeah, although a funny message, I kinda hate the waste it generates. Burning gas for nothing, creating extra greenhouse gasses. I generally disapprove of “wasting for show”, there should be better ways to promote a message.
For all intents and purposes, death with 2 years probation is just a life sentence. It has similar effect to jail terms over 100 years in the US, the received punishment is the same, but it makes a statement that your crime was objectively worse than just life imprisonment. It also gives a chance to execute those who are unrehabilitatable (you do more bad stuff during the 2 year wait period), who we really shouldn’t waste hard earned tax money on.
“MAGA Communism” sounds like some ploy to use the MAGA people to help us establish a better United States, but of course the Republicans hate communism and China, and only sometimes hold more logical foreign policy standpoints to “own the libs”. Also MAGA is another extreme that is bad for the US. This post is a giant mashup of trolling, woooosh, use tiger fight wolf, and shitposting.
Those who cannot differentiate correlation and causation, well you can’t really reason with them. They will simply list bad things that people who happen to be Jewish did, and use that as causus belli against Judaism itself. Obviously the logic doesn’t work this way; Judaism like all other non-cult religions teach you to be compassionate, be a good person, be nice to others, etc. There are obviously bad Jews who go against this, just as there are bad Muslims who don’t listen to Muhammad’s teachings to be nice to each other and start beheading all the non-believers. What Israel is doing right now has not much to do with religion or race, it is simply that those currently in power are bad people. Replace them with good people (Jewish or not) and the crisis is averted.
Antisemitism hurts all Jews, both good and bad. This is unacceptable, as it is indiscriminate (like Israel’s bombing of Palestine). If you have 5 bad guys and 1 good guy in a room, you don’t throw a grenade in; you storm in and make accurate shots even if it means more risk to you. It is much encouraged to be anti-badpeople, as all people belonging to that group is bad.
Just my views, I guess you’d agree with them, but I don’t know if someone dense would be able to buy it. Some people lack rational thought and that’s the way it is. If needed, use force to prevent them from doing something stupid (if they threaten you good Jewish neighbor, beat them up until they don’t!).