Miscellaneous: May 2007 Archives

Who Knew?

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Worldwide, traffic accidents are a leading cause of death for every age group from 5-24.

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China

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Guy Sorman has a feature in the recent City Journal that claims the 21st century will not belong to China, as is widely believed. It's a great piece, with excellent reporting on the difficult lives of the Chinese, but his conclusion simply isn't supported by the facts he reports.

Here is an excerpt from his conclusion:

One must tread cautiously when trying to predict China’s future. Over the last century, China has never ceased to surprise with her dramatic U-turns. China scholar Andrew Nathan suggests various scenarios: a revolution (but not necessarily a democratic one); economic bankruptcy (with a military dictatorship taking over); gradual liberalization (unlikely); or the maintenance of the status quo. I think the status quo will prevail, at least for now, for the Chinese people fear new political violence.

Of course, a fifth scenario is possible, the one that can’t be predicted. But those in the West who think that the future belongs to China should think again.

Why? China is growing economically as more and more Western businesses are sending manufacturing jobs over there, and Sorman himself points out that radical social upheaval isn't likely, which means there is a practically endless supply of cheap, docile labor (not to mention a source of military conscripts should they decide to do a little empire building). Meantime the other major powers (except, arguably, the U.S.) are waning. What's to stop China from dominance?

Our only hope is to make our one export to China our educational system.

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About this Archive

This page is a archive of entries in the Miscellaneous category from May 2007.

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