Chinese President Xi Jinping New Years Speech

[Stormspark]

Yeah, it's a common misconception. HKnese government (and various media personas) are doing their best to create this image of bi- or even tri-lingual society, Cantonese + English and Cantonese + Mandarin + English respectively. Sadly, that's not the case.

Officials, police officers and so on tend to speak English well, some do so fluently, but your average Joe quite often doesn't. In some cases, like taxis, you're better off trying to speak Mandarin and not English, many drivers aren't locals. Many businesses are targeting Mandarin-speaking clientele because rich Chinese love going there.

But as I said, quite many people, esp. educated ones, speak English well enough, and there's more of them than in other Asian countries.

Jackie Chan is a great example of this. He has spent a lot of time in the US, and while he does speak English, he's not nearly as fluent as his English language movies have made it seem. Cantonese is his first language, but he speaks Mandarin better than English.

[oxymoronic]

LOL. 1.3 billion people and still less money than the USA. 1 old Russian aircraft carrier they re fit. Less nukes and less accurate nukes than the USA. Less influence. Yeah, so scared. They aren't the most powerful, and they still won't be anytime soon.

while true look how many people believe it already. fake it till you make it is the motto here and it will work. nothing we USA can do about it really other than work hard to end their trading imbalance. when you give a country 750billion+ a year it adds up quick.

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Prior to WW2 there was a Japanese Admiral who when talking about the United States called it a "sleeping tiger." He didn't exactly counsel not going to war, just that there were resources you didn't see that if deployed would make the country into a power-house and deadly foe.

China is now the sleeping tiger.

One aircraft carrier.

So what?

They could have 5 built in probably less than 6 months, from scratch.

They could have squadrons of jets with pilots built in the same period of time.

They already have a nuclear arsenal and a seat on the UN security council.

They also seem to be better at paying off their promises than the USSR was and actually delivering on thing.

China could effectively back-door every policy decision the US is currently making and get away with it. They can go around us on Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, Burma and the whole of Africa. All under the auspices of humanitarian aid and we have shown that we now lack the diplomatic capacity to rout them.

on the military stuff you are so wrong, skroe get him

as for the back door, now them some important countries.

[Tabrotar]

China isn't really a communist nation, their success is due to capitalism. They are socialist/communist only in some aspects.



Hong Kong isn't China, different government, border control, they even speak english fluently there while many don't speak Mandarin at all (Cantonese + English).

You do know the china enforces them to speak mandarin and everyone who doesn´t speak it will be looked down on/don´t get work and so on?

[Aitch]

Could we get a Communist sub-forum so I don’t have to see this bs on Gen OT?

[Daedius]

"Nice guy"... lol

[ls-]

You do know the china enforces them to speak mandarin and everyone who doesn´t speak it will be looked down on/don´t get work and so on?

There's more people who speak good Mandarin than people who speak good English that's for sure. I'd say number of people who speak good English is slowly going down, whereas number of people who speak good Mandarin goes up.

The only people who MUST speak good or fluent Mandarin are officials or pretty much anyone who works for the government. Private sector is much more lax, such requirements don't affect common folk at all.

There's no enforcement of any kind though...

Is it really what people are taught about Asia?

[dragonballgtz]

China isn't really a communist nation, their success is due to capitalism. They are socialist/communist only in some aspects.



Hong Kong isn't China, different government, border control, they even speak english fluently there while many don't speak Mandarin at all (Cantonese + English).

It's "One country, two systems" setup with China and Hong Kong. They are part of China since the handover and slowly mainland China has been trying to remove their freedoms. As time goes on it will get worse for Hong Kong as the CCP will get more control and say over Hong Kong.

[Tabrotar]

There's more people who speak good Mandarin than people who speak good English that's for sure. I'd say number of people who speak good English is slowly going down, whereas number of people who speak good Mandarin goes up.

The only people who MUST speak good or fluent Mandarin are officials or pretty much anyone who works for the government. Private sector is much more lax, such requirements don't affect common folk at all.

There's no enforcement of any kind though...

Is it really what people are taught about Asia?

No it´s what i heard from people who live there which i value way more then some "official" statements how it goes.

[Sky High]

For some bizzare reason I think Chinese politicians to be sacrier then the usual politician in a “shark wearing a skin suit” kind of way.

[Doctor Amadeus]

This thread is the equivalent to saying "well see Hitler liked dogs."

Yeah so what, it still doesn't change any of the other facts. I am not nations bashing, but just because this dude gave a nice speech, doesn't make him suddenly a swell guy.

[Bigbazz]

You do know the china enforces them to speak mandarin and everyone who doesn´t speak it will be looked down on/don´t get work and so on?

People don't speak Mandarin in Hong Kong, they speak Cantonese. Statistics show just as many people speak English as they do Mandarin in Hong Kong, it's a second language. The fact that more people can speak Mandarin than in the past in Hong Kong is only a good thing, given that you cannot get by in China without speaking Mandarin, if you want to leave Hong Kong to work in mainland china you'd be screwed, but that's no different from any other country and first language.

[Deleted]

Ok, what the heck did I just watch?

Unfortunately it doesn't make much sense if you're not swedish, but they are talking about "mao glasses", i.e the willfull abandonment of the real struggles of the chinese oppressed in favour for the rosy tinted "communism so nice" perspective.

[Aggrophobic]

Unfortunately it doesn't make much sense if you're not swedish, but they are talking about "mao glasses", i.e the willfull abandonment of the real struggles of the chinese oppressed in favour for the rosy tinted "communism so nice" perspective.

I am swedish but that was freaky as heck.

[Ghostpanther]

This thread is the equivalent to saying "well see Hitler liked dogs."

Yeah so what, it still doesn't change any of the other facts. I am not nations bashing, but just because this dude gave a nice speech, doesn't make him suddenly a swell guy.

I agree and well said. And you said all that without cussing. Nice job.

[Easo]

He is a nice guy, OP? Okay... I guess the world doesn't care anymore (or never has).

[Macaquerie]

People don't speak Mandarin in Hong Kong, they speak Cantonese. Statistics show just as many people speak English as they do Mandarin in Hong Kong, it's a second language. The fact that more people can speak Mandarin than in the past in Hong Kong is only a good thing, given that you cannot get by in China without speaking Mandarin, if you want to leave Hong Kong to work in mainland china you'd be screwed, but that's no different from any other country and first language.

Eh, I get the sense that most people in Hong Kong can actually speak Mandarin decently well, but just choose not to because they feel it's dirty or a sign of lower status. And conversely, their fluency in English tends to be questionable at best, and their attempts to mimic a British accent while inevitably slipping into the goofy stereotypical voice are quite sad.

And it's not really too hard to see why either. Mandarin and Cantonese might sound completely different, but they pretty much share the same structure and writing system so you can convert back and forth fairly easily. On the other hand there is such a huge gap between English and any variety of Chinese that people can spend decades trying to learn and still not sound natural.

[Shelly]

yup because it only takes 6 months to train citizens into sailors and airmen who know how to operate floating cities, fly sorties, ect...

Yes actually.

Not train them super well probably, lots of mistakes with fresh crews, but Naval boot camp in America is 7 to 9 weeks that's standard for all branches of service except the Marines. That's two months. Specialized training takes longer of course but if you're willing to throw enough people at a problem and willing to ignore the attrition you can do a lot.

Also to just become a licensed pilot in the US you need 40 hours of flight time, 20 of those hours with an instructor. You're telling me that with the massive emphasis in China on basic math and engineering that they couldn't have more pilots than planes in 6 months time? Yeah. Sure.

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while true look how many people believe it already. fake it till you make it is the motto here and it will work. nothing we USA can do about it really other than work hard to end their trading imbalance. when you give a country 750billion+ a year it adds up quick.

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on the military stuff you are so wrong, skroe get him

as for the back door, now them some important countries.

Quantity is a quality in and of itself.

China was able to completely remodel and change manufacturing lines to test, produce and install glass screens rather than plastic ones on the first iPhone all in under 48 hours. They an easily ramp up military production and aren't really worried that much about all the bells and whistles of a truly modern combat vehicle.

The Sherman tank would practically blow up if it smelled a rocket launcher in the area, but they took out Panzers because America made more of them.

As for those countries.

Venezuela still has large oil reserves and would love a large country to say screw you to the sanctions and start bringing investment. Probably the only thing keeping China out is that Venezuela has a history of just taking things which doesn't encourage people to build much there.

Cuba has probably the best doctors in the world and the most per-capita, they also have a lung cancer vaccine. Are you aware of how many people smoke in China? Cuba is a global player in the health market.

Iran is currently the largest stable country in the Middle East, it also has large oil reserves and exercises huge amounts of control over Iraq. They cannot be ignored and are so deeply needed that the EU won't be adding more sanctions onto Iran even if the US decides to impose them. Iran is a lynchpin to stem the flow of refugees caused by the War on Terror.

Africa is the largest continent by land-mass, has more untapped resources than anywhere on the planet that's above water, is ripe for development and China doesn't have a legacy of colonialism to contend with in attempts to give aid. More than that China will need food and Africa will be able to supply a lot of it if properly developed. Wet patty rice farming, tropical fruits, cocoa, coffee and lots and lots and lots of land in which to grow it. Not to mention mineral resources - although China is more likely to continue to strip-mine Tibet for those.

Burma is a racist backwater that you can point to whenever someone says Buddhists aren't extremists. That said they can be a marketplace, produce food close by to China and make for a resort destination for wealthy Han.

The fact of the matter is first world countries are going to be less important and less powerful as this century progresses. We are hitting peak stuff and so there is a huge need to develop marketplaces and most of these developing nations are struggling with very specific things - pollution, infrastructure, debt, food security - that can be relieved through marshal-plan-esque investment that the first world nations are refusing to do, but that China is quite possibly amicable to.

The greatest soft-power flex coming up will be solar panels and engineers, both of which China has a lot more of than anyone else in the world.