How would you answer this, and how would you expect Chinese netizens on Xiaohongshu to answer?

I will link to the thread in the comments because I want you to take a moment and think about it first.

  • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    6 hours ago

    Real talk, I take comfort in knowing that the high tech future we were promised at the turn of the millennium isn’t dead after all, it’s just happening in China

  • liyunxiao@sh.itjust.works
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    5 hours ago

    The near future? Yes. Absolutely. The have the best economic and political system so far, and are now building out their military to step into the role of hegemon.

    The far future?

    Assuming China can crack down on global coal and oil usage and figure out climate change, they’ll be paving the way for communism in a couple of generations. If they can successfully solve these issues, crush the capitalist markets, and still maintain or lower their current level of corruption then communism is inevitable by 2100 at the latest.

    This will be the last century of kings and ceos. Either the world ends due to climate change and capitalist greed, or humanity prevails through communism. There isn’t another option left.

    • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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      4 hours ago

      The PRC definitely has its problems, but I am especially encouraged by their massive restructuring of their energy grid. I don’t think Communism will come by 2100, but maybe 2150 or 2200, as there are going to be Capitalist holdouts for a long time resisting progress.

  • OlgaAbi@lemmy.ml
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    2 hours ago

    I mean china is an authoritarian state, that kinda thing never works for long

  • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    I would like to hope no one nation is the future. Replacing one global hegemony with another is not my idea of progress.

      • anon6789@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        Oh my, I can’t even begin to imagine what a Texan or Creole Welsh accent would sound like if that was the international language! 😵‍💫

        • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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          9 hours ago

          *sneezes* *snorts* *coughs* *clears throat* *yodelays*

          I’m sorry, what was your question

      • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        In one sense, as a key component of the UK, they already had that chance somewhere between the years of 1600-ish to 1945-ish.

        • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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          6 hours ago

          Heh, I think you’ve just pissed off Welsh/Irish/Scottish people with that sentiment.

          • Skua@kbin.earth
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            49 minutes ago

            Ehhhhh we Scots should probably not argue too hard. Unlike the other two we joined mostly-voluntarily and were doing our own small scale empire thing beforehand as well. We were rubbish at it, but I don’t think there are sympathy points for incompetence. The Welsh and Irish definitely got dragged along wthout a say though

  • Taalnazi@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    No thanks, replacing one imperialist for another won’t help the world.

  • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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    11 hours ago

    I think it’s pretty clear that despite Trump’s attempts to revitalize US manufacturing, the US won’t be able to outpace China’s industrial growth even if they hard pivot. China is, like it or not, almost certainly the next Global Hegemon as the US’ grip on the world is falling. Western Europe won’t be able to oppose it either.

    I think Chinese citizens are generally hopeful for their country, but more than anything I think most of their citizens would want everyone to advance. I don’t think any doubt that China will surpass the US.

  • Achyu@lemmy.sdf.org
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    11 hours ago

    As an Indian, I think they seem more well-planned and more decent than recent USAmerica.
    India and China does have border issues, but I do respect them as I agree with their leftist view of reducing poverty and improving literacy. I think our countries could come to decent compromise there.
    Also, the communism aspects.

    But saying that a single country is the future is too simple.

    And even the Chinese seem to be not emulating America to be an empire.
    I think their aim is a multi-polar world. Atleast if the random yt vids I saw are proper representations.

  • Erika3sis [she/her, xe/xem]@hexbear.net
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    10 hours ago

    For whatever it’s worth, despite never formally studying Chinese, I managed to read both the Chinese sentences, albeit with the wrong tones. Like to be fair I have studied Japanese, and I am generally a bit of a weirdo with a knack for this sort of thing — but I do still have to wonder if more people are just going to start casually picking up hanzi just from exposure like I have, as China becomes more prominent. I could certainly see it happening.

    “China is the future” is a bit of a vague question, though. Just from my interpretation of it…

    I absolutely think that the USA is currently crumbling as the world’s hegemon — interestingly enough, the USA’s flag actually has stars on it to represent a “new constellation”, using the constellations in the sky as an allegory for the rise and fall of nations; so it indeed seems like the fifty-star constellation is beginning to fall beyond the horizon, as a new five-star constellation rises.

    This being said, I don’t think China’s behavior as future hegemon will be the same as the USA’s current behavior as present hegemon. I don’t necessarily know what to expect from the future, though, so it’s probably best to prepare for all possibilities until we gain a clearer understanding of the situation.

    • themurphy@lemmy.ml
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      10 hours ago

      Also, we can’t really know and judge China as the world leader, as they’re not yet.

      As soon as you are on top, your behaviour might change. Both for the better, but most likely for the worse. (see US)

      Also, we have to remember that China still needs all western partners to keep up their production. They are still a manufacturing country.

      • baaaaaaaaaaah [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        9 hours ago

        As soon as you are on top, your behaviour might change.

        It might, it might not. America’s behavior didn’t change; from the start they’ve been aggressive and expansionist, the scope just grew as they became more powerful.

        China’s been growing rapidly for decades while very seldomly acting militarily outside their borders. They don’t seem to have expansionist goals outside those declared over 70 years ago (ie Taiwan) and have even negotiated down on border conflicts. It’s not impossible but it’d be strange for China to make a complete about-turn on their stated policy of non-intervention.

        • themurphy@lemmy.ml
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          6 hours ago

          China still has a concentration camp and invaded Tibet. If they keep on doing what they’re used to, it will still be bad.

          They also support dictatorships like North Korea, and that’s also not a good look.

          Then there’s the whole silencing of Hong Kong, and I don’t now enough to say what happened there, so I won’t. Just know something did.

          • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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            5 hours ago

            The re-education program in Xinjiang seems to have ended already and fulfilled its stated purpose. Tibet had slavery and was semi-feudalist, while the Dalai Lama owned slaves and was working with the CIA. Life expectancy dramatically improved along with many other metrics like literacy rates once the PLA ended slavery and feudalism. For the DPRK, they maintain trade relations with them, the most sanctioned country on the planet and one of the most heavily bombed. HK was a British Colony to be returned to the PRC, and now most Hong Kong residents would rather be integrated with the Chinese economy.

            I think you need to investigate more of these topics if you’re going to list them off as points.

            • themurphy@lemmy.ml
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              1 hour ago

              What do you call Tibet then. I know they couldn’t fight back that much, but it’s a literal invasion.

              • baaaaaaaaaaah [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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                1 hour ago

                Tibet was recognised by every country on the planet as sovereign Chinese territory, both then and today.

                (That was also like 70 years ago, China’s last war was against Vietnam in the late 1970s)

              • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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                47 minutes ago

                In 1959, Anna Louise Strong visited an exhibition of torture equipment that had been used by the Tibetan overlords. There were handcuffs of all sizes, including small ones for children, and instruments for cutting off noses and ears, gouging out eyes, breaking off hands, and hamstringing legs. There were hot brands, whips, and special implements for disemboweling. The exhibition presented photographs and testimonies of victims who had been blinded or crippled or suffered amputations for thievery. There was the shepherd whose master owed him a reimbursement in yuan and wheat but refused to pay. So he took one of the master’s cows; for this he had his hands severed. Another herdsman, who opposed having his wife taken from him by his lord, had his hands broken off. There were pictures of Communist activists with noses and upper lips cut off, and a woman who wasremovedd and then had her nose sliced away.23

                Earlier visitors to Tibet commented on the theocratic despotism. In 1895, an Englishman, Dr. A. L. Waddell, wrote that the populace was under the “intolerable tyranny of monks” and the devil superstitions they had fashioned to terrorize the people. In 1904 Perceval Landon described the Dalai Lama’s rule as “an engine of oppression.” At about that time, another English traveler, Captain W.F.T. O’Connor, observed that “the great landowners and the priests… exercise each in their own dominion a despotic power from which there is no appeal,”

                Liberating people from inhumanly cruel and merciless theocratic overlords is good actually, and I hope we can cultivate more of that energy here in the US.

                Exerpts are from “Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth” by Micheal Parenti. The whole essay is quite good and not very long. https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?t=88773

  • roux [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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    11 hours ago

    If the US doesn’t fuck up it’s own demise and just dies peacefully, I can see that being the case.

    But I think China would use their new powers to help lift other countries up instead of continuing to use the global south as a giant slave plantation like the US is doing.

  • djsoren19@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    9 hours ago

    Not a nationalist, I find this a terrifying thought, but 100%. Unless action is actually taken in the U.S., I don’t think the West stands a chance. China is already in a much stronger position than I think many Westerners realize, they made tremendous gains during the last Trump presidency. If Trump really does cling to power for the rest of his life, I think we’ll see a world where SA, SEA, Africa and parts of Europe are all completely economically reliant on China.

    • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      10 hours ago

      Damn, they blocked Tor Browser.

      I went to Fennec with uBlock on and VPN enabled (privacy reasons), the first thing I see is a download attempt of the 小红书 .apk file. I tap X, and it does it again. Damn, seem like Reddit all over again. 🤦‍♂️

      Also, they require a +86 phone number for registration. 🤔 Not a fan of that. Its like Facebook + region locking. Well I guess it make sense… too many TikTok refugees lol.

      I had to change to user agent to windows. The comments are pretty chill, unlike some other Chinese sites. I don’t see any “MAGA” type comments like you would see on twitter.

      Edit: Hmm my webpage only shows like 10 comments, then stops showing… 🤔

      • OBJECTION!@lemmy.mlOP
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        5 hours ago

        Tbh, I was shocked. Much as I’m sympathetic towards China, but I still usually look at it through a lens of realpolitik, like, “Of course they’re vying for dominance like everyone else, but at least they’re doing it through economic development instead of wars, and it’s better if there are two major powers instead of one.” Maybe that cynical perspective is more realistic, and maybe XHS users aren’t a representative sample of all Chinese people, but still, the fact that so many of the replies were so hopeful and internationalist was genuinely moving to me.

        • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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          5 hours ago

          Well, you’re correct that XHS isn’t the general population of China, it skews middle-high income, so you aren’t getting the full picture. However, from what I’ve read from many younger Chinese political activists and analysts is that as China is now heavily industrialized, there is a sense of moving out of the over-ambitious optimism of the previous generations to a more grounded, educated, realistic optimism that is genuinely more hopeful as a consequence of its grounding.

          China has libs. China has problems. China has struggles. But, by virtue of its position and strategy, the people also take on a generally internationalist character. “Let a hundred flowers bloom,” Socialism with Chinese Characteristics is a prediction, more than a description. It’s a prediction of Socialism with Ugandan Characteristics, Canadian, Brazilian, etc. That gives a sense of their overall attitude, IMO.

          • OBJECTION!@lemmy.mlOP
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            4 hours ago

            As much as we might criticize the whole, “End of History” idea, I feel like the 90’s was the last time Americans had anything like that kind of optimism. There was a feeling that we were entering a new age of international cooperation, and although I was only a child that was something I really believed in. But we soon found new conflicts to be embroiled in a the dream has died and was proven to be foolish and naive, and now everyone across the political spectrum is highly cynical.

            I’m sure that there are many cynical people in China too, but I can hardly remember the last time I saw someone who wasn’t cynical when it comes to politics. Whether or not it’s naive, it hits me on an emotional level.

            • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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              4 hours ago

              The good thing about China is that they have a lot of reason to be hopeful, due to many massive improvements in the last century, skyrocketing in the last decade. USians largely still envision 90s China, and are having that image shattered.

    • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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      10 hours ago

      Don’t know why you’re lionizing anti-communist nationalists as the “true China.” The KMT were brutal nationalists, just because they preceded the Communists doesn’t make siding with far-right nationalists the answer. If the RoC were to capture the PRC, the people fearing China becoming an Empire would have their fears cemented in reality.

      • PonyOfWar@pawb.social
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        10 hours ago

        Taiwan/RoC is not currently ruled by the KMT though. (Nor is today’s KMT very comparable to what they were many decades ago)

        • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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          10 hours ago

          The KMT is where the origins of RoC as “true China” come from. Outside of the KMT, there are no claims of the RoC as anything resembling a “legitimate heir to China,” only the KMT as the former rulers of the mainland. When someone says RoC is “true China,” they are lionizing the KMT and upholding its legitimacy over the Communist Party of China for governance of the mainland.

          Calling the RoC “true China” without mentioning the KMT is silly, there’s no basis for that claim without upholding the KMT’s roots.

          • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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            9 hours ago

            Or they may just be pushing back on the idea that the PRC has legitimate claim to the nation of Taiwan. People online like to say it because they know it upsets the PRC government. Basically, it asks the question, “What makes the PRC any more the “True China” than Taiwan?”

            Truthfully, neither nation is “true China”, and neither are the nations that they were years ago. No one in Taiwan today holds any belief that the ROC government is the rightful government of the mainland in exile.

            But Taiwan is unable to be widely recognized as a sovereign nation in its own right to this day because the government of the PRC is still sticking to the “manifest destiny” sort of idea that there is a single, ideal land of China rooted in its imperial legacy, which for some reason the current mainland government feels they have an obligation to claim.

            • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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              9 hours ago

              Why do you think it upsets the people of the PRC to say that the RoC is “true China?” Do you think it might just have to do with the fact that the far-right nationalists that used to rule China fled there after the Communist revolution? Could it have anything to do with many people of China giving their lives to throw off the KMT?