16 జనవరి, 2026
"Does he think westerners are softer? 'Much, much! And getting weaker and weaker. We say in China it’s hard for three generations of a family to be wealthy.'"
"'Because the third, they don’t even know what money means. It’s automatically in their accounts. So people become … a designer.' He laughs. 'China became strong because people work hard with no holidays. Not just eight hours, but ten, twelve hours. That’s how they bring their children to your British schools, Cambridge and Oxford.' The West, he says, cannot take tuition fees from China and then moan when it tries to restrict academic freedom or complain about Chinese spying 'because you’ve become the underdog. You cannot compete with China, so you blame it.'"
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He says Starmer's England has more censorship then China. Factcheck? True. More people in jail in UK due to "hatespeech" than Chinese in jail for verboten social media.
His book describes how a social media post in November 2023 resulted in the cancellation of his exhibitions in London, Paris, Berlin and New York. What Ai doesn’t say is that just a few weeks after Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis, he tweeted in Chinese, “The sense of guilt around the persecution of the Jewish people has been, at times, transferred to offset the Arab world,” and, “Financially, culturally, and in terms of media influence, the Jewish community has had a significant presence in the United States.”
Factcheck? True.
The Times found that 37 police forces across England and Wales recorded 12,183 arrests in 2023 under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 and Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988.
BTW, I love how Google tries to prevent you from getting the real numbers or directs you to posts that claim "gosh, its not really that bad" or "Gosh, the numbers aren't available. Its all just a mystery".
Fungible in transition.
And minority Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jewish... Zionist populations.
china - get your hands off Taiwan.
Musk needs to create a comparable Google - without the leftist censorship and lies.
The west when led by people like Biden is weak and lazy.
Carney is trying to sell out Canada to China right now for example.
But there is no competition to American drive and creativity when it is released and free.
Oceania has become Eastasia (orwell said their philosophy translated to annihilation of self) well goldstein did
From "Ai Weiwei: ‘You in the West can’t compete with China’/The dissident artist Ai Weiwei became a global icon when he was forced into exile by China. So how come the 68-year-old is defending the autocratic regime’s stance on Taiwan, censorship and global politics?"
Bet on the strong horse.
Not soft enough, if you take Greenland's reaction to Trump's overtures into account.
I’m not sure why someone like VP Vance is not beating the drum about UK having thousands of political prisoners.
I'm no China expert - and you shouldn't believe anyone who says they are - but I did stay at a Holiday Inn there for quite some time, and you should always take proclamations of China's economic success with a very very large skeptically-shaped piece of salt.
"pride goes before a fall"
China has always been great when working, but when it stops working there's no worse place to be.
And it only works for relatively short periods in recent centuries.
He needs to go to the places where people still cling bitterly to their guns and their religion. He might just change his mind.
He's not wrong about the weakness of the West. I'm just not sure anyone in the rest of the world is in an advantageous position.
China is a paper tiger, it has already peaked and has nowhere to go from here but down.
I'm surprised this silliness comes from Ai Weiwei, who should know better than most the weaknesses of the Chinese system. Or maybe he does and he's just having fun with us.
It really comes down to who cares more about the death of their own people, and the rest of the world. On this, China has the stronger position.
You can love the West and, because of that love, warn Westerners about its weaknesses. And hate the old country but still appreciate its strengths.
Also a lot of the ChiCom kids busting their butts to get into Ivies and Oxbridge dont have great love for the old country either. At worst they are trying to stay afloat in the PRCs mix of the worst of both commie and capitalist systems. At best they are trying to get and stay the he'll out of there. CC, JSM
"Musk needs to create a comparable Google - without the leftist censorship and lies."
Peachy, there are dozens of search engines freely available. If you are still using Google, it's on you, not Elon Musk. Right-click on your browser URL box and try another search engine.
The Chinese, like everyone else except educated white people, are frankly and unapologetically racist. They look at us the way Europeans used to look at Africans. It has always astonished the Chinese -- and the Japanese as well -- that European barbarians were able to push their countries around. And they can hardly be blamed for regarding pushing fentanyl into the US as simply payback for the Opium Wars.
Narr said, "China has always been great when working, but when it stops working there's no worse place to be."
Because I'm a man and I think about Rome all the time, there is quite a bit of scholarly debate about whether or not the building of the Han Dynasty Great Wall was the first domino in the chain of disincentivized tribes moving Westward across Asia that eventually put the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Suebi, Vandals, and Huns on Rome's doorstep.
Big bad things happening in China matters a great deal globally. Has for a very long time.
Temujin said...
He's not wrong about the weakness of the West. I'm just not sure anyone in the rest of the world is in an advantageous position.
Meh. There are weaklings in every country.
But most Americans are solid nice hard working people.
Our military is an example of why we are the best people.
Jupiter said, "The Chinese, like everyone else except educated white people, are frankly and unapologetically racist."
Can confirm.
"They look at us the way Europeans used to look at Africans."
Not true. The Chinese have been paying close attention to America's cultural decline recently and there's more than a little sneering, but trust me when I tell you they don't because they're currently running modern day slavery in Africa with actual Africans.
US GDP growth out pacing China. The West may not be able to compete with China, but China can’t compete with the US.
RSM, you're right, it was a poor analogy. The Chikes regard their own civilization as older and better than ours.They are aware that their average IQ is higher than ours, and look down on us as a result. But they are also smart enough to notice that we invented the whole idea of IQ, and almost everything else. They view us with a kind of puzzled contempt. How could these half-witted, monkey-faced savages be running everything?
Americans are a people made up of the best hardest workikg people from everywhere else. Including the best Chinese for the last 150 years.
Sure the Chinese work very hard ….. at copying US technology.
The books of most Chinese companies are completely cooked so that will be getting interesting pretty soon here.
We say "shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves" to refer to families that build wealth only to lose it by the third generation, typically due to a lack of financial responsibility among heirs.
“After customs announced the “historic surplus,” Chinese media began reporting widespread export fraud across multiple provinces. Shell companies were created solely to purchase fake export data from customs brokers. These fake numbers were then used to claim local government export subsidies.
Even worse?
Local governments weren’t just tolerating this — they were encouraging it.
Why?
Because Beijing demanded that provinces “stabilize exports” at all costs. And when real exports slowed under tariffs, the only way to hit targets was to manufacture numbers.
In many regions, the incentives were explicit: export $1 → get ¥0.03 in subsidies.
Export $100 million → collect ¥3 million. No real goods required...”
cntd… “According to basic economics, a $1.2 trillion trade surplus means $1.2 trillion in foreign currency flowing into China. That money should appear somewhere:
• Central bank reserves
• Commercial bank FX deposits
• Higher imports
• Rising overseas investment
• Inflationary pressure
Instead, China saw:
• Deflation
• Weak consumption
• Stagnant imports
• No surge in FX reserves
In fact, official central bank data shows that foreign currency deposits rose by only ~$200 billion — nowhere near $1.2 trillion.
So where did the money go?
The uncomfortable answer: it never existed.“
https://x.com/Ken_LoveTW/status/2011651831576084811?s=20
cntd… “According to basic economics, a $1.2 trillion trade surplus means $1.2 trillion in foreign currency flowing into China. That money should appear somewhere:
• Central bank reserves
• Commercial bank FX deposits
• Higher imports
• Rising overseas investment
• Inflationary pressure
Instead, China saw:
• Deflation
• Weak consumption
• Stagnant imports
• No surge in FX reserves
In fact, official central bank data shows that foreign currency deposits rose by only ~$200 billion — nowhere near $1.2 trillion.
So where did the money go?
The uncomfortable answer: it never existed.“
https://x.com/Ken_LoveTW/status/2011651831576084811?s=20
Francis Galton, an Englishman, came up with the idea. The Frenchmen Binet and Simon came up with the first practical test of IQ, as a metric.
Terman at Stanford modified the Binet-Simon test into a US standard.
"We say "shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves" to refer to families that build wealth only to lose it by the third generation, typically due to a lack of financial responsibility among heirs."
I have worked for two companies that no longer exist. Each was founded by grandpa, managed by dad, then run into the ground by the son.
A chronic and even more uncomfortable answer, for China, is unofficial capital outflow, much of it via money laundering.
@Jupiter, the best example of China's greatest cultural failing - saying things are good enough - is ZhengHe. Look him up.
Historically China is quite innovative, but its cultural preoccupation with "Peace & Harmony" (和平) typically meant the violent drive forced by competitiveness to sail the ocean sea further beyond, take the invention of gunpowder to its logical conclusion, and go from paper money to mortgage-backed securities leveraged by derivatives that never existed never happened. The Chinese are now aware of this failing. Sure they lie, but so does everyone.
Count me among those that believe the Chinese won't let "good enough" be the enemy of "perfection" again.
“Don’t trust China. China is asshoe!”
Kennedy's are a good example. Came to us with nothing, Don pj built up a profit as taverm along with Somerset Liquor Distribution.
Grandson Joe built up a fortune to rival rockerfellers.
3 gen, Joe, Jack, Ted et al did nothing.
The fortune was do great they couldn't waste it all. But try sure tried!
John Henry
I've told this story before.
How I learned why Chinese are successful.
I was in college in Manila, doing my BSME. 95% of the class was Chinese or Chinese-Filipino. I was very proud of keeping my head academically above water in such company btw. My study group (an absolute survival necessity) were the academic stars of the department, which was very nice.
We had to prepare for our required oral exam (the University was pretty old fashioned). We needed to prep, were going to pull an all-nighter and the library was going to be closed, so my pal suggested one of his dads empty apartments in Manilas Chinatown. He owned several buildings there, absolutely not a poor man. So we go see his dad to get the keys, near midnight, at his place of work in Chinatown (Binondo).
It turns out he was at his factory (he was a tinsmith by trade). We found him, that very wealthy man, in shorts and flip-flops running a sheet metal press, at midnight.
When I was in college, the Chinese students weren't that bright.
The secret to success is adaptability. Bruce Lee’s “be like water” To the extent our massive regulatory system has made our business sector, educational institutions, and research think tanks less flexible, we have become weaker. Trump is reversing that.
Lindsey Graham view - "Those damn chinks. Someone otta shoot 'em the head. Except for the 500,000 that come here as college students. Lots of $$$, heh heh"
"We're number two. We try harder."
All the experts agree that we can keep shipping zillions of dollars more dollars to China then we get back forever. Its making us rich. Good thing the Chinese Economists are so stupid. Heh heh.
As for Taiwan, why 1 'murican can beat 3 Chinks. We proved that in Korea.
Third world slum tour, yet another one, by Bald&Bankrupt.
You want competition? Here is the Marxian reserve army of labor.
Manila, Barangay 105, Tondo district. Aka "Happy Land"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd4cDuZklGE
I now identify as Chinese and demand that you respect my minority status, high IQ, and rich cultural heritage. My new homeland awaits me with open arms, right?
That 1:3 is what the US actually did manage on a regular basis during the Korean war.
Solzhenitsyn also had a dim view of America, after a few years here
Well, in Oakland CA, if you are Chinese, it will get you armed robberies and home invasions, if you are blessed by the more enriched segments of the cultural diversity.
“Solzhenitsyn also had a dim view of America, after a few years here”
It’s the chaos, the disorder that’s so hard to adapt too. You’re free to excel but you’re also free to mess up your life. A less regimented society is very hard to get accustomed to. This used to be the lament of many Eastern Europeans when they arrived in the US.
"That 1:3 is what the US actually did manage on a regular basis during the Korean war."
Did it ever occur to you that things have changed, technologies are far more even now, or do you think that European men comprise sort of a master race?
Basically, if the US militarizes Taiwan, they better have the war won somehow before it even starts, because otherwise, China is going to see it for what it is, an unsinkable aircraft carrier that could impose its will on China, and China will fight pretty hard to avert that outcome.
Thats why its important to stay ahead. Which is why internal friction needs to go. Why impediments to SpaceX, for instance, need to be suppressed.
Internal frictions can't go. Somalis are making too much money off them. Americans never lear.
As all great empires, our greatest threat is from within. I say that as an American and as a trans-Chinese.
Democrats are very dependent on the fraud not only with Somalis, but with others including Americans, and they will fight to the death to preserve it, or I should say they will get others to fight to the death.
The commenter noticing the massive export surpluses is correct. Something very weird is going on in China.
Their currency should be strengthening - they make EVs, AI, computers, cell phones 75% of the world's port cranes, etc.
That sounds like Germany or Japan in the 1970's.
When their currencies started going up.
Its really easy to be grab market share if your currency is weak.
(I'm in export and import trade for 30 years)
When Taiwan's currency appreciated 40% in 10 years, you couldn't get orders - those all went to China.
So. ask yourself, how can China run such massive surpluses and not have its currency go up.
They must be shipping massive amounts of money right back out of China.
See real estate prices in Canada, USA, and Australia. They won't invest in factories there, just houses.
and they lend us money for our deficit. 5.5% now.
We say in China it’s hard for three generations of a family to be wealthy
Every MBA student in the US knows this about American families, too. I bet AiWeiwei learned it at Parsons…in America.
So where did the money go? The uncomfortable answer: it never existed
yes yes…China cooks the books so, like the leftie
globalists they try to hide the corruption but enough hard data that can’t be cooked betrays them…
He’s an art student lecturing the west on hard work. An art student that went to a bougie American art school.
China became strong because people work hard with no holidays. Not just eight hours, but ten, twelve hours. That’s how they bring their children to your British schools, Cambridge and Oxford.
…and then those kids get posh and soft and then their kids become art students and burn through it all. You say so yourself…
'Shirtsleeves-to-shirtsleeves in 3 generations' is something that crosses cultures, and is therefore a product of the human condition and human behaviors. I've seen it in my own family, too - and it's not just always about wealth being squandered, not just about slacker generations being spendthrifts. There is something that wealth brings, a refinement and a set of associations, that passes through generations but isn't valued properly. That is the thing that is lost or gained, but unremarked. Success is not just measured in wealth, it's measured by achievement - which is often a wealth-bringer.
"They must be shipping massive amounts of money right back out of China."
Yes. Thats my bet. Capital flight is a chronic problem, probably much worse now.
Peachy, there are dozens of search engines freely available. If you are still using Google, it's on you, not Elon Musk. Right-click on your browser URL box and try another search engine.
Grok has replaced two thirds of what I used to do with Google.
Connections to a great power are seductive. Just as an American or a Russian might find it hard to criticize what their government does, so Ai Weiwei finds it hard to go against China's actions.
Comparing IQs among nations is VERY tricky, as they are methodologically problematic and intrinsically culturally biased. They therefore should not be interpreted as measuring inherent intelligence differences between populations.
A better---but not dispositive---test of intellectual ability among Mainland Chinese and Taiwan vs. and the US can be found in the number of Nobel Prizes awarded the 3 nations between 1975 to 2025: per Claude AI:
The Comparison (1975-2025)
US: ~250-300 Nobel Prizes
China: 3 Nobel Prizes
Taiwan: 1 Nobel Prize
The ratio is approximately 80-100 to 1 in favor of the United States during this 50-year period.
This dramatic disparity persists even when limiting the comparison to recent decades, which further undermines any argument that higher IQ test scores among Chinese correlate with superior general intelligence, scientific achievement or innovation. The Nobel Prize record suggests that factors like research infrastructure, academic freedom, funding, and institutional support matter far more than average test scores.
My son spent his first year at Michigan State because he thought he could go skying there. Had a Chinese roommate who never did anything. The Chinese student didn't go to class and probably would have flunked out but the school liked his out of state tuition so he probably didn't. My son partied too hard and didn't do well either so I cut him off and his sophomore year he went to city college. Best thing I did. He is now more successful and further along in life than 80 percent of the kids he grew up with. Their parents are all envious of us because we have grandchildren.
Ok, how about this: We give Minnesota to Canada, Canada gives Nova Scotia and St John’s to Denmark, and Denmark gives us Greenland?
When people work in construction, some of them lay stones to build a house and others, to build a cathedral.
My son partied too hard and didn't do well either so I cut him off ...
I've always marveled at kids who had parents paying their tuition. It was a foreign concept to me.
Not saying it's wrong, but we all knew the deal when I was growing up. If I wanted college, it came out of my pocket.
So when I blew threw my first semester partying, it was on me. It also made me realize college was a waste of my time.
It wasn't until I went back to school at 40 (post-retirement) I finally got my AA. At a community college.
"That 1:3 is what the US actually did manage on a regular basis during the Korean war."
In the winter of 50-51, the Chinese didn't have tanks or air cover, and they pushed us back from the NK border and recaptured Seoul. And they kept it a stalemate for 2 more years. And they didnt have a 3-1 overall advantage.
The stupidest thing in the world is be overconfident and think any potential adversary will be a powderpuff push over. Why 1 Southerner can beat 3 Yankees! Those Japs cant fight, their pilots all wear glasses! Those Nazis will be stopped by the Maginot Line and the blockade will starve them to death. The French army is the greatest in the world (Churchill 1939).
Here is the Korean conflict deaths by side from chat gpt5
Side
Country / Force
Deaths (killed only)
Communist side
China (PVA)
183,108
North Korea (KPA)
294,151
Soviet Union
299
Communist total
477,558
UN side
United States
36,574
South Korea (ROK)
137,899
Other UN forces
4,096
UN total (incl. ROK)
178,569
Shirtsleeves-to-shirtsleeves can also happen because the regulatory climate changes in 3 generations. Granpa didn't have to deal with OSHA et al; Trey does. CC, JSM
Ride Space Mountain at 4:01 and Eva Marie at 4:27 together get at what seems to me a central feature of the current rivalry.
China, that is, has always had a very top-down conservatism, under the emperor/gentry bureaucracy in one way and the communist tyranny in another way. Both ways led to resistance to innovation and creativity from below, so for all their economic modernization the Chinese still do not know how to unleash the creative force that freedom allows, including truly free markets. But as Eva Marie suggests, our own "massive regulatory system" is pushing us in the direction of our own stagnation. Who wins out in dealing with this will likely win out in the great game. I'd put my money on the USA, because freedom here still means something. I think Trump's heart is in the right place, but it's a long way to go.
I use grok for just about all searches. I use Google Maps. Gmail is still the backbone for mail.
Smells like Tucker.
Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves. Sometimes called the "Buddenbrooks dynamic." The first generation, parsimonious and wholly dedicated to business, makes the fortune. The second generation turns to politics, public affairs, and philanthropy. The third generation, when it isn't dissolute and a complete mess, seeks fulfillment in the arts. Families outside of regular society, either pariahs from minority groups or aristocrats with long traditions, may resist the three-generation cycle for a time but not forever.
The hope for the West is that as other parts of the world develop economically they will become as decadent or childish as we are. That may have been the motivation for much of what USAID did. Making Europe more responsible for its own defense may make that part of the world a little less childish and decadent.
We also can’t compete with Cuba on literacy or Afghanistan on governmental religious compliance or with sweet leadership dances performed for Kim Jong Un in North Korea or…
Yes, the West is imperfect and even weakening with CCP monetary assistance. Please don’t mistake these realities with any short term goals for global domination. You might find yourselves short half a billion citizens or more if you try. Those remaining might not be all that keen on what CCP totalitarianism brought.
How many authoritarian countries have misread the strength of freedom craving people? How many have thought liberty to be weak? It seldom works out for them for long despite liberty’s imperfections.
"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture." -- John Adams
We took a shortcut to decline. The 2nd generation didn't have kids. The third generation is the savages we imported into our midst.
The results will probably be similar, though.
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