How do Chinese people feel about the scrutiny China is under?

Question

China has allegedly gained 4th economic power status on earth. Due to their population, they have largest troop on earth.

However, China is under lot of scrutiny and criticism in all level:
- They were practicing high birth rate because they thought they can rule the world with high Chinese population.
- They are several generations behind Russia and America in military and scientific development.
- They have to act like a super power if they want to be one.
- Are they really that powerful?
- In case of military conflict, China's neighbor India has more than sufficient military prowess and nukes to send China to Yin Yang ashes and dust. Most Americans believe India is more than capable of swiftly and surely defeating China, and ruling China as its colony.
- Overall, China is behind, and will be behind for very very long time.

There's got to be some truth in such criticism, and there are other criticism about China.

How do Chinese people deal with the put downs coming from the rest of world about their country?

True. English is the universal languge, but not because it's better than any other languages. I'd have to disagree on that.
English has become the universal language due to British dominance followed by American dominance.
All languages are equally good and valid.

Answer 1

I'm Chinese, I grew up in the US, I go back ocassionally to visit family and whatnot.

- They were practicing high birth rate because they thought they can rule the world with high Chinese population.

That's not true, it was like that about 50 years ago. That's why they practice the one-child policy in the big coastal cities. And in a way, it's kind of working. How many Chinese are in the US? Probably not even 2% of the US population. And what colleges do they go to? The good ones. And good colleges provide what what? Good jobs = usually money.

- They are several generations behind Russia and America in military and scientific development.

That's actually not true. China keeps a lot of this stuff hush-hush. China's actually quite adanced technology wise. A stroll through Shanghai can prove that. Their mobile phone industry is much more advanced than it is here. Also, there are a lot of things there that I don't find here (car elevators, public portable showers--big giant metal thing, very clean, machine automated, like a car wash for people, quite cool--, etc.)

It's also quite well known that China's been focusing their attention on science and technology. They've also been focusing on strengthening science education. I can definitely see this, all of my cousins in China all rave and complain about their rigorous and strong science classes.

- They have to act like a super power if they want to be one.

Well, they are a super power, or at least a developing one. And they're acting quite well.

- Are they really that powerful?

Yes. I don't think people in America understand exactly how important China is to the well-being of the world...especially the US.

- In case of military conflict, China's neighbor India has more than sufficient military prowess and nukes to send China to Yin Yang ashes and dust. Most Americans believe India is more than capable of swiftly and surely defeating China, and ruling China as its colony.

That's not known actually and definitely not true. China has officially said its military budget, which is quite small. But they have been spending an enormous amount of their budget on unknowns, which most believe to be the military. Also, India has only recently gotten nuclear weapons. China's had them for a while.

If India does get that hostile that it attempts to do that, none of the other countries would approve, including the US.

- Overall, China is behind, and will be behind for very very long time.

That's not true. The British scholar Segal said that like 10 years ago. And it hasn't happened yet.

Basically...

-If China falls, the US is going to be hit pretty badly. China has invested a lot of money into the US as well, and they've bought a significant amount of bounds. Plus, since the US and China (and China and the world) are so interconnected economically, you do not want China to fall.
-It's in the US's best interest to keep the light on themselves and off of other countries.
-I find that a lot of things are really quite over-exaggerated here. Like censorship in China. I went to China recently and I could get onto all of the websites (except for freetibet.org, lol) easily.
-Your question's extremely biased and you seem to have already made up your mind about the subject.
-China's doing a lot of things that the US is going to regret not doing (Africa, Middle East, etc.)
-Why doesn't China want to lose Taiwan or Tibet? Because no country wants to lose land. Think of what the US will do if Alaska or even Hawaii wanted to become independent. Would the US let them go so easily? Hawaii's big on tourism and tropical fruit. Alaska's got resources. Would the US really want to lose them? Same idea. One of a country's top priorities is to keep land.
-The mainstream media in the US isn't so uncensored. Who controls the media? (Hint: Not the people.)
-What happened to the Native Americans? Slavery?
-Iraq is going very very well and Bush is doing a great job. (Sarcasm).
-Hurricane Katrina was a success.
-When that huge tsutnami hit Asia, China responded IMMEDIATELY by sending provisions and stuff. They were there immediately to help out the worst hit countries and the tsutnami didn't even effect China's mainland much. How long did it take for the US to respond to the tsunami? To Katrina? Very long, and Katrina was on American ground!!!!
-America may be powerful, but they're not very well liked. I travel all over and I've learned that in a lot of situations, saying that I'm American is not a good idea.
-Chinese people do know about their history: the Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen Square, etc. They know that Mao wasn't exactly great. They know that the T-Square Massacre was a pretty sh*t thing to do, but they like China because of how much the government has been able to fix their problems, etc.
-Chinese is not a hard language to learn. Loads of people are learning it right now.
-America glosses over tons of things: Korean, Vietnam, Christopher Columbus, slavery, Gulf War, etc. America has also never won a war in Asia.

Last words: 2008 BEIJING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's a lot of other things but I've gotta go to work.

Answer 2

There is one notable reason why China will never be the world's foremost economic power: the language barrier. Chinese is a very difficult language to learn. Do you think that foreign investors and venture capitalists will eagerly learn Chinese? I doubt it.

English is the universal language.

Note also that Russia is not on par with America in military and scientific development for two reasons: lack of funds, and the oppressive nature of the Soviet regime that stifled many innovative ideas and condemned many independent thinkers to a brutal sentence in the gulag. China currently does the same thing, and thus that will hinder their progress.

If China and India were to fight a war, I cannot say which side would win. I personally do not believe that India will wipe the board with China, so to speak. India is very behind herself, mostly due to the caste system. You can't possibly expect a new superpower to suddenly emerge from a nation where people still die from leprosy, and millions live in Dark Age conditions?

Both India and China are far behind the western world. Only if they can truly open their markets to capitalism and adopt the rational attitude toward innovation that the western nations developed in the late 19th century will they progress more rapidly. Until then, whatever 'progress' they make will be but a gilded illusion hiding the rot underneath, much like the myth of Soviet power during the Cold War.

Answer 3

I am a Chinese that lives in Beijing and I belive that alot of the criticism is because of misunderstad.

It is true that my goverment still don't allow the free flow of information but itis not as bad as some of you may think(After all I am able to log on to this web site). We can watch TV progrems from other nations like CNN, AXN and even some shows from Taiwan(Of couse, to get these progrems cost lots of money) ! They also let newspaper from all over the world (Again, cost a lot of money). But there are still a lot of things that needs to be improve(Try and hold up a sign with the words "say no to communist!" in the financial district and see what happends...). And we are still a very long way from universal suffrage. But we are slowly improving.

And those that think China is still a communist nation with planned economy have their information 20 years out dated. In the 1980s the goverment discoverd that planned economy is not working so they change to the free market economy system that released market forces. And as I said on anouther question, there are now McDonald's and KFC everywhere. There is even a stock exchange in Shanghai! Today China is one of the biggest expanding market in the world. I don't think you can call that planned economy.

As for the criticism saying that we are practicing high birth rate because we thought we can rule the world with high population is not true. The goverment are introducing birth control to the people, and don't forget that more then 90% of the familys in China have only one kid.

Answer 4

I don't think the Chinese people generally spend much time worrying about the "scrutiny" you say they are under. It's like asking, what do Americans feel about the world's scrutiny of their war in Iraq, their (lack of) gun laws, almost no health service.. - people are too busy with their own lives, and see things from their own national perspective, as outsiders are often ill-informed.

BTW, China "practicing high birth rate"? On the contrary, for many years they have had the notorious "one-child" policy, so that the population will become stabilised, and perhaps eventually fall.

Also, for what it's worth, China has more nuclear weapons than India, which only acquired them about five years ago.

Answer 5

Ok, first, if China was that weak, then US wouldnt be regarding China as the only opponent for domination on this earth, 2nd, check ur history, sino-indian war ended up with chinese troops only a few hundred kilometres from india capital city, indian troops were defeated. Also check ur korean war history, american troops and other allies pushed all the way to yalu river( china's borders) but chinese troops pushed them back( remember the chinese troops were so poorly equipped back then, that they dont even have planes-against the well equipped US troops). 3rd, a lot of people say india will overtake china because it is a democracy bla bla bla, but that is not possible, why? Compare the GDP of the 2 countries and you can see india's distance from china(china's GDP almost 3-4 times india's GDP). Also, working in china has given me a great insight on china's development, for example in guangzhou, everywhere you go you see luxury apartments and skyscrapers being built, China's infrastructures far surpass india's( go to china and india and you see the differences)..and seriously the chinese dont give a crap about what u think, it's like asking you americans: what you think of crappy education system, what you think of the illegal iraq war, how do you feel when the most of the world hates you bla bla...

Answer 6

You've got a lot of misconception about China. First of all, you say that they are practicing birth rate to rule the world. This is false. In fact, they are only encouraged to have 1 or 2 children per family and no more. For example, it is wrong for any poor country to encourage increase in birth rate, for it will surely lead to poverty, unemployment, etc. In the field of education they are one of the best in Asia. It is common in China for a 7-year old kid to be well versed in mathematics and science. Compare that with America. Even in American schools, a lot of Chinese students are in the top of the class. In technology, the Chinese even have their own space program, they launch their own satellites. Even in consumer electronics and computers they are also doing very well. Just look at most electronic appliances sold in America. What do they say?. "Made in China".

Answer 7

I don't think China really care what the rest of the world think of them,but I wonder how long it would have taken their military to come to the aid of their citizens if Hurricane Katrina hit them also their leader didn't start a immoral war for oil.So you see all countries can criticize others that's how war starts so why don't you clean up your own backyard before you criticize a country that has survived and prospered for thousands of years.

Answer 8

in case you think of all chinese language are stupid,youself is included.yet for sure you do not think of your self is.it is seen out of your fact.you think of you're sensible to relish different worldwide places and hate China and chinese language.You factor out present day problems of China,yeah,i won't be able to deny that.yet China is a vast u . s . and it has fairly some human beings.how are you able to attain a end that one and all chinese language are stupid ones? As a uni pupil,i think of you're completely narrow-minded.As a chinese language uni pupil,i think of you're a clown without noticing it your self.Do you think of with defaming chinese language,human beings you relish will admire you?Nonsense,who will admire you once you're a man or woman hates your guy or woman u . s .? You claimed which you only hate government,and elect China be greater beneficial.i don't think of China would be greater beneficial if lots of human beings think of such as you. And one element you will possibly desire to comprehend:LOVING u . s . isn't equivalent TO LOVING government.you may not make a fact that abuses chinese language.disgrace ON YOU. i'm Kazari,a chinese language which you deliberate to be stupid.

Answer 9

No wonder ALL these stupid Westerners like myself have wrote - Lets face it guys - Fair to China - Ruthless but hey who can knock any form of business man for trying to be successful or make money ?

Personally I say - "well done China you have some of the most beautiful women on this planet and the food is hard to beat" (thumbs) (thumbs) (thumbs)

Answer 10

You can't just say "Chinese people" like you can "American people." While our government certainly keeps some things secret, Americans in general have internet access and freedom of the press. None of this is true in China. So if you asked someone of equivalent status to you or me (i.e., just the average worker or student), they are probably completely unaware of what the rest of the world thinks of China. Information is extremely stratified there due to the centralized Communist government.