China politics
 

I come from china. You can ask me if you have any question about China politics and other.

How free do you feel? How comfortable are you speaking against the government, or are you content with it?

I feel more free than ago. In China we say that deep love like hate. We criticize our government because we deeply love China. We hope it can lead us to build more beautiful China.

No one contents what he/she possesses. You still want to get more even if you have much.

Hey Billy, You sound like an American.:beer:
Is there some way for you to complain about services like trash or road pavement or barking dogs. You know, small problems.

And the corruption continues. :)

Of course, I complain about many things. The public traffic is bad. In this city almost every home has motorcycle, not take bus. The air and traffic become bad.

The gorvernment need improve their work efficiency. Don't let us to wait wait and wait...

I am working in office now. I can use lillte free time to reply you.

So living in China you must see the horrible living conditions, oppression, poverty, sickness, dispair, sadness, and other bad things communism causes on a daily basis.

Do you hate communism?

Corruption is one poison to gorvernment and country
 

After several years fathering, there are less and less corruption. We are buliding laws to inspect gorvernment work. Encourage people to impeach the corruption officer. I believe we can make it least in the coming future.

Why do you think our living condition is so bad. This city is classified one of the best 300 liveing cities in world by the UN. It is safe because we have few guns as they are in the US. The China government is trying our best to reducing poverty. Almost people have richer than ago. SARS is just one accident. Every country has sickness. No oppression break out. Maybe what you said occured 1970s, not this time.

I don't hate communism, otherwise, I like it very much. The soul of communism is free, rich, equal country, love people. In fact, we can not do it as the soul. We need time to choose one good way to do it. I believe that we have a good life in communism.

Whatever society we are in, we need improve economy and make people rich and rich. Who do I have it if I can get in china.

If communism = rich rich rich why are all communist countries poor poor poor including China. The average person in China makes less money in a month than the average American makes in one day.

Communism takes away people's rights, property, personal responsibility, money, etc.

Billy;

I have a lot of questions about the economic structure of China. How much does the government control the economy on a personal level? Can you choose your own career, negotiate a salary level, participate in a free market of your goods and services?

Are things like prices on goods controlled by the government, or determined by supply and demand?

By the way, welcome to the Cellar! I appreciate the addition of your unique perspective.

-sm

Free market in China
 

I think the government don't control personal level, they just control the macroeconomy. I freely choose my career. I require my salary with my company. Now almost every thing in China are run by free markert. So we learn many styles from the west.

The government don't control too mcuh price. The prices are determined by market. But the government insupervise the price to assure that the company don't make too high price so that the people can not afford to them.

I am glad to join this forum. I like your views that make me see advanced.

Billy, what is your point of view on Taiwan?

GREAT question, syc.

I need to let my friend Yuhao (pjshimmer on here) know that some fellow Chinese folks are on here now. He emigrated to the US from there 7 or 8 years ago.

Billy, it appears from what you've said and what I've read in other places, that the living conditions in China have improved. It seems that much of that improvement comes from Chinas move away from Lenin/Marx/Mao communism toward western style capitalism. It would be good if China can strike a balance that will give a strong economy for everyone instead of some rich at the expense of others being poor. That would be unique in the world today.
I see foshan has seperate lanes for human powered vehicles and engine powered vehicles. How do bicycles make a left turn?:confused:

Taiwan is one part of China
 

It is a senstiive topic international cosiety. It is a good for you to ask me for it. All the Chinese believe that Taiwan is one part of China. We have corroborant proofs in the old China history. Chinese hope that Taiwan come back P.R. China as HongKong and Macao went home. The Taiwan economy become worse now. So lots of Taiwanese come back Mianland to break a new path. They have a successful business here. I meet some Taiwanese. They hope Taiwan have a good relation with mainland and come back China. Yhe Chinese should hold together to develop economy and culture, not have a fight relation. Taiwan would come back China. It is just a time problem. I wait for the day.

Left turn
 

In China the powered vehicles drivers all sit at left of cars. We run on the right side of road. The bicycles easily to trun any direction. The bicycle and walker have a single road. That reduce the danger from cars.

Billy, let me ask you this: Are there any governmental policies with which you disagree? It could be anything, including things with which Americans or non-Chinese are unfamiliar. For example, I did not agree with our government's decision to send armed troops to Iraq.

Complaints to my government
 

Of courese, I have many complaint for my government.

1. There is no a good government supervising policy. Corruption would occur without supervising. They can snatch money from our tax.

2. The bad government work efficiency. We need go to many departments to sign if we apply one certificate.

3. Envionment protecting policy. The envionment is a vast problem to China now. Some places have no pure water to drink.

And more, I can not spell them one time.

A great many people in this country feel China can make products cheaper because there are no laws to keep companies from cutting their costs by polluting. You seem to confirm that pollution is one of your greatest problems.
Do you think the government will realize they must force companies to stop, polluting to increase profits, before the country is poisoned?

Cheap manpower
 

Of course, some companies really product the pollution. Ago we hoped that company invested to improve indsutry progress. We ignored the pollution. There are no pure water to drink in some palces so that they go to other places to live. The expense is so vast.

Many companies invest in China because the manpower is cheaper. Lots of people have no work to do in China, we say it layoff. So the physical work is cheap.

Now the China strictly require companies and people to protect environment. We have inveted a lot of money to protect. Many enterprises apply the ISO14000 environment system to protect our country. More and more people regard the environment as important as money. We should have a btter a environment if we all take actions.

What do you think China government?
 

Maybe you think that Red China is very different from the US. in fact we have many same aspects in daily life. The government hope to people rich and have a good life. We are use the different way to govern contry. I think you can give me some different ideas. Wait you!

Billy, are you asking what the main differences are between China and the US?

Difference is ok
 

I want to know the differences.

Why do you like add ice into beer, cola, water?

I don't know of many people that actually put ice in their beer. However, we prefer many of our beers cold--they taste best that way. As far as the other items, we like them to be colder than a refrigerator will make them. Plus, it keeps the beverage colder for a longer amount of time. If an item has been in the refrigerator, I generally don't put ice in it.

Re: Cheap manpower
 

I think your English has gotten much better since you've been here. I thought I'd try to help you out on a few things. I hope you don't take offense. I'm not that good at grammar myself, but I do know a little. I'm not going to cover everything, because for the most part we understand you just fine. But perhaps a few corrections might help you improve.

'Product' is a noun. But here, you're using it as a verb. The word you're looking for is 'produce'.

'Ago' is not commonly used in this fashion. I don't know if it's grammatically correct or not, but it sounds wrong. Something like "Many years ago," or "long ago," would probably be better. Also, I think that you're talking about multiple companies in this sentence. If that's true, then the word 'company' should be plural. And instead of 'invested', it should be 'would invest'. So, an alternate sentence might read:'Water' in this sentence is singular. So, instead of saying 'are', you should say 'is'. There should be a comma after 'places'. And also, you don't specify who 'they' is . Who is 'they'? Pronouns have to refer to something. In this case, you could use a noun instead, like 'people'. Also, I think the word 'that' is unneccesary. So, you could instead say:
I think the rest of your message is perfectly understandable. Hope this helps. :)

Thank you very much, JUJU!
 

I was busy on work when I posted the message. So I have little time to check the sentences for post it ASAP. Sometimes I could not find the errors as you pointed them to me. Sometimes I typed them wrong. Hope you to help me as you did.

Thank you from my heart bottom.

Do you hope that China has freedom as you do?
 

In 1989 the national students had the "movement". Now we still fear that the students do like that. I heard the students strived to get the west style freedom. In that "movement" some students did not know why they did that. They just struggled as other did. The movement greatly affected national economy, life and other things so the government took army action.

The government still seal the realities. I don't know what it is and think to know it.

From what you see you still think that China have no freedom. Do you think how much freedom we should gain and how we strive to get.

There are many of us who feel that America itself does not have enough freedom.

History shows that the countries that have the most central control are the ones that lag behind. When people can make their own choices, sometimes they choose poorly, but they are better at making these choices than the government.

I have studied economics for a long time, Billy, and I can assure you that the 1989 protests can not affect an economy. It is impossible.

Individual rights make countries rich. When people are free to do what they wish, they are more productive. They find ways to do more in less time. They use machines to automate their work. They invent new ways to work.

The Chinese culture itself is not the reason for the lag. The Chinese people are a good people. China will succeed if it has enough freedom to succeed.

UT, don't you think the government's reaction, or over reaction in this case, is what really affects the economy? People see this conflict going on and entrench, which effectively kills productivity.

     Wouldn't running down your future workforce with a tank be inherently counterproductive? Also a fairly large number of skilled people seem to have chosen to leave China. Losing people that way would also be bad for China's economy.
     Of course, like Bruce mentioned, this isn't "the movement" hurting the economy, it's the response to said movement.

Yes, that's true Bruce -- I didn't tconsider it that way -- although the shutdown comes from the top, not from the bottom where wealth is actually produced, so it's not the protest itself which is the problem. There is protest in every rich nation; protest is healthy and maybe even invigorating to free countries. It's heartily welcomed by the media, and sometimes even the targets of the protest.

Collectivism and individualism
 

In tradition idea we heavily look up on collectivism and down on individualism. Most time we require that individual must follow the collectivity. In old state compnies you get the same salary whatever you do well or bad. You cna not do what you like and have to do what headers arrange. So the people have no motivity to improve products and modify equipments. The enterprises have no competility day by day. Now the reform and open policy activates people to inspire people to improve quality. So the companies and country encourage people innovation. We recognize that individualism and freedom is also imporant. We can not give people no freedom to select what they like. We use the west style to manage enterprises and encourage individual freedom with the collectivism.

Agreed. That's what I was Trying to say. It's not the protest but the over reaction of the government that really causes the problem.

Billy, we in the west are always impatient.;)
It looks to me like the Chinese have learned from the failure of the Soviet Union. The Soviets refused to embrace change and ended up in chaos.
The Chinese seem to be embracing change. Allowing the people that want to be entrepreneurial to do so, while maintaining the system to keep the rest employed.
This should teach and inspire more people to the possibilities of capitalism and cause a positive shift in the economy.
Our problem with China has always been their desire to export communism. With Chinas' move toward capitalism and our move toward socialism (homeland security) we should not have future problems.
And I'm pretty good with chopsticks.:D

We cannot export communism
 

You are kiding. We can not export communism. The ideology is communicated by idea, not by products. As you know, China have advanced communism ideologists who can have a wide influence in the world. So the wets people cannnot receive communism only by speed economy progress. South Korea and Singapore are capitalism. They have no influence by China. I am not sure if China come into capitalism. Many overseas Chinese students come back China. They like the west styles and ideas. They bring them to Chinese. We like them. I am afraid that we would become "west" one day.

Unimagine to use chopsticks for me. You are a cool man( I don't know if you are male,sorry). It is very difficult to learn to use them. We think that the chopsticks can help young children improve intelligence because using them make their hands agile.

Re: We cannot export communism
 

And that's exactly how it can be exported. No, it's not a tangible product, but if you send troops, money, and advisors in the quest to push communism, then it becomes an "export" of sorts. To help you understand it better, let's put it this way: The United States is exporting democracy to Iraq right now.

Yeah. What he said. Thanks Syc.

Oh, and yes, male. That's why I asked about the unmarried sister. Remember?:D

Re: We cannot export communism
 

:D

I also have a great deal of skill with chopsticks, and actually am able to eat a lot of Chinese/Asian foods more skillfully with them than a fork — especially rice and noodles ... they fall off a fork, but chopsticks grab them up JUST right. Yeah, I'm weird and I know it. It's interesting that something that is in America so identified as being part of Chinese cooking and culture are not so widely used in China, but I suspect that has much to do with the push toward modernization in some way.

     Hey, Bruce? Are you sure the whole Homeland Security thing brings us closer to socialism as opposed to fascism?
     My kids and I are all good with chopsticks. In fact, I remember the my daughter and I going for seconds and returning to find a cute Asian waitress teaching the boy (8 at the time) to use chopsticks. The funny part is he'd been proficient with them for almost two years. The little flirt...

Re: Re: We cannot export communism
 

You're weird.


Billy: Do you feel that the Chinese leadership values communism, or that they lean more towards capitalism and pretend to be communist?

:) thank you for the vote of confidence!

China has no capability to do it now
 

China has no enough capability to export communism as you said. the main task for china is economy development and life progress. We would draw Taiwan back if we could. Taiwan is one our heart wound. I think that the USA would become the Second "British Empire". No one country can stop it now.

The confused leaders
 

It is a super good problem for me.

To be frank, the headers are not clear on communism. We are all studying it in pratices. Now in China we lack the big communismi deologists and theorists to point way to us. There is no second Max now. We call up one.

In the economy policy we use some west styles. But I think it can not completely change communism. The west styles help us to improve economy progress. I don't know if the communism has tomorrow. It is very difficult to predict it.

Re: China has no capability to do it now
 

I don't think it's really an issue of capability. I think it's more an issue of not wanting to anger the United States.

I see our relationship with China as delicate. We don't want to upset you guys (hence why the Bush administration was very cautious with the spy plane situation 2 years ago), and you don't want to upset us (hence why China has not taken back Taiwan yet). It has grown to be a warmer relationship over the years, but it is still very fragile.

Re: The confused leaders
 

It may very well survive as socialism (similar to systems in Canada, France, Sweden, etc.), but as history has shown over the past 100 years, communism itself has not fared well.

We should preserve the good things
 

In old China history we used the forks. But the forebears thought that the chopsticks are better than forks from their selection and testing. It is one China culture elite. Why do we delete it. We should learn to adpat to other things, not the outside things adpat us. In China tadition idea we think the people should harmony with the nature.

Just that
 

I agree what you said. In China some people think that like you. Because of the economy dependant we can not lose each other. We don't too strongly oppose the US in the Iraq War. We can not enrage Bush like France.

Who knows
 

I don't know who would change China history again. I wait to see it.

I was trying to be optimistic by keeping my head firmly up my butt.:rolleyes:

I'm glad China has switched to forks. They would never be able to beat chopsticks into plowshares.:D

perhaps, but you can give your enemy a NASTY splinter with 'em ... 1001 uses too ... didn't you see that episode of Xena where she used 'em as a weapon ... oh, wait, those were hairsticks. Oh well, you can use chopsticks as hair sticks, although the regular ones are a little bit too long ... children's chopsticks work great for that ... is this a little too stream of consciousness for you? I think I may have put too much coffee in the brewbasket this morning, happens when I get to the bottom of the can, just dump it all in, what the heck, don't want to waste any, yah know ... ;)

No...but you're going the wrong way. Beating weapons into plowshares is peace. No splinters.;)

I know. But that wouldn't have been as funny, now, would it? ;)

well....ah...mumble, mumble....:blush: