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.

  • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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    6 days 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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        5 days 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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          5 days ago

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

          I’m sorry, what was your question

      • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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        5 days 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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          5 days ago

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

          • Skua@kbin.earth
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            5 days 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

  • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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    6 days 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.

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

        For sure. However, the PRC is still a developing countrt, while the US is a declining Empire. The US has farther to fall and China further to rise, especially in the next 1-2 decades.

  • Achyu@lemmy.sdf.org
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    6 days 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.

  • Taalnazi@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

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

    • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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      6 days 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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        5 days 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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          5 days 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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            5 days 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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              5 days 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?

    • davel [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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      5 days ago

      Anarchists Not Siding With the Bourgeois Imperial Compradors Challenge (Impossible)

    • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 days 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 days 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 days 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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            5 days 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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              5 days 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.

  • djsoren19@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    5 days 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.

  • OlgaAbi@lemmy.ml
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    5 days ago

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

    • lolola@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      5 days ago

      I’m saying this unironically: this comment could go on any dumbass thread about China’s dumbass social media and dumbass AI. I don’t understand why I don’t see it more.

      They. Are. Authoritarian.

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

        The reason you don’t see it more is because “authoritarian” isn’t a hard line you can cross, but a general descriptor, and as a consequence many will disagree about the legitimacy of that vague descriptor or believe other countries like the US fit that descriptor better. What do you personally think counts as sufficient to label one country authoritarian, and another not? Can you give an example of each, or is every country authoritarian? Does it matter if some are more or less authoritarian? All of these questions have different answers from person to person, because they apply to a general descriptor and not a hard metric, like “does the PRC have growing wages for the working class?” Or “do Chinese people enioy their system?” Food for thought.

  • liyunxiao@sh.itjust.works
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    5 days 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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      5 days 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.

    • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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      6 days ago

      It would be a good idea to learn a bit, I think, considering that they will play an increasingly large role on the global stage.