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China's Machiavelli 2.0

uair01

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Apr 12, 2005
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Great article!
https://palladiummag.com/2021/10/11/the-triumph-and-terror-of-wang-huning/

One day in August 2021, Zhao Wei disappeared. For one of China’s best-known actresses to physically vanish from public view would have been enough to cause a stir on its own. But Zhao’s disappearing act was far more thorough: overnight, she was erased from the internet. Her Weibo social media page, with its 86 million followers, went offline, as did fan sites dedicated to her. Searches for her many films and television shows returned no results on streaming sites. Zhao’s name was scrubbed from the credits of projects she had appeared in or directed, replaced with a blank space. Online discussions uttering her name were censored. Suddenly, little trace remained that the 45-year-old celebrity had ever existed.

She wasn’t alone. Other Chinese entertainers also began to vanish as Chinese government regulators announced a “heightened crackdown” intended to dispense with “vulgar internet celebrities” promoting lascivious lifestyles and to “resolve the problem of chaos” created by online fandom culture. Those imitating the effeminate or androgynous aesthetics of Korean boyband stars—colorfully referred to as “xiao xian rou,” or “little fresh meat”—were next to go, with the government vowing to “resolutely put an end to sissy men” appearing on the screens of China’s impressionable youth.

Zhao and her unfortunate compatriots in the entertainment industry were caught up in something far larger than themselves: a sudden wave of new government policies that are currently upending Chinese life in what state media has characterized as a “profound transformation” of the country. Officially referred to as Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “Common Prosperity” campaign, this transformation is proceeding along two parallel lines: a vast regulatory crackdown roiling the private sector economy and a broader moralistic effort to reengineer Chinese culture from the top down.

But why is this “profound transformation” happening? And why now? Most analysis has focused on one man: Xi and his seemingly endless personal obsession with political control. The overlooked answer, however, is that this is indeed the culmination of decades of thinking and planning by a very powerful man—but that man is not Xi Jinping.

This resonates with this article:
https://chinaheritage.net/journal/c... for the philologists of traditional Sinology.
 
I know everyone says that China will be (or is) the world's next 'superpower', but personally I think it will eventually crumble at some point in the future.
 
I know everyone says that China will be (or is) the world's next 'superpower', but personally I think it will eventually crumble at some point in the future.
If we stop buying stuff from them, then maybe. But that doesn't seem to be happening.
A major Chinese real estate investor is going under at the moment, which could have an effect all around the world (a bit like the sub-prime crisis in 2008). But China will print more money, no problem.
 
Great article!
https://palladiummag.com/2021/10/11/the-triumph-and-terror-of-wang-huning/

One day in August 2021, Zhao Wei disappeared. For one of China’s best-known actresses to physically vanish from public view would have been enough to cause a stir on its own. But Zhao’s disappearing act was far more thorough: overnight, she was erased from the internet. Her Weibo social media page, with its 86 million followers, went offline, as did fan sites dedicated to her. Searches for her many films and television shows returned no results on streaming sites. Zhao’s name was scrubbed from the credits of projects she had appeared in or directed, replaced with a blank space. Online discussions uttering her name were censored. Suddenly, little trace remained that the 45-year-old celebrity had ever existed.

She wasn’t alone. Other Chinese entertainers also began to vanish as Chinese government regulators announced a “heightened crackdown” intended to dispense with “vulgar internet celebrities” promoting lascivious lifestyles and to “resolve the problem of chaos” created by online fandom culture. Those imitating the effeminate or androgynous aesthetics of Korean boyband stars—colorfully referred to as “xiao xian rou,” or “little fresh meat”—were next to go, with the government vowing to “resolutely put an end to sissy men” appearing on the screens of China’s impressionable youth.

Zhao and her unfortunate compatriots in the entertainment industry were caught up in something far larger than themselves: a sudden wave of new government policies that are currently upending Chinese life in what state media has characterized as a “profound transformation” of the country. Officially referred to as Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “Common Prosperity” campaign, this transformation is proceeding along two parallel lines: a vast regulatory crackdown roiling the private sector economy and a broader moralistic effort to reengineer Chinese culture from the top down.

But why is this “profound transformation” happening? And why now? Most analysis has focused on one man: Xi and his seemingly endless personal obsession with political control. The overlooked answer, however, is that this is indeed the culmination of decades of thinking and planning by a very powerful man—but that man is not Xi Jinping.

This resonates with this article:
https://chinaheritage.net/journal/chinas-heart-of-darkness-prince-han-fei-chairman-xi-jinping-prologue/#:~:text=Zha Jianying’s ‘China’s Heart of Darkness’ is a,refined topic for the philologists of traditional Sinology.

Thanks! Great article.
 
If we stop buying stuff from them, then maybe. But that doesn't seem to be happening.
A major Chinese real estate investor is going under at the moment, which could have an effect all around the world (a bit like the sub-prime crisis in 2008). But China will print more money, no problem.

We have been printing money hand over fist too...
 
Like Russia, I don't think China is as rich (or financially secure) as it would like us to think it is.
Although they and India now have a sizeable share of the world's precious metals between them.
 
Like Russia, I don't think China is as rich (or financially secure) as it would like us to think it is.
Definitely not but what country can be as resources dwindle? Given their military is as strong as it ever will be I think it's likely they will make a few power plays in the coming years whilst they still can.
 
Definitely not but what country can be as resources dwindle? Given their military is as strong as it ever will be I think it's likely they will make a few power plays in the coming years whilst they still can.

I'm just glad I don't live in Taiwan.
 
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