The darkside of China Economic meteoric rise: Stories from Chinas Silicon valley
Just watched a video on the transformation of Shenzen from an agricutural district to new technology centre, touted as China's Silicon Valley. It looks impressive.
The video is here
However, I would like to raise a cautionary proposition though. China is an infant capitalist society, unbriddled one at that. It has just awoken from its socialist slumber. It is easy to paint rosy pictures when you have enough money. Elsewhere, the environmental, economic and social wreck caused by offshore Chinese money need to be understood before we rush into their 'friendly' embrace.
Some people suggest China is the balancing power against US domination of world economy. Wrong, In fact the two can be allies against the world. For all the trade war and ict war we see between them, they both represent capitalism at their best and worst. Egalitarian society would have a hard time under either or both.
The last 10 minutes of the documentary is interesting, particularly on the dark side of tech rise on society, issues such as intrusion of privacy, human displacement, state control behaviour, is eerily an accurate prediction of Big Brother (Goerge Orwell 1984). Also the movie "Demolition Man" came to mind. It results in revolt and destabilisation of civilisation, as human innate nature was compromised. It seems, the western civilisation while they were leading in technology, they were also apprehensive of these humanistic dilemma. Also on environmental concern, they were expressed in the west as early as 1962 (Rachel Carson). Now the worry is China's sudden rise to the top of the world seems devoid of these dialectics. Are they prepared to deal with the environmental, societal and moral impact of their economic development? Even within China the signs are telling. Those transformed farmers brought from hinterland to work in tech factories, now face bleak future as robots enter the scene and they will be pushed back to the countryside, wondering whether they can survive on subsistence farming again.
Now should we worry about what happened in China? About its 'progress' abd growth? We should. We should start to be cautious. While they can paint rosy pictures in Beijing and Shenzen, the havoc they wreck in Africa shouldn't go unnoticed. SEA is also slowly being invaded, albeit currently its economic and financial type of invasion. The massacre and rape of Uighur culture and religion in China matches what The USA had done in Guantanamo bay, and Middle east, perhaps even worse.
ZJ
The video is here
However, I would like to raise a cautionary proposition though. China is an infant capitalist society, unbriddled one at that. It has just awoken from its socialist slumber. It is easy to paint rosy pictures when you have enough money. Elsewhere, the environmental, economic and social wreck caused by offshore Chinese money need to be understood before we rush into their 'friendly' embrace.
Some people suggest China is the balancing power against US domination of world economy. Wrong, In fact the two can be allies against the world. For all the trade war and ict war we see between them, they both represent capitalism at their best and worst. Egalitarian society would have a hard time under either or both.
The last 10 minutes of the documentary is interesting, particularly on the dark side of tech rise on society, issues such as intrusion of privacy, human displacement, state control behaviour, is eerily an accurate prediction of Big Brother (Goerge Orwell 1984). Also the movie "Demolition Man" came to mind. It results in revolt and destabilisation of civilisation, as human innate nature was compromised. It seems, the western civilisation while they were leading in technology, they were also apprehensive of these humanistic dilemma. Also on environmental concern, they were expressed in the west as early as 1962 (Rachel Carson). Now the worry is China's sudden rise to the top of the world seems devoid of these dialectics. Are they prepared to deal with the environmental, societal and moral impact of their economic development? Even within China the signs are telling. Those transformed farmers brought from hinterland to work in tech factories, now face bleak future as robots enter the scene and they will be pushed back to the countryside, wondering whether they can survive on subsistence farming again.
Now should we worry about what happened in China? About its 'progress' abd growth? We should. We should start to be cautious. While they can paint rosy pictures in Beijing and Shenzen, the havoc they wreck in Africa shouldn't go unnoticed. SEA is also slowly being invaded, albeit currently its economic and financial type of invasion. The massacre and rape of Uighur culture and religion in China matches what The USA had done in Guantanamo bay, and Middle east, perhaps even worse.
ZJ
Comments
Post a Comment