<story><title>2023 Letter</title><url>https://danwang.co/2023-letter/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kelnos</author><text>It was interesting to read about younger Chinese people, and their dissatisfaction with life in China.  At the risk of being too US&amp;#x2F;West-centric, I do worry a lot about Western domination declining, and China taking its place.  I fundamentally do not believe that their system of government is good for people, and for the world at large.  (To be clear, I&amp;#x27;m fine with US&amp;#x2F;Western dominance declining over time, but I would like to see something I feel is equivalent or better taking its place, or, preferably, sharing its place.)&lt;p&gt;So in a way it&amp;#x27;s good to read about two things in concert: 1) Xi tightening things up and cracking down harder and harder on free expression, and 2) younger Chinese people -- despite the propaganda I hear they&amp;#x27;re exposed to -- becoming disillusioned and frustrated by it.  Overall it sucks: I certainly don&amp;#x27;t wish more and more censorship etc. being foisted upon a billion of my fellow humans.  But I also don&amp;#x27;t want to see a totalitarian regime being the main dominant world power.&lt;p&gt;Of course, dissatisfied young people -- and probably not even that many when compared to the whole of young Chinese people in China -- don&amp;#x27;t guarantee any kind of meaningful change over time.  I&amp;#x27;m sure there are plenty of young people in China who will happily step into the party&amp;#x27;s shoes once the current leadership&amp;#x27;s time has past.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>PedroBatista</author><text>That’s a common western view and wishful thinking but life is about power, not happiness. They can be all dissatisfied they want but a few crackdowns always put them in line, and in the end this is what matters.&lt;p&gt;I know it reads harsh but there’s little to no morality in this, they are “unhappy” because the expectations of having a good job, money, a big house and general prosperity forever is not materializing. In the past when China was really growing at 10% a year, there were also no freedom and horrible things were happening to many people, yet people where “very happy”, again no morality just a matter of power&amp;#x2F;money.&lt;p&gt;“Meaningful change” will happen if they align with who has the power at that time and there is no indication “young people” will relinquish their power when they finally have it.&lt;p&gt;Current old powerful people were also young at some point.</text></comment>
<story><title>2023 Letter</title><url>https://danwang.co/2023-letter/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kelnos</author><text>It was interesting to read about younger Chinese people, and their dissatisfaction with life in China.  At the risk of being too US&amp;#x2F;West-centric, I do worry a lot about Western domination declining, and China taking its place.  I fundamentally do not believe that their system of government is good for people, and for the world at large.  (To be clear, I&amp;#x27;m fine with US&amp;#x2F;Western dominance declining over time, but I would like to see something I feel is equivalent or better taking its place, or, preferably, sharing its place.)&lt;p&gt;So in a way it&amp;#x27;s good to read about two things in concert: 1) Xi tightening things up and cracking down harder and harder on free expression, and 2) younger Chinese people -- despite the propaganda I hear they&amp;#x27;re exposed to -- becoming disillusioned and frustrated by it.  Overall it sucks: I certainly don&amp;#x27;t wish more and more censorship etc. being foisted upon a billion of my fellow humans.  But I also don&amp;#x27;t want to see a totalitarian regime being the main dominant world power.&lt;p&gt;Of course, dissatisfied young people -- and probably not even that many when compared to the whole of young Chinese people in China -- don&amp;#x27;t guarantee any kind of meaningful change over time.  I&amp;#x27;m sure there are plenty of young people in China who will happily step into the party&amp;#x27;s shoes once the current leadership&amp;#x27;s time has past.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>huijzer</author><text>&amp;gt; I do worry a lot about Western domination declining, and China taking its place.&lt;p&gt;What gives me hope is that we’re not driving in North Korean or Russian cars, nor use their chips, or airplanes.  The Soviet Union tried to be a leader in all these fields. I know China is not Russia, but in many things it is. How many Western companies, for example, have the government sit on their board? Top-down economic planning has never worked and I don’t see why it would be different now.</text></comment>