[99luft Balons]

So yeah had a Chinese(who is actually from China only been in UK for a year) plumber come to my house for the boiler.We randomly started chatting and I said to him "China is going to be the next superpower" but he responded in broken English "never,never.not even in a 100 years will China catch up to America or UK..here in UK life is so easy, you eat you sleep "

Is the Chinese plumber right?

[dslc]

When China Rules The World: The Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World, Martin Jacques

This will soon convince your plumbing friend otherwise!
(a fantastic read, I might add)

[99luft Balons]

Probably he meant normal civilian life is much harder,dunno i couldn't really understand him

But he's from China and seen everything.

[geetar]

Countries don't get to become superpowers by giving their citizens a nice easy life, and investing in welfare and support; quite the opposite.

[mortaz786]

Chinese will dominate the world soon.

East>West

West is is no much debt its untrue......

The US has trillions of pounds worth of debt where as China is debt free and a great economy

[brownieboy]

a chinese plumber lool ? ive never seen a chinese plumber before ever!

[Jmaguire]

Everyone keeps forgetting the money China makes on a lot of their exports comes greatly because of the heavy exploitation of their workforce, if they get better basic human rights and conditions then they won't be catching up anytime soon.

[dsinghdahiya257]

China: Worse social welfare and conditions compared to the U.K where labour is expensive.

Also Exploitation/cheap labour unit cost = Higher output. (China)

[DeanFoley]

The idea of China rising to be a superpower is an overblown, populist myth.

While China has grown, and will continue to do so for the time being, it's seen as something of a paper tiger by economists, at the very least.

Honestly, it's been more about "catching up" than anything.

China will stall before long, and at a GDP per capita of about 3,000 US dollars, I wouldn't be buying a plane ticket just yet.

[de_monies]

(Original post by Jmaguire)
Everyone keeps forgetting the money China makes on a lot of their exports comes greatly because of the heavy exploitation of their workforce, if they get better basic human rights and conditions then they won't be catching up anytime soon.

And that China relies on the US more than the US relies on China atm, so I'm not too sure if they could become a superpower if this balance remains the same

[99luft Balons]

(Original post by brownieboy)
a chinese plumber lool ? ive never seen a chinese plumber before ever!

Really? theres loads of them round here.actually he's a plumber/electrician/builder/painter etc etc all in one

gets the job done quickly as well

[99luft Balons]

(Original post by Jmaguire)
Everyone keeps forgetting the money China makes on a lot of their exports comes greatly because of the heavy exploitation of their workforce, if they get better basic human rights and conditions then they won't be catching up anytime soon.

I think he meant this.

[cognito_08]

I have family in China and what they always say to us is that in the rural areas on China (where they live) they're not feeling as if they're benefiting from the boom in the Cities. They still have to get their water from wells, have a shaky electricity supply, see loads of children working instead of being at school.

[g_star_raw_1989]

(Original post by dslc)
When China Rules The World: The Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World, Martin Jacques

This will soon convince your plumbing friend otherwise!
(a fantastic read, I might add)

I agree, a very good read.

[JeremyLiang]

Well,I'm from China. I think the plumber means the living condition is less than UK.
Actually,the rich-poor gap is huge,and this is a tough problem,no matter how the press ' window dress' the economy here.
It seems that someone mentions about human rights above,well,as a Chinese,I think China dose badly in this part,especially the government ban the Facebook,Twitter and Youtube.
So in short,if China can't cope with rich-poor gap issue,you'll hear similar statements for 100 years and the so-called ' superpower' is just nothing.

[notnerdylikeyou]

the only reason china is becoming a superpower is because it is able to mass manufacture goods and sell cheap do to mass amount of able workers.simple economics really not that had to do the British done it when they toke over 1/4 of the world.obviously the welfare of the workers is not important.

[drummer]

I don't know what it's like living in mainland China right now but maybe I'll ask my family over there about this. They practically live in the middle of nowhere on their own farmland. When I went over in January my cousin told me it was very competitive for universities over there and that the the level of expectation for jobs was very high. I dunno, perhaps the plumber has had it easier over here than when he had to support his family over in China.

[Taurus]

An increase in growth doesn't mean the people are exactly better off. They're doing really well with exports, but that isn't always a good thing for the country

[Arekkusu]

Eat and sleep? Well I never!

You're right really, countries become superpowers by bulldozing through their people's rights and steaming to the top of the league, only then can they relax and start handing out expensive freedoms to people.

[quattro94]

(Original post by mortaz786)
Chinese will dominate the world soon.

East>West

West is is no much debt its untrue......

The US has trillions of pounds worth of debt where as China is debt free and a great economy

China's economy seems to be wobbling at the moment. They have issues with housing at the moment and a lot of their exports go to western countries which are broke at the present. High debt doesn't mean you can't do well, obviously it doesn't help but Japan has done well over the last decade with high levels of debt. I expect they will eventually be hit by a slowdown at the least, growth is only finite.