[AbuAK]

I hav never been to China, but I am guessing he is not equating superpower status to quality of life.
Canada is by no means a superpower, but it has one of the highest quality of life in the world, China on the other hand is quite the opposite, maybe thats what he is going on about.
To the above post, China has the 2nd largest economy on the world, its already caught and surpassed UK in that department.

[Dmon1Unlimited]

does he secretly work for the chinese government and has a high ranking position?

if not id say his views are just as substantial as ours (would be debatable as to who is more credible but that doesnt mean youre correct either)

[dlsy]

I hope not. But the chinese(from china) "speak" very loudly..irks me.

[dlsy]

(Original post by AbuAK)
I hav never been to China, but I am guessing he is not equating superpower status to quality of life.
Canada is by no means a superpower, but it has one of the highest quality of life in the world, China on the other hand is quite the opposite, maybe thats what he is going on about.
To the above post, China has the 2nd largest economy on the world, its already caught and surpassed UK in that department.

No wonder, the chinese from HK and china love it there ,especially those chinese (from china)...escape from their gov?

[dlsy]

(Original post by 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.

I agree with you.
Lot's of "covering-up" in China too. I'm not from China. Lucky me?

[NavyBlueAndPearls]

(Original post by 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?

I love China, however think that the advancement of its economy cannot be used to judge the power of the country, because it simply does not reflect the whole nation, and in my opinion a superpower needs to have a certain average level of development before it can be seen as a leading light or example in the global economic scene. In short, in the majority of areas, they have a long way to go. I do believe however, that eventually the Chinese will become a superpower, their work ethic is virtually second to none and the pressure to progress is strong.

I spent just over 2 months in China last year, and can say that his point is valid to a certain extent, in that the overall quality of life is no where near the same as in the UK or America (I have travelled extensively there too). Although there are hot spots- the centres of cities such as Shanghai, Xi'ian, Beijing, Tianjin etc. as soon as you leave the immediate circle the standard of living drops hugely. You do not find this in the UK or USA on the whole; running water and electricity, if being used as judgements of level of living, are no where near as available.

[99luft Balons]

(Original post by de_monies)
They still lack basis things like real equality, education for the masses (ie: the rich and the poor) and need to tackle things like their poverty gap before they can really influence the world

you could say the same about China?

[de_monies]

(Original post by 99luft Balons)
you could say the same about China?

True, however India is a bit more free than China

[Setsuna-F-Seiei]

(Original post by ras90)
Well they are wrong.

Quality of life is getting much better in China.

400 million people have had their incomes rise from $1 a day to $2 a day. Over recent years. A BIG improvement.

Ah, but you see when they say their incomes rised it is fairly false.

Firstly, the distribution of income is very wide. there are many very rich people and very poor people in China and their isn't really a middle. so basically we don't know if the 1$ a day increase was due to the rich people getting richer.

Secondly, Quality of life cannot be measured through just a change in GDP. Using the HDI as well as other data such as the how much or what the government has spent. China has over $3 trillion reserves meaning China aren't spending significantly. You can't just say just because 400 million peoples income have risen means QOL has improved. What happened to the other 700 million people?

[Setsuna-F-Seiei]

(Original post by NavyBlueAndPearls)
I spent just over 2 months in China last year, and can say that his point is valid to a certain extent, in that the overall quality of life is no where near the same as in the UK or America (I have travelled extensively there too). Although there are hot spots- the centres of cities such as Shanghai, Xi'ian, Beijing, Tianjin etc. as soon as you leave the immediate circle the standard of living drops hugely. You do not find this in the UK or USA on the whole; running water and electricity, if being used as judgements of level of living, are no where near as available.

Exactly i always go to China to see family and there is a big difference in the quality of life. I know people around my age who drive really luxurious cars and living in huge houses. You mainly get these in Shanghai,Beijing,Fuzhou Etc. When you go outside these spots such as Ningde (where my relatives live) you see standards fall and IF you go to the really rural areas you get no running water an electricity. The plumber must have been in the poorer areas so that's why he thinks the Quality of life is better even though you think China's quality of life are improving even though we're becoming one of the fastest growing country in the world. You would also get the same thing from the BRIC countries (Brazil,Russia and India) China are not the only ones.

[Sternumator]

(Original post by AbuAK)
To the above post, China has the 2nd largest economy on the world, its already caught and surpassed UK in that department.

Yes but only because a lot of people live there, its no where near as productive as the uk or america or any devloped country. Its meaningless to talk about the economies size unless you do it per worker or per person. You could say Europe has a bigger economy than China or Africa has a bigger economy than china (I dont know if it actually does) but it doesnt really mean anything.

[Brandmon]

@OP, not surprised by his response. That said you have to understand in this situation that his definition of superpower is not of military or economic strength, but of a nation that provides to it's people an easy and rewarding life. In this case, it is actually true. This is down to the fact that the UK just has to manage and keep up with the lives of 60 million. China on the other hand has to handle around 1400 million. Living conditions and opportunities are gradually increasing and improving. But there are immense limitation towards achieving a certain standard of living. If every person in China enjoyed a life which is at the same level as the average Westerner, it would put tremendous strain on the economy and provide a logistical nightmare for the Chinese social services. So I don't see it happening any time soon.

[zedeneye1]

(Original post by 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.

when they say "become super power", what they mean is that the guy(s) leading/ruling the place will have a relatively large amount of resources at their command.

USA:

-400million people
-good technology
-good production capacity
-fair amount of natural resources

China:
-1 billion+ people
-okay technology
-good production capacity
-large natural resources
-communism

The main difference here is that China can make every single one of their citizens to work hard as hell, where USA cant cuz of their democracy/freedom etc... That gives China a huge advantage just like USSR had.

Now chinese are slowly catching up at a very fast pace in terms of technology as well. Thats why people believe they will be the next superpower. Apart from that, China has been achieving almost 90% of its goals in the past 3 decades or so. Their long term goal was/is to beat USA in GDP.

When people say that China is all paper-achievement, consider the fact that around 40% or so of the US GDP is financial services, now thats paper achievement!

And also, currently industrial output in both countries is almost same. Except chinese output may be growing at a much faster rate than US.

EDIT : forgot to mention chinese GDP at PPP (the real deal) is about 11 trillion and USA GPD at PPP is around 15trillion. Most people on TV/media etc dont like to compare PPP, cuz its a matter of national pride and they dont wanna accept that china is growing very quickly and can become the largest economy of the world in a matter of few years now...and at current rate chinese GDP is growing at a trillion a year or so.

[Aj12]

(Original post by zedeneye1)
when they say "become super power", what they mean is that the guy(s) leading/ruling the place will have a relatively large amount of resources at their command.

USA:

-400million people
-good technology
-good production capacity
-fair amount of natural resources

China:
-1 billion+ people
-okay technology
-good production capacity
-large natural resources
-communism

The main difference here is that China can make every single one of their citizens to work hard as hell, where USA cant cuz of their democracy/freedom etc... That gives China a huge advantage just like USSR had.

Now chinese are slowly catching up at a very fast pace in terms of technology as well. Thats why people believe they will be the next superpower. Apart from that, China has been achieving almost 90% of its goals in the past 3 decades or so. Their long term goal was/is to beat USA in GDP.

When people say that China is all paper-achievement, consider the fact that around 40% or so of the US GDP is financial services, now thats paper achievement!

And also, currently industrial output in both countries is almost same. Except chinese output may be growing at a much faster rate than US.

EDIT : forgot to mention chinese GDP at PPP (the real deal) is about 11 trillion and USA GPD at PPP is around 15trillion. Most people on TV/media etc dont like to compare PPP, cuz its a matter of national pride and they dont wanna accept that china is growing very quickly and can become the largest economy of the world in a matter of few years now...and at current rate chinese GDP is growing at a trillion a year or so.

And yet the biggest problem China will face is that its population is ageing at a similar rate to a medium income power, rather than a developing power which China is. They are going to face a huge demographic problem which may well derail their rise to super power status.

[zedeneye1]

(Original post by Aj12)
And yet the biggest problem China will face is that its population is ageing at a similar rate to a medium income power, rather than a developing power which China is. They are going to face a huge demographic problem which may well derail their rise to super power status.

explain ur point...?

i dont know wat u mean by "population is ageing" ?
all populations are ageing.....

do u mean they age 2 years in 1 year or something? lol

if ur talking about their per capita income , its not bad at all...its around USD6,000+ at PPP and is rising at a very good rate.

[Aj12]

(Original post by zedeneye1)
explain ur point...?

i dont know wat u mean by "population is ageing" ?
all populations are ageing.....

do u mean they age 2 years in 1 year or something? lol

if ur talking about their per capita income , its not bad at all...its around USD6,000+ at PPP and is rising at a very good rate.

The average age of workers in China is increasing very quickly. Meaning that in a few years there will be less workers supporting more pensioners. Its generally a problem seen in fully developed nations like the US and other first world nations. But due to China's one child policy they are facing it much much sooner. It means that the state will face a huge problem in providing for these pensioners.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11288492
http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/...cd-ageing-asia

[zedeneye1]

(Original post by Aj12)
The average age of workers in China is increasing very quickly. Meaning that in a few years there will be less workers supporting more pensioners. Its generally a problem seen in fully developed nations like the US and other first world nations. But due to China's one child policy they are facing it much much sooner. It means that the state will face a huge problem in providing for these pensioners.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11288492
http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/...cd-ageing-asia

higher productivity will solve this problem....its not a big deal.

[Aj12]

(Original post by zedeneye1)
higher productivity will solve this problem....its not a big deal.

How? China is going to have less workers that's what the issue is. How can you have higher productivity with a declining work force?

[msn12590]

(Original post by 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)

As a Chinese , I totally agree with you.

[msn12590]

(Original post by Setsuna-F-Seiei)
Ah, but you see when they say their incomes rised it is fairly false.

Firstly, the distribution of income is very wide. there are many very rich people and very poor people in China and their isn't really a middle. so basically we don't know if the 1$ a day increase was due to the rich people getting richer.

Secondly, Quality of life cannot be measured through just a change in GDP. Using the HDI as well as other data such as the how much or what the government has spent. China has over $3 trillion reserves meaning China aren't spending significantly. You can't just say just because 400 million peoples income have risen means QOL has improved. What happened to the other 700 million people?

GDP is a cheater, especially in China.