Oh deary, deary me!
Bear said:
I want to see Taiwan and especially Tibet get the independence their people want.
Except that the people of Taiwan overwhelmingly DON'T want independence. That would mean war for sure. What they want is the status quo, everything as it is, but with greater business links and better transport and trade facilities with the mainland.
As far as Tibet goes, I doubt most Tibetans care much at all for the status of their independence, autonomy or otherwise. It is a very poor and backward province, not least because of the conditions that prevailed under the previous administration (prior to the late 1950's). Their immediate concerns will lie with getting work, feeding their families and the minutae of everyday life and survival.
Yes, it's certainly true that China is booming in away that it never has before. But that doesn't make it okay, because their model of communism and capitalism means the the gap between the rich and poor is wider than in the west.
Huh?
What is this model of communism and capitalism of which you speak.
Oh! I geddit. You mean the GCPD.
But it's not this mix of authoritarianism and capitalism that has caused a disparity in income or wealth.
it is simply capitalism that does this.
And you seem to be forgetting that the gap between the rich and the poor was far, far worse in the west a hundred years ago. China is essentially 100 years behind the west in some ways. It's just catching up fast by borrowing a western capitalistic model and using existing technology to leapfrog forward.
It is inevitable that some people will get rich before others in a capitalist economy that's how it works.
This is simply what's happeing in China and, indeed, was specifically advocated by Deng (in his
"it is necessary for some to get rich before other so that all may benefit" speech,) during his 1978 visit to Shenzen when he opened the city's doors to the world (though primarily through Hong Kong initially, which has always acted as window and doorway to the mainland,) and set up the city as the country's first Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
Before then, virtually
everybody was fucking poor!
Not only that but unlike in the West only certain people get the opportunity to own the means of production. You'll find that most of the factory owners are CCP members.
Nonsense!
Most of the factory owners are Hong Kong, Taiwanese, Japanese Korean and "western" entrepreneurs or businesses, or individual entrepreneurs on the mainland.
None of these people (by definition,) are CCP members, although the govt. did finally get around to ammending the constitution last year to henceforth
permit businesspeople to join the party. The constitution previously barred their membership.
The govt. in China is getting out of business at the fastest rate of any country in history (barring the USSR which sorely fucked it up we must remember) and is divesting itself of State Owned Enterprises (SOE) at a solid pace.
China learned a lesson from the breakup of the USSR and is taking things as carefully as possible. That said, the genie really is out of the bottle. It's a huge country and the centre has no immediate control over what happens outside of Beijing. What with a billion or more entrepreneurs running around and very few real rules at all.
It really is very free in China, much like I imagine the "wild west" was. Personal freedoms are broad and there are really only a few things that are prohibited. These prohibitions, of course, are on very important aspects of freedom, but on a day-to-day level, people are free to get on with their lives as they wish. And they do.
They don't give a shit about the sick, the disabled, or even their elderly.
Well, again, as a developiing country with a vast, impovorished population spread across a vast geographical landscape, you'll appreciate that healthcare provision and care of the elderly is not an easy matter.
That said, while I often despair at the level of discrimination suffered by the disabled, I would argue that when it comes to parental piety and fidelity, the Chinese respect and look after their elderly far better than families do in the west. It is a very important, traditional and longstanding apect of Chinese culture.
Healthcare is patchy and the system has gaps and flaws. Standards vary. That said, provision is improving and already offers a life expectancy of 72 years. It can't be all that bad!
They truely have the worst aspects of both systems. They've got all the capitalist inequality without the opportunity, and they've got all the communist state control and one of the most brutal inhumane criminal justice systems in the entire world.
I would tend to agree that does seem that there is a rather extreme mix.
That said, I think we also need to see the direction in which things are headed. Personal freedom is already broad, and civil and political freedoms are certainly far greater than 25 years ago, although much remains to be done. This will continue.
The rampant capitalism I feel is a result of China being in the early stage of economic development. As the economy matures and civil and political liberalisation increases, I think things will balance out better and interact more smoothly.
Many of the institutions required for a functioning democracy are simply not in place yet but progress in the economy will enevitably drag society forward towards a more liberal regime.
Anyhow, gorra rush out for dinner, I'll get to the rest when I can.
Woof
Remains to be seen if the provincial govt will intervene, or how the local town officials in Panyu will now respond. 
.
to you!
