How the West shaped China's hidden battle of ideas

[alp227]

For mainland Chinese intellectuals, the journey to the West - and then back to Communist China - is now a well-trodden path.

In fact, the main schools of intellectual thought in China have one thing in common - their leading thinkers have often spent time in Western universities.

That means that for Westerners, who may struggle with China's very different language or food, Chinese policy debates are split along strikingly familiar lines.

(...)

China's "New Left" doesn't reject free markets completely, but argues for a stronger socialist state.

Many of them ended up in the West after being caught up in China's student demonstrations of the late 1980s.

full: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18741088

[lib2DaBone]

1. We have empowered China..given them everything....

..by "everything" I mean: Computer technology, manufacturing technology, Most Favored Nation, Easy money to their start -ups, lack of environmental controls....

We gave and gave.

But What did we get?

Not much.. except low wages, union busting, a lower standard of living, inferior goods flooding our markets and massive unemployment.

I just realized.. that I have described NAFTA.

[Franker65]

2. Unsurprising

Good post. Not surprising in the least that a lot of them studied in the west. It certainly is the trend - even the new North Korean leader studied in Switzerland. Doesn't look like he's implementing too many western policies there though...