Firaxis and the Gross Misrepresentation of Non-Western History?

[martinwgc]

There we are again! That, somehow, China can't be democratic, which, by the way, it was doing a decent job of, not too long ago(for a brief period, and I'm not talking about Jiang). There is absolutely no cultural reason that Chinese are pre-disposed to totalitarianism. The reason they can be ruled as such is that most of undeducated peasantry, and that really hasn't changed. The CCP has consistently failed to improve their lot. Most local party chiefs engage in unbelievably corrupt practices: levying taxes that don't exist, keeping a large portion of the money themselves, and using intimidation to ensure they get their way. And what do the party chiefs in Beijing do? NOTHING. They don't fund rural hospitals, or rural schools anywhere approaching adequately, if at all. They cruelly oppress non-Chinese groups.

While it is true thay have overseen progress, especially economically, I would contend that that is in spite of the corrupt and inefficient CCP, not in any way because of it..

I will have to disagree to what you say here. The Communist Party of China did a LOT to the peasants, most of which are not recognized and known by westerners.

For a brief review, before 1949, the rural area of China are basically composed of two groups of people: rich landlords and poor landless peasants. There are very few independant peasants who own their own land. Peasants were basically illiterate. There was zero health care in rural area as well.

After 1949, CCP managed to rip the land off the landlords, beat the crap out of them, and killed a whole bunch, and divided the land among the peasants, that's the Land Revolution.

Later on, CCP simplified Chinese written language, to make the majority of Chinese learn Chinese in an easier way. There were rarely anyone who could read a letter in rural areas 60 years ago, and there are rarely anyone who cannot write a letter in China nowadays--big difference.

After the CR, CCP abandoned the idea of joint working in rural area, and allowed individual working, which allowed the first bloom in rural areas in China, which ended around 1986. After that, hunger was basically exterminated in China.

The peasants were sacrificed during the modernization from 1986 to 2000, during which the urban areas were blooming, and Chinese economy flourished. However, after Hu Jintao came into power, he put his emphasis on peasants again. Heathcare insurance programs started in rural area (far from completed yet). Agricultural tax was annilated. Students in rural areas are enjoying the ' 3 exempt 1 compensate' program, which means the poor students don't have to pay anything for school and recieve a small amount of money monthly to help them relieve economic pressure on families. The 'village-village communication' program has almost completed, which means every single village in China now have satellite TV and have concrete roads. Also in the past few years, the peasants start getting money from government by growing crops in field (like rice and wheat).

All of these happen during CCP administration. I don't mean the peasants in China are having a great time, or enjoy simlilar quality life as those living in cities, but it's improving, slowly but steadily.

 

[martinwgc]

I am amazed by the knowledge of China and the depth of thought and discussion by a lot of people in this thread. I have never ever seen any such in-depth and relatively un-biased discussion since I came to America 4 years ago. What I regularly hear is how brutal and underdeveloped the communist China is and all those human right bullxxxt. It looks to me that there are indeed quite some people who know and understand what China really is in the United States.

 

[mythmonster2]

I am amazed by the knowledge of China and the depth of thought and discussion by a lot of people in this thread. I have never ever seen any such in-depth and relatively un-biased discussion since I came to America 4 years ago. What I regularly hear is how brutal and underdeveloped the communist China is and all those human right bullxxxt. It looks to me that there are indeed quite some people who know and understand what China really is in the United States.

Welcome to CFC! Also, yeah, we CFC folk are pretty decent. Most of us.

 

[Roxlimn]

Most Americans who actually give some thought and study to what they say are reasonable. In general, they're a reasonable and pragmatic sort of people. It's just that in the US itself, most Americans know little to nothing about international topics, and what they do know is usually molded by opinion shapers and policy-makers.

Not that this is an unusual situation for people in general, but it does bear keeping in mind. If you're a Chinese national, you might also want to know that most Americans I know are very vocal about their thoughts and their opinions, regardless of how well informed they are, so that might make them sound more stupid than they really are, or in comparison to other peoples who are more apt to keep their mouths shut. They like it, they believe that it makes them a better people. It's not fair and it's not safe to judge them based on such behavior.

 

[ukrneal]

For those interested, a long article on China and the environment:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/world/asia/26china.html?ex=1189828800&en=d5ce228e535010c7&ei=5070

You need to be a NYT registered user to read (though reg is free).