re: #191 wheat-dogghazi-mailgate

China positioned itself deliberately as the factory to the world back in the 1980s. Its most easily exploitable natural resource then was people who could work in factories for much lower wages than were paid anywhere else. The government fixed the yuan to encourage foreign investment and enable cheap exports. It was a masterful plan, and now China’s domestic economy is still growing, and the people for the most part are optimistic their children will have a better life than they do now. The big question is how long can this economic model last. If the Chinese economy starts to sour, the government might try to distract a discontented population with some kind of ultra-nationalist provocation.

It is interesting to think about that. You raise a good point about nationalism too. I think a lot of Westerners don’t realize that China is far from a monolithic ethnic coutnry.