Also HK is a city while mainland encompasses poorer rural areas

The system working as intended.

I think a decent measure is GDP growth rate divided by GDP per capita. I don’t have the numbers on hand but China is above average in both absolute and PPP.

Lack of public “third places”, car-centric infrastructure and lack of mixed-use zoning, lack of communal living, etc.

“Why are men so lonely?”

Yeah for sure, almost all of the US’ most impressive accomplishments were state funded. Privatize the profits, socialize the costs.

This might be a hot take here, but for all of Elon’s overhyped flops like the Hyperloop and car tunnels, the Falcon 9 does have the lowest launch cost per kg out of any rocket and is the only family of orbital rockets with a demonstrated reusable propulsive landing system. That’s not to say they’ll have the lead forever since there’s a fundamental limitation of private enterprise, but currently they’re ahead in several important ways.

It would be hilarious if there’s a repeat of the Cold War arms race, but the US goes bankrupt this time

But line still go up, so economy good!

They achieved their goals of debt trapping Ukraine and cucking Germany. Who cares about victory?

To play devil’s advocate, maybe the same reason the US claims to be democratic?

I think the PRK should be pretty known for anyone who has done a surface-level study of modern Korean history, such as reading Patriots, Traitors, and Empires.

What are your thoughts on the new Dune and the Blade Runner movies?

In our democracy, we have freedom of speech.

And of course, there are things that should be done to promote desirable cultural values other than through art and media. It could be things like promoting group activities, team sports, and socializing in school while reducing the harsh workloads that many students face to a reasonable level, for example.

Thanks for the link. It doesn’t seem like the author makes any concrete suggestions for implementing anything. Curious to see how it would translate to actual legislation. But in my admittedly amateur opinion, I think stuff like Liu Cixin’s works are a great avenue for inspiring cultural self-confidence and reinforcing socialist and Chinese values - it’s interesting to people who aren’t necessarily politically inclined and innocuous enough to make it on international platforms like Netflix, while still hinting at socialist values such as collectivism and international cooperation and making allusions to Chinese traditional culture.

I hope this involves stuff like funding primary/secondary/tertiary education in the arts and opportunities for the display and appreciation of art such as concerts, festivals, competitions, and, museums, and not just commissioning obvious propaganda and tightening censorship. As much as I love communist media such as Minning Town and 1921, it’s not improving the image of China or inspiring cultural self-confidence in people who aren’t already pro-China. Instead, we need more contemporary and not-obviously-political works like Three Body and The Wandering Earth, Lexie Liu’s The Happy Star, and The King’s Avatar. And for traditional culture, independent creators like Dianxi Xiaoge, Chef Wang Gang, and Yin Que Shi Ting have done a million times more than anything commissioned by the out-of-touch geezers who run the propaganda department. What these all have in common is that they’re made by people who have a genuine passion in an art or craft and have the opportunity to create works on their own terms.

It probably didn’t send the message he was thinking of

The US forced Europe to de-industrialize so that they can scoop up their industry. Still working on the second part. Any day now, trust me bro.

The difference is that communists don’t pretend to be impartial or apply universal rules to all groups. We stand firmly on the side of the working class. Liberals pretend to be impartial and apply the same rules to everyone, but they obviously don’t, and that’s when they get called out.