Comments on: James Fallows’ China Airborne

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 16:34:13 +0000

GT reports on the boom in Chinese flight schools as more and more Chinese are buying private planes.

By: t_co

t_co — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 13:03:57 +0000

Speaking of Chinese aviation, it seems that six hijackers got their asses handed to them by a group of Chinese passengers and crew in Xinjiang–so badly, in fact, that two of the perps died en route to the hospital.

In spite of the editorial plug to balance out the Global Times’ viewpoint by quoting Rebiya Kadeer’s ETIM, the reaction in the comments on that Daily Mail thread is mostly pro-China–by far the most pro-China reaction I’ve ever seen on a China story by a Western audience, ever. Interesting.

By: Introsphere roundup: June 13 – June 30 | The Second Estate

Introsphere roundup: June 13 – June 30 | The Second Estate — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 08:09:42 +0000

[...] James Fallows’ China Airborne [...]

By: S.K. Cheung

S.K. Cheung — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 04:41:39 +0000

“actual theoretical underpinnings”
—LOL. Theoretical underpinnings of what constitutes a good cat, or the euphemistic equivalent of “cat”. That’s a good one.

Anyway, no argument from me that the CCP knows how to write slogans. Can they write slogans that don’t make people laugh or cringe? Perhaps.

And still, absolutely nothing to do with technological innovation. THey can make slogans, but they can’t make an iPad…scratch that, they can “make” tons of iPads, but they can’t “invent” one.

By: t_co

t_co — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 04:21:36 +0000

KMT lost China cause it simply got out-debated by the CCP, both in radio, in newspaper, everywhere.

The KMT lost China because the Japanese killed off all of their best officers and men in Battle of Shanghai and the Huaihai campaigns. If the Japanese had invaded China two years later, the CCP would not have really existed.

By: The Clock

The Clock — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 02:20:39 +0000

These are not mere slogans, there are actual theoretical underpinnings behind these slogans.

No other organization is able to out-slogan and out-theoreticize the CCP.

Mao has a saying, the CCP won China with the help of 2 things: the gun and the pen.

KMT lost China cause it simply got out-debated by the CCP, both in radio, in newspaper, everywhere.

By: S.K. Cheung

S.K. Cheung — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 01:17:18 +0000

Those aren’t “innovations”; they’re just sayings, or slogans. That the CCP can come up with some catchy phrase or two is not a testament to the potential for technological innovation under the CCP’s system of censorship and information control…because it has nothing to do with technological innovation whatsoever. It’s just a CCP sales pitch.

No doubt that the CCP gets creative when trying to find ways to justify her existence. Whether the people living under the CCP system can truly be creative is another story altogether.

By: The Clock

The Clock — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 13:57:44 +0000

‘Surrouding the cities from the rural areas’, ‘On Protracted War’, ‘On 10 Major Relations’, ‘On Conflicts’, without theoretical innovations by Mao, the CCP would not have even an inkling of a chance of seizing power.

‘No Matter it is a black cat or white cat, as long as it catches mice, it’s a good cat’, ‘socialism is not poverty’, ‘let a few get rich first’, ‘Socialist Market economy with Chinese characteristics’, ‘One Country Two Systems’, without these theoretical innovations, China would’ve crumbed by the late 80′s just like the USSR did. The fact that CCP survived the shock of ’89, and went on have ever greater vitality itself is proof of its creativity and adaptability.

Did Western strategists ever envision, in the wake of 1989, that by 2012 China would be in its current state? Did Western strategists ever envision, when Hongkong got handed over in 1997, that it will be in its current state?

When it comes to politics and economics, no other entity is as creative as the CCP.

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 16:28:00 +0000

Thanks, I made the correction.

By: Missing Kunming

Missing Kunming — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 16:22:26 +0000

Loved the book. Would love to be able to fly on my own in China. One little quibble: Cirrus does not make jets. The plane Fallows copiloted at the beginning of the book was a four passenger, single engine propeller driven aircraft.