I mean like:
- Chinese (Edit: Mandarin Chinese) will become the lingua franca of the world
- The Internation Aviation Language will (probably) become Chinese (replacing Aviation English)
- Lunar New year becomes a popular holiday (like Chrismas is currently popular worldwide)
- The Internet will use mostly Chinese Chracter
- And instead of 26 Latin based characters, you’ll have to learn thousands of characters, imagine that 😅 (or just use a translator tool 🤷♂️)
- There would be a China version of Hollywood, taking over the original Hollywood
- Fengshui becomes a thing that the world starts to care about
- UN Headquarters now located in Shanghai (I’m guessing this is the most “international” city in China, right?)
- Boeing is dead, some Chinese airplane manufacturer now dominates, competing with Airbus.
- Baidu is default search engine (now with less censorship due to democrarization)
- Harmony OS (Huawei’s Android fork) become the new “Apple”, iPhone is now insignificant, ranking below Motorola in terms of market share.
- Either Windows get brought by some Chinese Bussiness person, or there China makes a Linux distribution that starts off as Open Source with some proprietary components (like how Android is), then eventually becoming Closed Source once they overtake Windows. Lets call it PandaOS (I’m not creative with names 'mmkay)
- etc…
Sounds like an interesting world 🤔
What do you think?
There should never be a global super power. Ever.
Linguistically, I want neither English but Chinese, but an auxiliary language to be the lingua franca. I already know Esperanto, so this would be a good candidate as far as I’m concerned. There’s no way I’m learning Chinese.
I want to see as much nonfree closed source software replaced by FOSS as possible, no matter who makes it.
The others (pop culture, companies) wouldn’t bother me much at all. But I don’t think Christmas would stop being popular at least in Europe.
Can it become a global superpower without becoming “democratic”?
Because that means a liberal western style democracy right? Where policies enacted by representatives only benefit 1% of the people? Like scientific research has shown that like 10% of laws passed actually represent the will of the vast majority of people. And 50% represent the will of the 1%.
While in China people are constantly polled (like monthly or weekly sometimes) about their opinions, situations, desires, and then laws are formed from that. They participate in local government in councils, and directly decide how their immediate community lives.
What even is democracy? To me it’s to have the will of the people represented in our states.
This doesn’t happen anywhere in the west. When was the last time a government in any major western country was POPULAR. And did what people actually wanted?
How is THAT democracy?
Nah democracy doesn’t work, I would rather it stay the vanguard system and rule the world
No. Even if they dramatically changed on all fronts, became a democracy, promoted LGBT+ and racial civil rights, broke up their concentration camps, stopped surveiling citizens, gave people true elections, and stopped cracking down on political opponents, their nation is facing an extremely serious gender and population imbalance, one that will have drastic impacts on their society and stability in the next 30 years. A large portion of their workforce is going to retire and cannot be sustained by the smaller population that are kids and teens now. There’s also a severe gender imbalance from the One Child Policy favoring boys over girls. There’s no getting off that train, and shit like incel culture and a ton of retirees causes bad political instability. Or wars, to distract from problems at home, like what Russia is doing.
It’s going to be a massive problem since they don’t have much in the way of immigration, and even if they got a ton of people pregnant now, they are still facing down a 10+ year deficit of people.
Hell, the only reason why we aren’t in the same boat is that we didn’t implement boneheaded policies like that, and immigration helps offset our birthrate being below the replacement rate of people. We depend on immigrants as much as they depend on us.
This reads more like “do you care if Chinese culture becomes popular and dominant” and I am not sure. Except for the language (which I don’t think I could learn before I die) I don’t care, the music is good, movies, dance. And China and India are both so populous it would make logical sense to me that one might be the trend-setting culture.
But politically I think it more likely that the US finds its way back to democracy, than China finding its way there.
no.
why?
because democracies don’t work in a world devoid of consequences against the rich and powerful.
I wouldn’t have a problem with any actually democratic country being a superpower since I’ve always lived in a democratic superpower. Though it’s flawed and not the greatest, it sure as Hell would beat growing up in an authoritarian superpower.
As for the things listed, I wouldn’t mind the whole Chinese becoming the defacto world language considering I could probably learn it and if not, translation tools are better than ever before in most cases. I wouldn’t mind Chinese Hollywood so long as they were making quality animated films (which is way more than possible for them currently, just look at films like Legend of Hei and Big Fish and Begonia). Fengshui as a spiritual practice I can’t get behind personally, but have no problems with.
Got no complaints about where UN headquarters would be moved to in this hypothetical so long as it’s not an authoritarian country. I don’t mind Lunar New Year becoming a major holiday since it’s fairly harmless as a concept (just don’t go blowing yourself up with firecrackers somehow). So long as the safety and privacy measures are roughly the same and I’m not being uber spied on, don’t really care who has control of business manufacturing, no authoritarian country though.
Knowing Baidu, without the government requirement to censor, they’d become the new gøøgle in this hypothetical world, so you wouldn’t catch me directly using it. Don’t have enough info on harmony to make a statement about it since I usually just use budget samsun phones with their android tweaks. As for windows/Linux, there are already whole entire Linux distros (like Deepin) that may be forks of one of the big distros but are their own thing. But knowing me, I’d still stick with whatever Linux I am using at the time, so little to no impact for me there.
All in all, I don’t have a problem in this hypothetical. But that’s something we’re pretty far away from ever becoming a reality, though.
since I’ve always lived in a democratic superpower. Though it’s flawed and not the greatest, it sure as Hell would beat growing up in an authoritarian superpower.
Hold onto that thought for the next four years. I suspect this statement is going to age like milk before the next “election”.
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China already is a superpower
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There can be more than one superpower
They mean global hegemon. China isn’t that.
Global Superpower
Like pervasive American influence into everything. Military bases everywhere. Hollywood everywhere. Internet is mostly American sites with American users, taking about American politics. But replace all that with China.
yeah, it honestly is already like that
China is already like that, just outside the West. Even in the West you’re not going to find a single person that doesn’t have a bit of Chinese goods and/or culture in their daily life.
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There has to be more than one superpower. Humanity is too immature to behave itself without the threat of mutually assured destruction.
Most of the bullshit American hegemony really started to ramp up after the fall of the USSR when the US found itself unchecked. It could basically go in and fuck up whatever country they felt like. At least during the cold war, they had to consider the possibility of a power equal to their own countering them. Without a check and balance on the world stage, the U.S. has proven itself repeatedly to be without a doubt, the villain of the story.
Most of the bullshit American hegemony really started to ramp up after the fall of the USSR when the US found itself unchecked.
Every single U.S. president since WWII - except for maybe Carter, who had his hand forced - is fully deserving of being brought up for war crimes. American imperialism never really intensified after 1991, it just stepped out from the shadows and became more overt.
Yeah. I worded that wrong for sure.
The policy of American intervention began in South America going as far back as the early 1900s, followed by the middle east after WW1 and Asia-Pacific after WW2.
“Ramp up” was the wrong choice of words, for sure. “Emboldened” to not try to hide it anymore would be more accurate.
My apologies. Thanks for clarifying.
Sure why not?
Depends on whether or not China shifts demographically as well. They’re currently too xenophobic and monocultural. Look at most western developed country and you’ll see quite a bit of diversity. I don’t think you’ll ever have a global superpower that is so set on race or where you were born.
China is definitely not immigration friendly.
China is not easy to immigrate to, true. But saying they are monocultures or xenophobic is CRAZY.
China has way more peoples and cultures than most countries. It has waaaay more languages officially spoken and taught in school than the US. It’s more comparable to the EU, if it had formed like a thousand years earlier.
Just search a couple of random Chinese provinces or autonomous regions (places where minorities self-govern 😲) in like the north and the south, or the west and the east, and read on the culture and ethnicities there.
Seriously Americans insist they have such vast cultural differences within the US, because “here we say pop and there they say soda; most people here are anabaptist, but there they are Methodists”.
Bro in China they speak languages that are not even related. They follow religions that are separated by thousands of years. They have cultural practices that are unique to their region that developed for thousands and thousands of years.
China is infinitely more diverse than 90% of countries in the world.
If China becomes democratic it is no longer China anywhere as we know it. The agenda is still, AFAIK, that the totalitarian regime is necessary for another undisclosed amount of time with the end goal to transition into full communism.
The problem is of course that the party elite quite enjoy this position they are in and are in no hurry for any societal transitions in any direction whatsoever.
So, in my mind, your question is at best some imaginary world building for a fictional scenario that has no connection with reality.
The alternative reality you live in is fascinating.
Would you mind elaborating?
Edit; I got curious and checked out some post history. It’s a tankie. No need to bother then. It will just be arrogance and smug insults and world history that strangely nobody except other tankies find truthful.
I think the point was to have it as a mental exercise. Personally I’d be fine with it. My main issue with China is the entire genocidal surveillance ethnostate with little to no civil liberties and full restricted speech. If it opened up to allow criticism of the government, protests, protection of LGBTQ folks and legal marriage, I’d be more on board.
But yes, that’s not the China we see today and likely never going to see in our lifetimes.
I don’t care which country is the global super power as long as it adhere to the liberal world order and all that comes with it.
I want to leave in peace, enjoy my human rights and not have to worry about other countries using arms to push their will.But also: a lot of those points have nothing to do with who the global super power is
Appendix: maybe I was vague but my answer is that as long as the super power follows the rule-based order (as it is supposed to be obviously) it doesn’t matter who that super power is. China, Russia, USA, Albania, the Vatican, Congo, w/e.
Understand that might does not make right and follow the same rules as the lesser states and I’m happy.Hummm the “liberal world order” is 100% “countries” using arms to push their will. Countries being “the west”.
And YOU having “human rights” is not really dependent on the “liberal world order”. Most of your rights were won by blood and tears during the late 1800s and early 1900s, through popular movements mostly ideologically aligned first with anarchism then with communism.
Also, the vast majority of the world not having human rights and being colonized and exploited IS your “liberal world order”.
So not really sure how you specifically benefit from western imperialism, unless you are a billionaire ofc. Which I highly doubt.
adhere to the liberal world order
And YOU having “human rights” is not really dependent on the “liberal world order”. Most of your rights were won by blood and tears during the late 1800s and early 1900s, through popular movements mostly ideologically aligned first with anarchism then with communism.
You are correct in that the liberal world order is an effect of previous hardwon freedoms. What is your point? The LIO makes sure that if my government tries to take these freedoms from me it invokes international support. So a malicious government will not only have to deal with domestic pushback, but international as well.
Also, the vast majority of the world not having human rights and being colonized and exploited IS your “liberal world order”.
…which is why these countries are under sanctions for example. Take Venezuela as a case. But yes, the postcolonial debate is ongoing.
Lmao vuvuzela ok gotcha
What
Oh sorry, didn’t look at your instance. I realize now that you just wanted to shit on the liberal world order, not make a point
A lot of people in the global south might say they don’t want it to adhere to the “liberal world order”
You’re speaking from a position of privilege, and suggesting that you should keep your privilege
I don’t care. The question was if I was okay with China as the super power and my answer is that it don’t matter as long as it adheres to the liberal world order.
Get off your high horse.
China
it don’t matter as long as it adheres to the liberal world order.
Well, they don’t.
I would even say, the distance between China and a liberal world order is more than the diameter of our planet.
For sure lol
But also: a lot of those points have nothing to do with who the global super power is
I mean, Americanization of the world was helped by the fact that US became a global superpower.
Absolutely, soft power is definitely relevant.
I don’t understand why you would connect these two things. Since when does any power’s foreign policy treat those in the rest of the world as if they have any of the rights afforded to their own citizens? The US certainly doesn’t.
