/lit/ - Literature

>>19249977
Xi said something at Davos a few years ago about globalization that I think sums up their thinking:

https://youtu.be/Ys6skqxQKMk?t=356

>From the historical perspective, economic globalization resulted from growing social productivity, and is a natural outcome of scientific and technological progress, not something created by any individuals or any countries. ... As a line in an old Chinese poem goes, “Honey melons hang on bitter vines; sweet dates grow on thistles and thorns.” In a philosophical sense, nothing is perfect in the world. One would fail to see the full picture if he claims something is perfect because of its merits, or if he views something as useless just because of its defects. It is true that economic globalization has created new problems, but this is no justification to write economic globalization off completely. Rather, we should adapt to and guide economic globalization, cushion its negative impact, and deliver its benefits to all countries and all nations.

Point being, globalization is a product of technological changes and that's beyond the power of whole countries to do much about. And it's double-edged sword, so there are positives and negatives and everything is a contradiction. And if that's true, then it's better to guide it and get the positives while trying to minimize the downsides. It's the same with Chinese nationalism. It's just a thing that exists and so the question is whether to let it run out of control, bottle it up and suppress it (although that might only make it explode later), or try to guide it to get the benefits (promoting Chinese companies etc.) while minimizing the negatives.

Same with social media. There are downsides, but it can also be a useful tool for the government to figure out what's going on, or using technology to connect buyers to sellers so poor farmers can boost their incomes by growing a particular crop that's sold in urban restaurants.

Cai Qi is also notable because he had a personal social media account at a time when it was rare for Chinese officials to do so, and he quickly rose in the ranks to become the party secretary for Beijing, and he has been an advocate of (often aloof) officials using it to communicate and also get in touch with people, so if people report that something is fucked up, that can spur the government into trying to unfuck whatever the problem is. Fun fact, his Weibo account's subtitle is "Cai Qi, a Bolshevik."

Stalin:

>The third feature of production is that the rise of new productive forces and of the relations of production corresponding to them does not take place separately from the old system, after the disappearance of the old system, but within the old system; it takes place not as a result of the deliberate and conscious activity of man, but spontaneously, unconsciously, independently of the will of man.