Today's story is that China is leaving us behind in terms of infrastructure and technological integration, tomorrow's is that China leapfrogs us in technological advancement, imo. Anti-immigrant sentiment leading to brain drain, anti-science sentiment leading to degradation of universities and scientific organizations, slower STEM graduate growth in percent and absolute terms - multiple trends need to reverse, otherwise it's a simple numbers game that says China wins.
I'm not saying this to be defeatist or pro-Chinese, btw. Americans need to wake up and realize things have to change.
I think what matters here is not whether one “likes” China, or thinks communism is good, or wants to wave little flags for the CCP, which seems to me a rather dramatic misunderstanding of the point. The question is not moral admiration. The question is strategic reality.
What Prof. Pape seems to be describing is not simply that China has some impressive factories or shiny trains, but that China is building systems: universities connected to industry, manufacturing connected to energy, cities connected to logistics, AI connected to robotics, and infrastructure connected to a long-term national story about what the country is trying to become. Meanwhile, we are over here arguing about tariffs, immigrants, bathrooms, “wokeness,” revenge politics, and whatever fresh spectacle is being lowered into the national cage for us to chew on this week.
That does not make China good. It does not make authoritarianism wise. It does not erase China’s poverty, repression, demographic problems, debt, or brutality. But it may mean that while we have been preoccupied with grievance and spectacle, they have been building the material and organizational base of future power. And that, to me, is the real warning. Empire does not usually notice its hollowing out in real time. It tells itself stories about its exceptional destiny while the machinery rusts, the schools weaken, the bridges crack, the factories leave, the public sphere rots, and the people are taught to blame one another for the loss.
So no, I do not read this as “Rah Rah China.” I read it as: perhaps we should stop assuming that American primacy is a natural law. Military power rests on industrial power. Industrial power rests on education, infrastructure, energy, social trust, and the ability to organize the future. If we keep cannibalizing those things while congratulating ourselves for being free, then freedom itself becomes a slogan painted on the empty warehouse wall.
Dr. Pape — I think your point about U.S. information gaps on China is well taken, particularly at the policy level. That said, there is an increasing amount of granular, ground-level visibility emerging outside traditional media.
Long-form independent video journalism (e.g., creators like “Homeless Pelican” or “Sabbatical”) is documenting everyday life across multiple regions in China—capturing both advanced infrastructure and persistent poverty in ways that feel more ethnographically rich than typical coverage.
Notably, even in smaller cities and rural regions, the underlying level of infrastructure and daily life appears consistently advanced. Exposure to these areas would likely strengthen the conclusions you outlined.
Donald Trump is the worst spoiled brat in American history. We put an incompetent playground bully on the world stage. And we are paying a higher and higher price for having done so.
Today's story is that China is leaving us behind in terms of infrastructure and technological integration, tomorrow's is that China leapfrogs us in technological advancement, imo. Anti-immigrant sentiment leading to brain drain, anti-science sentiment leading to degradation of universities and scientific organizations, slower STEM graduate growth in percent and absolute terms - multiple trends need to reverse, otherwise it's a simple numbers game that says China wins.
I'm not saying this to be defeatist or pro-Chinese, btw. Americans need to wake up and realize things have to change.
I think what matters here is not whether one “likes” China, or thinks communism is good, or wants to wave little flags for the CCP, which seems to me a rather dramatic misunderstanding of the point. The question is not moral admiration. The question is strategic reality.
What Prof. Pape seems to be describing is not simply that China has some impressive factories or shiny trains, but that China is building systems: universities connected to industry, manufacturing connected to energy, cities connected to logistics, AI connected to robotics, and infrastructure connected to a long-term national story about what the country is trying to become. Meanwhile, we are over here arguing about tariffs, immigrants, bathrooms, “wokeness,” revenge politics, and whatever fresh spectacle is being lowered into the national cage for us to chew on this week.
That does not make China good. It does not make authoritarianism wise. It does not erase China’s poverty, repression, demographic problems, debt, or brutality. But it may mean that while we have been preoccupied with grievance and spectacle, they have been building the material and organizational base of future power. And that, to me, is the real warning. Empire does not usually notice its hollowing out in real time. It tells itself stories about its exceptional destiny while the machinery rusts, the schools weaken, the bridges crack, the factories leave, the public sphere rots, and the people are taught to blame one another for the loss.
So no, I do not read this as “Rah Rah China.” I read it as: perhaps we should stop assuming that American primacy is a natural law. Military power rests on industrial power. Industrial power rests on education, infrastructure, energy, social trust, and the ability to organize the future. If we keep cannibalizing those things while congratulating ourselves for being free, then freedom itself becomes a slogan painted on the empty warehouse wall.
Dr. Pape — I think your point about U.S. information gaps on China is well taken, particularly at the policy level. That said, there is an increasing amount of granular, ground-level visibility emerging outside traditional media.
Long-form independent video journalism (e.g., creators like “Homeless Pelican” or “Sabbatical”) is documenting everyday life across multiple regions in China—capturing both advanced infrastructure and persistent poverty in ways that feel more ethnographically rich than typical coverage.
Notably, even in smaller cities and rural regions, the underlying level of infrastructure and daily life appears consistently advanced. Exposure to these areas would likely strengthen the conclusions you outlined.
Donald Trump is the worst spoiled brat in American history. We put an incompetent playground bully on the world stage. And we are paying a higher and higher price for having done so.
Rah Rah Rah cis goom bah ..C H I N A C H I N A C H I N A....(did you see the lock down during covid when citizens were jumping out windows????)
did you know about the Maoist revolution when hundreds of thousands were killed??
What makes you think that communism is a better system? is that what is being said here..
yes advanced technologies are wonderful; we are in disarray and our infra structure needs rebuilding from the ground up...no doubt...
Rah Rah Rah cis goom bah China!!!!
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