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Fantastic Flyer
Aug 9, 2017
So Xi is pretty much setting himself up to seize power, right? Or is this kind of thing normal in China?

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vanity slug
Jul 20, 2010

why would he want to seize power when he's already firmly entrenched

Barudak
May 7, 2007

Fantastic Flyer posted:

So Xi is pretty much setting himself up to seize power, right? Or is this kind of thing normal in China?

Its very normal for the guy who is going to rule a country until he dies to do this.

hakimashou
Jul 15, 2002
Upset Trowel
Hu Jintao with his crooked glasses and perfect hair will always be the president of china of my heart.


<3 <3

Coolguye
Jul 6, 2011

Required by his programming!
posing on a glass scaffold a million feet in the air NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

GoutPatrol
Oct 17, 2009

*Stupid Babby*

Jeoh posted:

why would he want to seize power when he's already firmly entrenched

The current post-Deng CCP has relied on having "generational" waves of leaders controlling for a 10 year time period. The Politburo Standing Committee was a way to groom your successor and then they would take over. At the halfway point (where we are now with Xi) you are supposed to be nominating someone at the lower level of this committee who should then become the leader in 2022.

All of this stuff was Jiang's idea as a way to have a peaceful transition of power. It has really only happened twice (Jiang>Hu>Xi) and people are predicting Xi won't go away in 2022.

ladron
Sep 15, 2007

eso es lo que es

Coolguye posted:

posing on a glass scaffold a million feet in the air NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

the one girl has her eyes closed in every picture

Grand Fromage
Jan 30, 2006

L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?


Jeoh posted:

why would he want to seize power when he's already firmly entrenched

Yeah he doesn't have to seize anything. Either he's going to remain past the second term or do the ol' traditional East Asia thing of "retiring" and then controlling things through puppets until he dies.

Mistle
Oct 11, 2005

Eckot's comic relief cousin from out of town
Grimey Drawer
I know Xi's platform is heavy on the anti-corruption, but is it actually rooting out corruption, or centralizing the grift?

Grand Fromage
Jan 30, 2006

L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?


Look into your heart for the truth.

There is some actual anti-corruption, just like there is actual work being done on reducing pollution, because the Party is not stupid and is aware these are both issues that threaten their long-term power structure so solving them is in their own best interest. Nothing is ever done for the benefit of the people, but occasionally things that benefit the Party also have some trickle down benefits to the general population.

vanity slug
Jul 20, 2010

he is actually rooting out corruption*

*unless they're his allies

Pirate Radar
Apr 18, 2008

You're not my Ruthie!
You're not my Debbie!
You're not my Sherry!
The guy running the anti-corruption campaign was Xi’s roommate when they were both shoveling poo poo during the Cultural Revolution, and had economic experience but no disciplinary credentials, so what do you think the answer is?

simplefish
Mar 28, 2011

So long, and thanks for all the fish gallbladdΣrs!


He's removed his enemies well before this - and yes technically removing corruption because who isn't corrupt to get to that level of the CCP? Plus I'd wager it's like nobody trusts the guy who won't join in the illegal prostitute orgy at the KTV: in some circles of China, you're only trustworthy if the other person has something on you, and you have something to lose. Obviously it's expected to be made reciprocal, hence the orgies. Amd also because, y'know, orgy.


Anyway, the big question was what would he do next, after he'd removed all meaningful opposition. What did he have planned, that he didn't want people to stand in the way of? Economic reform? Cultutal rejuvenation?

And the answer seems to be "make myself Mao Mk II"

Barudak
May 7, 2007

If hes Mao Mark 2 somebody should let him know he still needs to shower.

CIGNX
May 7, 2006

You can trust me
The rumor of Xi Jinping's ascendance was that he was a compromise choice between the Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao factions. He wasn't allied with either but he also wasn't against either. Also, given his princeling credentials it was assumed that Xi would keep the current system of politics as is. What I think happened was the Bo Xilai scandal and its public airing gave Xi an opportunity to give himself political independence. He could create an anti-corruption campaign as a reaction to the Bo scandal, but then use it to destroy the power-base of these factions, weaken their grip on the political system, and give himself the ability to pursue his own agenda without worrying about who to please or placate.

Xi enshrining himself at the same level as Mao was a demonstration of his control over the party. This kind of grandiose, personality-cult-ish political statement is counter to how Mainland Chinese politics has functioned post-Mao. But I think this was Xi making a very public and obvious statement to the rest of the party that he is fully in control now.

But maybe that's what Xi wants it to look like? Maybe Xi's consolidation of power isn't complete? There's been persistent rumors that he's pursuing a third term in violation of the constitution (lol like that means anything). A third term would give him more time to accrue power and also delay the succession of a hostile president from another faction that would surely take revenge against Xi. Who knows.

oohhboy
Jun 8, 2013

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Xi isn't going away until he dies. You wouldn't do all that poo poo if you don't intend to stay. The "Thought" is all about compliance as it is garbage.

He isn't going to pull a Putin, he is going for Kim Jong Il.

I would blow Dane Cook
Dec 26, 2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddWnP9C9r7k

LentThem
Aug 31, 2004

90% Retractible

hakimashou posted:

Hu Jintao with his crooked glasses and perfect hair will always be the president of china of my heart.

I liked that he was so nondescript and non-noteworthy in his accomplishments that people referred to his leadership as the 'lost decade'
http://www.dw.com/en/looking-back-at-chinas-lost-decade/a-16667956

I would blow Dane Cook
Dec 26, 2008
A car owner in northern China called in the police when he was stopped in his tracks by a new kind of extortion threat.

The motorist awoke on Sunday morning in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, to find a bicycle from a local sharing scheme clamped to the wheel of his car and a demand for 200 yuan (US$30) for the combination to the lock, Yanzhao Evening News reported on Monday.

The victim, who was identified only by his surname Zhang, parked the vehicle on the street on Saturday night as he could not find a space in an undercover car park, the report quoted him as saying.

[The target of the extortion attempt called the police who were able to release the bike using bolt cutters. Photo: Chinanews.com]

A note attached to the vehicle demanded he pay the “ransom” in the form of a digital red envelope – a modern version of the traditional Chinese gift – via the messaging app WeChat, and provided the necessary account details.

Zhang, however, was not a man to be bullied and instead contacted the local police who were able to release the bike with the help of a pair of high-power bolt cutters.

Parked car blocking the way? Chinese firm hires crane to move it ... and leave it on the roof

Police officer Yang Zhanjun was quoted as saying he had never before encountered such a form of extortion. The report did not say if the police had been able to identify the perpetrator.

In the past, criminals have been known to “kidnap” licence plates and even wing mirrors from luxury cars and demand ransoms for their safe return, the report said. It did not say what type of car Zhang owned.

Yang said motorists should use car parks fitted with surveillance cameras wherever possible to reduce the chances of becoming a victim of car crime.

Grand Fromage
Jan 30, 2006

L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?


LentThem posted:

I liked that he was so nondescript and non-noteworthy in his accomplishments that people referred to his leadership as the 'lost decade'
http://www.dw.com/en/looking-back-at-chinas-lost-decade/a-16667956

Japan is the Great Satan so it's very important to copy literally everything from them.

oohhboy
Jun 8, 2013

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

A car owner in northern China called in the police when he was stopped in his tracks by a new kind of extortion threat.

The motorist awoke on Sunday morning in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, to find a bicycle from a local sharing scheme clamped to the wheel of his car and a demand for 200 yuan (US$30) for the combination to the lock, Yanzhao Evening News reported on Monday.

I am far more surprised that the police did anything to help him.

underage at the vape shop
May 11, 2011

by Cyrano4747
Why didn't he just walk to the hardware shop and buy some bolt cutters?

simplefish
Mar 28, 2011

So long, and thanks for all the fish gallbladdΣrs!


I guess because if someone says "im committing a crime, btw heres my personal contact details" why not get the police involved to nab the bastard?

simplefish
Mar 28, 2011

So long, and thanks for all the fish gallbladdΣrs!


And "someone is trying to extort me, I gotta wait for the cops" is a pretty good excuse for skipping a morning at work

Bajaj
Sep 13, 2017

by FactsAreUseless

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

“Xi Jinping Thought” is based, in part, on restoring China to greatness, a goal that has guided Mr. Xi’s policies. His new status sends a clear signal that any challenge to him now amounts to ideological heresy.
I like that that is not a goal that people can measure. He can just be like "Yep, we great riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight... now!" and then people will clap.

I would blow Dane Cook
Dec 26, 2008

Bajaj posted:

I like that that is not a goal that people can measure. He can just be like "Yep, we great riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight... now!" and then people will clap.

We're going to make China great folks.

Double Monocle
Sep 4, 2008

Smug as fuck.
I had some fun teaching JSDAF how to (pretend) to military, I can imagine chinas is so much worse.


C.A.P.- 36-17-90- Cleaning human remains off tank treads.
By the office of the 5000 years of history, did you know? this publication hereby states.....

Fleta Mcgurn
Oct 5, 2003

Porpoise noise continues.
"This guy drives a BIKE. He must be loaded! Let's rip him off!" :confused:

bongwizzard
May 19, 2005

Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"
Grimey Drawer
I went to a Sichuan place in DC last night and I think I am in love. I have never really experienced the peppercorn thing before and I love it!

I am dragging some friends back next week, please tell me what to order:
http://www.pandagourmetdc.net/menu.aspx

Last night we had dan dan noodles, ma po tofu, some dumplings, and the "cumin beef chinese burger". It was all amazing and I need more numb/spicy in my life.

Whooping Crabs
Apr 13, 2010

Sorry for the derail but I fuckin love me some racoons
Scamming with Chinese characteristics:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/chinatowns-ghost-scam


quote:

Wang, who works as a health aide for elderly Chinese, is sixty-one and careworn, with drooping eyelids so thin that I could see the wine-colored veins that threaded through them. Since coming to the United States, thirty-two years ago, she has been outside New York just once, and the only places she has lived in are the Manhattan Chinatown and the Brooklyn one, in Bensonhurst.

One afternoon in late April of last year, she was leaving the Bensonhurst branch of Marshalls when an agitated woman in her early forties rushed up to her. “I’m looking for a doctor called Xu,” the woman said, in rapid-fire Cantonese. “It’s urgent—for my daughter.”
Wang had been to plenty of traditional Chinese-medicine practitioners in the neighborhood, but she’d never heard of a Dr. Xu. “He is very well known here,” the woman went on. “I think he’s my daughter’s only hope.” She said that the girl had begun her first menstrual bleeding two weeks earlier and nothing would staunch the flow. Friends spoke of Dr. Xu as a miracle worker, but no one knew where to find him.

A woman passing by overheard and interjected, “Are you talking about theDr. Xu? He’s a treasure. I have him to thank for my mother-in-law’s incredible recovery.” When the first woman asked for more details, the newcomer shrugged. “He’s become a real recluse in recent years,” she said. “I don’t even know if he sees patients anymore.”

Wang was curious. She’d had her own share of ailments. A decade ago, she had surgery to remove a tumor in one of her ovaries, and, a dozen or so years before that, her husband had suffered a back injury that left him unable to work. She became responsible for supporting their two young children. “I would tell the kids, ‘Mama is not hungry today—you guys hurry up and eat,’ ” she told me. At the time, she made around a hundred and thirty dollars a week, at a garment factory on Grand Street, and the physical demands of the work had ravaged her body.

As Wang and her new acquaintances talked, it turned out that the woman who’d met Dr. Xu was from a village not far from where Wang had grown up. She introduced herself as Liu, asked about Wang’s husband and children, and extended an open invitation to have tea at a bakery she owned with her husband. Wang was touched by her solicitude. It reminded her of life back in Taishan, where you’d constantly cross paths with acquaintances and there was a web of trust, woven over generations, from the reciprocal exchange of favors. If you had an unfamiliar problem, you’d seek out a shu ren, a “familiar person,” to help. In the U.S., however, Chinese people shared less about themselves. “Everything is business,” Wang said.

Wang was talking about her children when Liu called out to a woman with large sunglasses and a backpack who was walking toward them. “We were just looking for your grandfather!” Liu exclaimed. Dr. Xu’s granddaughter said that he had been very sick and had stopped taking patients. He now devoted himself to good deeds, in order to build Karma as his end approached.

Liu begged the granddaughter to make an exception, and she agreed to try to talk him round. “He will refuse your money,” she warned, as she left. “If he agrees to see you, it will be strictly as friends.”

“I’ve never had terribly good fortune,” Wang told me. “It’s always been endurance—life lived on a boiling kettle.” But for the first time in a long while she felt as if her luck were turning. She had heard about doctors who had amazing powers, but she’d never encountered one. Now it seemed that she might get a free consultation.

The women waited on the street, and when the granddaughter returned her face had darkened. She addressed Wang by name, although Wang didn’t recall having given her name. “It’s about your unmarried son,” the granddaughter said. Wang hadn’t told her about her son, either. The granddaughter said that Dr. Xu had lit three sticks of incense at an altar, one for each woman. Liu’s stick burned brightly, because of the good deed she had done by referring the others, but the other two sticks immediately blew out. The mother of the girl with menstrual problems was told that an offended spirit in the underworld was responsible. The news for Wang was even more dire: her son was in mortal danger. Because she had recently crossed a street in the exact spot where a pregnant woman had been killed two decades earlier, the spirit of the unborn child, a girl, had latched on to Wang, intent upon claiming her son for a husband. “My grandfather sees a great white tiger, a very ill omen,” the woman warned. Wang asked if she couldn’t just keep her son safe at home. The woman shook her head. “If the spirit wants him, she can make the most harmless actions fatal,” she said. “Your son might choke on his next sip of water.”

Wang was terrified. Everyone in China knew about ming hun, or ghost marriages. The mother of one of Wang’s classmates had lost a son at a young age and was plagued with ill health for years, until a local shaman found a suitable wife in the underworld, a girl in the village who had died in infancy. Now Wang listened, as Dr. Xu’s granddaughter told her that, to avoid the curse, her valuables must be blessed immediately. She added a caveat: “You can’t contact anyone. You will spook the spirit into taking action faster.”

“It was my son’s life,” Wang told me. “How could I have taken a chance?” Liu accompanied Wang to her apartment, to fetch her valuables. “Everything will be O.K., sister,” she said. She’d endured difficulties herself, she confided, and Dr. Xu had always seen her through them. “He doesn’t take a cent,” she said. “And, of course, no funny business with your valuables.” She held up her hand to show Wang a gold band set with carved jade. “How else would I still have this ring?” As they reached Wang’s apartment building, Liu offered a last admonition: “Just be careful. Dr. Xu’s eyes are omnipresent. If you try to collect only a portion of your valuables, the blessings won’t work and your son will remain in danger.”

Like many immigrants, Wang had never had much use for banks. Her life savings—around a hundred and fifty thousand dollars—were hidden in a box and in other places around her bedroom. Not even her family knew how much was in it. She took the money and some wedding jewelry she almost never wore, put everything into plastic bags, and placed the bundle in a zippered shopping bag.

The granddaughter was waiting for them on the street corner where they’d met. She held out a large bag and told Wang to put her package inside. Then she spun Wang around and told her to join her palms together in prayer, bow, and recite a chant: “Peace and safety to my child, may the bodhisattva protect him.” Wang vaguely remembers the granddaughter tracing her fingers through the air, as if drawing calligraphy, and at one point holding both hands up to the mute gray sky. But, almost as soon as the ceremony had begun, it was over. The bag was returned to Wang, along with two bottles of spring water. One was to be used to cook rice, and the other was for drinking: everyone in the family must take a sip. The bag should not be opened for forty-nine days or the blessing would be undone.

Liu took Wang’s hands. “It’s fate that we met,” she said, by way of farewell. As Wang walked home, she felt that the bag had become oddly lighter than she remembered. She broke into a run, clutching the bag, and tore it open as soon as she was home. Inside, all she found was boxes of cornstarch and laundry detergent. That evening, her son took her to the police.

bamhand
Apr 15, 2010

bongwizzard posted:

I went to a Sichuan place in DC last night and I think I am in love. I have never really experienced the peppercorn thing before and I love it!

I am dragging some friends back next week, please tell me what to order:
http://www.pandagourmetdc.net/menu.aspx

Last night we had dan dan noodles, ma po tofu, some dumplings, and the "cumin beef chinese burger". It was all amazing and I need more numb/spicy in my life.

Get the deep fried pig intestines and the sliced beef in a fiery pot.

Fleta Mcgurn
Oct 5, 2003

Porpoise noise continues.

bongwizzard posted:

I went to a Sichuan place in DC last night and I think I am in love. I have never really experienced the peppercorn thing before and I love it!

I am dragging some friends back next week, please tell me what to order:
http://www.pandagourmetdc.net/menu.aspx

Last night we had dan dan noodles, ma po tofu, some dumplings, and the "cumin beef chinese burger". It was all amazing and I need more numb/spicy in my life.

OH gently caress YEAH

I miss Sichuan food so much.

Try:

Laziji (dry-fried chicken and chilies) - didn't see this on the menu, but you could ask
Chuanbei liangfen (bean jelly with a savory sauce) - ditto
Huigou rou (twice-cooked pork with scallions) [105]
Cumin lamb [120]

Grand Fromage
Jan 30, 2006

L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?


bongwizzard posted:

I went to a Sichuan place in DC last night and I think I am in love. I have never really experienced the peppercorn thing before and I love it!

I am dragging some friends back next week, please tell me what to order:
http://www.pandagourmetdc.net/menu.aspx

Last night we had dan dan noodles, ma po tofu, some dumplings, and the "cumin beef chinese burger". It was all amazing and I need more numb/spicy in my life.

Man this is hard without Chinese on the menu. 106 and 150 are good, I think what they're translating as "hot garlic sauce" is yuxiang sauce which is awesome. 148 is probably ganbian sijidou which is amazing. I don't see it on the menu but you could ask if they can make ganguo huacai 干锅花菜 which is pretty much my favorite veggie dish.

Fleta Mcgurn
Oct 5, 2003

Porpoise noise continues.
The Dr. Xu story rules.

bongwizzard
May 19, 2005

Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"
Grimey Drawer

bamhand posted:

Get the deep fried pig intestines and the sliced beef in a fiery pot.

Fleta Mcgurn posted:

OH gently caress YEAH

I miss Sichuan food so much.

Try:

Laziji (dry-fried chicken and chilies) - didn't see this on the menu, but you could ask
Chuanbei liangfen (bean jelly with a savory sauce) - ditto
Huigou rou (twice-cooked pork with scallions) [105]
Cumin lamb [120]

Grand Fromage posted:

Man this is hard without Chinese on the menu. 106 and 150 are good, I think what they're translating as "hot garlic sauce" is yuxiang sauce which is awesome. 148 is probably ganbian sijidou which is amazing. I don't see it on the menu but you could ask if they can make ganguo huacai 干锅花菜 which is pretty much my favorite veggie dish.

Thanks all!

The actual menu is almost all in Chinese, often with obviously different Chinese characters translated into almost identical english descriptions, so any advice will help.

The friend I was with was not super into spicy stuff so I didn't go crazy, but man I am going to next time.

The cumin beef "burger" was great, I have never thought of using cumin as the dominant flavor in a dish but oh man I am going to now.

bamhand
Apr 15, 2010

bongwizzard posted:

Thanks all!

The actual menu is almost all in Chinese, often with obviously different Chinese characters translated into almost identical english descriptions, so any advice will help.

The friend I was with was not super into spicy stuff so I didn't go crazy, but man I am going to next time.

The cumin beef "burger" was great, I have never thought of using cumin as the dominant flavor in a dish but oh man I am going to now.

Cumin goes great with anything lamb. It's popular among the Muslim communities in China. Definitely try the intestine if you haven't before and it doesn't make you squeamish. They're fried to be crispy on the outside and juicy once you bite into them, it's amazing. The beef thing I suggested is considered a classic Sichuan dish even though I think it's just ok. It's basically slices of beef "blanched" in chili oil.

bamhand fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Oct 25, 2017

Whooping Crabs
Apr 13, 2010

Sorry for the derail but I fuckin love me some racoons

Fleta Mcgurn posted:

The Dr. Xu story rules.

I can't believe she fell for the old "Your son is being haunted by a dead fetus that wants a husband, bring me all of your valuables in a sack so I can spin you around until the curse is lifted; also don't open the sack for 49 days" scam.

nerdz
Oct 12, 2004


Complex, statistically improbable things are by their nature more difficult to explain than simple, statistically probable things.
Grimey Drawer
China's first effort to create the perfect redshirt AI is pretty bad

https://twitter.com/MiriamElder/status/922505930515808257

Look at the replies here

https://twitter.com/Morrigellan/status/922735405056659456

https://twitter.com/Warillen/status/922735421250879488

https://twitter.com/youqingsuiyue8/status/922667548675522560

https://twitter.com/p5f2ElAELBxRsIg/status/922717468820307968

nerdz fucked around with this message at 18:30 on Oct 25, 2017

Ziv Zulander
Mar 24, 2017

ZZ for short


Does anybody have a good source for the story about fake Chinese solar farms? I know fojar asked this a few pages ago but I don't think it ever got answered.

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Fojar38
Sep 2, 2011


Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia


also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

Ziv Zulander posted:

Does anybody have a good source for the story about fake Chinese solar farms? I know fojar asked this a few pages ago but I don't think it ever got answered.

Did you hear about how the Chinese are building a panda shaped solar farm?

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