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by tomca32 3039 days ago
"It doesn’t have heart. It doesn’t trust its own people. So it has no self-identity in the sense that it has never accepted human rights as common values. No freedom of speech, no independent judicial system."

All of this was true of the USSR and yet it was a global super-power for half a century.
2 comments
scandox 3039 days ago
China is and will be a super power but the point is it won’t have deep roots in culture and time unless it becomes driven by a wider base.
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hangonhn 3039 days ago
Man, I just now understood Ai Weiwei's statement because of your comment. China, as a civilization, has had a diminishing influence on the world, culturally speaking, since the Tang or perhaps the Song dynasty. The strictness and centralized power of the last two dynasty and current government really shackled the creative output of its people. While we can argue that the Han and Tang dynasty has an influence on the world, it's hard to say the same of the dynasties that followed.
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tabtab 3039 days ago
It was a military super-power, yes, but that was about it. With the possible exception of having some great classical-style composers, it otherwise was not an inspiring country. You sided with them to have big weapons on your side, not for any other reason.
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hangonhn 3039 days ago
I think that's a bit unfair. Their ideals did inspire a number of other countries to revolution, including China. The USSR did it first and its example was emulated by other countries with some local variations. Many of the early Chinese leaders were educated in the USSR and inspired by Lenin and even Stalin. I think it's only in our backwards looking view, having "won" the Cold War, that the USSR doesn't look so inspiring but to a early 1900s peasant, a successful peasant revolt that toppled a great empire is nothing to sneeze at.
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tomca32 3039 days ago
It also inspired half of the world and had a massive cultural, artistic and sports influence across the whole world. Space program that was well ahead of the US for a good period time.

Classical composers as you mentioned, literature (Russian realism), opera & ballet. Russian academies in those areas are still considered the best in the world.

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tabtab 3035 days ago
There was a brief period from about 1957 to 1965 where they seemed to be gaining steam; but other than that, it was mostly other dictators that tried to emulate and/or side with them, not general populations.
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