[lallysingh]

What? Why? I happily wish for the day that the Great Firewall gets shut off, but in my book, the Chinese Government has been fantastically successful.

The sheer number of people brought out of poverty in the last few decades is mind-boggling. In 1981, 85%[1] of China's population (that's 850 million people[3]) lived on < $1.25 a day. In 2005, that was 16% (200 million people)! The USA is at 16%[2].

I'm confident that we'll eventually see reform in China. It'll take a few decades. People are still "high" on growth. Once the growth slows down, people will start taking a more critical eye on their government, and change will occur. I think those changes will be occur gradually and peacefully.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_Peoples_Republic... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States [3] http://www.chinability.com/Population.htm

[jasonkester]

It might be worth taking a quick glance at those articles again to make sure you're making a meaningful comparison.

The US poverty figures you quote are for an income of $23k/yr, or ~$11/hr. In that chart you quote for China, you notice that even the 71% mark only gets you up to $5/day (so $0.60/hr).

[lallysingh]

Frack me. Good point!

Edit: thinking about it. Isn't the poverty line relative to the cost of living? It may take a lot less money to feed and clothe a family in China than in the US.

[usaar333]

Correct. The number of people living in the US under the UN definition of poverty is ~0

[ttflee]

In one of my visions, the Internet freedom would deteriorate after some 'Spring', as the security deteriorated in Egypt in the past years. And the next one taking the power would only control the firewall more tightly.

[ced]

I didn't ask the question rhetorically. I agree with you, but it's nice to get different perspectives as well.