Last paragraph basically says it all:

This is not to congratulate China for its authoritarian government, for its repression of minorities or for the iron fist it deploys against any form of dissent. But it merits pondering how this undemocratic government could successfully slash its poverty rate when the richest and oldest democracy in the world wouldn’t.

Eh...

I'm glad my homeland is doing a lot better these days, but still, for my family, we end up doing better in the US (we moved around 2010 for context, way before this admin), the first few years in the US was a struggle, the similar stuggle as before in Guangzhou, but eventually we have a house and then we started saving up and we have a small bussiness and some investments here in the US. So it really depends on personal circumstances...

In China, everyone has an ancestral house, but that is in your village; in the city, unless you are from the city, you probably won't have housing. Jobs were in cities, so people migrate there, migrant workers... most of them have to rent a small apartment unit, probably in some slum. There are handweitten "for rent" posters everywhere. My family didn't have to rent, they "bought" an apartment in Guangzhou (bought in quotes because the 70 year lease thing... which we still don't know how it works... 70 years have not passed), its a very shitty one, in a slum neighborhood, but that was all they could afford. Most had to rent.

Prior to the Opening Up and Reforms, people weren't allowed to move around, so you'd just get stuck on your farm... and farming manually... which really sucks.

After the Opening Up and Reforms, the relaxed the restriction on movements. But the Hukou still had restrictions.

I was born in Guangzhou, but wasn't allowed into their public schools, no Guangzhou Hukou, my hukou was Taishan, my mom had to pay for a privately-run one that she said was inferior to the public school. Some migrant workers just left their kids beind in their village to attend school there. So those kids rarely get to see their parents. I did see them because I was going to school in Guangzhou so we didn't really get separated like those kids did, but usually we didn't get to see out parents for most of the day, so either grandmother was home to watch me and my brother, or sometimes we just get left at home alone.

I think most of the kids in that school I went to were all kida of migrant parents... because a Guangzhou kids would just go to public school.

Someone with Taishan Hukou also can't like get any healthcare benefits of Guangzhou.

It's like a internal passport system. Countries withing countries...

Then there was another issue with me essentially being an "illegal child" since my mother violated the 1 child policy, as I was the 2nd to be born, so my parents had to pay a huge fine before I can even get registered in Hukou and legally exist and have identity documents.

Converting to Guangzhou Hukou was practically impossible. Somehow, getting US citizenship was easier... 🤷‍♂️

Maybe one day this stupid Hukou thing goes away, because it is stupid af.

Excuse me, have you heard of the K shaped economy? It’s the everyday hellscape we now live in, where the rich can’t buy enough, and the poor can’t buy anything. Plane ticket sales down, first & business class have no inventory. Less people than ever can afford a house, and mega mansion sales are booming. We can’t afford groceries, but 5* restaurants have no reservations.

At some point, this shit comes to ahead. My pessimism suggests the rich want to figure out AI / robot security, so they can stop relying on any people at all.

Oh yeah, add in some sycophantic computers telling everyone they are perfect and every solution we have is paradigm breaking or revolutionary. Nothing will go wrong at all.

Not surprised at all. American has done a fantastic job at propagandizing the populace against China.

They have also put millions into poverty.

when the richest and oldest democracy in the world wouldn’t.

I like that it uses “wouldn’t” rather than”couldn’t”. So relevant to today’s politics