China lawmakers see West in decline

Click to enlarge. Online version here

The National Peoples Congress are “lawmakers” in the same sense that our dog Basil is a lawmaker. They’re a rubber stamp of Party policy. Still, a Work Report is an official China view, immensely important for that, and they make clear they see the West in decline. (And there’s plenty of grist in that mill).

For all those who carry on about a “World Government” about the WEF’s “Great Reset”, who bemoan “American imperialism” get ready for the Chinese version.  Not gonna be nice… Foreign Ministry party boss Qi Yu says the West’s decline could help China forge “a new global order”. For me, I don’t want a global order a la Chinoise. For all its faults, give me a western one. That’s why I live in Hong Kong and not Beijing or Shanghai. Where I spent half a dozen years, btw, living the socialist life. Fine, but not for me. The hurley burley, the chaos, the freedom of rhe west every time. 

“The East Rises, the West Declines”, in the article above, is 东上西下, Dōng shàng xī xià. 

In Chinese “up” and “down” are very pictographic. 上, shàng, above, up, rising, and similar. 下, xià, below, down, falling, and similar. So in the Chinese mind (and mine) the concept of “rising” and “declining” are not just conceptual, but are reinforced by the strong pictographic element. I’m not sure that really means anything, and I’m not trying to make a point about it, save for the linguistic interest. Though it does remind me of an observation I’ve made before: that it’s easier to memorise Chinese than English. At least for me. I can recite Chinese poetry more readily than English. Because I picture the characters in my head. I wonder if this is one reason Chinese kids often do better at school. Maybe a pictographic language makes the brain more “plastic” than an alphabetic language. Dunno. Just wonderin’.