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Best run Govt. of the last 50 years for sure.
With that said, there are credible arguments I could be a devil advocate for.
How much of the spoils are experienced by the workers ? Intense Darwinian competitions means margins are paper thin. Winning comes with none of the stability or lifestyle perks that make economic victories desirable to Americans. Chinese winners get rewarded with more competition, sleepless nights and even narrower margins. Perpetual crunch-time sounds like hell, and Chinese citizens appear to agree. When given the chance, they hop over toe western companies that offer better life-style at the risk of slower innovation.
Post great leap forward there wasn't much culture or heritage left. Yes, China has a recognizable civilizational identity that's distinct from the west. But, modern China has little in common with erstwhile Chinese culture or heritage.
You'll never know what they're willing to do, because the Chinese never reveal their true thoughts to a westerner. I've had close PRC Chinese friends and they refuse to give me even a hint on what they think about the PRC or Xi. Get them drunk, high, vulnerable, doesn't matter. I don't know if it is brainwashing or defense against the dark arts. But, one things for sure. Neither you nor I know what the will of the Chinese people actually is.
This is where it's important to draw lines. Is PRC China Xi's China, Deng's China or Mao's China. Where does the lineage begin ? Mao's consolidation, state capacity and land reforms were necessary for Deng's economic liberalization. If it starts at Mao, then 30 million deaths is not 'foregoing some comfort'. That's the greatest genocide since the Mongol conquests. It's simply impossible to talk about PRC China without talking about a Holocaust x 5 genocide event.
Japan, SK, Taiwan and Singapore have all done better than PRC China per-capita. If their genetic makeup is mostly similar, then PRC China's achievements don't seem THAT incredible.
I agree with some other points you made but this is a weird take (although it’s only a softer dismissal of our opinions, unlike the other commenters who simply assume that we’re all shills). It’s not like the Chinese government have some Eastern magic spell that forces us to keep our mouths shut.
I don’t know your friend obviously, but my reading of what you’re describing is much simpler: most of them just don’t have an opinion on Xi. Honestly many people, including the well-educated middle class you’d meet in Silicon Valley, have no opinions on almost anything and are just incredibly boring human beings. They care about money and status and their own hedonistic pursuit, and that’s pretty much it. That’s the result of years of grinding under Gaokao. It’s sad but not that mysterious.
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