A very well-executed hoax
June 17, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMKb9A6Kouk
I intervene because this hoax continues spreading. It's very well done, in fact. Many have fallen for it. Not me: my wife is Chinese. In reality, these two men are discussing different topics, including the World Expo in Nanjing. The hoax is skillfully constructed, exploiting every expression of this so-called "Chinese economist," who is actually talking about matters entirely unrelated to the subtitles.
What's interesting is that the hoaxer wanted to convey a certain message: here, the French are portrayed as being interested only in football and leisure. They are merely lazy people who fail to understand that above all, one must work. They borrow more than they earn, and are given far too much credit. In particular, French civil servants have excessive social benefits, which they cling to. The final irony is that the French state is bleeding to death, draining the very people who create wealth.
What counter-commentary can one make about this speech?
There are phrases that are perfectly accurate—even though the interviewed person never actually says them. For instance, he is made to say:
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While their standard of living declines, ours is rising.
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In one or two generations, we will have caught up with Europeans, and even surpassed them. They will have become "our poor," and we will send them bags of rice.
Between emerging countries like China and India, and Western nations, a phenomenon of communicating vessels is underway—especially concerning China, which is not hindered by religious and cultural burdens like India. Relocations are happening everywhere and accelerating. China has become "the workshop of the world."
Around six or seven years ago, I knew a business owner who manufactured all kinds of display racks. His company had been doing well until then. One day, I met him and he told me:
- I must ensure my company runs smoothly and remains healthy, anticipating future developments. I just returned from Czechoslovakia. Our display racks will now be manufactured there.
Today, if a company wants to start up and produce something, its managers no longer consider manufacturing it in France, but instead in Eastern Europe, India, or China.
A humorous cartoon from 2005
Sometimes in France, one encounters a company that has existed for generations, employing skilled workers. I hear about "a company that actually produces something," with machines, workers, technicians—only to see it suddenly acquired, its leadership handed over to a dynamic CEO, more "modern." He immediately sets about "streamlining," negotiating early retirement for experienced, competent staff—typically aged 50 to 55. He reduces payroll costs by hiring "young newcomers," cheaper in salary, eager for jobs, but lacking experience. The result can be disastrous, to the point that customers grow weary of the national pride of "making it French," concluding it's simply too problematic...
The "communicating vessels" phenomenon continues to operate.
The rise of Chinese industrial and commercial aggression can be credited to Deng Xiaoping, who died at the age of 92.
Deng Xiaoping in 1962
It doesn't matter if the cat is black or white. If it catches mice, it's a good cat.
(Deng Xiaoping, 1962)
There is a common denominator among all our politicians, whether right-wing or "left-wing"...
It's that they rarely, if ever, speak about how China is currently influencing global geopolitics—something this hoax attempts to caricature. This influence is very real. Just look at the exponential growth of products labeled "Made in China" everywhere.
Mao Zedong was a literary man by training, with no technical knowledge.
Mao (in Chinese, pronounced "Mô")
He is responsible for fantastic disasters, such as attempting to develop steel production in the countryside. Mao continued a movement initiated at the beginning of the century, aiming to pull China out of its backwardness. He intensified measures already begun by his predecessors, such as banning foot-binding, which in China symbolized not only a long-standing sexual fantasy—erotic illustrations always depicted courtesans with bound feet, considered highly arousing for patrons of high-class brothels—but also the subjugation of Chinese women.
But I won't dwell further on this period of history.
There was indeed a "clash of cultures," though one must be cautious in using that term. Perhaps one could speak more accurately of a "clash of lifestyles at a given time." I am currently preparing a dossier on Japan's history, which, through the "Meiji era," transitioned in just a few decades from medieval times to the modern world of the 19th century. The Japanese actually did even better, and I will tell the whole story. Under the impetus of their Emperor, a kind of "Asiatic Peter the Great," and a group one might call a "military-industrial complex" (similar to the German military-industrial lobby that helped Hitler rise), they rapidly acquired all the elements necessary for Western-style functioning across every domain. They established a modern army, police force, administration, education and healthcare systems, factories, arsenals, and more.
In doing so, they chose modernity from the outset, making a fantastic leap from junks to heavily armed battleships, which they used to crush the weak Chinese navy, and then, in 1905, the fleet of... the Russian Empire, astonishing the entire world.
I will recount all this in detail—it's fascinating. The creator of Japan's navy was a Frenchman, a Polytechnicien who, during only four years in the country, equipped it with an ultra-modern naval war machine. Visionary, he immediately grasped that a modern navy must be:
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Entirely metal
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Heavily armored
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Composed of large vessels
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Armed with cannons whose caliber exceeded those of land-based units, capable of firing at great distances (Yamato's cannons: 460 mm, never matched worldwide)
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Fast, extremely fast.
The largest cruiser in the world, the Yamato, launched in 1941, was 245 meters long at the waterline and carried 2,450 crew members.
Designed by a Frenchman, this fleet could match the most advanced navies in the world and, without a doubt, crush the Chinese and Russian fleets effortlessly.
I mention these aspects to suggest the extremely rapid transformation of Japan, under the guidance of a visionary oligarchy, from a state of medieval backwardness to the most astonishing modernity.
This required extraordinary adaptability, made possible in 19th-century Japan due to a high literacy rate. One knows the consequences of this "Japanese leap forward," abruptly becoming expansionist.
In 1972, Deng Xiaoping understood that for China to progress in every domain—economic, industrial, strategic, scientific—the country could no longer remain isolated, clinging to the ineffective Marxist ideas of Mao, the Great Helmsman.
Like Japan, China is relatively poor in natural resources, especially energy resources. Its development and hegemony in...