Posted On: Monday - July 30th 2018 8:34PM MST
In Topics: China
I've noticed that a number of the more recent posts here that concerned stupidity and China have been fairly negative. This is not an anti-China blog. Peak Stupidity aims to point out stupidity anywhere and everywhere it occurs, and since we are located in the US, most of it is American stupidity, and that discussed regarding other lands may just stand out in comparison. When the posts come out that may possibly be interpreted as being slightly disparaging to the Chinese and their 5,000 year kingdom, the dear Chinese reader must not worry about "losing face", as that is a semi-stupid concept to begin with. Oh, uh, that last one is not officially part of our apology.
Keep in mind, ALL READERS, that the Peak Stupidity blog is an Equal Opportunity Offender, and aims to comply with all statutes, laws, and regulations in all jurisdictions subject to all penumbras and umbras, as set by precedent by the parties of the plaintiff's representation of the ... [ no raise, no workey, we QUIT right here - Peak Stupidity Legal Department ]. If there are faces lost in the process, we take no responsibility.
True, we've badmouthed Chinese people in the areas of unfair trade, out-and-out gall as immigrants to the West, lack of baking skills, money laundering, a ridicurus written language and a whole topic key full of Cheap China-made Crap. On the other hand (that's "OTOH" for you tweeters), we've praised the free-market healthcare system (cont'd here, here, and here), their manufacturing infrastructure and initiative, and their amazing economic comeback from Communism. So, let's call it almost even.
To even it out more, I want to discuss the amazing transportation infrastructure improvements in the country of China. A Steve Sailer post on the California high-speed rail boondoggle from yesterday reminded me of my experience and impression with the large-scale road-building and high-speed rail projects there. I would like to discuss trains in general in a subsequent post, but today I'll just mention the road-building.
I was there. Even in a remote province that was not one of the first-tier Shanghai's, Pekings, or Shenzen/Guangzhou's in which the Chinese may want to show off more than usual, the change to one particular highway (out of perhaps dozens of important roads) was something else. Just a few years back this was no small 2-lane road, but a 6 lane, say 50-60 mph, decent way to get from the capital to this village (meaning ~ 1/2 million people!). It was not limited-access, hence kind of chaotic, yet that was a big improvement from 5 years before that, when it had been a hairy two-lane. There are mountains everywhere, with no straight path. The 6-lane road had straightened out some of the curves and did have one impressive high bridge over a gorge.
The newest road from a couple of years back that I rode on beats all though. In the 150 miles or so, this road had at least 20 tunnels that varied from 1/4 to 1 mile long, most of them on the longer side of that range. There were many long bridges that hung alongside the steep ridges or connected ridge to ridge. All this had been built in just a few years, and it changed the travel time from 3 1/2 hours to under 2. You've got to keep in mind that this was still nowheresville relative to all the "important" parts of China, so there must be many hundreds of projects like this going on or already built.
As I'll repeat again during the post comparing China's and America's rail service, the country of China is just a CAN-DO place at the current time, while America most certainly is not. That can all slowly change again though ...
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