Socialist Countryside

Two days ago I finished another episode of Nip & Tuck and zapping a bit I hit bingo as the 10 ‘o clock news of China’s only English channel (CCTV) had just started. My eyes probably doubled their viewer ratings.

That day was the day of the New Socialist Countryside. Field reports from, yep the real fields, glowing comments from those selected, nice shots of healthy farmers harvesting their latest crop, altogether one big socialist countryside galore. It has something to do with improving the life of the farmers.

A new bl*g, started by the editors of the China Economic Review has their own view on the term.

The characterization of this process as the “New Socialist Countryside” raises a smile. There is nothing socialist about China’s cities these days, and the countryside, even less so. The genius of China manifests itself in so many little ways, one being its ability to hold two conflicting positions simultaneously without blinking. The West totally lacks that sophistication.

This quote raises a smile as well. I tried this genius approach many times when I was young, still try it some times but I can’t recall being ever praised for it by my parents.

I just checked and the domain “newsocialistcountryside.com as well as socialistcoutryside.com are still available. Tip for western investors, get it, one day you’ll be selling tv’s and toothbrushes online to the inhabitants of these places. Never to early to start marketing a domain name with government credibility.

(Disclaimer, I don’t buy dvd’s anymore, I rent them for 2.5 Rmb. a piece, saves me the trouble of one day having to import them back to a country where the don’t accept Chinese receipts as genuine prof of a legal buy)

     
Posted Friday, February 24th, 2006 at 6:56 am,
View related entries in China News.
Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.