In a recent video on Twitter, he compared the China of today to 2019 and was completely shocked at the speed to progress and change. Says it’s like stepping into the future.
1 - Automation: From trains to taxis to purchases - everything is done seamlessly with super Apple Pay.
2 - EV: 30%-40% of the cars are fully electric. You can get Teslas but you have Chinese brands that offer sedans for $10k.
3 - The air is much cleaner. Partly due to EVs.
4 - People are more respectful of societal norms. There is better service everywhere you go.
5 - Less foreigners, even in touristy areas. Most white people are actually Russian.
6 - In factories, robots do the work in contrast to the perception people have in the US of China just throwing cheap labor at every problem. Factories set up their own e-commerce platforms and sell directly on China’s TikTok.
7 - It feels like over the past 5 years, everything by in China just got better, while everything in the US just got worse.
I recently went to Shanghai and Beijing, as a Chinese person who used to live in both places I found that people were more likely to line up, less likely to litter, and less likely to have loud phone conversations on the train.
Service was more "nice" in Shanghai than in Beijing but both places people tried to help you. Was travelling with a Japanese person who noted that in Japan a service person is more likely to very politely tell you they can't help you, but in China they're more likely to act annoyed and hostile while they resolve your problem.
I could easily live with this and say thank them profusely every time
Oh hey, those are actually good social norms!
I support them!