Are Chinese people proud of China's scientific achievements?

Question

A few days ago, China announced that a deep dive test will be conducted in June 2012.

China, after successfully dived in the depth of 5500 meters last year, has become the 5th country in the world which possesses the deep dive technology.

In June, China will make a new attempt to dive in the depth of 7000 meters. If it is a success, China's deep dive technology will be able to cover 98% of oceans of the world, thus, be able to make a lot of contributions to human and make this world a better world.

I am so thrilled about and proud of all the scientific achievements China has attained, particularly because, China, unlike other countries, doesnt need to be a PUPPET in order to acquire the scientific technology. China is able to conduct a lot of scientific researches and developments all by herself and with DIGNITY.

Are other Chinese people and Chinese descendants proud of China's scientific achievements the way I am ? Or its just me feeling the pride ?

Thanks a lot for your answers.
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Answer 1

Actually, I find that most of my students are EXTREMELY proud of China's scientific achievements . . . but that they question why it took so long to do what others are already doing. And like other answers have said, they question why so much money goes into replicating other achievements (in order to give China "bragging rights") but that money isn't being poured into equal education for all; sanitation (indoor plumbing is literally a "pipe dream" for too many); electricity for all (millions do not have electricity); clean drinking water (another "pipe dream" for most of the nation); etc.



In other words, when faced with the scientific advances, the average citizen, while proud, is going to ask, "What's in it for me? What will this accomplishment do for me and my family?"



EDIT: Did you really say "temporary inconvenience?" Oh. My. Goodness! You, living with all the conveniences of the world, never wondering where your next meal is coming from, not having to walk out in the freezing cold to go to the bathroom, you, having electricity to power your computer, you, able to go to the school of your choice, you, able to look for jobs without having to depend on guangxi . . . ! You've never even LIVED on the mainland and yet you hold yourself as a superior example of not being ignorant?



Child, I have respect for your opinions . . . you put them together well and you follow a logical process . . . but you just lost all respect in this particular matter. A country MUST care for its own people before it cares about its international image. It's just like the Olympics . . . bragging rights for a big party that means what in the end? You cannot be so ignorant as to believe that basic human rights are less important than "diving deep." You cannot be so ignorant as to NOT know that college graduates are NOT finding higher income jobs in China . . . they are finding that their high school classmates are cashing in in construction and real estate corruption while they, the students, are incurring more debt, only to be told that now they need a master's or PhD to get a "decent" job! You cannot be so ignorant to know that the unemployment rate among college graduates in China is at 10% or higher . . . and that the underemployment rate is much higher than that! You cannot be so ignorant to believe that of course, people want improvement in their lives.



I tell you what . . . you come live in my student's shoes . . . then you can cast judgement on *their* ignorance, while fully displaying your own.

Answer 2

I am Chinese and we do proud of our scientific achievements. Like my father, he has watched a programme about military in Phoenix Satellite Television every week. My uncles like to talk about this kind of issue as well. It is no doubt that men pay more attention on national events than women.



If you ask any Chinese they would say yes to you because we all have a sense of pride to our own nation. This sense belongs to our culture from past to the present. We seem to born with it.



Anyway, we do proud of our nation but we seldom discuss it. But there are more essential things needed to be care about like the bad milk and currency inflation.

Answer 3

Since about 25% of the Chinese can't even read, I doubt they know about the "great achievement" (that you take pride in) any more than they know about the Great Leap Forward. Nor would they care about it if they did hear about it while hoeing dirt left behind from mass deforestation so they can plant seeds which they can water with sewage just so they can grow something for their families to eat.

Teach them. Help them. Get off your high horse and scratch the ground to make YOUR living for once, instead of lounging around like a spoilt and privileged princess playing "computer games" to satisfy your ego. Offer 'The People' (ALL OF THEM) a well-rounded and unbiased education, rather than simply a bunch of CCP-generated nationalistic propaganda, prejudicial promotions, and mis-truths.



Is China really trying to become the largest version "North Korea"? C'mon... they must have SOMETHING better to shoot for than: "Hey, we came up with a new flavor of bubblegum! Hooray! Let's stick some on the front of a few missiles and show it off to the world with a big parade!"



You have NO interest in truly helping your people, do you? And, if you can't help them, then how could you possibly help others so as to gain a little genuine respect on the World's Stage?



EDIT: I acknowledge your correction, with the literacy rate being reported as 96%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_administrative_divisions_by_illiteracy_rate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate



But this number may be suspect since the figures mostly represent only those who could actually READ the questionnaire.

http://blog.socialventuregroup.com/svg/2009/07/literacy-in-china.html

Answer 4

yes, very much. every time i heard something on tv or read something here on YA china section, my heart stopped my hands sweat my face red, i become very excited.....



Lim Yuan, the tap water in California has to be boiled first before drinking too, i heard some canadians and out of state people say california tap water is very bad...



and China has 5000 yrs of history, so of course we have ups and downs, can you imagine we have only ''ups'' and no ''downs'' for FIVE THOUSAND YEARS? the rest of the world would be SO jealous!!! LOL......



also a higher degree doesn't mean higher income all the time. my psychology professor said she made MUCH less money than her engineer husband, she also said many of her students in my college with only associate degree makes more money than her(like people in medical field). it really depends on what you do. a very smart successful realtor can make millions a year, that doesn't mean he/she must have a PhD first to be a realtor.



and of course a country cannot be perfect, don't compare extreme to extreme, Craftylass's students may have to go outdoor to pee in the middle of the night and use candle to do homework while China sends someone to the moon. However many 5 yr olds buy drugs on the streets in USA(i knew a lot of ex inmates from my last job) while i just heard NASA just sent something to the space again, and the freeway ramp near my home has more beggars recently while there are people living luxurious life in malibu beach houses too. If compare extreme to extreme, it's meaningless.



And China SHOULD be proud of the Olympics success. many athletes like runners are from poor village but they know how to run fast, so they win gold medal, so chinese are proud of them, what's wrong with that? Zhang Yimou made a very good opening ceremony for 2008 Olympics, it's like art, i saw that DVD in Blockbusters here, yes, 2008 Olympics opening ceremony is for rent on DVD. If something is done excellently, why shouldn't we celebrate it and be proud of it?



@Lim Yuan, WHY IS IT SO HARD TO BOIL SOME WATER? you put water in a pot, you turn on stove or fire, you turn off fire once it's boiled, done! just like that.



in fact, ALL tap water should be boiled, because water has bleach and corrosion residue from the water pipe, copper, mercury, cadmium etc...all that nasty stuff. u don't know what you are getting from drinking directly from a tap.

Answer 5

please see the International Patent Filings Set New Record in 2011.

http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2012/article_0001.html



China is not copy any more



Among the top filing countries, PCT applications from China (+33.4%), Japan (+21%), Canada (+8.3%), the Republic of Korea (+8%) and the US (+8%)

China ZTE company was the biggest filer of Patent Cooperation Treaty applications in 2011,China Huawei techologies co.,is third



but foreigner don't know China scientific achievements,cause their media never report



also world fast computer,Quantum Communication ,superconductivity material ,the Internet of things,antisatellite weapon

Answer 6

yes , in some ways, too bad ,scientific development is not one of them.

even as a chinese citizen, i have to admit china is still a copycat in that front.



Crafty lass,man, you need to chill out, no need to turn this into a heater debate than it already is. truth to be told, only those who live comfortably are particularly proud of what china has achieved in pretty much every way. but if you think closely you realize that most of the achieves weren't accomplished by the government, at least not directly, the only connection they have to them maybe is the funding they shell out for the researches leading to these accomplishments.

china does have a lot of problems ,as a citzen living here my whole life,i can say that in confidence ,but there's one thing i am indeed particularly proud of, the social stability and peace, you seldom see people protest or riot against local govenments,nor there's lots of incidents involving gunfire. you can argue that most of the so called stability and peace in china is created under the enforcement of the harsh and inhuman rules of the chinese government. but i think what matters is what the majority of people living in this country feels about it. i can say most of they are happy.and that's all that matters.

Answer 7

Most Chinese people don't really care about their country's scientific achievement. Too lazy to pick up a news paper and read. But a few could compare it as proof that China is going up in ranks.

Answer 8

China's achievements are just part of any countries growing pains, just like the USA when it was growing, it sent man to the moon, it sent men to the bottom of the ocean, it build the first supercomputers and 200 years ago it it was not even a full country and they had to BUILD it up from scratch but the difference is China has been around for 4000 years.



However, nowadays scientific achievements are a joint union you may or may not believe but the technology, or to invent such things exist in the the shared knowledge that is currently published in worldwide journals which DO contribute to humans and make the world a better place.



But to be honest, what WOULD impress me is if they can made safe drinking water from a tap without having to boil it, public rather then spend a billion dollars to put a flag into space.



@DL The link you gave for literacy in China in 2008 was 92.2% not 92.8% for people age 15 and over. What WML did do most likely by mistake was quote 2003 figures (85%).



http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=ch&v=39



As you can see there is a drop there which makes me wonder if the statistics for China are reliable.



@ little one, but the tap water has to be boiled all OVER China not just a set region, however, I'm impressed with the rest of the USA because you can drink it from the tap. Maybe we can have some data on drinkable vs undrinkable on China vs USA and how many five year olds buy drugs as a percentage of the population, maybe we can start by counting the drug addicts in the south.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vujiPYaaJbE



@little one: Boiling water just increases the concentration of those nasty things in it, why would I want to drink water that has a higher ppm per litre of metal compounds than before. Oh yeah and not to mention the increase in greenhouse gasses...

Answer 9

Actually, in my experience, the answer is a resounding no. You are a very rare exception.

Answer 10

If i was a Chinese citizen i be more worried about the pollution

Answer 11

First off, Crafty gave a very good answer! She explained why and what she meant. As to the question, all people should feel pride in their nations accomplishments, "their nations accomplishments". The pride has a bitter taste when your nation (THE NATIONS government) is doing something a private individual bettered just a couple of weeks ago when the American went to the deepest part of the Pacific to take film for a documentary movie. He was only the second person to ever dive this deep so when a nation takes so much pride in doing things other nations did 40 years before.... well it just ain't so great. But I am tickled that such simple things in live are so big to you. I for one can not understand how simple one must be to see things a nation does today and private citizens from other countries do today as such great acts. Other nations did these same acts 40 years ago. But everybody is different. Now if the news came out today and said China will have potable water for every citizen of the country in June of 2012, that would be something to really feel proud of. Or if they said in June of 2012 there would be no more pollution dumped in the air, water or land...now that would be something to brag about. But saying, in a couple of months we will do something almost as good as a couple of rich Americans did a few months ago. That is not something to brag about, outside of China anyway.