• mrmule@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    36
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    6 days ago

    Funny, everyone perceives China to be some socialist giant. I just spent a week there and it’s more capitalist and consumer centric than anything I’ve ever seen. Certainly more than Singapore, USA, UK. All the brands x all the shopping. It’s not a tourist spot, it’s a shopping experience.

    • Dasus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 days ago

      everyone perceives China to be some socialist giant

      No they don’t.

      You’re not the only one with functioning eyes.

      I don’t even remember seeing a person actually arguing China is in any way communist. Just like people don’t argue that NK is a democracy despite them calling themselves one.

        • Dasus@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          1 day ago

          Holy shit you can’t be that childish.

          Okay, let’s go with “socialist” then because you’re so childish that you’re pretending like the form of socialism China is known to claim to be isn’t communism.

          If you have to pretend to be that stupid, then perhaps you’re not in a good position, argument-wise.

            • Dasus@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              1 day ago

              What is sad is people like you who can’t back up the things they say, and don’t even try to.

              • mrmule@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                21 hours ago

                China is a unitary communist state led by the CCP that self-designates as a socialist state.

                All I’ve said is that in my personal experience visiting China this socialist state feels more capitalist than many other countries due to the insane amount of consumerism and mass consumption.

                This is due to reform and opening up in 1978 and a burgeoning middle class with significant purchasing power.

                I’m not belittling China with these facts, I’m merely observing what has happened.

    • CCMan1701A@startrek.website
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      6 days ago

      I’m here right now and can confirm, shopping is great here. Also, the McDonald’s grilled chicken sandwich needs to come to America.

    • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      5 days ago

      sure, let’s implement their state-directed economy then. seem to be working quite well.

  • GreenShimada@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    39
    ·
    7 days ago

    When will people learn that any advertising that occurs during extortion like this is the focal point of hate and fear?

    This is like anti-advertising.

      • Elvith Ma'for@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        7 days ago

        In store:

        Clerk: "Well, then… I’d guide you to ShinyBrand. They tick all the marks for what you’re looking for and…

        Customer: aren’t those the guys that made me watch a 7 minute unskippable ad, when I was in town on a public toilet suffering a spontaneous and explosive diarrhea, while waiting for a new piece of toilet paper to wipe my sore ass from all that shit?!

        • wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          6 days ago

          There’s been countless studies on this. That’s not how our brains work. After the short term, or a scant few outstanding ones that stay with you, the only thing left long term is the brand recognition. That steers your choices when you buy things.

          Put simply, people don’t have the mental capacity to keep a full list of every company that advertised to them in a shitty way in the front of their minds constantly, beside everything else required for daily life.

      • vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        6 days ago

        It’s not “they count”, it’s a working conversion. Which is why it’s being stuffed everywhere.

        Recognition absolutely trumps everything. You’ll be more suspicious of a noname good thing looking good and cheap than of recognizable bad thing looking bad and expensive.

  • Akasazh@feddit.nl
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    11
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    6 days ago

    If only we had something shitty and easily spreadable at hand that could be applied to the screen on order to inconvenience the operator of the extortion device.

  • iopq@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    7 days ago

    This is an improvement. A lot just don’t have any paper at all because they are afraid people will steal it and bring it home

  • FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    14
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    7 days ago

    It’s been a while since I’ve been to China. But even in the 2000s it was not uncommon to have to pay for toilet paper at a vending machine. Not at all public facilities but the more local you went, the fewer tourists would be there, the more this happens. So getting roll for watching an ad is an improvement.

    And as the article points out, they cannot have nice things, i.e. free sandpaper toilet roll, because people will just steal it. I feel like this becomes exponentially less dystopian when you frame it as you can either have no paper at all or watch the ad/pay for it.

    And there is another cultural difference. The Chinese are more like the Romans when it comes to these bodily functions. Much more willing to take care of it communally or at a hole in the ground surrounded by a thigh high “modesty” barrier. So asking an attendant for extra roll is something that the majority of Chinese would have less of a problem with, I think.

    • MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      6 days ago

      i.e. free sandpaper toilet roll, because people will just steal it.

      So they call it socialism but have no working social safety net?

      • FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        6 days ago

        You have inadvertently hit the nail on the head. They just call it socialism. There are several shades of poverty, for different reasons. One shade is due to the fact that a lot of services, like welfare, education, and medical, are only available to you in your hometown, probably the one you were born in. But if you have migrated from bf nowhere Gansu province to a big city where the jobs are, you rid yourself of that safety net. It’s hard/costly to change this hometown registration so most don’t and become quasi undocumented workers in their own country. And they are the ones who work insane hours in shitty and dangerous work conditions and it’s then who will look for anything to save a yuan.

        • DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          6 days ago

          I had a rural hukou so I couldn’t go to public school in a city. There was like this “private” school which mean money out of pocket and is supposedly worse than the public schools (its opposite of the US, where private schools are better), and thats where I went to school for the grade 1 and 2.

      • caboose2006@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        6 days ago

        Not necessarily true. You’re guaranteed work and a minimum wage and if you’re disabled government will take care of you. Also basic healthcare is basically free. Things like electricity and telecom are subsidized too. But no, it’s definitely not a socialist utopia. It’s oppressive and censored and restrictive. Hyper consumerism is the norm.

    • DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      6 days ago

      And there is another cultural difference. The Chinese are more like the Romans when it comes to these bodily functions. Much more willing to take care of it communally or at a hole in the ground surrounded by a thigh high “modesty” barrier.

      What lol?

      I don’t think so?

    • caboose2006@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      6 days ago

      My sweet summer child. Oh how green you are. You put the poopy paper in the poopy paper bucket next to the hole in the floor that you squat over and pray you hit the hole. You also put the poopy paper in the poopy paper bucket next to your toilet at home.

  • caboose2006@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    6 days ago

    You’ve always paid for TP in China. At least now there’s a way to get it for free. I see this as an improvement.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    5 days ago

    And you need a phone to view them. It would be quite shitty if you don’t have one, or the battery just decided to die on you.

  • nuggie_ss@lemmings.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    6 days ago

    The solution to putting ads in bathrooms is that they can be easily defaced.

    Unless China is crazy enough to record their people in the bathroom, which I wouldn’t put past them.

    • socsa@piefed.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      6 days ago

      I’ve been to China many times, and this is arguably the least offensive TP situation.

    • caboose2006@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      6 days ago

      You’ve always had to pay for TP in China. Free toilet paper in public restrooms is exceedingly rare. Same with hand soap. So honestly this is an improvement. The west got this one right I’m afraid.

      • Dyskolos@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        5 days ago

        How? I mean, is there a paper-machine in every stall or do you buy a roll before you go? It sounds so absurd, but definitely something to know before visiting China, which still is on my bucket-list

        • caboose2006@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          5 days ago

          Get a new bucket list. Unless that bucket it the poo-paper bucket next to poo hole in the ground.

          As to how either have money or bring your own TP.

        • socsa@piefed.social
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          5 days ago

          Yes you literally need to bring wipes around with you. Things are slowly changing but for a long time there was no TP in any bathroom stall outside of fancy hotels and maybe high end restaurants.

          • Dyskolos@lemmy.zip
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            5 days ago

            Weird. But…why? Just “because” or theft? I’d bet that resulted in many silly situations with foreigners visiting 😁 And thanks for the info!