Growing Pains

Dateline: China TodayIt may seem a stretch to believe China, the most populous nation on earth having a long history of excellence, has or could have growing pains. But they do, not as in former centuries when the Chinese merely dismissed the outside world as primitive, but now as they have ascended near the top in almost every endeavor.  They want to claim total supremacy, and they’re in a hurry.

If you remember the Alberghetti sisters of years ago, you’ll remember them as attractive singers who appeared on TV variety shows.  Anna-Maria was far more attractive, but regardless they sang the wonderful duet from “Annie Get Your Gun,” Anything you can do I can do better.  It is a lovely tune about a gentle sisterly competition.

Currently, and for the last decade or so, China and the US have been singing that same duet, and it looks like China is doing very well. This duet, however, is not for fun and is absolutely not gentle.  It is a serious competition to prove which country is better. China wants to win - bigly.

Let’s look at a few symbols.

• Moon shot to the far side. (Just weeks ago, the Chang'e 4 lander and rover carry eight scientific instruments between them landed on the far side of the moon. Of course the US (1969) has been there – though not on the far side.  https://www.space.com/42986-china-far-side-moon-landing-video.html?utm_source=notification.)
• Fortified Islands in the South China Sea or anywhere. (China builds military bases off shore on manmade islands, while the US relies on military bases on foreign soil worldwide.)
• Electromagnetic canon. (China has announced one and mounted it on a ship for testing.  The US does not have one. Basically such a canon uses electromagnetic forces to propel an object at far higher speeds and distance than conventional explosive-based canons.)
• Fastest super computer. (China’s Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer clocks in at 93,000 trillion calculations per second. IBM has announced in 2019 its newest supercomputer clocking in faster with 200,000 trillion calculations per second. This competition flip-flops (no pun intended) every couple of years.)
• Towering skyscrapers. (China has the two of the three highest skyscrapers ( Rank 2, Wuhan Greenland Center at 2,087 ft and Rank 3 Shainghai Tower at 2,073 ft. As well, they have the Rank 6 Ping Finance Center at 1,821 ft. The US has only one in the top ten, the Rank 8 One World Trade Center at 1,776 ft.)
• Bullet trains. (China has fastest two trains in the world.  Shanghai Maglev: 267 mph and the Fuxing Hao CR400AF/BF: 249 mph. The US has none.)
• College graduates. (Currently, China graduates about 8,000,000 students per year, while the US  graduates about 4,000,000 per year. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/04/higher-education-in-china-has-boomed-in-the-last-decade.)
• Hacking at the highest level. (This you hear about every day. China hacking our government agencies, universities, and corporations.  We can only hope the US is hacking somebody – if only to keep up. )

In this competition, you don’t win by being the most moral, you win be being better.  Yet, the US can take heart that its imbalance of trade with China over the last couple of decades has financed many of China’s recent achievements.

In the days Anna-Maria and her sister were singing, it was the US and Russia in counter-competition.  Russia was easier.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Maria_Alberghetti

Lyrics

Anything You Can Do (Annie Get Your Gun)

Howard Keel, Betty Hutton

Annie: 
Anything you can do, I can do better.
I can do anything better than you.

Frank: No you can't. 
Annie: Yes, I can.
Frank: No, you can't.
Annie: Yes, I can. 
Frank: No, you can't.
Annie: Yes, I can, Yes, I can!

Frank: 
Anything you can be, I can be greater.
Sooner or later I'm greater than you.

Annie: No, you're not. 
Frank: Yes, I am.
Annie: No, you're not. 
Frank: Yes, I am.
Annie: No, you're not!.
Frank: Yes, I am, Yes, I am!