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back to article Entering the Dragon: A little data from Big China

Huawei - perhaps the name best known to Reg readers from the Chinese industrial explosion which has transformed the global economy - is one of the most unusual and interesting companies on the planet, growing from 3,000 employees at the start of the millennium to 150,000 today. So when the Asian colossus invited The Reg to its …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Suicide

    Interesting point about suicides at Foxconn. I was in China when this story was getting attention from the Western press, and I remember reading about it in an English-language paper over there.

    Just like you, they were mystified by all the fuss and made the same point - that statistically the suicide rate in Foxconn was lower than that of China as a whole.

    What's the stuff in the sky by the way? Mist or pollution?

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    1. Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)
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      Re: Suicide

      That will be mist or the inside of a windshield (the sun only came out for an hour that week). The air quality is pretty good there - elsewhere in China, not so much.

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    'The British were granted a trading concession and a territorial base on Hong Kong Island on the east side of the delta in 1841. This was extended to include a slice of mainland China in 1860, and a little more in 1898 – but not, after negotiations, the village of Shenzhen about ten miles inland. Twenty years ago, Hong Kong residents could negotiate a "death bus" ride up the unlit road to Dongguan and Guangzhou. It’s a bit different now.'

    'Extracted' or 'forced' might be more accurate than 'were granted', unless you consider invasion a polite request.

    Fascinating article though!

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    1. Irongut
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      We're British, invasion is always a polite request.

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      1. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        you mean, you're English

        Will a referendum do as a hint that it's time to leave?

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        1. detritus
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          Re: you mean, you're English

          Some of us are British over being either English or Scottish, thanks.

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        2. Anonymous Coward
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          Anonymous Coward

          Re: you mean, you're English

          If you actually bothered to read up on the history of the Empire, rather than listen to the bigoted shite coming from the mouths of primary school teachers when we were kids i.e. everything bad is English (I grew up in Edinburgh btw) you might realise that much of the Empire was run by the Scots. A certain type of Scot, granted, but Scots nevertheless. Look up Lord Dalhousie for example. His attempts to find favour in the London establishment make for interesting reading and you might be able to see the parallels with today's establishment.

          As for a referenda, if you think that's going to make a difference to the man on the street, you're frankly deluded. Look at each and every country which has gained independence from someone else from someone in the past. Their development was dependent on many things, but independence itself played no part whatsoever. Politics has always played the greatest part, and China is a good example of this, by far the best example of a changing nation over the last century.

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        3. Nutria
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          Re: you mean, you're English

          They had to fight a war to get in, why shouldn't you have to fight a war to push them out?

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    2. JeffyPoooh
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      Pint

      It was different when I visited there... in 1984.

      30 years ago. Geezus...

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  3. bitwise
    Happy

    Excellent

    A very interesting, readable article - this freetard certainly approves.

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's changed a bit

    Last time I was there was 1999: you could take the train from Hung Hom in HK to Guangzhou and see plenty of empty fields. Not anymore!

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Windows

    You will rarely see a building over 20 years old in ANY part of China, they have usually fallen down by then. I have photos of my MiLs apartment block taken in 2011 - built in 1998 - it looked as if it was about to fall down, and it has now been demolished.

    "New" apartment and shopping complexes look "old" after about a year; one new shopping complex that was not even finished when I visited in 2008 was already 1/2 empty and semi derelict when I returned in 2011, and my SiLs brand new apartment building in 2011 (again, the top 10 floors werent even finished at the time), looked 10 years old when I went back in 2012.

    PS, it wasnt just us forcing "Trade Concessions"' France, Italy and Prussia also had large swathes of mainland China under their control.

    PPS, the "One Child" rule only ever affected about 40% of China's population (poor city dwellers and people on the parties $hit list), and "Economic Development Zones" like Shenzhen are entirely exempt.

    (That's me with a can of "Pearl River" lager - yummy stuff!!!)

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    1. Irony Deficient
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      trade concessions

      Ian, Italy didn’t have any Chinese territorial concessions. Germany (rather than Prussia) did, with a 99-year lease on Qingdao. You’d left out Russia and Japan from your list of foreign interlopers, though. The Russians were ultimately most successful, with the independence of Outer Mongolia emerging from their sphere of influence after the revolution of 1911, and their continuous possession of Vladivostok and the Maritime Region since 1860.

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      1. Nol
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        Re: trade concessions

        "Italy didn’t have any Chinese territorial concessions."

        Oh yes they did,there was an Italian Concession in Tianjin from 1901 to 1947.

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    2. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      "France, Italy and Prussia"

      I've recently been reading Golo Mann's book in German history since 1789 (because I'm sad like that) and he does remark at one point that the British were nicer than the other colonial powers - at least, they managed to couch similar demands in friendlier language.

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    China's an exceptionally depressing place

    It's even more depressing to think that these people are about to become our overlords in the not so distant future.

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