Alvin-blue-qhd
Well-Known Member
The 1990s marked the peak of American influence, at least in China. People watched pirated American movies and listened to American music. Parents dreamed of their children studying hard, going to the America for education, finding a job, and eventually becoming Americans. All of this began to change slightly after an event in 1999.
By the time of 2001, on the morning after the 9/11 attacks, I was a high school student at the time, our principal gathered all the students on the playground and gave a brief speech, he said: "The 9/11 attacks are a tragedy in human history, but for our country, the America will shift its focus to the Middle East, China will gain a breathing space." History later proved his insight to be quite accurate. But at the time, I found such thinking somewhat shameful. After all, a tragedy is a tragedy, it shouldn’t be viewed as some kind of opportunity. That was a common sentiment among students back then, and it reflected how people’s perception of the US had not yet reached the same level of realism as it has today.
Chinese first began to sense a shift in the situation around 2008, when negative news coverage about China started to increase. However, on the whole, things weren’t drastically different from before. The real turning point came in 2018, when Trump imposed sanctions on Huawei. This was a landmark event, one that made the vast majority of Chinese realize that the America would never accept a competitive China. When China could only exchange 800 million shirts for a single Boeing 737, America was content to call China a friend. But the moment companies like Huawei emerged, everything changed.
I've never considered China a superpower. We are a third world developing country. Even if Chinese astronauts land on the moon five years from now, I wouldn’t even think there is a so called "space race." China’s lunar missions have nothing to do with America. We are simply a nation that remains unaccepted by the world, striving to carve out our own path to progress.
By the time of 2001, on the morning after the 9/11 attacks, I was a high school student at the time, our principal gathered all the students on the playground and gave a brief speech, he said: "The 9/11 attacks are a tragedy in human history, but for our country, the America will shift its focus to the Middle East, China will gain a breathing space." History later proved his insight to be quite accurate. But at the time, I found such thinking somewhat shameful. After all, a tragedy is a tragedy, it shouldn’t be viewed as some kind of opportunity. That was a common sentiment among students back then, and it reflected how people’s perception of the US had not yet reached the same level of realism as it has today.
Chinese first began to sense a shift in the situation around 2008, when negative news coverage about China started to increase. However, on the whole, things weren’t drastically different from before. The real turning point came in 2018, when Trump imposed sanctions on Huawei. This was a landmark event, one that made the vast majority of Chinese realize that the America would never accept a competitive China. When China could only exchange 800 million shirts for a single Boeing 737, America was content to call China a friend. But the moment companies like Huawei emerged, everything changed.
I've never considered China a superpower. We are a third world developing country. Even if Chinese astronauts land on the moon five years from now, I wouldn’t even think there is a so called "space race." China’s lunar missions have nothing to do with America. We are simply a nation that remains unaccepted by the world, striving to carve out our own path to progress.