China

Shenzhen A/I?

The South China Morning Post is a state-controlled media outlet that spreads the government's propaganda.

This is going to end badly for America.

Cards on the table: I passed through Shenzhen last year, as a simple tourist, and I was blown away by just the surface aspect of what's happened there. The silence, the greenery, the mountain air downtown. It was like visiting a model of the future. I'm a pretty informed and circumspect person, and I know that a price has been paid for all that. The utopia does verge on dystopia. But the achievement remains deeply impressive. I even suspect the recent visa relaxations might have something to do with this. Why bother trying to reach Westerners with propaganda when you can just let them in to take a look themselves? Again: these are surface aspects I'm talking about. But then clean, functional, liveable cities are going to be important in the 21st century.

There was recently a good summary video by a reputable techie, also pretty sceptical and circumspect.