What are five useless facts about China?

 Not sure how do you define “useless”, but there are a few things you might find interesting:

1, Chinese women receive a month of special care after labor, what we call “坐月子”. You may call it a Intensive Care Unit at home. The new mother is not allowed to go out of the room, not even to take shower or eat icecream, just to avoid anything “cold”. She is fed with all sorts of nutricious food like chicken and pork among others all day long, to help her recover from the labor and also help her to produce enough breast milk for the newborn. It’s a bit oldfashioned for the new generations and lots of new mothers do not accept it. But there is still a strong tradition here.

2, Chinese love to hang some small ornaments in their cars. It could be a badge of Chairman Mao, or some articles of buddhism, or a Chinese knot. It doesn’t necessarilyi mean the driver is a Maoist or buddhist, it’s simply for best wishes of luck and safety.

3, Most Chinese people wear long underwear in winter to keep warm. Even in Southern part of China, where it belongs to subtropical area, it gets pretty cold in winter days. I know by Western standard it’s over protection, but why do you push yourself so hard when it makes you much more comfortable when putting on an extra layer? We just can’t imagine why women in Western countries wear skirts with bare legs in winter. Aren’t your feeling cold at all?

4, You know people in east Asia usually use chopsticks, but have you noticed any difference between the chopsticks of each of the three countries, China, Japan, and Korea? See below the picture:

You see Japanese chopsticks are shorter while Chinese ones are longer, and Korean are in between. And the Korean ones are usually metal, while Japanese and Chinese ones are made of wood. China uses bamboo too, and also the synthetic chopsticks are also getting popular.

5, As a Chinese man, I’m kind of surprised and baffled to find out that the typical faces of a Chinese woman in the eyes of the Western people look like this:

With slanted eyes and single eyelid, this type of face would not be liked by most Chinese men. Here is a face which a Chinese man would find beautiful:

In what sectors of science and technology, is India ahead of China?

India in 1957 vs. India in 2026

India is ahead of China in several areas, many will dismiss these areas as niches rather than scale advantages though many amount to such. India since the 1960s built its atomic program around Thorium instead of Uranium. India possesses more Thorium than any other nation with estimates of one million tons being present in India. Thorium is a safer better atomic fuel than those based on Uranium. Thorium offers shorter half life for waste products and far less risk of overheating and meltdowns. India began with full ability to have complete self-sufficiency in Atomic technology once it possessed limited Uranium seeds. Indian Atomic Reactors once operational produce their own Thorium based atomic fuel. India’s advantage here is global and should be commended not played down.

India holds a definitive advantage in the IT field, a strong English base and talent pool is not matched by China, India is still the main recipient of outsourcing and software development globally. Trillions of dollars have been earned by Indian companies during the past 30 years in this field. This capital transfer to India was key in increasing tax revenues in India. For this reason and political leaning; India leads in open digital payment ecosystems, China does not compete with India in this field on an equal level. India also leads in the production of generic medicines. While many components are sourced from China, the over all production and scale of India’s industry is larger. India excels at being able to structurally analyze and create generic versions of even the most complex medicines in the world.

India has led the world in cost effective space programs, and results. Indian rocket technology along with its military use is globally remarkable and unmatched in cost. Sadly, India is yet to find an equivalent path for aviation, though this will change in the future. India while not the factory of the world, is indeed the office of the world. While many like to question India’s advantages, the fact remains that India is still the world’s fastest growing large economy, with the World Bank upping its projections for 2026 for India. India will be forced by changing global political dynamics to keep greater numbers of its work force and talent in India, creating a better path for increased manufacturing in India. India which is now the 4th largest economy in the world, is quickly poised to become the globe’s third largest economy. We can hardly call this a narrative of failure, as India has gone from a bankrupt starving nation 80 years ago to having one of the largest food reserves on the planet and over 700 billion dollars in foreign reserves. Sometimes we must look at where the story of modern India began to appreciate the sacrifice of Indians who both went abroad to advance their education, and to send money to their families in India during the early days of Independence, to the Indians who struggled in India to push India into the 20th century. India is a success story only second to that of China, in the past 15 years India has pulled more people out of dire poverty than any other nation, this fact should not be lost upon us. There was a time not long ago that my father left a dusty Palam Airport in 1957 to seek higher knowledge in the U.S. there was one runway, and a nation which could not even keep electricity running for runway lights in it’s capital city let alone for the public. If he were alive today, he would proudly commend the development of infrastructure in the nation he so much helped to educate. India chose to become a socialist leaning democracy in 1947, not a Communist state, Indians had the courage to stay on this path and reduce socialist outlook, as India regained dignity lost by hundreds of years of colonialism. India

If India is 40 years behind China in technology, is India living in 1985?

 No. That's not what it means at all.

Technology is created, developed, owned, deployed, adapted and accessed

India has nearly the same level of access to the latest technologies as most countries

Indians have access to the latest tech in most areas - Enterprise solutions on AWS, the latest versions of consumer apps, the latest iphones, the latest laptops in the market, vehicles with the latest technologies

Due to affordability issues, all but the priciest technologies are ‘accessible’ to Indians

I am not talking about ‘Access'

I am talking about ‘Creation , Development, Ownership, Deployment and Adaptation' of Technology not just access

Indians have access to the latest smartphones but the technology that powers the smartphones are entirely owned by corporations in other nations

Indians have no role in any of this

Indians have access to the latest servers , hardware and cloud infrastructure services that AWS has to offer

Despite this India has no role in the technology that drives these servers and their underlying applications

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So saying India is 35–40 years behind China in technology simply means - China can create, develop, own, deploy and adapt technologies today that would take India 35–40 years

For instance - China can independently manufacture Stealth Aircraft with Engines on an Industrial assembly line today

India might take another 30–40 years to independently manufacture the same with engines on an Industrial assembly line

However India could import or get into a joint venture and have access to the same type of aircraft, and build a sizeable fleet within 5–6 years

China has the ability to make it's own semiconductor infrastructure and server infrastructure , which functions effectively although it might be quite a few years away from what the States currently controls and owns

India has absolutely nothing of comparison

India might take another 30–40 years to effectively bring out mass production of functional advanced node chips to the market, that China can do today

That is what the 35–40 year gap refers to

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Living in 1985 is a reference to ‘Access' to technology

Technology gap refers to the control, ownership and deployment of technology

They are very different things

Since the world became global after 2000, most countries have access to modern technology

There is no country that lives in 1985 today 😊

Not even countries like Syria

What are some cool things about China that only people who have gone to China know about?

 China is full of cool things. Here my favourites. I photographed them during my years in Shanghai and Beijing.

This train connects Shanghai and Beijing. It’s so fast that you can do a weekend trip and still see enough in the other city, even though it’s 1600 km. And it costs like 50 US Dollars:

Everybody lives in apartments. And these buildings are huge. You may very well have a view like this from your living room:

There is design stuff going on everywhere. China is the factory of the world, and they can build anything. And they do. You want to meet some designers, see a show car tonight? Somewhere, this will be going on:

The urban environment is very attractive and clean:

Restaurants are fantastic. Beautiful, great food, and patient waiters everywhere:

You can have new eyeglasses made for the price of a sandwich, while you wait and have tea:

Living conditions in the big apartment compounds are actually really nice and quiet. I was often sitting on my balcony in the evenings like this, in the middle of Shanghai:

The inner cities are incredibly full of light:

There are a myriad of different kinds of venues you can go and meet people, at all price levels:

The selection of products is absolutely crazy:

Every now and then, you bump into something that’s a thousand or so years old:

They put flowers everywhere:

You can eat great food at any time of day or night:

Interior designs are unbelievable, and fun:

You can have a cold beer or five any time, anywhere - and in the summer, you’ll want to:

The scale of the architecture is beyond anything you might have seen elsewhere. Everything is huge in China:

Taxis are everywhere. You want one, just hold out your hand, as if feeding a cow, and one should stop for you within seconds:

You can leave your umbrella at the entrance and lock it!

There are apples like this:

I am not sure what we are looking at, but it is remarkable:

Zero emission pickup trucks:

Bug screens that can carry the weight of an adolescent cat:

McD’s in Chinese:

Advanced, urban fashion:

Fast food chains you may not have heard of before:

People who keep the place squeaky clean:

Cool vehicles:

Extraterrestrial coffee:

Nifty movies:

Security guards everywhere - you are very safe:

A machine that predicts the future:

Trippy trip ships:

You can see huge buildings from above by climbing up an even huger building:

Not just huge, but actually interestingly built:

Cat cafés:

Hygiene is excellent:

Amazing parks:

Electric scooters everywhere:

Driving styles are mellow; you will never be afraid:

Crispy duck:

Dragons everywhere:

Scooters with roofs:

Space efficient living:

Vegetables you may never have seen before:

Yellow rice wine:

I think it’s cool, even if I am not sure what it does:

Well dressed dogs:

You may be living on the 27th floor, but you can hang up your washing in front of your window:

Bamboo stem bottle:

Cars from Mars: