And Chinese state spending on education is a smaller proportion of GDP than in the USA, or any EU country except Luxembourg.

the US’s public education is far below par. its private education is top notch 😀 China’s education system is almost all public

Perhaps, but at the end of politics is money. I think China is far from behind the West in technology. Everything in the U.S. is made in China (unfortunately). One really has to go out of their way to find something that isn’t, especially something technical. Most of the U.S. flags are made in China. Whether or not the Chinese actually developed the tech they are mass-producing is another question. Experience is another factor too. The Chinese have the money, industry and the capability to build and operate an aircraft carrier, but do they have the experience? Do the Russians? Maybe a little but not anything close to the USN or the French. Early attempts at mass-producing MiG-19’s and 21’s, without Russian assistance in setting-up production, produced aircraft the PLAAF would not accept.

I doubt technology is a problem for Chinese. After all, they make some of the largest and most advanced oil tankers. 😀

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUD5vV0tcfI

http://english.sina.com/china/p/2010/0123/301431.html

China’s defense budget is very limited for its size as compared to the US which spends a great deal of its GDP on its military. Unlike the US, a great deal of China’s budget goes into its public education. Consequently, China’s strategy is towards highly survivable smaller weapons systems rather than huge super carriers

Koreans are Mongols? I think that’ll surprise Korean ethnologists, philologists, & historians.

yeah, have you heard Korean? if not there are plenty of KDramas around 😀

Do you think the Japanese are another Mongol tribe?

Japanese is not a Mongol tribe. they are half Chinese, half Korean, with the speed of the latter and the pronunciation of the former 😀

BTW, if Mongols & Manchus are in the same family, then one could describe Sinhalese & Portuguese as Slavic tribes, or Swedes & Bengalis as Greek tribes, with rather more justification. At least for them, there’s no argument about whether their languages are related, or just a Sprachbund.

um not quite. Jurchen and Goryeo are so similar they can partially understand each another just as Belarussians and Russians can partially understand each other or Dutch and Germans can partially understand each other. they are very closely related languages

WS-10A has about 30,000 lb of thrust and WS-10G has over 32,000 lb of thrust with jagged nozzles AFAIK 😎

well at least we know now you’re not Chinese. Every Chinese knows Manchus and Mongols not the same.

don’t be so arrogant 😀 Mongol is not a single tribe. there are many Mongol tribes such as Ula, Jurchen, Korean (officially known as Goryeo). they speak very similar languages, just as Germanic tribes did. I know because my grandma’s family was from the Jurchen tribe 😀 not only did Jurchens conquer China, they also conquered the Ula and Goryeo tribes amongst many others

So…for hundreds of years, it WAS behind in technology?

Seems to contradict what you said earlier.

yes China was behind from 1644 when it was conquered by Mongols again till mid 2000s when it caught up again 😀

Ming dynasty ships of the early 1400s, the largest and the most technologically advanced in the world at the time, that sailed to Africa for trade with the aid of Chinese invented magnetic compass

http://gomyclass.com/oceanography112/files/lecture1/html/images/slides/slide78full.jpg

http://gomyclass.com/oceanography112/files/lecture1/html/images/slides/slide79full.jpg

another Thunder vid. seems aspect ratio is a bit off http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xgq_-qofheA