Posted On: Friday - August 18th 2023 8:48AM MST
In Topics: Cars China
Peak Stupidity's field trip to the Middle Kingdom has ended, but I like this kind of title. It sounds kind of old-time-China-hand-reportery, so it stays, dammit.
Also, the following applies to all of the dispatches to come too: We were in one "village" - that term was used by our host - of nearly a million people (only about half that a decade ago), and then a few days in the biggest city, Peking, doing the tourist thing. So, I have observations from 2 quite different areas of the country.
Let's talk cars. I've read elsewhere that, besides producing for a YUGE domestic market, Chinese automakers are exporting 2 or 3 million vehicles a year now. Let me just say right here that Peak Stupidity is not an economic reporting site or a place for statistical data. You can look up this stuff elsewhere (glad to read of your findings in the comments, though). I don't have the time for that, as these posts are just observations of my own Lyin' Eyes* with some thoughts and insight gathered from dealing with Chinese people who can speak to me and whom I can trust.
As compared to 6 years ago, the preponderance of Chinese "Make" vehicles is much larger now. I wrote "Make" to be specific that these are from Chinese-based manufacturers as opposed to being made by foreign companies IN China - Volkswagon (all over), Ford (in Chongqing, aka ChongKing), and others. Since the raised emblems are in Chinese characters, I can't tell you all the brand names, but we did see this make:
Yes, Trumpchi is the make, not the model. Per wiki:
Trumpchi is an automotive marque owned by the Chinese automaker GAC Group. It was launched in December 2010.The first cars were sedans and were unveiled in Guangzhou.
I took this picture in the small "village". There's no way that's a Chinese word that just happens to match a former President and party-crasher of the Global elite is it? The "chi" doesn't even seem like normal PinYin. But then, there are a LOT of "s", soft-"c", "ch" and "sh" sounds, more than I can write in this way. Was this meant to be a play on Trump and Xi, but not so blatant as to name the manufacturer TrumpXi? Xi wasn't Dear Leader until '12 or so though, and Trump wasn't well known to so many people beyond TV watchers and New Yorkers until '15.
That's not a joke or one-off either. We saw at least a dozen more on the road without playing any kid road-trip games. I can't remember seeing any sedans - I just remember seeing this small "crossover" model. Then, of all things, we saw a Trumpchi dealership off the side of the highway as we hauled ass on the north side of Peking up toward the Great Wall.
Drivers in Peking had nicer cars and more actually foreign cars, such as BMW's, Audi's, more VW's, and such, as compared to in the smaller locale. American labels are thin on the ground there, both places. I seem to recall more of them in the past. America is not necessarily "the cool thing", the place to emulate, anymore, and I totally understand that. The American ideas that the Chinese OUGHT TO emulate are likely beyond their understanding.
It was great to see these Trumpchi cars in China though. I wonder if The Donald knows about this brand.
PS: Car ownership seems way up. The people we dealt with had a higher proportion of their own cars than was the case a few years back. All of them were Chinese made. Quality was not something I could determine, unfortunately as, well, we didn't break down, and I couldn't talk cars to any of these people.
* City bloggers just seem to find out early, how to open doors with just a
Comments:
Adam Smith
Saturday - August 19th 2023 8:42AM MST
PS: Good morning, Mr. Moderator,
Believe it or not, I didn't notice the newsweek article until last night. I did see the dirty porch monkey quote, without the trans woman of color part of it, somewhere. Perhaps on twitter.(?) But I really don't mean it. I think Clarence Thomas is one of the few good ones. (I mean supreme court justices specifically, and "government" workers more generally. Though I guess I also mean he's one of the few good Africans in America. There aren't many of them either.)
I only tweeted that because I'm curious about how the twitter algorithm works. I imagine twitter (at the time certainly, maybe even now) would have banned that tweet if it were about one of the Obamas or some other non-conservative ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ค!. (Perhaps I'll experiment with the twitter algorithm some more.)
Dieter, Vivek Ramaswamy says alot of good things. Unfortunately, he is not a ๐๐๐ก๐ข๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐ง๐๐, as far as I can tell. When asked about his parents immigration status he has, so far, dodged the question.
https://www.calameo.com/books/00584100367c4573c90f6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agdoeRpTfHg
And, in keeping with the china theme...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEt95n89xZU
(Admittedly, I do not know if Yosuke Yamano is in fact Chinese. For all I know he could be Korean or Japanese.)
Happy Saturday! โฎ
Believe it or not, I didn't notice the newsweek article until last night. I did see the dirty porch monkey quote, without the trans woman of color part of it, somewhere. Perhaps on twitter.(?) But I really don't mean it. I think Clarence Thomas is one of the few good ones. (I mean supreme court justices specifically, and "government" workers more generally. Though I guess I also mean he's one of the few good Africans in America. There aren't many of them either.)
I only tweeted that because I'm curious about how the twitter algorithm works. I imagine twitter (at the time certainly, maybe even now) would have banned that tweet if it were about one of the Obamas or some other non-conservative ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ค!. (Perhaps I'll experiment with the twitter algorithm some more.)
Dieter, Vivek Ramaswamy says alot of good things. Unfortunately, he is not a ๐๐๐ก๐ข๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐ง๐๐, as far as I can tell. When asked about his parents immigration status he has, so far, dodged the question.
https://www.calameo.com/books/00584100367c4573c90f6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agdoeRpTfHg
And, in keeping with the china theme...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEt95n89xZU
(Admittedly, I do not know if Yosuke Yamano is in fact Chinese. For all I know he could be Korean or Japanese.)
Happy Saturday! โฎ
Dieter Kief
Saturday - August 19th 2023 3:05AM MST
PS
Mod. #Ron DeSantis - - - of course - - - of course - - - - I'd say he is a great governor - - - he hired the Covid-realist (Covid and vaccination- anti-panicker and - reluctant - pro vaxxer) Christine Stabell-Benn as adivsor - - and he cooperates with Chris Rufo on the woke front - - these are just two little points I highly appreciate. And I do know lots more) - not least from the discussions here and at Mr. Hail's site. - But then there are Desantis' desastrous campaign appearances - which seem to just gon on and on and: His change of course in the Ukraine question - .o.v.e.r .n.i.g.h.t. - giving no reason whatsoever - - - while his donor at the very same moment came forward saying he sould be - not that "offensive". Plus he made it state law to restrict free speech with regard to the holocaust, as statistician Matt M. Briggs pointed out lately. - - -
Mod. #Ron DeSantis - - - of course - - - of course - - - - I'd say he is a great governor - - - he hired the Covid-realist (Covid and vaccination- anti-panicker and - reluctant - pro vaxxer) Christine Stabell-Benn as adivsor - - and he cooperates with Chris Rufo on the woke front - - these are just two little points I highly appreciate. And I do know lots more) - not least from the discussions here and at Mr. Hail's site. - But then there are Desantis' desastrous campaign appearances - which seem to just gon on and on and: His change of course in the Ukraine question - .o.v.e.r .n.i.g.h.t. - giving no reason whatsoever - - - while his donor at the very same moment came forward saying he sould be - not that "offensive". Plus he made it state law to restrict free speech with regard to the holocaust, as statistician Matt M. Briggs pointed out lately. - - -
Moderator
Saturday - August 19th 2023 2:45AM MST
PS: Dieter, perhaps Ron DeSantis is not very good at sound bites and campaigning. What he is good at is fighting against for what we need someone to fight against. His actions speak loud to me, louder than any campaign gaffes. It's too bad good Americans can't all see this.
SafeNow, most of them seem to like to live that way - their little room in the sky, plenty enough food, and the one car, and above all, family. I get the feeling that they don't have so many hobbies like Westerners do. The big hobby is getting ahead of the rest with money, I guess to help get that best wife too. Nope, that's not the lifestyle I aspire to either.
Adam, I guess twitter, aka,X, doesn't have a problem with that insult, so long as it's directed at a Conservative. I assume you made your tweet after reading the Newsweek article? I liked the music, BTW - can't remember for sure if I'd heard this one before. Thanks.
SafeNow, most of them seem to like to live that way - their little room in the sky, plenty enough food, and the one car, and above all, family. I get the feeling that they don't have so many hobbies like Westerners do. The big hobby is getting ahead of the rest with money, I guess to help get that best wife too. Nope, that's not the lifestyle I aspire to either.
Adam, I guess twitter, aka,X, doesn't have a problem with that insult, so long as it's directed at a Conservative. I assume you made your tweet after reading the Newsweek article? I liked the music, BTW - can't remember for sure if I'd heard this one before. Thanks.
Adam Smith
Saturday - August 19th 2023 12:34AM MST
PS: completely off topic...
but...
https://twitter.com/AdamSmith30533/status/1569368028474744834
https://www.newsweek.com/what-disgusting-racism-against-justice-thomas-reveals-about-anti-racist-side-opinion-1719596
Ctrl+f...
"Clarence Thomas is a dirty porch monkey"
???
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV4DiAyExN0
โฎ โฎ โฎ
Cheers! โฎ
but...
https://twitter.com/AdamSmith30533/status/1569368028474744834
https://www.newsweek.com/what-disgusting-racism-against-justice-thomas-reveals-about-anti-racist-side-opinion-1719596
Ctrl+f...
"Clarence Thomas is a dirty porch monkey"
???
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV4DiAyExN0
โฎ โฎ โฎ
Cheers! โฎ
SafeNow
Saturday - August 19th 2023 12:16AM MST
PS
If America is not the place to try to emulate anymore, then is anyplace else now the place? Isnโt at least sitting on your nice front por-cha something to try to emulate?โฆ as you sit there in your diminutive apartment, high in a tower. I have seen videos of a typical China apartment, and found the idea of living in one, I confess, harrowing. And no grass fields, no trees, just one apartment block after another. Still, you gotta have that apartment, plus even a car, if you are to obtain a presentable wife.
If America is not the place to try to emulate anymore, then is anyplace else now the place? Isnโt at least sitting on your nice front por-cha something to try to emulate?โฆ as you sit there in your diminutive apartment, high in a tower. I have seen videos of a typical China apartment, and found the idea of living in one, I confess, harrowing. And no grass fields, no trees, just one apartment block after another. Still, you gotta have that apartment, plus even a car, if you are to obtain a presentable wife.
Dieter Kief
Friday - August 18th 2023 11:50PM MST
PS
one more Dylan-echo from the below quoted song in my head - -
three doors down the boys finally made it through the wall
they cleaned out the bank safe - its said they got off with quite a haul
(I think of Catherine Engelbrecht & Gregg Phillips' True the Vote* - but also of the Biden-family****
*
https://tinyurl.com/4yt3565f
***the Biden-Plot is based on the corrupt nature of the Biden clan. The elites knew all the corruption stuff,
since it had happened in plain sight. The deal ywas: The corrupt Bidens are better motivated to play the
Presidential Family by the corruption AND:
"Resident" (Lauren Bobert) Joe Biden .h.a.d. to play along with the bellicose** World-Dominance (Jeff Sachs) script: Being as corrupt as they were, he simply couldn't do anything else than what his handlers want(ed) him to do.
**the Ukraine happenings are an illustration of the above thesis from A to Z.
one more Dylan-echo from the below quoted song in my head - -
three doors down the boys finally made it through the wall
they cleaned out the bank safe - its said they got off with quite a haul
(I think of Catherine Engelbrecht & Gregg Phillips' True the Vote* - but also of the Biden-family****
*
https://tinyurl.com/4yt3565f
***the Biden-Plot is based on the corrupt nature of the Biden clan. The elites knew all the corruption stuff,
since it had happened in plain sight. The deal ywas: The corrupt Bidens are better motivated to play the
Presidential Family by the corruption AND:
"Resident" (Lauren Bobert) Joe Biden .h.a.d. to play along with the bellicose** World-Dominance (Jeff Sachs) script: Being as corrupt as they were, he simply couldn't do anything else than what his handlers want(ed) him to do.
**the Ukraine happenings are an illustration of the above thesis from A to Z.
Dieter Kief
Friday - August 18th 2023 11:27PM MST
PS
Yep Alarmist - the plan is simple and perfect, hehe!
Now - the people. - What to do with the 80%*** of them, that now say that the judicial system is not trustworthy right now?
***I read that, but can't remember where it was, that the latest polls would show this never before seen number.
- All the while the absolute outsider has reached the poll numbers of Ron Desantis, who was head to head with Trump a few months ago: Bright, leoquent and rich Vivek Ramaswamy says - like Robert Kennedy Jr. - that he likes Trump-...while DeSantis stood at the Iowa State fare - alone, all by himself - in the suffed eggs kitchen doing
exactly that: Stuffing boiled eggs. People might be not the brightest people all in all, but they - get the meaning of scenes like that. - Oh - to reach his position in the boiled eggs (don't have to make this stuff up...) kitchen corner, Ron Deantis had to endure the calls of hundreds of people who, when spotting him, immediately went: We want Trump! - - -
***This is what Newt Gingrich meant when he said that the hardball that is actually being played by team "Biden!" might produce some very dire happenings and definitely does rpoduce a rather dangerous - รถh: Lay of the political US land.
It is funny to see the Tumpchi car, not least because you could read that word also as - - -Trump-chichi...
There's something funny going on he said/ I can just feel it in the air.
The Bard- - - in: Lilly, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts...
Yep Alarmist - the plan is simple and perfect, hehe!
Now - the people. - What to do with the 80%*** of them, that now say that the judicial system is not trustworthy right now?
***I read that, but can't remember where it was, that the latest polls would show this never before seen number.
- All the while the absolute outsider has reached the poll numbers of Ron Desantis, who was head to head with Trump a few months ago: Bright, leoquent and rich Vivek Ramaswamy says - like Robert Kennedy Jr. - that he likes Trump-...while DeSantis stood at the Iowa State fare - alone, all by himself - in the suffed eggs kitchen doing
exactly that: Stuffing boiled eggs. People might be not the brightest people all in all, but they - get the meaning of scenes like that. - Oh - to reach his position in the boiled eggs (don't have to make this stuff up...) kitchen corner, Ron Deantis had to endure the calls of hundreds of people who, when spotting him, immediately went: We want Trump! - - -
***This is what Newt Gingrich meant when he said that the hardball that is actually being played by team "Biden!" might produce some very dire happenings and definitely does rpoduce a rather dangerous - รถh: Lay of the political US land.
It is funny to see the Tumpchi car, not least because you could read that word also as - - -Trump-chichi...
There's something funny going on he said/ I can just feel it in the air.
The Bard- - - in: Lilly, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts...
Moderator
Friday - August 18th 2023 10:10AM MST
PS: "Very clever... Hunterโs on the board, the Big Guy gets 10%, and Trump will be the schmuck who is indicted for his obvious corrupt foreign dealings." Hahahaa! That sounds plausible, Alarmist.
Adam, I watched part of the video - no problem about the guy's embedded commercial. This is interesting. Going for the numbers is what they do. I don't think I noticed many electric cars in the village. In Peking, we were doing the tour thing, so were either among crowds of pedestrians or on buses. (I don't know all the brand names to know what's electric.)
Adam, I watched part of the video - no problem about the guy's embedded commercial. This is interesting. Going for the numbers is what they do. I don't think I noticed many electric cars in the village. In Peking, we were doing the tour thing, so were either among crowds of pedestrians or on buses. (I don't know all the brand names to know what's electric.)
Adam Smith
Friday - August 18th 2023 9:45AM MST
PS: Good afternoon, Mr. Moderator,
(Sorry about the wallet commercial in this video. No time to edit it out and repost it now. If you don't want to watch the advertising skip ahead to 3.03.)
Not sure how true this is, but it seems plausible.
If it's true, it's interesting...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SEfwoqKRU8
Cheers! โฎ
(Sorry about the wallet commercial in this video. No time to edit it out and repost it now. If you don't want to watch the advertising skip ahead to 3.03.)
Not sure how true this is, but it seems plausible.
If it's true, it's interesting...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SEfwoqKRU8
Cheers! โฎ
The Alarmist
Friday - August 18th 2023 9:41AM MST
PS
Very clever... Hunterโs on the board, the Big Guy gets 10%, and Trump will be the schmuck who is indicted for his obvious corrupt foreign dealings.
Very clever... Hunterโs on the board, the Big Guy gets 10%, and Trump will be the schmuck who is indicted for his obvious corrupt foreign dealings.
Mr. Smith, nice guitar video - mint green background, yeah, I like that. Have a good evening!