User blog comment:Morgane of the Mists/Cultural exchange, pt. 1/@comment-24903916-20140509051140/@comment-8285-20140509061612

You would think that the leaders of a nation would take historical examples from the past and understand the reasons behind the downfall of world powers, and strive not to make the same mistakes... Often, pride can make you severely blind, and there are many signs suggesting that China is facing such a problem.

A few years ago, I worked part-time at a popular Chinese restaurant—I was the only person who could speak English fluently there, since everyone else couldn't speak English for shit. That particular restaurant was very well received by the people working at the Chinese embassy, and every week they would come and book a private room to eat, sing karaoke, and get drunk as hell. Keep in mind that the Chinese taxpayer pays for these public servants to come to Australia to get drunk every week (they buy the most expensive Australian Shiraz and Merlot red wine on the menu, and usually manage to finish multiple cartons of bottles every night). Every time I served these guys, they would get drunk and talk about politics, and some of the things they say are so boastful and short-sighted that it's worrying—you never know whether it's their personal opinion, or whether there's a common attitude amongst all government employees in China. Remember: these are the people that are involved in running the country.

One thing I probably would never forget would be hearing a slurring, drunken CPC official (man, he was a fucking bigwig, you could tell just by the things attached to him. I think he drove an Audi S5 or something) saying in a stereotypical Northeasterner putonghua accent: "歐洲人啊，西方人啊. . . 他們根本就沒什麼文化. 你看看——咱們中國人古代​​的時候發明了多少東西，我們國家多繁華呀！他們能教我們啥？我們應該教他們！" From there onwards, I thought to myself that something is probably becoming really fucked up in the higher echelons of government. If this kind of backwards thinking can be said when they're drunk off their face and lose their usual inhibitions, what are they usually hiding from everybody when they're sober and doing diplomatic business with the world?