China Release New Fighter. The J-10., page 22

Well, there are plenty of things to talk about it seems, so let me get started:

First, the J-10 vs. F-22 comparison is completely irrelevant. The J-10 is not designed to counter the F-22, it's designed to counter the Mirage 2000's and F-16's Taiwan has. And since there doesn't need to be a lot of J-10's to counter the Taiwanese air force, China won't even make many J-10's, J-11's, and Su-27/30's. All those planes are more of an intermediary step China is taking to catch up to the U.S. In the meanwhile, they'll build just enough to launch an attack on Taiwan if the need so arises.

There seems to be some major misinformation about China, how about take it from people who've lived there(like me) instead of heresay and the media. There is a VERY important people aren't pointing out, and that is the Chinese CULTURE and the American CULTURE are VERY DIFFERENT. So while the facts both sides state are true, their effects are VERY DIFFERENT to

1) The Chinese economy is probably one of the most capitalistic in the world. In face, in China, you can buy pretty much everything given the right amount of money. If you have a few million dollars to throw around, you can buy yourself a nice little Lt. Governor title. Corruption is very serious in China. However, since this problem is a problem THROUGHOUT the Chinese history, it is much hated by the Chinese people but it is NOT a problem they simply cannot accept. Many are pretty resigned to this fact.

2)The economy IS growing at a TREMENDOUS rate, and it has been for the past couple of decades. However, the growth is mostly in the coastal cities and most of the extra money goes to the ones who are already rich, thus widening the huge rich-poor gap. This is not as big of a problem as many Americans believe though, because China went through 70+ years of constant warfare followed by 20+ years of extreme economic hardship in which death by starvation among many other things were exposed to the vast majority of the population everyday. Thus, while many are angered by the unjust economy, what they have now is still a vast improvement what they've had before.

3)The government is fairly backward, but it IS improving. Small scale voting has already become prevalent in many areas in China, and criticism of the government is generally allowed unless you do it in some sensitive places such as in front of government buildings or at tourist sites. People in China trash the government everyday, the unfairness of the society and the corruption of the government are actually some of the favorite topics of daily chatters in China.

4)And about the Tiananmen square, the westerners know very little about it. The fact is undeniable--many students were killed by the PLA, but the things behind it are much more complicated. I'll disregard the political struggle behind it for a second(you didn't really think they needed 500,000 soldiers and tanks to quell a few hundred thousand college students did you?) and talk about the social aspects of it. While most Chinese people would want more freedom and human rights, they could really care less if they're given the chance to make more money. Many only care about money, "freedom" and "human rights" are only good-sounding words to them. Plus, like I've said before, the memories of those 70+ years of constant warfare are still quite fresh in most people's minds(there are still many movies made of them to refresh ppl's memories), so they realize VERY well the importance of stability. They'd rather have a corrupt but stable country than a democratic and unstable one. I think most Chinese people have seen what going democratic too fast can do to a country in the example of the USSR. And because of that, many Chinese do not view the Tiananmen square incidence as some of shame. In fact, there are many in China now who applaud the foresight of the Chinese leaders to put the iron clamp on the protesters at Tiananmen square rather than having the situation fester into another USSR. Only a few hundred(or thousand depend on which source) students died at Tiananmen square(actually, no one died in the square, the shooting was mostly on streets around the sqaure). But if China were to suddenly become democratic, the country would break up, and EVERY SINGLE TIME it's happened in Chinese history, a civil war follows in which probably tens if not hundreds of millions would die. The lives of a few hundred/thousand students are, while tragic, certainly a decent price to pay.

Oh, and btw, the Chinese tanks never ran over anyone, they went around them.