<PP> When you watch this, try keep your eye on the birdie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXQr...

As soon as the guardplay gets up to par the Chinese team will start to press for a medal.

China has 4 times the population of the US and has about 1/4th of the GDP of the US. That means the average person in the US is 16 times more wealthy than his Chinese counterpart...have fun making up that gap, China. If China didn't have such cheap labor, they wouldn't even have a leg to stand on, because outside of food, cheap clothing and manufactured athletes, what do they offer the world in terms of services or products? Nothing.

And also China has given your Bush Administration trillions of dollars to cover their war cost and yes in return send exports their stuff to get their money back.

Now that cheap labor is nearly gone in China...Wal-Mart and several made-in-China products will be more expensive--this is of course a backlash against Western corporation to treat Chinese as s*it.

So what? Unfortunately, not testing positive does not mean there is no doping.

That said, I have no opinion on whether Lewis ever intentionally used performance enhancing drugs.

<Apparently, the IOC accepted his explanation that the positive test came as a result of cold medications.>

Yeah.. because chess has never been intermingled with politics and between 2 superpowers(US vs Russia etc), and because we never talk politics on these forums.. -rolls eyes- :P~

<PinkPanther: You shouldn't have to compare China with countries in Africa to make it look well off. That right there shows the nature of the argument.>

The same way you have compared the U.S with China when you have also stated that China is a 'poor third world' country? It's pretty much the same thing.. talk about double standards. :p

<Just because new things are being built, doesn't really speak to the overall wealth of an average Chinese person. As I said somewhere else on this site before, the Chinese are still poorer than crap and will be for the foreseeable future. The only economic significance that country has is based on its population and not on its standard of living from person to person.>

As i've stated before, currently China cannot be compared with the U.S, or many other first world countries in many fields(gold medal count not being one of them). That is why i referred to it as still a 'third' world country, and why a few economically 'developed' cities like Shanghai, HK and Taiwan etc doesn't really make 'China' a developed country, and neither does having skyscrapers while the majority of the country lives in villages. It sort of parallels the U.S though, just that the U.S has had a big head start. Give it some time. I'm sure China will be able to keep up its current levels of infrastructural development, earthquakes and wars not withstanding.. 0_o

<China has 4 times the population of the US and has about 1/4th of the GDP of the US. That means the average person in the US is 16 times more wealthy than his Chinese counterpart...have fun making up that gap, China. If China didn't have such cheap labor, they wouldn't even have a leg to stand on, because outside of food, cheap clothing and manufactured athletes, what do they offer the world in terms of services or products? Nothing.>

Everyone has to start somewhere. They aren't a technologically developed country yet, and are still undergoing their industrial 'revolution', ie the reason why they are getting blasted by environmental activists. And FYI, China is having a ball 'making up that gap'. It will come sooner than you think, especially with the U.S wasting all it's money on unnecessary wars among many other things.. You say that China's economy will collapse, but the U.S is in the same bed as China, since they are one of the biggest recipients of Chinese goods. What's good for China also happens to be good for the U.S. Like you said, China has 4 times the population, so why wouldn't it make use of its cheap labor and focus on that for now? China is a big place, and also includes HK and Taiwan. Taiwan etc is well known for it's technological industry, and HK is also well known for it's trade and technology. Shanghai is also said to have 'overtaken' HK in terms of economy and being the centre for trade.. Honkies used to look down on Mainlanders(Shanghainese), but now the Shanghainese look down on Honkies(as the saying goes in China if i'm not mistaken).

They won't back off like you said until it's safe to do so, so that's pretty much a moot point.

<They are one of the few countries in the world that is poor, and is yet not poor enough to where they can't get some things done. China puts itself in the position of allowing this to be done to it, and in fact, when it comes to being "abused" for the sake of other countries they even encourage it by devaluing their currency to keep their exports so high. The only way China is getting so big and "powerful" is because of stuff like this. As I said before, they don't really produce much of anything. They grow food and produce products for companies from other countries. The moment that they decide they don't want to provide cheap labor and act as a "sweatshop" for the rest of the world anymore, their economy will entirely collapse because those are the only legs that it is standing on.>

That has some truth to it, but like i said.. until it is feasible to do so, they won't do it. That doesn't mean that it will never happen and China will always remain a 'sweatshop' country. Once their industrial 'revolution' and technological advancement reaches a sufficient level, they can start to diversify their economy and industries(if they aren't already doing so).

China has changed so much in the last 10-20 years, and i'm guessing that in another 10-20 years, the 'gap' that they are having so much fun in closing will be even smaller. Do you think the U.S will be able to increase the gap in terms of GDP or halt China's progress in that department? I doubt it, and i think China has the upper hand when it comes to that for now and the foreseeable future. It's much easier to play catch up(and steal/copy technologies/strategy) than it is to increase the lead and truly be innovative/revolutionary in business/technological ideas.. The U.S has too much red tape that China does not when it comes down to these things. This is why Chinese athletes have improved so much in the olympics, and it will also be for that reason that China will also close the gap economically, so to speak. I haven't even mentioned the 'big' state projects that China has undertaken that the U.S can only dream of. China has quite alot to offer the world i would think. To say it has nothing to offer other than it being a 'sweatshop' is simply selling China short. Every country wants a piece of Chinese pie, and it's been like that for a very very long time.. only now it's China that's the one who is in control and dividing up it's portions instead of being exploited and raped by foreign interests/nations.

<The only way China is getting so big and "powerful" is because of stuff like this. As I said before, they don't really produce much of anything. They grow food and produce products for companies from other countries. The moment that they decide they don't want to provide cheap labor and act as a "sweatshop" for the rest of the world anymore, their economy will entirely collapse because those are the only legs that it is standing on.>

I recommend YOU to see--
Koppel on Discovery: The People's Republic of Capitalism

China won like almost twice the number of US gold medals ... historically that's always been the accepted measure of success of any country in the olympics... NBC's stupid attempt to hide the sun with finger notwithstanding.

How does this render PinkPanther's statement <ridiculous>?

<<PinkPanther> wouldn't be raving about how useless these sports are if China didn't exist or excel in those sports.>

China is now independent and organized, and it is just a matter of time before they will be a (more) dominant world power.