-^-for posterity-^-

speaking club and we talked about the development of china.

the history between china and vietnam has been nothing but tumultuous. china has treated vietnam as a colony for at least a thousand years. there's an expression in vietnamese "1000 years fighting against china, 100 years fighting against the french and 30 years fighting against the americans." china has been nothing but ruthless to vietnam.

however, currently china is nothing more than a beckon of light for vietnam. china's development has been an incredible inspiration for vietnam because they follow a similar system. both of them have done their best to join the wto but both of them have actually fought against the wto in their own special way. they both change laws but the changes are very slow. what ends up happening is that vietnam and china appear as if they're opening up at an incredible pace when really they're opening up more slowly.

this brings in more investment and the country develops quickly and they're still able to foster their internal industries, something that america did after their revolution from britain.

i asked the speaking club about the relationship between china and vietnam. seeing as how they followed similar doctrine (described by some as marx and smith in a blender), i assumed it would be strong. the members of the club looked up and frowned. no, china was, as one member put it, 'pragmatic'. they only liked vietnam when they had something to offer china.

for a moment i wondered what it must be like to be a developing nation in this modern world. it has to be a terrifying experience. for example, china is an exception with 1.3 billion people and a well trained and educated working class. vietnam, on the other hand, only boasts 0.08 billion people. they feel as if they're alone, like the world is fighting against them and they have nothing but an up-hill battle. what a lonely feeling.