[josai]

> I just don't believe global consumers will choose China over USA, Europe, Japan, South Korea

That seems pretty short-sighted. Maybe you're quite young, but 15 years ago korean cars had a shocking reputation, and japanese 20 years before that. 10 years ago I wouldn't have even considered a crappy cheap korean television, now LG and samsung are tier-1 brands. And subjectively the label "made in china" doesn't have the negative ring it seemed to just a few years ago.

Consumer sentiment can change pretty fast.

[rm_-rf_slash]

Ah, good point. I'm in my early 20s so I have only Glengarry Glen Ross to remind me how lowly Korean brands were seen just a few decades ago. Sure, China can/does compete globally in high-tech, and certainly there's no reason to think they can't make products just as appealing as the countries I listed.

That being said I'm not sure they'll be able to muster the same cultural - ahem - revolution. For example, South Korea makes LG TVs to watch their country's popular soap operas on.

When I studied Chinese I streamed mainland TV to get accustomed to the tones, and after a while I felt a reminder of "1984" about the dull propaganda books and movies that were remade by the party every year with different names. Basically, it sucked.