Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Good Morning World! Meet Your New Hegemon!

Will Rogers once said that America was the first country in history to drive to the poorhouse in a car. 
Now, I think we'll be pushing our pickup trucks to the next gas station so we can get to the poorhouse.

And here are the folks who will fill the global power vacuum that we will leave behind.



Learn this tune, because you'll be hearing it a lot soon.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not bad, actually. A very hope-filled tune in a major key, succinct and sound-bite in nature. If you'd like to get really creative, combine this idea with "1421: The Year China Discovered America" by Gavin Menzies regarding China's last great "manifest destiny" and the Navajo (or "Dine", sorry can't do accents) language. The only thing that got them hung-up the first time was "superstition" about a lightning strike on the capitol, a fire and...deforestation (land denuded of trees to build the ships that mapped the known world).

Anonymous said...

Sorry! Hopi, not Deeh-nay.

Old mind at work.

Anonymous said...

So very Western and so much 20th century.

Not a chinese note (or scale ;=) in sight. Very odd.

toujoursdan said...

It's a bouncy tune. When I first heard it at the Olympic Opening Ceremony, the commentator said that it comes from a Shanghai opera.

The Religious Pícaro said...

I can say "How are you?" and recite a children's poem in Mandarin, and that's it. Back to the books!

But China can't even distribute untainted food to its own citizens yet - are they really in a position to take over?

Counterlight said...

They just had a third manned space flight. They have nuclear weapons, and they own most of our debt. They have the world's fastest growing economy.
They have been moving aggressively though the developing world with aid packages and business deals, especially in Africa and Latin America, creating influence.

I'd say they're ready.

The Religious Pícaro said...

Right. Time to order Rosetta Stone for Mandarin, I guess.

toujoursdan said...

I heard on the BBC that by 2010, China will be Africa's largest investor and trading partner.