And Chinese products first have to show care for craftsmanship to command these prices, which is something I haven't seen so much until now. India is probably worse.
That's not the point though.
It's that if they have the same quality AND high wages, then they would be like a 1.6 billion strong USA.
It's not just about market competition -- and even if it was, their huge domestic market (further developed to Japan levels as you expect it to) would be a huge advantage in itself.
>And Chinese products first have to show care for craftsmanship to command these prices, which is something I haven't seen so much until now.
Craftmanship? The kind of stuff they can make, few if any factories in the US can. There's a reason almost all high end stuff is made in China as well (from Apple and Armani, to BMW parts). If they make and sell cheap stuff too is not because they can't make the good stuff, it's because that sells.
(And of course in the level of high artistry and craftmanship China as a culture, has had extreme global masters for millennia, in painting, sculpture, woodwork, and tons of other arts. Of course they don't compete with that -- which are very low yield -- but with mass products for the industrial age).
Yeah, they're cheap. If you've ever worked with Chinese suppliers unless you give them a lot of crap they will send you parts where 10-20% aren't useable. They only pay attention to quality if there's a foreign company putting lots and lots of pressure on the factory to produce to their standards.
>China as a culture, has had extreme global masters for millennia, in painting, sculpture, woodwork, and tons of other arts.
Yes, but they lost them in the last century because of some movement, where they killed artists, intellectuals, etc... They still haven't recovered from this. If you kill a whole generation of intellectuals it will take probably a few more centuries to regain that culture they lost.
Those that don't often have a very skewed viewpoint compared to those who do.
It would be like judging the entire US based on living in Silicon Valley your entire life.
Most of what you've written are arguments for China to be on the up-and-up in the next 10-20 years, not in decline as you seem to think (undeveloped parts = still has areas for future growth).
Others are just on par with the situation in the West (credit debt, propped up etc).
>(I have a good hunch most people that comment favorabily on China here, have never been)
Which doesn't say much. There are tons of people who don't understand anything about their own society despite having been born and raised there (which entails more familiarity than merely living in some place for some years).