If anything, reporting on China by western sources doesn’t get anywhere near the actual situation in China because westeners would never believe it was that crazy. News on China by China already leaves a pretty bad impression.
>would never believe it was that crazy.
That doesn't sound crazy at all, as I've seen plenty of all that in the US...
Some of the useless buildings built for buildings sake will potentially be filled as people move from rural areas, but a lot won't.
Both approaches are wasteful but which is more so is debatable. Our military Keynesianism throws off R&D dividends that apply to civilian use cases, but people could live in those cities.
More people are buying their second and third home than are buying their first.
At this point, there is no way for the housing market to crash gracefully. Maybe in 2011, but not in 2018. The amount of leverage offered up by Chinese banks this time means that most speculators can't simply wait out a downturn.
Can you point to examples of untruthful reporting on China from mainstream publications? Sounds to me that you came here with an expectation of how the US media reports on China and you've gone out of your way to have it confirmed, ignoring evidence to the contrary.
So, in your view:
1. what's the real story about what's going on in China that's being missed in "untruthful" articles like this, and
2. who's reporting that story "truthfully"?
The number one take away I have from interactions with all too many Chinese nationals, unfortunately.
It might be more subtle than that. I know some Chinese nationals who report that their culture is to defend the in-group against criticisms in front of an out-group even if they themselves think the criticisms are true. To not do so is a kind of betrayal. This applies to groups as small as a family up to the whole country.
For instance, that cultural attitude were at least part of the fuel for this controversy: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-40013486
It does make it difficult to have open conversations about many topics until you're pretty close.
This how thread is about how that is changing. Also, most don't think politics and economics are separate.
> I have not seen _any_ US media reporting China truthfully
What are they getting wrong?
Look no further than The World Factbook by CIA:
2 QATAR
13 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
15 KUWAIT
22 SAUDI ARABIA
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/...
What happens is that, because of untruthful reporting in US media, people in US does not know or understand what's going on in China. It seems a miracle that such a big country grew like crazy in 30 years without democracy. But if you how much average Chinese invest in their education and how hard they work, you will not be surprised.
The only real problem China is facing is its political system, not its economy. Compared to improving the political system, the economy is much, much easier.