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Two photos of the same train driver, taken 26 years apart (lemmy.ml)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/trains@lemmy.ml
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The two trains pictured:

More info about (and photos of) the driver, Han Junjia:

screenshot of text "Same chinese train driver 26 years apart" above two photos, the first showing a man standing next to a China Railways SY steam locomotive and the second showing him standing next to a Fùxīng Hào high-speed train
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[–] 57 points 5 months ago* (9 children)

It's absolutely hilarious to me how people in the west are genuinely surprised that people in China overwhelmingly support their system and government. Just imagine what it must be like to live in a country where you see this sort of progress happening all around you in a single generation. You see a clear and tangible demonstration of the government working to improve your life everywhere you look.

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  • [–] 22 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    It's also quite amusing to see the cognitive dissonance when you point out that the Chinese system (classified as communist by many here in the U.S.) was the one that has pulled off the greatest improvement in living conditions in human history, pulling hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in basically a generation.

    "But muh capitalism!" (Don't worry, capitalism is proceeding to do the opposite.)

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  • [–] 24 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    A lot of people don't understand the historical context of the US having sat out WW2. The whole myth of capitalism being a superior system was built on the fact that the US got to develop its industries while the rest of the world burned. So, naturally, the NATO bloc that it formed was far ahead economically. And the west has been riding that advantage ever since.

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  • [–] 14 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Oh, I believe it. I got a degree in environmental sciences, and in the course of my studies, learned the historical context that goes way back earlier than WW2, even: The United States initially became an economic superpower, and built its industries, on the sheer bounty of natural resources that it extracted from North America and the Caribbean. Nothing much to do with the economic system, except to concentrate the gains to a lucky, elite few.

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