Hello Democracy 4 community, Cliff and his developers. In the game there are countries of the right, center right and center left but not of the left so thinking of a left / communist country, China immediately came to mind.
Why should we put it in the game?
China has a very high level of pollution, people have to wear masks to avoid cancer (obviously before covid-19). Of course, in the game here all countries have the problem of pollution but they don’t wear masks and it is “less serious”. Then it is a superpower that has gone through clashes with America (in Trump’s mandate). It has a very strong army, the strongest in the world. It has an intricate history, not one of the most famous but its history is still interesting.
China exports many products (tarot and non-tarot), the “made in China” brand is one of the most widespread in the world. Racial tensions are high. The oppression is very high so there will be riots in the country.
It would be the only country so far with military service.
And finally it is a rigid dictatorship so the opposition party should remain at 0% of the votes and the player’s party at least 10% (because in any case when people make mistakes too many times they get pissed rightly and in that case the opposition could get up but with much difficulty.
These are my reasons for adding China. I hope it is a playable country (I propose this country because there is a mod in it but it is not very well done).
I agree, considering China’s Confucius beliefs, it’s making it more interesting but very complicated… China has many cultural changes from the rest of the world and appears to have many Chinese philosophy but I think I might name a few.
*There’s the concentration camps.
*China’s censorship (LBGTQ+, skeletons, blood, negative images about China, communist leaders like Hitler/Stalin/Putin, Taiwan, Tibet, dictatorship, violence, gambling, pollution, outside sources being quoted, Wikipedia, time travel, social medias, etc…)
*Gaming industry
*Has so many factories.
*Peak military and police forces. *China banning this game if it introduces China
*banning chemical plants within 1 kilometer of the river, relocating polluting industries, severely restricting sand mining as well as a complete fishing ban on all the natural waterways of the river, including all its major tributaries and lakes.[]
*Water shortage
*Desertification
Just to name a few.
I like this idea, but I’m not sure about normal Chinese citizens having to wear masks to “avoid cancer.” Sure, air pollution is pretty bad, but in my experience it’s gotten a lot better in recent years and it was never so bad as to cause cancer without a very prolonged exposure. I’m also not sure about the Chinese military, which is certainly very strong and improving quickly, but they’re still not world leading.
I think the main issue with adding China would be the lack of opposition. The player could do whatever they wanted short of political reform and nobody would/could oppose them. This would inevitably create difficulty issues.
Yes, that is a good point. I’m not quite sure how assassinations would work, though, as I’ve never experienced one myself and they’re actually quite rare in our current world.
If the government controls all media and discourages all opposition, the risk of assassination becomes very small.
China’s left socialism behind and they’ve embraced capitalism. Seeing how the Maoist factions of the CPC have been suppressed (the New Left as it is called). It would be interesting to see China in game, but I would not imagine it being any different from playing Hungary, except with lots more economic might. Lots of authoritarianism and cultural/social conservatism, mixed with free-market capitalism.
As for China having the strongest army in the World, it’s doubtful, since America spends much more on its military and has faced combat far more times than the Chinese military has. All of the old leaders from the Civil War, Korean War, Vietnam War, the Sino-Indian War and the Sino-Soviet Skirmish would’ve passed away or retired by now. Not to mention the reintroduction of political commissars present in the PLA by Xi Jinping, which prevented the Soviet Army from being an effective fighting force in WW2 (till their power was taken away). As a defensive force, China’s Army, I think would get the job done, but I don’t see much offensive capacity in it atleast for now, especially outside of cyberwarfare.
War is also not simulated in D4, so their military prowess is a moot point.
The state owned enterprises of china are run on a profit motive, their workers are not given a share of profits, their production is guided by profits and not the rule of production for use as under socialism and there is no price setting in the economy by the state, the prices are decided by the market. Hence, I would say that China is a state capitalist economy. Private ownership, large domestic private enterprise and mixed ownership is encouraged along side said state ownership with significant foreign investment, so it cannot be said that China has a socialist economy. The current system does not allow for self-management or workplace democracy (Chinese workplaces are hierarchical, the working class is not the dominant class which has control over the surplus production, it has some form of workplace democracy, the SWCRs, but it’s not clear how democratic they really are) as seen under the YFSR. I would say that it is a transition economy, transitioning towards a form of capitalism. From state capitalist to some form of guided and regulated free-market capitalism. Capitalism with Chinese characteristics. Not to mention that the liberalization of the Chinese economy led to plenty of the welfare in China being rolled back. Now some of that is slowly coming back.
No problem!