Caught in the act?

[guyfriday]

A couple of things here;
One, it looks like China is having some kind of melt down where it's dumping money into making it look like everything is fine and dandy.

In this video the presenter is showing how China is paying You Tubers to showcase China as a super great land of happy people (my words not theirs). The only issue I have with this video is near the end it talks about China building more and more coal burning powerplants, well it's kind of messed up. What seems to be going on is that instead of upgrading or replacing, China is just building new powerplants, and shutting down the old one. The old one stay standing since it costs money to tear them down, and it's easier to just build a new one than upgrade the older ones. 

Then there is this story from CNN, which I find very odd.
Major companies in China are setting up their own volunteer armies | CNN Business

Three take aways from this story:
One;

 Chinese companies are doing something rarely seen since the 1970s: setting up their own volunteer armies. At least 16 major Chinese firms, including a privately-owned dairy giant, have established fighting forces over the past year, according to a CNN analysis of state media reports.
 
These units, known as the People’s Armed Forces Departments, are composed of civilians who retain their regular jobs.

Two;

 
The establishment of corporate brigades highlights Beijing’s growing concerns about potential conflict abroad as well as social unrest at home as the economy stumbles, analysts say.
 
The revival is also seen as a response to the pandemic, and part of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s efforts to tighten Communist Party control over society, including the corporate sector.
 
“The return of corporate militias reflects Xi’s rising focus on the need to better integrate economic development with national security as the country faces a more difficult future of slower growth and rising geopolitical competition,” said Neil Thomas, a fellow for Chinese politics at Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.
 
“Corporate militias under military leadership could help the Communist Party more effectively quell incidents of social unrest such as consumer protests and employee strikes,” he said.

 
And finally;

 By enrolling a large number of civilians into the brigades, Mao Zedong, China’s revolutionary leader, said he was enhancing the country’s defense against the threat of “imperial forces” such as the United States. But historians said Mao used the forces to promote his personal agenda and consolidate his power.
 
He embedded the brigades into the People’s Communes, huge collectives formalized in 1958 that managed almost all economic and political activities in rural China. The communes were a central part of Mao’s Great Leap Forward campaign, a disastrous effort to galvanize agriculture and raise steel production through collectivization that resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people.
 
Mao also expanded the militia system to suppress and intimidate people who opposed his radical policies, while developing a cult of personality within and outside the party.

Sound familiar? I think Xi has pushed the people too far. As to this Mao issue check out this out:
China's mysterious vanishing MaosーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS (youtube.com)

In this video (which is not viewable outside of NHK World) they talk to people about missing Mao Statues, and the answers to get are nonexistent. Now why would this happen? I think this virtual "great Wall is falling down, and China will either be acting out stupidly or shutting itself off from the world once again.