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You have an interesting argument and then try to support it with an awful comparison. Life in Russia/China absolutely sucks for factors but not in Cuba. A country with absolutely the same factors, and not even the upsides of Russia/China being mid-high income countries by global standards. What’s even the logic here? China has cool beaches as well
Life in Cuba sucks for Cubans. But life in Cuba for affluent(ish) expats is great in a way that life as a foreign dissident in Russia usually isn’t. If you escape the US with $500,000 in cash/bitcoin, Cuba is by far preferable to life in China or Russia.
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I've been to Russia, never been to the other two. Based on vibes alone I'd rather live in Cuba than China. Much of Chinese society seems to be built around positional status games and the culture seems incredibly foreign, not even mentioning language difficulties. In my experience of other Latin American countries and other Caribbean countries this is not the case there. The material standard of living is certainly way worse in Cuba, but Latin culture seems more relatable (although obviously it has its own peccadillos).
As a foreigner there’s not really a status ladder for you to climb. You’re can be an English teacher which is becoming kind of looked down on, be married into a Chinese family and be part of their network, or be neither and just be a foreign curiosity.
For material comforts and modern convenience I’d prefer China to the other two. There’s no Amazon equivalent in Cuba, and I’m guessing the internet connectivity is poor. The Chinese firewall is annoying but easily traversed.
Though you’re right that Spanish is definitely easier for an English speaker to pick up than Chinese.
Maybe no status ladder for you, but definitely one for your wife and kids. Would you really want to raise kids grinding to ace the gaokao their entire lives?
That seems like bullshit, tbh.
China has about half of the world's industry, anyone with talent even if they haven't got stellar school results is probably able to make a decent living if they pick a sensible profession and are diligent with it.
China's also got a billion people.
White collar work seems to be gated on the gaokao. Much of the white collar work is on a grueling 996 schedule too, so the grind continues even once you get a decent job.
Was passed by 10 million people last year.
Guess who has earned the ire of Xi last year? Guys demanding 996.
And? Just about any shitty experience you can imagine has been experienced by millions of people.
Because they weren't working hard enough you mean?
No, CPC has been demanding these companies stop with 996..
But I guess 2 year old news from China haven't made it over the sea yet.
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Yes I have also been to Latin America and indeed the culture was more familiar. Not sure how this relates to the point you were making. 99.9% of Russian and Chinese population can freely leave their country on a middle class income and many regularly do for vacations, education or work. Everytime the current Cuban regime allowed such a thing in any limited form the country has seen a mass exodus. Out of these three, it’s clearly not the choice if you want a decent life. Russians are generally not an alien culture to average westerner and China has good weather too.
Well, you have to consider the fact that Russia has already gone through such an evaporative cooling and many Chinese do leave the country. As a defector, I imagine your standard of living would be somewhat higher than average.
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