China is attempting to make its men more "manly".

 

Chinese troops exercise in the snow. BBC.

China has caused internal controversy due to a plan to make its men more "manly". BBC. The Chinese government has been critical of their celebrities with many of them being fresh face younger men and not sports icons or soldiers. The government says that this is leading to "feminization" of men. Many Chinese are raised by their mothers and grandmothers and do not have strong role models. In an effort to promote better role models, China will promote soccer and other sports. 

My Comment:

The backlash against this is pretty predictable but I figured it would be from western sources. The BBC article did quote a bunch of supposedly Chinese people that are upset with this as well. You can never quite trust western media when it comes to China or Russia, so it's possible this is more popular than it seems. But having said that I am guessing that more than a few Chinese people are upset about it. 

It's not like this is unprecedented though. Russia has a similar program and in the past western countries did as well. Encouraging people to be in good shape and have good role models is a pretty universal program that only became controversial in the past few years. 

Will China's efforts succeed? I don't know. It seems like every country has problems with obesity and soft men so if promoting soccer works it would be a surprise. But I do have to say that I think China has at least identified a problem. Most other countries don't seem to want to admit the problem exists so China has a leg up on everyone else. 

It also shows me that China is probably preparing for war, probably to retake Taiwan. If they go to war they will need strong young men to invade and right now they don't seem to have that right now. They have an obesity problem and despite their surplus of young men they might not have enough of them to actually take Taiwan (not like that is likely in the first place).

I would think that such a program would help in America as well but I can't ever see the Democrats going along with it. They are so woke right now that they honestly don't consider masculinity to be a good thing and any proposal in this direction would be laughed down a best and might even draw criminal charges for whoever proposed it (as it would be considered hate speech). Given that many of our younger boys are not even fit to join the military that is going to put us at a disadvantage if China's program is successful. 

The sad thing is that to many on the left, the idea that there is a value in masculinity is completely forbidden. Indeed, something as simple as being physically fit is seen as suspicious on the left as it's something the alt-right advocates. 

As evil as China is I do have to admire them a little bit. They seem to both have a plan to win and are willing to put that plan into place. Our leadership here in America is so confused and distracted by nonsense that if it does come to a war with China I don't think we will win, even though we have the military advantage for now.