A scholar has assured the wary public that his quantitative measurement of “Chinese national revival” is a mere “hobby,” not at all supported by government funds. SoutheastNet reports:
On August 3, National Development and Reform Commission expert Yang Yiyong stated that Chinese national revival was 62% complete as of 2010. Using quantitative measures to evaluate the advancement of the nation’s revival has sparked widespread controversy, leading some to speculate that Yang earned some financial reward for his study. Yang insists he hasn’t spent one cent of government money. He further divulged that in 2005 he reported the revival to be at 46%, but that higher-ups felt the figure was too low. He has not yet reported this year’s data to his superiors.
“Installing Chinese Nation’s Great Revival: 62% complete.” The window warns that “If you click cancel, the system will automatically crash!”
Netizens gave their two cents to Yang:
yuanxinting: At the 10th Forum on Modernizing China Yang Yiyong, Chair of the National Development and Reform Commission Academy of Macroeconomic Research, revealed that by 2010 the task of China’s national revival was already 62% complete. Now who dares say we lack mathematical management!*
yuanxinting：国家发改委宏观经济研究院社会发展研究所所长杨宜勇在第10期中国现代化研究论坛上透露，中华民族复兴任务2010年已完成62%。谁敢再说国人缺乏数目字管理！
*Coined by historian Ray Huang, “mathematical management” indicates that society is governed by economic principles, rather than philosophical ones. Huang places China’s transition into mathematical manageability in the 1920s. Before that time, scholars tried to administer a complex society according to oversimplified, qualitative (i.e. Confucian) principles.
trojansj: ▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊ 89.64 % Loading… Installing Chinese Nation’s Revival Failed. Please delete the file and try again.
trojansj：▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊ 89.64 % Loading………安装中华民族复
兴程序失败，请删除后重新安装。hnjhj: Don’t think it’ll stop once the “Chinese National Revival” is 100% complete, because at that point the Party will put forward such projects as the “Chinese National Revival Phase II,” “Chinese National Revival Awards,” “Strengthening the Chinese National Revival” and “Chinese National Revival Free Upgrade.”
hnjhj：别以为「中华民族复兴任务」进度条到100%就算完事儿了，因为届时我党又将提出「中华民族复兴二期任务」、「中华民族复兴奖励任务」、「中华民族复兴加强任务」、「中华民族复兴免费升级任务」等后续任务。
LiJianmang: They [the CCP] are counting by years. They’ve been in power for 62 years [since 1949], hence 62% completion of the revival. In another 39 years they’ll have reached 101%. Do you know what 101% means? It means they overdid it, and they fall into the river!
李剑芒: 他们是按年数数的。执政了62年，所以就62%了。再过39年就是101%。知道101%是啥意思吗？过头了，掉河里了！
Via Mahler Gobi News (named after the Mahler Desert).
