Friday, February 15, 2008

How many Chinese do you want?

You know, China is a very poor country," Mao is quoted as saying during the exchange. "We don't have much. What we have in excess is women. So if you want them we can give a few of those to you, some tens of thousands."

The Chinese leader drew laughter when he returned to the proposition a few minutes later. "Do you want our Chinese women? We can give you 10 million." he said, adding: "We have too many women ... They give birth to children and our children are too many."

-Mao offered Kissinger 10 million Chinese women

George Borjas tells a similar story- anecdote of a discussion between Carter and Deng Xiaoping;

Carter questions why the Chinese government don't allow emigration from China, which is a fundamental human right. Deng responds saying, 'that is a good question. How many Chinese do you want- 10 million, 20 million, 30 million?'.

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