If I were to ask you, which of the above is a rarity in my everyday life, chances are you would answer Chinese bots. You would be wrong. Colour me surprised, when it dawned on me that my blog’s most loyal fans are Chinese bots.

Or so I assume. I find it hard to believe that there is a rising demand for Niceoldlady blogs among real, live Chinese people. Especially during times, when no new blogs have been forthcoming.

It should be comforting to know that someone still follows me – despite my literary dry spells. Instead it highlights the way China has become obsessed with surveillance of everyone and everything. There is no matter insignificant enough to end up under the radar as far as China is concerned: Proof positive being my blog, which is fun to write, but grantedly insignificant.

To make my Chinese followers visits worth the effort, I have decided to take an in depth look at China. In depth meaning that after reading a few books and googling China, I will write whatever comes to mind and try to sound like I put a lot of thought into it.

Which doesn’t necessarily mean my thinking will be any further from the truth than those thoroughly compiled China analyses that well known international ‘think tanks’ keep churning out at a steady – and costly – rate.

One thing is certain. My blog will be just as factual and comprehensive as the information shared by the Chinese regarding the origins of the coronavirus, not to mention Chinese statistics.

Let’s start with a key strength. The Chinese have something I, and many other Westerners, don’t have: patience.

It may take a few generations, but if you keep moving steadily towards your set goal, you will get there in the end, irrespective of the course changes needed to avoid obstacles on your way.

What is the goal? Where is China heading? In addition to creating a wealthy socialist state, China’s openly stated goal for 2050 has as of 2018 been to become a leading global economic, industrial and political power. In other words, to regain the position that was lost in the 19th century and then some.

To make a long story short, China is heading towards you and me and everything around us. Buying, spying, doing what great powers do – and aiming to do it better than others.

Some claim that the Chinese approach to winning is not your classic ‘go in for the kill’, but more along the line that it is better to leave some scraps to the competition, so that they are tied up in safeguarding what remains and thereby less prone to attack to regain all that was lost. I decided to toss that in here, because the concept has merit, whether the Chinese actually buy into it or not.

I am all for ambitious goal-setting. I also think it is smart of China to focus on artificial intelligence as a means to gain its goals.

But dear Chinese friends, no one is an island. Potential friends are friends no more, when you put them under unauthorised surveillance and try to hijack their intellectual property, knowledge bases, and politics – not to mention blogs.

There you have your answer dear readers – the Chinese bots, the nice old lady, and even the bottle of wine are all part of my everyday life. Privacy, however, is becoming more and more rare. Not only thanks to my Chinese followers, but also thanks to every Tom, Dick and Harry (no genders presumed) serving me cookies and mining my data.

When it all becomes too much – retreat. While the wine works too, I can warmly recommend butterfly photography as a means of escapism.