Comments by "Doncarlo" (@doujinflip) on "How Beijing Spent Billions More Than The Official Olympic Budget | True Cost" video.

  1. They're used to top off between snowfalls, not as 100% of its operation. That's the difference between existing ski slopes in the US and the fully artificial one in the cold desert of northern China.
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  2. It's supposed to pay off with the economic activity it supports, which for China is still questionable as they overbuilt for lower-paying passengers and not enough for higher-margin freight.
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  3. Stability. Things become dangerous when conflicts of political ideas can be expressed with weapons, especially when such weaponry involve an effective opposition of organized militants. China is well aware about the value of stability by actively discouraging and degrading the opposition before it can become self-sustaining and effective.
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  4. To be really useful, China's HSR lines would need to be beefed up and quad-tracked to handle cargo; right now they're too weak to support more profitable heavier freight trains but they've already blown their budgets on construction, operation, and maintenance of their HSR lines. The US by contrast has its rail network filled with cargo, still making profits over 100 years later even though hardly any passengers ride the rails anymore. Plus the US has a free Interstate Highway System that allows trucks and pays itself off with the economic activity supported, while China's equivalent (where it's tolled and trucks aren't allowed) struggles to plus up their fapiaos (tax receipts) from cars and coaches.
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  5.  @weijin701  If it comes at the cost of rare clean freshwater, yeah you should probably reconsider the value of such seasonal recreation. The US at least built ski slopes where snowfall naturally occurs and uses snow machines to top up between storms, northern China isn't so wet in the winter.
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