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Yea but you’re still hungry for another car an hour later!
this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2026
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I have never understood this joke
The thought is the simple carbs from rice, noodles, and high sugar sauces in a lot of takeout-style Chinese food gets digested quickly, so while one can eat that until they feel stuffed, the body will quickly break it down, and with the volume of fiber and protein in the meal being relatively low to the volume of starches and sugars, your stomach will soon be wanting more due to the low satiety provided. One could eat a smaller amount of, say, steak and broccoli, and remain fuller for much longer, due to the better nutritional balance and higher protein and fiber content which takes the body much longer to digest than starches and sugars.
It is played as a joke since a large number of people experience this overeating, yet soon hungry again situation, and attribute it to the food, although probably not in a way of understanding they're eating a different kind of junk food than what they're used to. My understanding is all this stuff is westernized and not really reflective of what Chinese food actually is.
This is also why people talk about Asians getting a "secret menu" at Asian restaurants. It's not as though Westerners are forbidden to order real Asian dishes, they're just a completely different taste profile than what a lot of Westerners are accustomed to, whether dishes be too spicy, too salty, or not sweet/saucy/cheesey/etc enough. One time I went fishing in the ocean and got way too many fish. I offered them to the guys in the Chinese takeout place attached to where I was working. They offered me some of what they made for themselves with it but gave me a heads up that I may not exactly enjoy it. I took a bite and it tasted sooooo salty, and I got surprised it still had the soft fish bones in it, and it wasn't bad but was not what my palette was ready for at the time and I could not finish it, meanwhile they were all grateful and fully enjoying it.
That was one of the most typed out joke explanations I've ever seen online, I salute your patience.
I try to keep things simple, but I also always want to give the most complete answer I can, so I end up being pretty long winded. If someone takes the time to ask a question, I assume they do want the full answer though. I always worry I'm beating things into the ground, but I really want people to know as much as they can. People are always free to tell me to shut my trap. 😄
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They're implying that you could eat 5 Chinese cars and not be full, unlike when you eat one massive McGMC
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But then my cars would be in China, and that’s not much use.
Dad?
Still getting cigarettes bud
I dont want 5 cars i want 1 car
Okay, but it's gonna cost five times as much.
:( can I have a 5th of a car?
So like a motorcycle?
That is like... half a car, if you count wheels and seats. Maybe a unicycle?
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Income comparisons aside, what the fuck is this "journalism"???
The average new car in the U.S. in March had a list price of $51,456, according to Kelley Blue Book.
In China, there are more than 200 battery-powered models, including hybrids, for sale at less than the equivalent of $25,000, according to DCar, an information and trading platform.
Reuters compiled a list of the five best-selling electric vehicles in China that start under $12,000 using DCar data.
Did they deliberately only look at the cheapest cars to compare to the average American car in order to get their headline? Like I could buy 10 shitboxes from the junkyard for the average price of a new car, but that doesn't mean much.
Did they deliberately only look at the cheapest cars
Seeing how the highest selling car a few years ago was the Wuling Hongguang, which starts at ~$5k, I don't think the authors have made any failure. If anything, they're short of the reality.
Wuling Hongguang
omg it's so cute
As much as I appreciate the charger "nose", that's a bad place to have it if you park close to the wall
As much as I appreciate the charger “nose”, that’s a bad place to have it if you park close to the wall
Chances are because that's such a small car, there would be ample space to park away from a wall and still remain within a standard car footprint.
omg it's so cute
I know right?? I hate that we don't have affordable cutie electric cars like that in Europe :(
I never thought of the nose charger thing, something to consider definitely!
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look at the cheapest cars to compare to the average American car
But then the average American car isn't even electric...
Yeah, this comparison is terrible they're purposefully putting an upper limit on price when comparing things. Not to mention that they aren't even looking at features and range of these cars.
Someone below mentions the "Wuling Hongguang", the top selling car in China apparently. While it's cheap, its max speed is 62mph and it has a range around 75 miles. Like of course that's cheap, and could work in some situations, but that's not comparable to any car sold in the US.
The more I read into things like this the more I realize that cars are just expensive. Sure China has a wider range of options, but when comparing apples to apples things look more similar than I'd expect.
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Because the government is subsiding those cars in a number of different ways; Attempt to control the global automotive and clean energy markets.
USA subsidizes auto industry too
And the oil industry and builds the roads and fights the wars to acquire oil.
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And because wages are lower as well. Manpower costs more in America than China by quite a bit. The article doesn't scale prices to purchasing power. It's not 5x as much anymore probably, but it's a significant amount.
My guess is that manpower share is probably not that significant in the price of an EV.
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I occasionally watch an American YouTuber married to a Chinese man, living in china, and they can’t afford a car (my observation, she claims they don’t need one). They have recently upgraded to a bigger electric scooter as their family car.
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And they are winning. China is expected to dominate 4 of the top 5 auto manufacturer by 2030
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This is why we have trade protectionism - tariffs, "made in X" laws, etc. - to ensure capitalists can continue to generate maximized profits, rather than having to compete with Chinese-made cars.
The oft-quoted argument is "well, we need to protect jobs" - well, tax the rich and subsidize it then, if those jobs are so important. Why should the working class pay the cost of protecting jobs (ensuring ongoing production for the benefit of the ruling class) in industries where capitalists continue to maximize profit?
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Step 1. Buy 5 cars in china Step 2. Rent them out to Chinese people Step 3. Profit Step 4. Buy yourself an American car with the proceeds Step 5. Can finally access entry level American labour
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you could buy 2 us cars for the average price of a us car (2 of the cheapest us cars). seems that China still has cheaper cars, but this article is biased in the title and article for some reason
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But can't you also buy 5 American cars for the average price of American car? Just buy used 🤷♂️
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bad math.
Average price does not reflect what people actually buy.
Chinese cars abroad are not actually that cheap.
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And a brake job probably wont run you $1200...
China doing capitalism better than the US 🫡......America!.....Fuck yeah!! 😒
Keep the car prices high, or its taxes and use the profits to fund public transportation?
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These comparisons are never not stupid:
- Chinese work longer hours. The infamous 996 is real - 9am to 9pm six days per week
- On average american salary is 3 times higher
- Chinese take on much higher health risk from rare earth metals and manufacturing etc. to subsidize this pricing
I think Chinese EVs are awesome but I'd rather pay higher american sticker price but actually lower real cost.
The infamous 996 is real - 9am to 9pm six days per week
As opposed to... totally not being real in the US?
Technically it's mostly illegal in China, though of course various companies get around that. Average workweek in China is apparently 44.6 hours. This data is far from ideal, as the website itself points out, but at least it gives us some general idea.
According to this source, the Chinese work considerably longer hours than Americans. However, it should also be noted that workers in China get a lot more national holidays and better social protections than workers in the US.
On average american salary is 3 times higher
And everything is on average 6x more expensive. Made up number, but from what I've seen the actual one may be higher.
In China, you can eat every meal at a restaurant for as little as 5 USD a day. In the US you may be making 3x more money, but the same food would cost you closer to 75 USD, which is 15 times more expensive.
No tips included, since tipping doesn't exist outside of burgerland.
Chinese take on much higher health risk from rare earth metals and manufacturing etc. to subsidize this pricing
They mine it for companies all over the planet, including American ones. Everybody buys rare earths from China either because they're the cheapest or because they're the only ones available. It's not like China gets them cheap and the US has to pay 20x more due to safety regulations. Everybody buys them from China for cheap, regardless of their own safety laws.
I think Chinese EVs are awesome but I'd rather pay higher american sticker price but actually lower real cost.
What 'real cost' are you referring to here? American cars, not just EVs, are so expensive that almost nobody can afford them. In my country a BYD Dolphin Surf costs 50% less than the cheapest competing car, while still offering better range. How can it be cheaper to buy a more expensive car that performs worse?
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