this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2026
361 points (94.1% liked)

Today I Learned

29624 readers
182 users here now

What did you learn today? Share it with us!

We learn something new every day. This is a community dedicated to informing each other and helping to spread knowledge.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must begin with TIL. Linking to a source of info is optional, but highly recommended as it helps to spark discussion.

** Posts must be about an actual fact that you have learned, but it doesn't matter if you learned it today. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.**



Rule 2- Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding non-TIL posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-TIL posts using the [META] tag on your post title.



Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.



Partnered Communities

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Astronut@lemmy.zip 111 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Yea but you’re still hungry for another car an hour later!

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago (12 children)

I have never understood this joke

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 34 points 1 week ago (6 children)

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.

[–] Tim_Bisley@piefed.social 26 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That was one of the most typed out joke explanations I've ever seen online, I salute your patience.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

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. 😄

[–] nylo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 days ago

shut your trap! jk, how do you think an owl would feel about American Chinese food?

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
[–] Trex202@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago

They're implying that you could eat 5 Chinese cars and not be full, unlike when you eat one massive McGMC

load more comments (10 replies)
[–] Codpiece@feddit.uk 78 points 1 week ago (2 children)

But then my cars would be in China, and that’s not much use.

[–] NarrativeBear@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] sirico@feddit.uk 18 points 1 week ago

Still getting cigarettes bud

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Also I don't really need 5 cars

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 37 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I dont want 5 cars i want 1 car

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Okay, but it's gonna cost five times as much.

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

:( can I have a 5th of a car?

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] Asetru@feddit.org 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

That is like... half a car, if you count wheels and seats. Maybe a unicycle?

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] silentjohn@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 week ago (12 children)

I dont even want a car, I want frequent and reliable transit

load more comments (12 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Godric@lemmy.world 37 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (7 children)

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.

[–] billwashere@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 1 week ago (7 children)

Show me how many NEW cars you can buy in the US for less then 25k.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] Riverside@reddthat.com 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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.

[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (11 children)

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

[–] YeahToast@aussie.zone 15 points 1 week ago

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.

[–] Riverside@reddthat.com 8 points 1 week ago (3 children)

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!

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (9 replies)
[–] Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 7 points 1 week ago

look at the cheapest cars to compare to the average American car

But then the average American car isn't even electric...

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

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.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Steve@communick.news 30 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (13 children)

Because the government is subsiding those cars in a number of different ways; Attempt to control the global automotive and clean energy markets.

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 33 points 1 week ago (4 children)
[–] rafoix@lemmy.zip 24 points 1 week ago

And the oil industry and builds the roads and fights the wars to acquire oil.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Astrealix@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago (7 children)

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.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] krisevol@lemmus.org 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

And they are winning. China is expected to dominate 4 of the top 5 auto manufacturer by 2030

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (10 replies)
[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] FinjaminPoach@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Alberat@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago (3 children)

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

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Michal@programming.dev 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

But can't you also buy 5 American cars for the average price of American car? Just buy used 🤷‍♂️

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 week ago (4 children)

bad math.

Average price does not reflect what people actually buy.

Chinese cars abroad are not actually that cheap.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Shindo66@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

And a brake job probably wont run you $1200...

China doing capitalism better than the US 🫡......America!.....Fuck yeah!! 😒

[–] UltraMagnus0001@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Keep the car prices high, or its taxes and use the profits to fund public transportation?

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›