What people fail to understand about China is that while the magnitude of repression might be very large, the surface area is tightly constrained to a few key a

What people fail to understand about China is that while the magnitude of repression might be very large, the surface area is tightly constrained to a few key areas the Chinese govt cares about, namely political speech, organizing, international geopolitics and whatever "correct moral behavior" fad is in right now. I always tell friends that, if you're someone who isn't particularly interested in political speech or organizing, China might just be the most libertarian country you've ever lived in. Things that I used to expect thickets of paperwork for and approval from all sorts of various departments back in the West, in China, it's just a couple of forms and a shrug from largely indifferent govt officials. Contrast this with the suffocating, all encompassing govt involvement in something as mundane as opening a BBQ restaurant in NY: https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/03/why-restaurants-never-open-on-time.html https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/03/why-restaurants-never-op...