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I go to China many times a year and I sort of agree with you. Chinese govt has more important things to do than to go after you. But the problem is that China i

I go to China many times a year and I sort of agree with you. Chinese govt has more important things to do than to go after you. But the problem is that China is a huge country with 1.4 billion people. Just the sheer scale of things lend itself to the impossibility of managing and scrutinizing everyone. China simply doesn't have enough police and authorities. However, conceptually the government wants to get in everyone's business and if you are middle class - not so much. If you're someone with influence and power, you will need to be in bed with the government. Also, the middle class is literally living to get by, they are being controlled through borderline dystopian schemes. Obviously, westerners have a deep philosophical problem with this and rightfully so. I wish China was an open democracy, I really wish it was. The people are incredibly talented, smart and motivated.

dogma1138 8y ago
It’s not clear if China as an open democracy can actually work in a manner that would result in a net positive to the people. Look at India it’s much more of a free and open democracy than China but it’s also a much worse place overall. The reality of governing 1.5 billion people might force you to rethink if a western style social democracy is applicable or even the best solution. There is something unique about a country which seem to both somewhat care about its population and benefits form the power and single vision that comes form a single party authoritarianism. When China sets its mind on something there are no ifs and buts they just do it and that seems to be the critical difference between them an India they don’t need to appease 5 billion different opinions about every thing. China also seems to be somewhat of a meritocracy at least on paper with a large number of its ruling party members having engineering and exact sciences degrees more so than most countries where career politicians often opt out for law, economics and political science degrees. Splitting China into smaller semi autonomous states might work better for applying democracy but it also might cause much more instability in the region so I’m not entirely sure that there is a good solution for them. In fact to some scary degree China might be a pilot for what would succeed democracy when you actually have enough technology and infrastructure for a more centralized government.

dogma1138 8y ago

It’s not clear if China as an open democracy can actually work in a manner that would result in a net positive to the people. Look at India it’s much more of a free and open democracy than China but it’s also a much worse place overall. The reality of governing 1.5 billion people might force you to rethink if a western style social democracy is applicable or even the best solution. There is something unique about a country which seem to both somewhat care about its population and benefits form the power and single vision that comes form a single party authoritarianism. When China sets its mind on something there are no ifs and buts they just do it and that seems to be the critical difference between them an India they don’t need to appease 5 billion different opinions about every thing. China also seems to be somewhat of a meritocracy at least on paper with a large number of its ruling party members having engineering and exact sciences degrees more so than most countries where career politicians often opt out for law, economics and political science degrees. Splitting China into smaller semi autonomous states might work better for applying democracy but it also might cause much more instability in the region so I’m not entirely sure that there is a good solution for them. In fact to some scary degree China might be a pilot for what would succeed democracy when you actually have enough technology and infrastructure for a more centralized government.