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There is a long history of massive uprisings against the establishment in China. Tiananmen is just the most well known example of something that happens every y

There is a long history of massive uprisings against the establishment in China. Tiananmen is just the most well known example of something that happens every year. I doubt Xi is ignorant enough to _not_ be afraid, though I agree with you that he probably is very confident as well. > Xi is clamping down on religion because he can My source may be dated, but as of 1988 policy making in China was a protracted, incremental process involving negotiation among numerous different groups (central and provincial governments, bureaus and departments)[0]. Things may be more centralized now, but I think it's safe to say that if something is happening in China, it's because multiple government entities at different levels have agreed to it. Who knows what the reason is. [0] Policy Making in China, Lieberthal 1988

whimsicalism 6y ago
a. There are not "massive uprisings" "every year" in China. b. China has substantially centralized post-2000. I would go so far as to say it is close-to-useless to cite a 1988 book on modern China unless to reference its history, that's how fast things have changed.
- baybal2 6y ago
  There are hundred of riots happening in China every year without even "China watcher" media telling a thing about them. My own experience was seeing a huge commotion right in the city centre of Guangzhou, a megalopolis bigger than New York, without single mention in the media the next day besides some random youtube uploads.
  - alisonatwork 6y ago
    Do you know what the commotion was about? I can co-sign that there are often incidents of civil unrest in China that are not reported in the media. However, from what i can gather, these are not explicitly anti-establishment. Most of them appear to be localized labor disputes or middle class NIMBYs making a fuss about development that inconveniences them. For reporting on the former, you can check out China Labour Bulletin[0]. [0] https://clb.org.hk/ https://clb.org.hk/
- Fricken 6y ago
  I think you're caught in short term thinking. China's cultural character has been developing over 1000s of years. It's DNA hasn't changed meaningfully since 1988.
  - whimsicalism 6y ago
    Sure, some of those values shine through, but I think you're underestimating how quickly change can occur and how values can be changed when your population scales up from 75 million (1000 years ago) to 1.3 billion.
- jhedwards 6y ago
  > There are not "massive uprisings" "every year" in China. At least in 2012, there were apparently 500 protests _every day_: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/01/how-china-stays-stable-despite-500-protests-every-day/250940/ https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/01/ho... When I was there in 2014 there was a HUGE protest in Changsha. None of these are reported in the media inside or outside China. I concede that my source on policy-making is dated, but I highly doubt the the functioning of a country as vast and complex as China can be completely transformed in forty years. Still, I'm not sure, so I emailed the author to verify.
  - whimsicalism 6y ago
    > 500 protests _every day_ I think there is a world of difference between protests (usually over eminent domain related concerns, not always) and an "uprising." I've tracked to track down some of these claims of 180,000 protests a year (following the links) and it's been hard - I find it hard to believe that these are very large protests.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]

whimsicalism 6y ago

a. There are not "massive uprisings" "every year" in China. b. China has substantially centralized post-2000. I would go so far as to say it is close-to-useless to cite a 1988 book on modern China unless to reference its history, that's how fast things have changed.

baybal2 6y ago
There are hundred of riots happening in China every year without even "China watcher" media telling a thing about them. My own experience was seeing a huge commotion right in the city centre of Guangzhou, a megalopolis bigger than New York, without single mention in the media the next day besides some random youtube uploads.
- alisonatwork 6y ago
  Do you know what the commotion was about? I can co-sign that there are often incidents of civil unrest in China that are not reported in the media. However, from what i can gather, these are not explicitly anti-establishment. Most of them appear to be localized labor disputes or middle class NIMBYs making a fuss about development that inconveniences them. For reporting on the former, you can check out China Labour Bulletin[0]. [0] https://clb.org.hk/ https://clb.org.hk/
Fricken 6y ago
I think you're caught in short term thinking. China's cultural character has been developing over 1000s of years. It's DNA hasn't changed meaningfully since 1988.
- whimsicalism 6y ago
  Sure, some of those values shine through, but I think you're underestimating how quickly change can occur and how values can be changed when your population scales up from 75 million (1000 years ago) to 1.3 billion.
jhedwards 6y ago
> There are not "massive uprisings" "every year" in China. At least in 2012, there were apparently 500 protests _every day_: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/01/how-china-stays-stable-despite-500-protests-every-day/250940/ https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/01/ho... When I was there in 2014 there was a HUGE protest in Changsha. None of these are reported in the media inside or outside China. I concede that my source on policy-making is dated, but I highly doubt the the functioning of a country as vast and complex as China can be completely transformed in forty years. Still, I'm not sure, so I emailed the author to verify.
- whimsicalism 6y ago
  > 500 protests _every day_ I think there is a world of difference between protests (usually over eminent domain related concerns, not always) and an "uprising." I've tracked to track down some of these claims of 180,000 protests a year (following the links) and it's been hard - I find it hard to believe that these are very large protests.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]