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I would be interested in hearing more about this. Living in Japan or South Korea can be a very rough transition for some (I've witnessed my fair share of collea
by tjpnz 6y ago
I would be interested in hearing more about this. Living in Japan or South Korea can be a very rough transition for some (I've witnessed my fair share of colleagues exiting Japan after only a few months). Mainland China would present many of the same challenges with the addition of living under an autocratic regime.
- pjc50 6y agoLots of people on HN say, whenever the topic comes up, that they don't care about politics and don't want to hear about it. In China, you can have that!
- spacemanmatt 6y agoI would be interested in living in a version of the U.S. where citizens recognize autocracy by the behavior, instead of depending on their television to inform them.
- the-dude 6y agoWhat are you hinting at? The Bush administrations?
- spacemanmatt 6y agoI think you're onto something, there, with that.
- mytailorisrich 6y agoHaving lived in China and visited Japan on a number of occasion, my feeling is that it would be more difficult to live in Japan than in China as a Westerner. I think that many people overestimate the impact of living under China's "autocratic regime" has on daily life. Especially if you're a Westerner there is no difference. I have always felt that Japanese culture and society were more difficult to adapt to. China is much less rigid. Obviously it's still a big cultural and linguistic change.
- trevyn 6y agoAh, we need to update the joke for the times, eh? Yes, for a Westerner there is no difference: You can stand in front of the White House and yell "Down with Donald Trump!", and you will not be punished. Equally, you can also stand in Tiananmen Square in Beijing and yell "Down with Donald Trump!", and you will not be punished. Obviously it's still a big cultural and linguistic change.
- mytailorisrich 6y agoBe dismissive all you want but you give an example that is quite irrelevant in daily life, which is my point. If you're into political activism, sure China is not the place for you to move to. But look at the daily life of a typical American and the daily life of a typical Chinese and they will be boringly similar.
- trevyn 6y agoYou may be underestimating the amount of time the typical American spends saying “Down with Donald Trump”.
- kamaal 6y agoAs an Indian, it's one thing to curse a political leader in the comfort of your home. Totally a different thing to take to political activism on the streets. In any country, barring dire situations, most people just want to wake up every morning and go do their jobs to put food on the table. In India, most tech people don't even vote, let alone indulge in active political causes. Most of those people will do fine anywhere.
- dragonelite 6y agoI have seen how multiple countries handle their protests movement these last few years. Its the same everywhere people gather then the cops smash it.
- baybal2 6y ago> Mainland China would present many of the same challenges with the addition of living under an autocratic regime. And with China now sliding back into madness of seventies again, I see lots, and lots of people leaving,... but they do not go back to the US, or West in general. Out of all places, some went to Vietnam, some, to Taiwan, some try their luck in places which were never before associated with electronics industry. One rather serious company of a person I know quite well, whose success was entirely on it being in China, is now relocating to Singapore.