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China has a massive surveillance apparatus. If opposition is visible to us, it’s visible to the Chinese government and can be snuffed out. It’s possible that ma

China has a massive surveillance apparatus. If opposition is visible to us, it’s visible to the Chinese government and can be snuffed out. It’s possible that many people there disagree with the government’s actions, though.

jpgvm 5y ago
It's a very Western thing to assume that Chinese don't like their government or the actions they take. I would say overall their approval rating is pretty high. I haven't been back to China since the pandemic started though so things may have changed some but I don't think a whole lot. I think if you speak to some mainlanders you will come to realise they consider their government to simply be a different set of tradeoffs vs what is common in the West. Specifically favouring stability and social unity at the cost of individual freedom of expression, most consider it to be a reasonable sacrifice to achieve great things on a large scale. Similar views are commonly held here in Thailand too but less so by the younger generation. It's not my cup of tea but I have long since stopped assuming they are oppressed or have an issue with how things are being done.
- hahan_may 5y ago
  this is so not true. it's not that majority Chinese people don't like their government. They hate it. But I get it how you come to that. The chinese people you come across are by the chinese standard rich, super rich and hyper rich. Although to you they may seem just middle class ish. They are winners of the chinese game, large in number but still quite smaller in proportion to the chinese population. They are the people who benefit from and enjoy the servitude suffered by other Chinese people. If you're a governmental official or tech manager in a big Chinese city, you make money as on par with your counterpart in U.S. or even higher while enjoying 15 mins food delivery to your doorstep at cost of less than 1 U.S. dollar. Why is this possible? because local economy is destroyed in China and if you want to survive you have to go big cities accepting whatever meagerly paid job you could find. There is plenty of land you say. How about being a farmer? No, crop prices are mandated by state and selling to anyone else other than the state is a crime. So, suppose you are the "middle-class" people in China, how could you not love Chinese government? Chinese government creates so many slaves at your service. In the same light, how could any American people not love Chinese government? You enjoy super cheap stuff thanks to the Chinese slaves. Well Chinese people who are de-facto slaves in the country and who are the majority, would they love their government? Yes. Chinese people are different. They think differently. They have a different culture. They love hellish living conditions and working 12hrs day 30 days a month for something like 500-700 usd wihtout any benefit and security whatsoever while watching their government officials and government affiliated people splashing their wealth on a world stage and feel happy. Sophisticated experts on China like you tell us so. I got tons of downvotes for a china comment a year ago. I'd love to see the crowd here to downvote me again by something like, lets say China is evil, but the whole world (especially U.S.) is just as evil. Here are examples, see? So China does not do anything wrong. You are are spreading false information and hatred. Justice will not be done if you are not muted(downvoted)
  - jpgvm 5y ago
    I'm not spreading false information, this is my first hand account of spending time in China, both for business and personal reasons over the last ~8 years. If you disagree fine, but this is purely my experience not a statement of fact.

jpgvm 5y ago

It's a very Western thing to assume that Chinese don't like their government or the actions they take. I would say overall their approval rating is pretty high. I haven't been back to China since the pandemic started though so things may have changed some but I don't think a whole lot. I think if you speak to some mainlanders you will come to realise they consider their government to simply be a different set of tradeoffs vs what is common in the West. Specifically favouring stability and social unity at the cost of individual freedom of expression, most consider it to be a reasonable sacrifice to achieve great things on a large scale. Similar views are commonly held here in Thailand too but less so by the younger generation. It's not my cup of tea but I have long since stopped assuming they are oppressed or have an issue with how things are being done.

hahan_may 5y ago
this is so not true. it's not that majority Chinese people don't like their government. They hate it. But I get it how you come to that. The chinese people you come across are by the chinese standard rich, super rich and hyper rich. Although to you they may seem just middle class ish. They are winners of the chinese game, large in number but still quite smaller in proportion to the chinese population. They are the people who benefit from and enjoy the servitude suffered by other Chinese people. If you're a governmental official or tech manager in a big Chinese city, you make money as on par with your counterpart in U.S. or even higher while enjoying 15 mins food delivery to your doorstep at cost of less than 1 U.S. dollar. Why is this possible? because local economy is destroyed in China and if you want to survive you have to go big cities accepting whatever meagerly paid job you could find. There is plenty of land you say. How about being a farmer? No, crop prices are mandated by state and selling to anyone else other than the state is a crime. So, suppose you are the "middle-class" people in China, how could you not love Chinese government? Chinese government creates so many slaves at your service. In the same light, how could any American people not love Chinese government? You enjoy super cheap stuff thanks to the Chinese slaves. Well Chinese people who are de-facto slaves in the country and who are the majority, would they love their government? Yes. Chinese people are different. They think differently. They have a different culture. They love hellish living conditions and working 12hrs day 30 days a month for something like 500-700 usd wihtout any benefit and security whatsoever while watching their government officials and government affiliated people splashing their wealth on a world stage and feel happy. Sophisticated experts on China like you tell us so. I got tons of downvotes for a china comment a year ago. I'd love to see the crowd here to downvote me again by something like, lets say China is evil, but the whole world (especially U.S.) is just as evil. Here are examples, see? So China does not do anything wrong. You are are spreading false information and hatred. Justice will not be done if you are not muted(downvoted)
- jpgvm 5y ago
  I'm not spreading false information, this is my first hand account of spending time in China, both for business and personal reasons over the last ~8 years. If you disagree fine, but this is purely my experience not a statement of fact.