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On the other hand, there are also a lot of Western expats who were very happy living in China for several years, but are leaving or have left China in the past
by dralley 3y ago
On the other hand, there are also a lot of Western expats who were very happy living in China for several years, but are leaving or have left China in the past 2-3 years due to the political changes taking place. China is a much more totalitarian nation today than it was 5 or 10 years ago.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35221742 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35221742
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30966378 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30966378
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35021682 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35021682
- deadfoxygrandpa 3y agono it's not. most of those people just didn't like china's covid response. things in 2023 are almost back to what they were in 2019 (in regards to western expat life)
- dralley 3y agoI don't think you can give an honest reading of those threads and come away with the conclusion that it's just about COVID. Nearly every comment mentioned reasons other than just COVID. And even the ones that were about COVID weren't really about COVID, they were about the consequences of the totalitarian response laying bare the lack of social contact and waking them up to what was possible. COVID was the trigger but it could have been anything and they know it now, essentially.
- deadfoxygrandpa 3y agosorry i didnt read those threads. i am a western expat in china and have been for 10+ years, and i'm talking about the people i know and have seen and summarizing discussions with them. many people i know have left since 2020 and this is why
- tootie 3y agoChina has always been China. Tibet, Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen, Xinjiang. A lot of expats thought they could bury their head in the sand because they had a chance to make money. Same way George HW Bush did.