China has been all over the news lately. But all the shit they show on Fox and CNN is absurd yellow peril propaganda. It's so hard to get a read on what China is really like. There is no English news source online I can turn to for a realistic, unbiased account of Chinese internal politics and daily life.
Obviously China has some issues. So does every country. But is China really the evil authoritarian hellscape American propaganda makes it out to be? Is President Xi the second coming of Hitler? Are people in China all brainwashed zombies denied human rights? Is free speech there really that much of an issue there? Do people eat bats and shit in the street? What is life like for a middle class Chinese person?
Sorry for the wall of questions, but I'm dying for sensible information that isn't "China bad, American good".
They are a dictatorship so by definition they are a shithole. Middle class Chinese are most like middle class people elsewhere. Free speech is an issue, people get censored online and can be arrested. Eat bats and shit, really don't know.
Oliver Carter
I've been to China numerous times to visit relatives even though I don't speak the language The air is shit I can't use websites I normally go to (Yas Forums surprisingly isn't banned though) Almost everyone smokes even on the trains I've seen beggars and homeless people on subways and outside (one man was literally facing the ground face flat with bent knees like he's bowing because he was desperate for anything and another man had no hands) With that said, the people I've met were a mixed bag but that's like any other country My cousins are the exact opposite of every negative Chinese stereotype you can think of but I'm not gonna go ahead and say there's no ground on why those stereotypes exist in the first place. You know damn well why they do
Easton Jenkins
A lot of Chinese people complain about the government policies online. This is all allowed. The big no-no is trying to organize something against the CCP. I don't think Chinese people notice their lack of free speech, since they can say anything as long as its not political. I mean, most people anywhere don't post political stuff on their social media. Sometimes they even protest the local government. Then the CCP swoops in and takes the side of the protesters to look heroic. Xi Jinping is the most authoritarian leader since Mao. In Shanghai, Beijing, and other Tier 1 cities, it's basically a first-world life. When I went there, I didn't see any street shitting or exotic animals. But as soon as you leave these top cities, you start seeing a lot of it. If you have any specific questions I can try to answer.
Samuel Fisher
Also details I left out Copyright is non-existent, I saw stuff using IP that'd make lawyers have a heart attack I can recall an experience where I went to a food market and they literally crammed live ducks into a small glass box (the kind they use as fish tanks) I never got closer because I was a kid and even I was disturbed greatly by this
Chinese anti censorship memes are hilarious I once asked my mom how to say Grass Mud Horse in Chinese and she started giggling and told me to repeat it I did and she slapped me in the face and demanded how I found out about it
Hudson Stewart
China is the shining beacon of hope for all of mankind. Their goal is multipolar world where nations fairly cooperate with each other with mutual respect on equal footing to achieve win-win deals and where each nation is free to choose its own path to economic development and prosperity. China promotes science, technology, virtue and charity. President Xi is the greatest statesman of the modern world. Check out Caleb Maupin and Jeff J. Brown's China Rising Radio for a new perspective on China. Dare to invent the future, embrace Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Based Nobody eats bats in China you vegemite-munching faggot, that's Palau.
While in China you can definitely feel that you're in an authoritarian place. The visa application is tedious, you need to submit your phone number whenever you sign up in an app (you cannot use apps without signing up; they will ask for your documents when you buy the SIM). The police is always supposed to be informed about your movements: you have to register at the local police station when you move in, and register again when you move to another place.
Also weird stuff with the internet: it's pretty easy to be banned on WeChat, messages disappear if you send sensible stuff, and VPNs are sometimes cracked down when there is some political event.
But China is much more developed than what the average Yas Forumstard believes though, so there's that. A middle class Chinese person in a 1st tier city has a lifestyle comparable to that of Southern Europe I'd say.
If you believe authoritarian=bad, China is indeed bad. But China does kinda prove that democracy isn't always the best option. The Chinese do know that their government isn't perfect, but they justify what they do because their living standard has been improving constantly for decades.
Hygienic standards when it comes to food are indeed lower than in the West.
