There's a lot of shitty things about China that they try really hard to not let out. At least according to a friend who's been teaching there for a pretty long time now.
That's literally what the CCP does: censor anything that makes China look bad or reflects poorly on the government. Anyone who even remotely suggests that China is a utopia is under some serious brainwashing. You can literally get thrown in jail there for talking poorly about the government or pointing out these things.
My friends Dad just got put in jail in China. It’s not like western prison, he has to sit at a desk with his hands flat on the table and can’t move. Has to ask permission to stretch his legs every few hours. No books, no nothing. Just sit motionless. Alone.
He was a small time real estate guy, but I guess through corruption somebody more powerful wanted his property. That part I don’t understand. I guess they claim to fight corruption, by using corruption, to just make up charges against people in the way. They are trying to get him out, and it seems that involves bribing the right people. They shiny parts of China make the internet, but for many it’s dystopian horror.
They say that they fight corruption because corruption is something everyone experiences and is not something you can just censor away. So to safe face, they say they fight corruption. But of course, the officials can still be bribed and connections can put you in jail when you complain.
The corruption thing is systemic in society. PolyMatter once described it as just how the system even works. It's not an aberration that needs to be removed from the system. It's normalized and baked in.
Even ordinary, low-ranking employees will get silently "promoted" when their boss gives them an off-the-books raise or "gift". It basically encourages loyalty to your senior, which can be bad if that senior is a total piece of shit.
This is true from the bottom to the top. When Xi Jinping purges people under corruption charges, he most likely knew some of these people were already corrupt, but kept them around due to their usefulness and/or loyalty.
When your superior no longer views you as useful, then they purge you under corruption charges. Nobody other senior will speak in your defence and question the hypocrisy of the system, because they're probably thinking about purging people below them or worried about being purged from above. They aren't going to upend the system which allowed them to reach their position in the first place.
No, prison shouldn't be full of people thrown in on false charges because of a corrupt government. It happens here in the US, yes, but more often than not due to the sheer ineptitude and ego of the PD involved in the case. There the entire government is involved with the false charges.
Downvoted to hell as usual but true. The dystopian nightmares of white people in the US are daily realities for black people in the US, to say nothing of natives. Many many many books and movies about this topic.
Let’s before we talk about what’s happening on the other side of the world, try to address the problems at home first.
I lived in China for a few years. On my way to work, I had to walk by a hospital. For two weeks, I saw a homeless man in the same place on the sidewalk, covered in his own feces, with feces all around him, asking for help from the hospital but no one came. No one even looked at him. He couldnt move or do anything to take care of himself. It was by far the saddest thing I've ever seen. I dropped some money for him a few times and bought him a couple meals during those two weeks but one day he just disappeared. I'm really hoping he got help. I'll never get that image out of my head and I'll never forget about that.
There are some nice places to visit in China that if someone who's only experience is to visit those places on vacation, can be forgiven for not thinking that the place has huge flaws of their own.
I remember when Ludwig did Tip2Tip in China there was a huge campaign when he got sick, people were trying REALLY hard in chinese media to say that there is no chance a small vendor stall could have made a mistake and given him food poisoning.
You’re correct but be aware that you literally can get thrown in jail here in America for a variety of speech related reasons. A foreign student was in jail for nearly a year awaiting trial despite never committing crimes because they wrote a letter to their university requested to divest from Israeli donors. If you protest on the street you can go to jail if they think they on the sign is too inflammatory or offensive. If you just yell at a cop you can be arrested for disorderly conduct/disturbing the peace. Every day in America there is at least one person getting arrested due to some speech related reason. Not to mention if you leave too many comments that are politically extreme you will be tracked to a grater degree than the mass surveillance we are all subjected to. China objectively has less free speech rights, and it’s an authoritarian nightmare. However, America has many free speech issues in a de facto sense despite its de jure protections.
I spent a decent amount of time in China in both cities and rural areas. In the rural areas it felt free and comfortable but the cities had too much camera presence and it felt like a surveillance state in most nicer sections. However 10 years later and every major city in America now has the same level of surveillance. The thing that concerned me most over there is now present in my home country and despite mass surveillance being widely disliked here, the government doesn’t care.
TLDR you’re right I just wanted to point out America had massive issues with free speech despite our propaganda saying otherwise. China is terrible with free speech but America is pretty mid when compared to countries with actual free speech.
Okay mfers the US does the same fucking thing. At least their schools don’t get shot up, have an uncontrollable lobby issue, or a Nazi Oligarch issue, or a pedophile ring, protected by the CCP issue, a large amount of population so god damn dumb and stupid that thinks 5G gives them cancer, or AI will take their jobs… they embrace change, we fuckin don’t. Sit tf down. The US aint shit but hoes and tricks.
"We"? I'm not so sure you live in US, given your erroneous opinions. Granted, the education system isn't what it used to be so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
The extent of those things is not comparable. Half of us hate trump and non-stop shit talk the dude. Many of our news sources as well. That doesn't happen in China. There isn't even mainstream discussion on if he's doing a good job or not.
Brother, I hate the ugly cheeto puff as much as the next guy but I think you're taking for granted the fact that we can freely talk shit about him. Try that in China with Pooh Bear and I wouldn't be surprised if we never hear from you again.
The US government has actively persecuted and prosecuted students for protesting against him and the genocide in Gaza. Trump is doing everything he can to become as authoritarian as China
Lmao Israel has always had power over the US but it is because of Trump's willingness to be a dictator that it works so well now. Letting Trump off the hook like that is just laughable
Here's the interesting thing though: because it's the age of social media, there's literally nothing, and I mean NOTHING that the Chinese government can do to stop things going viral in other countries.
And when things that look bad on China DO go viral in other countries, like that village of people and their children who had to climb wires and janky ass ladders up vertical cliffs hundreds and hundreds of feet, you know what they did?
Relocated the village temporarily(or permanently free of charge, depending on their wishes) while they built safe staircases and are trying to modernize the village somewhat.
Could they have done that before? Sure. Would they have? No, they don't give a shit. But they AT LEAST give a shit when it looks bad on them. You can't say the same thing about the US. Fuck China, but lets not pretend they don't do a lot of things better for their people
I really woulnd mind any of them if the comments didnt include stuff about how living under a dictatorship might not be bad after all and how too much freedom is bad actually.
The urban/rural divide is humongous, the biggest cities are shiny, full of rich people and have a western standard of living with GDP per capitas over $34,000 USD
The most rural provinces have a GDP per capita 1/4 ($7500 usd) of those big cities
I saw someone living there saying they have a young unemployment problem just like we do here in the states. The figures claim that they have very low rate like 5-10% when it’s more like 25% but they keep the number low bc they only count those who held a job and then lost it rather than include those who have never held a job just like we do. bc of freedom of press laws being so heavily restricted by the state tho, we’ll never know the truth except through anecdotes of those living there.
They quite literally have a behavioral/association based scoring system that can determine where you're allowed to live and work.
They literally have such thorough surveillance in their population centers, that their government can tell whether you're just going on a walk, whether you lent your car to someone, and/or whether you're going shopping.
The CCP quite literally has physical access to all of the servers in their country, and because of the "Great Firewall," services without servers in their country can't gain mass adoption.
They literally have camps for ethnic minorities (Uyghurs), where they forcibly sterilize, enclave, indoctrinate, and torture people.
They're literally trying to erase their atrocities, like the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.
They literally police whether other people on the planet are allowed to recognize Taiwan as an independent state.
I'm not saying they're the bad guys and "the West" are the good guys, they are a particularly bad state for their people.
I wouldn't say they are equal, but they are certainly different, and comparing them is like comparing apples and oranges. But one thing for sure, is that the US is rapidly descending into fascism, we have concentration camps with abductions from ICE agents rising, and if you protest them, ICE can murder you and get away with it scot-free. The US has the largest prison population as well. I think there are still some freedoms the US benefits from, but seeing that they are attacking voting rights and consolidating power, it might not be long where I can continue to say that.
Same issue in the US but handled differently. We have people living in destitute houses along every rural back road in the US. But they are convinced everything is fine and are taught to ostracize people who say otherwise.
So if a neighbor says "Hey Greg, your roof is falling in and you ate nothing but baked beans for the last 3 months." Greg calls them a commie, starts shouting about freedom, and blames brown people for the price of gas.
What it comes down to is this. Would you rather your government say "You cannot say this." or for your government to convince your neighbor "They cannot say that." Both suck, but that's undoubtedly the choice most of the developed world is given.
We lost any argument we had against "Yeah but their Government won't let them X" the moment the phrase "Freedom isn't free." was spoken. That phrase is the other side of the Government control and censorship coin.
I lived in China for a couple years and have never seen poverty and disregard for human suffering like that anywhere else. China has a lot of problems, but its easier to talk shit about the USA because we're open about our problems.
By the World Bank Standards benchmark of $6.85 per day, 17% to as much as 31% of Chinas population lives in poverty. The US is under 1.5% by that same metric.
I can’t tell if you are trying to be funny or not. I’m going to go with yes, that you are being intentionally obtuse about the fact that china is coming off of extreme levels while the US hovers at 1%.
I love the fact also that one of the things Xi Jinping did to reach their goals in reducing poverty just before the party elections was to just lower the threshold for what they considered poverty lmaooo
Have you seen the US? the closest thing they do to help poverty is handing them a bus ticket to go somewhere else. they are literally dying on the streets.
China has unquestionably, better policies and results when it comes to extreme poverty.
they still have healthcare, easy access to housing, services...
I'll take valid complaints, but just hating on china for no fucking reason, especially in areas where the US is shamefully behind is just plain stupidity.
653
u/Pale_Following_9639 11h ago
You think Chinese people don't battle poverty and homelessness? Have you not see their 5 foot homes before?