Inspired by the recent c/AskLemmy question about Myanmar.
As a PRC-born ethnic Han-Chinese person who currently is a US Citizen and reside in the US, I’m curious on what people think of my former country.
- Interesting mythology and past.
- Technologically advancing.
- Many ethical issues against people by the Government.
- They are very into the illusion of being a paradise.
- If you are a person not from there, it can be a potentially traumatizing experience, depending on what parts of the country you go to.
If you are a person not from there, it can be a potentially traumatizing experience, depending on what parts of the country you go to.
Actually, foreigners (white foreigner to be precise) such as Youtubers Serpentza and Laowhy86 managed to go around China and make videos critical of the CCP and they didn’t end up in prison or anything. But if a Chinese person attempted the same thing, they’d probably get jailed. I feel like there a sort of “foreigner privilage” that basically the CCP doesn’t want to get involved in a diplomatic incident, but is otherwise happy to punish their own citizens (since there wouldn’t be any diplomatic incidents).
I didn’t even mean trauma from the gov’t, which is a whole different level, but trauma from its own people. My wife traveled to China for work and it was not great for her.
Horrific dictatorship that commits atrocities.
People that have been subjugated and oppressed and have little to no value as humans to the CCP.
Became a world power by exploiting the working class.
Beautiful country and amazing history.
I always think about visiting due to the amazing natural and historical areas but simultaneously, how much I don’t want to visit due to other issues.
Same with a lot of countries.
I yearn for the day when the world rid itself of all states, they are the source of evil.
I think of China as a country that pretends to be communist while making cheap products that vary in quality. I also think of the nice people that live there though.
Rude, impolite and loud people. But not all Chinese people are like that. But the ones that are stand out the most.
Rude, impolite and loud people.
Bruh…
Did you meet a rich / middle-class tourist that acts entitled? Because like… that’s not really the reality. Most ethnic Chinese people actually act very polite in front of other people (at least that’s the case with my parents and relatives), since this is a “face” thing. Its behind closed doors that they start to drop the act and just be like: “Why are you so fat” (my mom literally said that to me lol). But like… Rude? In Public? 🤔
Cut you in the line like you dont exist. Try to force their way in the queue. Shout to their friends right next to your ears. Bump their luggage in your knee/feet/ankle. Stop in the middle of the road or in front of the elevators. Clip nails in public transport. Burp and fart in restaurant without a word. Drop trash on the floor. Spit in the street… you name it, I’ve seen it all.
And again, like all generalities, it doesn’t make much sense. I know not all Chinese people are like that. Especially your mom lol.
Cut you in the line like you dont exist. Try to force their way in the queue.
I’ve spent a lot of time in NYC and Philly Chinatown areas and almost never see this. I think the one time that someone tried everyone else in line (including ethnic Chinese people) called them out for it and they just went to the back of the line.
Stop in the middle of the road or in front of the elevators.
To be fair, I was in highschool (in the US) and kids of every ethnicity would also stand in the middle of the hallway usually in their little groups and chatting and blocking everyone from getting to their classes on time.
Burp and fart in restaurant without a word.
They don’t want to ackowledge it because it “loses face”.
Drop trash on the floor.
Not unique to Chinese people.
Go to any major city and you see this a lot.
Spit in the street
Oh yea this is annoying. I have someone who live on my block who is a first-generation immigrant, i’m not sure if from Mainland China or Taiwan or HK, but either way, they keep spitting like every day… Ugh 🤮
But I also see this from both white people and black people, not exactly a unique trait.
Very interesting history and culture, plastered over with bland authoritarian turbo-capitalism that disguises itself as communism.
winnie the pooh
Oh Bother
Uyghur people in concentration camps while tourists invade their homes
There are vanishingly few tourists in Xinjiang. Indeed they won’t even give you a visa if you say you’re going there.
A country and its flag. They sort of come up simultaneously in my head.
Chinese food, which i love.
a plate
Unfortunately, it’s trump squinting his eyes, and saying “China!” with a pause and a scowl. Rent free in my brain.
Second thing I guess is some bullshit where they were cracking down on Ramadan in a news article.
Third I suppose is the rich history and cultural tradition.
The first thing I think of is “propaganda” but you might not expect why. I grew up in the western world, hearing constantly that China was basically the epitome of evil. Their government is evil, their people are evil, the very land they walk on is evil, everything they’ve ever done has been evil. In history we only learned about their crises and the times they caused problems for the western world.
Unlike my peers, however, this made me curious. Why are you telling me so constantly that they must be evil? Can’t there be good people there doing their best just like we are? And then things started getting weird in the western world. Then they got worrying. Then they started really taking their masks off and I realized “ohhhh you were projecting the whole time weren’t you?”
I still don’t know much about China. I don’t know what your culture is really like, how the people actually treat each other. I don’t know basically anything about you. I’d love to learn though, if you’re willing to teach.
Their government is evil
I mean… its not entirely false. . I mean, the CCP through the one child policy did try to terminate me, since I was the second pregnancy that my mother had (she already gave birth to my older brother), so they did try to find my mother to force an abortion against her will. Then after I was born, I guess the since I already exist, its too difficult to justify killing someone who was already born, so they just let me live. My parents had to pay like somewhete like ¥10,000 to ¥20,000 (in Renminbi currency) in order for me to get legal documents, which was a lot of money at the time. So yea fuck the CCP.
But to put in in perspective, it isn’t nearly as bad as North Korea, where they totally ban people from leaving.
their people are evil
Yea this is total BS. There’s nothing in the DNA of ethnic Chinese that make us “evil”.
Unlike my peers, however, this made me curious. Why are you telling me so constantly that they must be evil?
Like, don’t think this is just a western thing.
Nationalism is a thing in every country.
In China, they teach people why Japan is evil and all Japanese people are monsters… and I’m like… “all of them?” 🤔
Then it got weirder when the US was also portrayed as evil… I mean, don’t get me wrong, the US has done a lot of evil things. But its was also the US that aided China aginst the japanese invasion of China. Although controvertial, it was the US who nuked japan and that immediately stopped the war and save a lot of Chinese people.
So yea I get it, every country want to portray others as evil. Its not unique to the west.
But remember one thing:
Governments =/= The people whom they rule over
You can dislike a government without hating the people too
I still don’t know much about China. I don’t know what your culture is really like
I mean, tbh, I immigrated to the US as a kid, so I don’t know much either.
I don’t know basically anything about you. I’d love to learn though, if you’re willing to teach.
I mean… do you have any specific questions to ask?
Having two child rule is evil? Why? Rules makes a society, its your mom that try to break the rules? You know why they try to have 1 child policy right?
Sure they can be evil, but 1 child rule isnt evil. Imagine if 1st world countries suddenly started getting 5-10 childs everyone, everyone taking sueside cus no jobs and heavy competition on school.
The government shouldn’t have control over this. This is no different from nazi eugenics.
Hmm, there are way to many people in China, how would you regulate it?
I think you’re quite a few decades out of date with that opinion. The Chinese government is very worried about population decline now.
Ye sure, but that was not my point
I worry that your point is even worse than I thought.
The nasty bit was telling a mother she has to have an abortion against her will.
China now has the opposite problem of a declining population, which causes problems because of the working age population is small compared to the older population, you end up running out of money so you either have to tax more heavily or abandon older folks to their fate without helping them.
The declining population problem is very common in wealthier countries.
And lower population means fewer jobs. The number of jobs that need doing in a country doesn’t depend on the area of the land, it depends on the population size. The problems come when governments don’t build infrastructure. If you don’t build schools and hospitals and suchlike, three are fewer jobs in construction and less money going into the local economy, and schools and hospitals get crowded and do a worse job.
Yep agree, i was in China in 2021, with my job, honestly i did see tons of jobs they dont need, like big security on each school, Cooks everywhere at school, and others
It would be nasty if she was pregnant and suddenly the rule goes in action. If she got pregnant after the rule was set? Idk
You and I completely and utterly disagree.
Massive cities with LED buildings, beautiful mountains with paved hiking trails all the way to the top and gondolas to get down, Long queues that are still orderly and move quickly, families eating large meals outside, friendly and very curious people.
I’ve spent a lot of time there. Compared to the west the cost of living is super cheap especially for all the options and amenities you get. Even in the hippest part of Chongqing I could rent an apartment 2x the size of my house for half the mortgage. If the US is headed towards a permanent authoritarian regime I would trade life here for over there. At least their dictator appreciates science and education.
I would trade life here for over there.
If you are white… maybe
Otherwise… it isn’t that pleasant…
A ruthlessly effective technocracy that has achieved very impressive outcomes for their citizens¹ while also being a cultural / societal system I never want to live in. For some reason super obsessed with outside appearances.
1:
From 1995 to 2025:
- GDP/c: 603 to 13973
- Literacy rates: 77% to 96%
- University graduates per year: 900K to 10M
- Life expectancy: 33 to 77
- Railway km: 54616 to 160000 (50000 high speed)
- Urbanization rate: 29% to 67%
etc.
I like the idea that these were your first impressions of China, as in you stepped off a plane, had one look around and thought “Wow, this place seems like a ruthlessly effective technocracy that has achieved very impressive outcomes for its citizens but it’s certainly a cultural-slash-societal system I never want to live in.”
I’ve been reading some terrible books because I enjoy listening to 372 pages we’ll never get back.
That reads exactly like a line in a few of those books.
University graduates
You forgot the Gaokao that’s 10x harder than the US SAT/ACT 💀
