“ It's been 4 days now. I look around, everything looks the same, but I know, it's not the same world anymore. He choose to become a dictator officially maybe means nothing to most foreigners, but as a Chinese born and raised in this land, I know it's just the beginning of a series following "1984" episodes, and maybe even worse: Cultural Revolution 2.0. This may not happend in 10 years, but I live here, we live here, someday, something very bad is gonna happen again, and I can't do anything to stop or evade it.
A lot people around me seems calm and quite. Maybe they already learned to "shut up and having fun while you still can", or, maybe they are just like me: too shocked and depressed to think of anything to comment. I feel so helpless and scaried, it's like, how do I put this? sitting in a biulding which is on fire, you watch the black smokes and red flame coming from the bottom, but you can't find a way out of your room, there isn't any extinguisher in the room neither. All you can do is just sitting in the corner, hugging yourself tight, waiting for that momnent to come, in despair and silence.
sorry my English sucks, I tried my best to write in English. As a native Chinese, I can't stop to feel pessimistic about the future, hell, now I know we are doomed, it'll be easier to suffer if just push me off the building instead of letting me watch it burning for decades.“
"I’m studying in a university in China rn and holy fuck I thought I entered an alternate reality, my classmates were all talking and worrying about the issue on the internet few days ago before they were censored out but after that , no one dares to talk about it in the campus , it’s dead silence , I KNOW everyone cares but everyone is just so afraid , this is pretty much a 1984 scenario in real life and I don’t know what else can we do. I guess they have already won in this point . :("
China is approaching a nightmarish dystopian society, if it hasn't reached that already.
I'm glad I live in a country where I can spend however much money I feel like on video games without being targeted by an oppressive government.
You just have to love a country where you can be murdered by the government for selling marijuana, yet if you abstain from alcohol for religious reasons you are an enemy of the state and must be turned into authorities.
Authoritarianism of all forms must be opposed worldwide. Who is to say the West won't be subjugated to such systems a couple decades from now, if we don't stand up for freedoms with vigor?
Imagine living somewhere like China where it's gotten to the bad state it is in now - when 5-6 years ago there was a real trajectory away from where it is now, and the world (including myself) was cheering on China.
This sounds like how some regions are “due” for another catastrophic earthquake. Unfortunately, the modern notion of when a place is “due” for a revolution doesn’t take account of the sophisticated totalitarian surveillance technology that China has been building for the past 15 years.
You may not intend to give this impression, but the sense I get from casual observers of China (I count myself in this group) is that if we just let China do its China thing eventually it will implode and some different state will emerge, probably slightly better. As an American, this seems like The Way of Things because we are taught that freedom triumphs, even if it takes a long time, even if it comes in fits and starts.
It seems that this historical bias has created a blind spot for the possibility that things will continue to get very much worse for the Chinese people — who will go their own way entirely, as a group influenced by a completely different cultural background, with entirely different notions of what good government is.
I'm not even sure where to start with this. It's a complex issue and I appreciate the source.
China is putting people into forced labour (or concentration) camps en-mass. Its arrested or exiled thousands of HK democracy protestors. Its going backwards on democracy and rule of law. Not to mention causing the largest pandemic of the 21st century (so far). Its support for North Korea is another whole mess. Oh, and it almost started a war with the neighbouring nuclear power.
If people are satisfied with that, they're pretty socially bankrupt imho.
What's more likely is that with absolute control of the media, the vast majority have no idea what's really going on. They're just reassured about how awful every other country is.
In fairness, the camps and the plague weren't a thing till after the 2016 end of the survey. Xi Jinping only really ramped up his authoritarian storm in the last few years.
I wonder how the average citizen there would react after an hour of straight forwards factual updates on the domestic situation.
All this aside, I am glad they have eliminated extreme poverty. That is progress, socially as well as economically.
I see what you’re saying. I’m noticing general trends towards authoritarianism, corruption of public discourse, death of journalism, polarization of politics, rise of conspiracy theories, climate is worse, etc.
If you’re an average Chinese citizen, your life has probably improved dramatically. The auto mechanic down the street is struggling though since newer cars are basically unrepairable.
Take off your rose colored Chinese dictatorship worshipping glasses. China is in a Great Depression and will be there for 30 years. It will be even poorer, older, and isolated in 30 years.
Also, if you believe what you say, move to China. Stop hiding in the comforts of a democratic country while wishing free countries to fall
It is depressing to think that there is nothing we can do to prevent the rise of dystopian regimes that consolide their power with thru censorship and authoritarianism. The worst is that most people in China support their current government and believes what has been done as for the greater good.
I didn't read the parent as approving of totalitarianism or the damage that arises from it. Unfortunately the memories of Western elites seem to be very short when it comes to Chinese atrocities. The silver lining to the very dark cloud of current events is that it's increasingly hard for them to ignore how evil the Chinese system and its rulers are.
I was alive before we handed all our manufacturing capacity over to China and we got along just fine. I was alive while it was happening, too, and I remember it being sold to the public as the first step toward an inevitable transition to liberal democracy in China. All those lies are now completely unmasked. China lied, the MNCs lied, Western governments lied. Never forget all the lies we were told. Never forgive either.
You're kind of ignoring the giant elephant in the room - China is a authoritarian regime, and Emperor Xi recently declared himself Emperor for Life. Criticize Emperor Xi and be sent to the gulag. Not to mention the new dystopian Chinese Social Credit System. Did we forget about the millions of deaths resulting from the Cultural Revolution? Is China a country you would choose to live in for the rest of you life? How about your children?
2000 – The government is kidnapping people from their beds in the middle of the night but that's a minor inconvenience. I'll just shut up and enjoy the economic gains. China is the best!
2022 – I can't believe the government is coming for my money and lifestyle. The tyranny was only supposed to affect the other people.
I think it's safe to assume that China is now ruled by a totalitarian dictator, even if we haven't yet seen clear actions taken to that effect. There isn't a person in that "Congress" who isn't thinking "that will happen to me if I protest."
I think the irony might be lost here that life in China had returned largely to normal since summer 2020 because of 'CCP dystopian bullshit' which managed to effectively curtail the spread of the virus, in contrast to the paragons of freedom in the West, where everyone has been in periodic lockdowns for over a year.
Almost ever major crisis that has plagued Western democracies over the last two decades can largely be traced back to weakness, not strength of states, yet people seem to be constantly afraid of 'totalitarianism' rather than dysfunction.
Indeed, 28 years ago China was not even a dictatorship!
It is foolish to think China in another 28 years is going to be nicer. Despot regimes get worse before they collapse. Sadly even the collapse is not a reprieve.
“ It's been 4 days now. I look around, everything looks the same, but I know, it's not the same world anymore. He choose to become a dictator officially maybe means nothing to most foreigners, but as a Chinese born and raised in this land, I know it's just the beginning of a series following "1984" episodes, and maybe even worse: Cultural Revolution 2.0. This may not happend in 10 years, but I live here, we live here, someday, something very bad is gonna happen again, and I can't do anything to stop or evade it.
A lot people around me seems calm and quite. Maybe they already learned to "shut up and having fun while you still can", or, maybe they are just like me: too shocked and depressed to think of anything to comment. I feel so helpless and scaried, it's like, how do I put this? sitting in a biulding which is on fire, you watch the black smokes and red flame coming from the bottom, but you can't find a way out of your room, there isn't any extinguisher in the room neither. All you can do is just sitting in the corner, hugging yourself tight, waiting for that momnent to come, in despair and silence.
sorry my English sucks, I tried my best to write in English. As a native Chinese, I can't stop to feel pessimistic about the future, hell, now I know we are doomed, it'll be easier to suffer if just push me off the building instead of letting me watch it burning for decades.“
https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/80xttj/silence_this_...
And another one post from a student in China
"I’m studying in a university in China rn and holy fuck I thought I entered an alternate reality, my classmates were all talking and worrying about the issue on the internet few days ago before they were censored out but after that , no one dares to talk about it in the campus , it’s dead silence , I KNOW everyone cares but everyone is just so afraid , this is pretty much a 1984 scenario in real life and I don’t know what else can we do. I guess they have already won in this point . :("
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