Meh...PG writing a blog post entitled "Why YC Is Quitting China" would cause plenty of tsoris in Beijing, and the Chinese certainly know this.
I'd bet that PG/sama have thought about this set of issues, and they probably have their redlines drawn, but are probably also not advertising them, as is strategically prudent.
As someone who lived in China for years I fail to see what's the news here exactly? It would be strange, if as CCP official he didn't use his position to do this and other criminal acts. You better write articles about not doing it, those will be actually shocking revelations.
To be fair, his blog was never exactly positive on China, and (as he states in the article) he was very wary of crossing the fine line between moderate criticism and falling afoul of the CCP.
Between the fact that he was forced out of his position, and that he says he's "grateful" not to have been detained, I imagine he feels safe enough to get a shot off as he leaves. I don't think the government would get rid of him with an ostensibly administrative dismissal, and then turn around and detain him on the back of this post, as he was about to leave the country for good; it would look heavy-handed.
Or, as you say, he could already be gone... I don't know.
I was surprised by this too. It's not the type of admission a Chinese business leader would typically make. If it gains any traction of social media, the comment will probably be deleted.
Didn't he provide classified documents to the South China Morning Post? Certainly a clever way to create plausible deniability, but anyone with Google would be able to see how closely related that paper is to Beijing[1].
> It's always entertaining to read the FUD stories about China.
Can't tell if you're deliberately being disingenuous or if you just don't know, but here are some statistics straight from the propaganda arm of the Chinese Communist Party:
> "Since 2003, 72 billionaires in the Chinese mainland have died an unnatural death (...) Among the 72 billionaires, 15 were murdered, 17 committed suicide, seven died from accidents, 14 were executed according to the law and 19 died from diseases." - http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-07/22/content_129594...
Everyone who achieves a certain level of influence at some point submits to the CCP in China. It doesn't matter if it's bloggers, vloggers, actors, billionaries, or some other type of influencer. If you don't actively cheerlead and support the corruption of the current CCP faction in power, you lose your privileges, your audience, and - if you're powerful enough - your life.
Problem with Scotty is that he paints a rosy picture of all of his adventures. Unlike EEVBlog, he never criticizes Chinese manufacturing practices nor says a single thing that may offend his fan base.
This is a worrying, I’m conspiring that he won’t be welcomed in China, perhaps afraid of angering CCP gods. That may not be true but it’s hard to imagine otherwise.
Plus, he is sponsored by suppliers in China (PCBWay for e.g.). What good is content without objectivity?
Even if it wasn't an accident -- even if he saw the Tweet, and on behalf of Marriott and in full intention of broadcasting such, he clicked "Like" on this tweet, it's completely insane he would be fired for it. The tweet exhibits a positive sentiment. I would not expect most people to know that this sentiment matters to China.
This is another example of China exerting influence on the open web, and it's shameful that we have ceded leadership to China like this.
I was thinking that going after Ma so publicly could be one such decision, however what news is the CCP allowing regular citizens to see - what propaganda they're promoting to demonize Ma, etc. makes me realize it's probably a non-issue; even other billionaires in China may not be much wiser.
He's posted below that his business is not registered, so there is nothing to get uppity about.
Also, after moving out there is not much to gain from the situation any more so any time you invest in to getting 'uppity' is wasted.
On another note, I wonder how much of the paranoia is really warranted and how much of it is based on media hype, I have two friends working in China and they're managing to get along with government officials well enough, so far, even when they're critical.
Does anybody from China have any experience with 'getting uppity' with Chinese officials as a foreigner doing business in China? As in "Hi, I need this to do my work, can you provide it or will I have to leave?" (which doesn't sound all that uppity to me anyway).
edit: by the way, funny the moderation in this thread is making me wonder how many people on HN have an irrational fear about all things Chinese. They can't all be moderating out of personal experience.
I'd bet that PG/sama have thought about this set of issues, and they probably have their redlines drawn, but are probably also not advertising them, as is strategically prudent.
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