I Love Australia

@walabby But you dont tip most places😷

@DavidT8899 Is it socialist though? I'm coming from China so anything by comparison is economically free.

@Transplantadele You make an excellent point, Everything is relative. In the end every country is Socialist somehow. It depends on who they give the money to.😷

@DavidT8899 Actually. Thats not so. North Korea is totally Totalitarian. Very different.😷

@DavidT8899 OK. Thats quite accurate. But Most Chinese are happy to exchange some "freedom" for the massive improvement in their standard of living..And No. I wouldnt want to live there. 😷

@DavidT8899 It's not a socialist country. Not even close. The reason things are expensive is because of runaway capitalism.

@DavidT8899 Oh, thank you so much for the manspalining! Having grown up there, I'd have never known there was anything wrong with it, nor had any desire to leave.

@whowasthatmaskedman Hi. While I agree with much of what you say, I suspect you've never been there. Having grown up there and also lived in other countries, especially in the cities, the quality of life is equal to that of anywhere in Asia but maybe Japan, higher than most African, South American, and even many European nations. It's certainly worth a visit.

That said, the propaganda machine works so well and is in tune with the education system so that the huge majority of people, I'm talking in the 90% range, belive, truly believe, that China's the most advanced country in the world, with the most freedoms. You can always tell the true believers from those who have actually traveled to a Western European country, AUSNZ, Japan, US or Canada because it absolutely shatters that belief. It's one of the reasons the government often won't let individuals travel to any of those places unless they're in a tour group with minders to watch them.

We have freedoms, we can choose our careers, we can buy what we want, go to school where we want as long as we have the grades for it but almost all of the really large corporations are subsidized by the government, especially tech companies. They use that to enhance the surveillance state so much so that it becomes unnoticable for us. And often times, we can use free speech, we can say what we like, but the government always knows, they keep a record and they use that when they need to. They also know, like me, I have family back in China so If I'm too critical of the government, I might get a reminder that they're there and they can be punished for my acts. I take a risk even posting this, but I don't think this site is one that gets monitored right now. If I ever delete any of the pictures with my face, you'll know why. In essence, China is a mess of contradictions, kind of like the rules of the English language.

@Transplantadele You are correct. I have never been to China personally, although my son was there as part of a school exchange back in secondary school. However, for some years I spent part of my work day dealing with Chinese exchange students studying overseas and helping them find their feet in our culture. So you talk and listen and understand clearly what they get and what they find strange. Having said all this I totally accept everything you have said about China and the Chinese people. I am also aware you might need to temper your language and have often been told the same thing by students I assisted. You also touched on the reasons I found to highlight some of the differences. China is land of contradictions and diversity. And opportunity is not equal. (Then again, where is it?) So while big city folk may well enjoy every freedom and luxury you list, some regional and ethnic groups find their options more limited and the scrutiny they face is greater. Of course, all this interaction was shut down with Covid, so I cant speak to anything since 2020.. And of course, the international student pool from China was always drawn from the educated and politically "appropriate" populations. So I am sure I didnt get every opinion. But the message was clear. "We have come a long way in a short time.. But not everyone is in the same place" I might add that being aware of the social credit system and roughly how it works, I would love to see it applied in some other places..The United States would be fun to watch, from a distance..😷

@whowasthatmaskedman Yeah with international students like me, almost every one I've known has been from at least the family of party members if not party members ourselves. I became a party member as early as I could and worked my tail off for it just because in country, you need it for the right opporunities for both jobs and education. I was at a international bilingual school for 14 years but even then a lot of our english isn't that good because we revert back to chinese talking to each other. I was one of the crazy few that decided to go all english all the time and i got mocked heavily for it.

Covid was weird because in the cities there were really different rules depending on where you lived and in one province we might be totally shut down but in another, back at school and maskless. But even when they dropped Zero Covid, the provinces didn't want to do it because one it took away their authority over people but also two, the national party didn't include HOW they wanted to open back up. I understand from friends back home, especially in the rural areas that don't have a lot of direct contact with the national party, it's still a struggle getting restrictions lifted. Worse, it got really clear how messed up the system was because you had Education party people, who had no real experience in education, making public health decisions for the schools, with no public health backgrounds. Someone was a party member, knew the right person when the right spot was open and with no expertise got the job. I don't plan to ever go back to either live or work, if possible, but if I do ever have to go back, that's the kind of problem I'd want to fix.

@Transplantadele I think we are very much on the same page. But remember the nepotism and preferencial treatment you describe still happens everywhere. It is just a matter of degree. So maybe making sure those with talent are also seen will be a good first step. Goodness knows the work ethic every Chinese person I have met brings to the table should make them the equal of anyone. (My daughter in law is Malaysian Chinese)😷