Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

TerryWogansBum t1_iyd2xn1 wrote

Been talking to some mates in China. Some of whom were of the belief that trusting the government was the default right thing to do. Pretty much all of them were openly critical of the government over wechat, something I never expected to see.

Something big is brewing right now it seems. The government might have pushed it too far.

66

BE_MORE_DOG t1_iyd7vev wrote

Maybe... but what can Chinese civilians really do? The Chinese army is loyal to the CPP, and if necessary will quell revolts with brute force. It's horrible. I would feel helpless as a Chinese citizen. Protest seems more likely to result in fatality than even minor social change.

35

notrevealingrealname t1_iydfryy wrote

China’s economy depends on its workforce, and unlike in other countries, immigration isn’t nearly as much a thing there. If enough people get out there and protest, the government can’t stomp them all out unless they want to kneecap themselves for the next few decades.

22

BPho3nixF t1_iydn2es wrote

If I've learned anything over the last year, it's that authoritarian governments will absolutely kneecap themselves for decades over being told "no."

57

BrightSkies42 t1_iydwy20 wrote

Anything to hold onto power, even burning down your own house.

18

rockmasterflex t1_iyeeomd wrote

Here’s the thing tho- you can kneecap your entire civilization and still stay in charge and have all the power and luxury you want if you’re good at it.

Said kneecapping only hurts the populace and non elites.

Better to be all powerful and surrounded by poverty than give up power! *taps Chinese forehead

8

notrevealingrealname t1_iyeiijt wrote

Well, kind of. The elites rely on business continuing to be done in China. If there aren’t enough people left to keep businesses going, then trade dries up and they’re not making money anymore.

2

OverallChicken7507 t1_iyef7yf wrote

Yeah that's my thinking too. However this all turns out, I suspect we'll be seeing changes in China over the coming years. I'm hoping they're for the better, but in ask honesty I'm not very optimistic. I know people in China who used to always invite me to go move over there, now when I talk to them, they aren't openly critical of the government but their advice has completely changed to "you're fine where you are, better to be stable." People can tell something's up.

4

Reina-Kong t1_iydxbra wrote

Not having the same experience at all. Most of my friends don't even know that there are protests in China. Also, those people that are protesting do so against the policy, not against the government. In my opinion, there will be no change in China. The government will only take away more and more freedom from the people. Sorry, but I lost hope a long time ago.

10

HalfLeper t1_iye7sjq wrote

Sadly I’m kind of in the same boat. I’m very leery of having hope for China. 😞

5

OverallChicken7507 t1_iyeflq5 wrote

Agree. You hear some people demanding rule of law and democracy, mostly on University campuses, but for the most part these protests are yet another isolated reaction. The CCP has mastered the art of preventing unity and visibility as much as possible.

3

jm31828 t1_iyfekjz wrote

Yeah, exactly! My wife is Chinese, living here in the US and all of her family live in Guangzhou, China. There were protests in Guangzhou, and there were videos of people being bussed to these isolation facilities in Guangzhou- but her family back there don't know anything about it... all they hear about are riots at FoxConn factories because workers were being forced to stay on campus or something like that- this news comes out because FoxConn is Taiwanese, and anything to make them look bad is news over there.

3

cartoonist498 t1_iyepcmh wrote

It's easy to trust the government when your economy is growing in leaps and bounds and everyone is happy.

Frankly, I think China could rival the US for world's largest economy if it wasn't for the CCP. China was always expected to be an economic superpower since 1945 which is why they were granted one of only five permanent seats on the UN Security Council. It was the CCP's need for power that caused China to defy all expectations and plunge themselves into a 3rd world country for 50 years.

The success of their own people is a threat to an authoritarian government so their economic success has a limit, and it looks like they've already hit that limit.

6