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Comment by dnomad | Hacker News Reader

Your fantasy version of China bears little relation to reality. In fact there's vibrant discussion online and in person, frequent protests (which actually produce real change because local officials are very sensitive to protests [1]) and plentiful journalism that is far less corporate controlled and far more relevant to the common person. Feel free to hop on a plane and come visit. This "totalitarian state" can be freely visited by most anybody (stop by Hong Kong to pick up a visa).

[1] http://time.com/5323079/china-army-veterans-protests-xi-jinp...

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> This "totalitarian state" can be freely visited by most anybody (stop by Hong Kong to pick up a visa).

Funny. Many Hongkongers (in particular the democrats) have been denied access to not only Chinese mainland, but also Macau. Are Hongkongers not counted as "anybody"? Is this your version of "freedom with Chinese characteristics"?

I lived in China for three years. I speak Mandarin. The article you linked is a report in western media. Can you find the same story in Chinese media?

Considering that everybody's talking about it online and GT (Global Times) just published an editorial I don't think it would be too difficult. (BTW, congrats on making it out alive. Millions of people weren't so fortunate and failed to escape from such totalitarian states.)

They're right though, and you must not be pushing any kind of sensitive boundary to think it's not an authoritarian state.

Which town are you from? In the countryside there are hilarious Big Brother style posters on houses promoting civil obedience. People don't think it's strange at all, of course they're not going to recognise the depths of their repression unless they're educated and well traveled.

I went looking for the story on Chinese sites, even though my Chinese is not quite good enough for this to be practical. I couldn't find anything, so I asked one Chinese friend and two acquaintances about it. Two couldn't find anything. The third found some ordinary people talking about it, but no news websites. She told me without irony that "there are a lot of Chinese people. The societal environment is complex. The government will block the passage of information in order to safeguard societal stability and harmony".

If somebody better at Chinese can find anything, I'd appreciate hearing about it. Thanks in advance.

Global Times is like the Chinese version of InfoWars (or worse), which publishes party propaganda and frequently incites chauvinism and hatred towards US, Japan, Australia, Korea, Taiwan, etc. Educated Chinese people usually don't take it as a reliable source of news.

If you have need living in China for 3 years, you are probably aware of how effective is the censorship there.

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