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Comment by lozenge | Hacker News Reader

Don't discuss Chinese politics, laws, policies etc. Don't offer VPN to others.

However, you can acknowledge the firewall existing, e.g. you can say "I can't access my email, can I send you this photo with Bluetooth/WeChat instead?"

Chinese know the firewall exists, they just mostly don't care (and if they do care they would never tell you about it)

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Is this a politeness thing (aka. most western countries) or a legitimate do-not-do-this thing?

If it's just politeness, then obv. I won't discuss it most of the time. If its more intense then that however, I won't discuss it at all.

It's mostly just a social politeness/cultural thing, especially since most people wouldn't really want to engage in a long/complicated conversation with someone who probably isn't that great or fluent in Chinese

Even if a tourist gets into a loud shouting match about Chinese politics in a public space, the faux pas would be more social embarrassment than actual fear of state-sponsored retribution

Chinese people either like the firewall or hate it due to their political views and internet usage but thats about it, to them its a part of life because they grew up with it. VPN depends, most Chinese people just might not have a clue what you mean when you say VPN cos they're not that technical. In terms of Chinese politics, you can discuss depending on who you're talking to, most kids dont care and others (rural folk) might be full-on red china and supportive of Xi Jinping cos he's popular in the Trumpian sense.

Just be generally courteous and understanding to people who talk to you and you will be fine.

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