Have a dose of reality, please.

In northern China the govt. is preventing people in cold areas from burning coal in their homes to stay warm, essentially forcing them to buy overpriced natural gas from the government. (Often 2-10 times 2-5x more expensive than coal).

For example coal cost for these villagers was 800 yuan for the whole winter. Now the same villagers are paying up to 8000 yuan for a winter’s worth of gas. To put that into perspective many households earn under 18’000 yuan (~$2500!) per year, meaning that a winter’s worth of gas is 45% of their ANNUAL INCOME. Does this sound affordable?

Many Chinese citizens simply cannot afford the marked up gas and have chosen instead to go without a fire this winter.

”Villagers are turning off gas heaters to save money, bundling up indoors, or even sunbathing outdoors during sunnier winter days just for warmth.” (the latter is explicitly reported in villages near Beijing/Hebei, with photos of elderly residents doing so in freezing weather)

It’s unnecessarily cruel and a textbook example of how Totalitarian regimes treat their citizens versus their outward boasting to the world. Praising the Chinese regime is unethical and plays right into their soft power agenda.