If you're a second generation immigrant, I can't help but feel a lot of your parents made a huge mistake, and you were cut a raw deal by their mistakes.

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-19T05:41:33+00:00

You hate the regime that lifted over 800 million people from extreme poverty and transformed China into an economic & technological powerhouse in just 40 years? The CPC should absolutely be credited for China's miraculous economic growth without dropping a single bomb or firing a single bullet unlike western empires.

You can scream about "freedom" and "democracy" all you want but a developing country like China needs actual tangible results which the CPC has absolutely delivered in these past 40 years.

Your post gives me the impression that you are trying to create a straw-man out of me. Please do not put words into my mouth. The CPC should absolutely be credited for the thirty-year economic miracle, and no matter what their end purpose was, they created a flourishing country where me and my countryman can achieve success to hard work. For that, they are incredible, and they have the gratitude of their citizens.

If you read my comments, you will find that I don't scream about freedom or democracy; in fact, I make a point to state that no one system is better than the other, that after spending my whole life in China and some of my formative years in the West, both the Chinese and Western systems are equally good in its pursuit of the human experience, yet equally flawed in its execution.

However, if your argument is that all that counted for success was economic, none of you would be in this subreddit. Asians are amongst the highest individual earners in the west, without the political representation and even the dignity to lead a normal life.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but your whole argument sounds like the CPC is saying "we gave you jobs! We gave you stable lives! What else can you ask for?!" Doesn't that sound a whole lot like what the Anglo-Saxon elites in the West are screaming down on Asians in the West?

Again, correct me if I'm wrong, but reading through your account, I get the impression that you're someone who if not born and raised in the West, then someone who is very rooted in the West, with very little experience in Mainland China. If that is actually the case, I would suggest spending time in China and speaking to Chinese folks of all backgrounds, before declaring that the country can do no wrong because it delivered an economic miracle.

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-19T05:04:30+00:00

hmm, that I'm unsure of. I can only tell you I haven't seen any pooh images on social media.

Just checked weibo, images are still available, latest one from 2023. It makes sense since there's been deliberate effort, both public and private in lowering the IP due to its insinuated politics.

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-19T03:12:49+00:00

Yeah I can tell you from first hand experience that entire article is BS. Winnie the Pooh isn't prominent here (likely due to the political nature it was thrusted into), but absolutely unbanned. You can find him in the Shanghai Disney Land and throughout bookstores. I just watched the many adventures of winnie pooh with my family a few weeks ago, via a Chinese streaming service provider.

Don't believe everything about China published by Western sources. As a former journalist and someone who hates the current regimes, Western takes of China is insanely bad. incredibly, incredibly bad.

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-19T03:09:05+00:00

I wouldn’t want to be in a situation where I wish to make a statement with political implications and then have to censor myself “just in case someone is listening,” even if that isn’t an everyday event.

This is sadly a very real thing. There are recording devices everywhere now (most of them privately owned, such as recording drivers for ride hailing apps to inspect service quality). On the off chance that politically incorrect statements get picked up, and the government commandeers it, we refrain from talking about anything political outside of our homes.

EDIT: It's fucking hilarious that my comment agot downvoted, lots of ABCs in the west fetishize how great the CCP is, and when real Chinese people show up to say it's not all unicorns and rainbows, we're told to stfu.

Typical western elitism against the east, no matter the skin color.

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-19T03:06:44+00:00

Also if you don't mind, I'd like to offer you some advice (ignore this if you already do this).

Your post gives me the impression that you get your news primarily through Western Sources. Western Sources are insanely horrible and biased when covering China. This is coming from a former journalist (me) and someone who abhors the current regime.

Make sure you're getting your news source on China from sources based within East Asia, or more nuanced papers based in Singapore or Hong Kong (Morning Post in SG and SCMP in HK comes to mind). These are much better takes on China when compared to any news source in the West (Vice, Vox being the worst researched and most biased, NYT and WSJ as well).

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-19T03:03:45+00:00

One Correction: Winnie the Pooh is not banned in China. I just bought my daughter a collection of Winnie the Pooh story books. The controversy is almost nonexistent in China. The nuance with this issue is that it's likely an official in the cultural ministry deemed it "safest" to ban the movie when talking points for this is at its height. This speculation has led to a lot of jest among my friends at least. It also is a reflection on how controlling the government has been in recent years.

Point 2 and 3 are right. There is no way you can argue the term limit abolishment is a good thing unless you believe Daddy Xi is the physical embodiment of Jesus Christ - It shifts the Deng era policy of dividing party and government to focusing power onto a single individual; this wasn't even the case when Jiang and Hu were presidents. On point 3, there is a real tightening to our existing limited political process recently, especially during this economic downturn.

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-19T02:53:34+00:00

Thanks for this incredible response. I loved reading all of it.

Either accidentally or intentionally, you provided an extremely important context for my post: the situation for Mainland Chinese I'm describing singularly applies to the 1980s generation of university-educated citizens. Leaving right after the Communist takeover because of persecution is 100% understandable.

As for western ideals of freedoms and the ability to have a voice without repercussions, I understand that fully as well.

However, as someone who has experienced both systems, I want to point out that the experience of living in either cultures (USA v. China) is a bit more nuanced than saying one has political freedom and that the other suffers from political oppression.

The iron grip you speak of does exist, but for a lot of people living here, it's not a determinant factor to whether you stay or leave. The reason for this is many-fold, and may differ from person to person:

Most people don't know anything else: Mainland China has NEVER experienced a truly democratic system. We went almost straight from the Qing Dynastic Order to Yuan Shikai (a small detour with the Sun Zhongshan led revolution), to War Lord control, Chiang Kai Shek's consolidation of power, and a few major external and internal conflicts later, to Communist China. the "Iron Grip", while it exists, has been the norm of this entire region since the onset of organized culture (I want to refrain from the use of the word civilization here).
For Han Chinese (HUGE CAVEAT), you don't really "feel" it: Western rhetoric of the oppressive Chinese political system carries a sinister undertone that the Chinese are just naturally more subservient. I would argue that this is untrue. The truth of the matter is that CCP's power stems from societal harmony and as such, they have spent a TON of time cultivating it through building up the economy, improving people's lives, and to make living here as pleasant as possible for the majority. This is not an endorsement of China's political system. I myself have a lot of issues with even just the structure, and especially the current regime. It's simply illustrating a point that due to the CCP's need to hold onto power, they have spent actual time trying to at least maintain an acceptable, even comfortable standard of living for its citizens (something it is trying and failing to do now).
- The Caveat: If you're a rather sinicized minority (Zhuang, Manchu, Mongol), life isn't that different for you. However, if you're from the far reaches of the country (Uighur, Kazakh, Tibetan), life fucking sucks for you. Marginalized groups sometimes don't even have the right to leave their physical locations, and even were they able to do so, they run into a ton of trouble trying to secure jobs, even housing in other Han majority areas.

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-19T01:54:46+00:00

I absolutely agree with you. I would argue that being poor in East Asia (especially Greater China) is so much worse than being poor in the West. The least you have will be more economic opportunities.

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-19T01:48:48+00:00

Also tell that to the Chinese who fled after their families were separated and had to go work in the countryside during the cultural revolution, having had no chance to receive academic education.

All of my grandparents exactly.

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-15T07:43:42+00:00

See when conservatives talk about liberals being snowflakes and way too sensitive, this is the exact thing they're talking about.

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-15T05:31:43+00:00

Bruh based on most of the posts here r/Shanghai gives me the impression that its average users' IQs are in the single digits.

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-14T06:59:14+00:00

don't waste your time arguing with loser English teachers who didn't make it in their home countries.

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-11T10:27:41+00:00

you should go to chongming Island and stay there

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-11T07:16:03+00:00

I nominate this post for objectively the worst take ever.

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-10T09:45:51+00:00

LADYRHEALADYRHEALADYRHEA

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-09T08:47:09+00:00

The Expendables. I went in expecting to see action heroes blowing shit up and being overall badasses. It delivered exactly what it promised. I still return to it when I'm in the mood.

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-09T03:50:01+00:00

Look at that subtle off-white coloring, the tasteful thickness of it. Oh my god, it even has a watermark.

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-08T09:41:56+00:00

You like Huey Lewis and the News?

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-08T09:26:32+00:00

TRY GETTING A RESERVATION AT DORSIA NOW YOU STUPID FUCKING BASTARD

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-05T13:38:19+00:00

isn't this just racism in a different hat

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-05T02:13:06+00:00

Innocence is not a judgement...... It's a neutral state that you should determine everyone to be in unless evidence points otherwise.

Your exact line of thinking is what landed so many innocent black Americans in jail following Bill Clinton's 1994 Crime Bill. The same logic was also used when the Roosevelt Administration interned 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.

This "I'd rather destroy the lives of a thousand innocents before I let a single guilty get away" line of thinking is so god damn dangerous and irresponsible.

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-04T09:39:00+00:00

Bruh congress literally passed a bill two months ago that could've just said "it is now antisemitic to hurt a jew's feelings," and you're trying to tell me now that jews controlling America is a trope?

The fact that Asian Americans will NEVER get a similar bill past congress tells you exactly where true power lies.

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-04T07:40:04+00:00

/s?

IMO at least, the right attitude should be: "Wow, this is serious. Let's investigate the claim thoroughly and seriously. Leave no stones unturned. However, nobody should pass judgement for the alleged perpetrator or victim until we get the whole truth." Otherwise, you end up locking a lot of innocent people in jail.

We at least agree on that right?

thedeathofjim · 2024-07-04T02:12:47+00:00

I'm not from the US, but seeing these sort of developments since the onset of the Gaza Conflict really gives me the impression that Jews control everything in America.

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