To feel I've been lied to about China

[Sulettamercury]

I'm well aware the country is far from perfect but no where is and I've just come back for the summer after spending 2 years there working as a teacher I'm going back in a few weeks.

What I can't get over is the fact all my friends seem to be indoctrinated into thinking China is this 1984 style hell hole where you can't criticise the government or do anything without being in constant fear.

I have to say living there really opened my eyes and I was shocked when in my first months of teaching one of the Chinese workers (now a good friend) started openly moaning about government policy and I'll admit I was nervous at the time but soon realised nothing would happen and that despite what I was told no one came after her and she didn't disappear and that every one was moaning about government policy if it didn't suit them with no consequences.

The infrastructure is also wonderful and far from the cheap rubbish you're told it is and housing isn't all on the verge of collapse or at least no worse than some of the rubbish I've seen here in the UK

Again it's definitely not perfect but AIBU to say I I feel like we're lied to in the west about how bad China really is and that some of the things we accuse them of we either do ourselves or we blow out of proportion?

China is the world's leading executioner, putting thousands of people to death each year.

46 offences carry the death penalty including: Corruption, Bribery, Treason (and that’s a very fluid crime), desertion from the army, refusing army orders, flooding, Cowardice on the battlefield, “endangering public safety through dangerous means.

The number of executions is a closely guarded secret, but thousands upon thousands.

Not to mention the 3 million in Education Camps.

Hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and incidents of serious respiratory illness have been caused by exposure to industrial air pollution.

500 million people in China are without safe and clean drinking water.

Forced Labour and Modern Slavery is rife, especially against minorities and, immigrant labour

What a Utopia

Oh yeah, it's totally comparable. Can't get a fag paper between the two, in fact.

Family values? God give me strength.

Interesting topic.
I tend to skip all the posts from people who have never been to China.
But the posts from people who have lived there and are living there are very interesting.

I know a few Chinese parents in my kid's primary school. They are a mixed bag. Some/most are very very wealthy. Their kids went from primary to expensive boarding schools and private schools. They drive brand new cars. Money is no object. E.g. one bought a BMW during his lunchbreak.
Another is not well off. Very strict with her son. Too strict as her son rebels and is badly behaved. Parents seemingly value education and push the boy to do extra curriculum maths, language and art classes but never sport. Then when the child was offered a place in a very good school, they turned it down because the other school was more convenient. I never understood it.

Well London is a vibrant city and York, both historical and rural. The stark difference isn't execution, slave labour and cutting the legs of live dogs/cats and cooking and eating them in the street. Are we forgetting Chinese people taking their pets to the top of buildings and throwing them off during Covid? Or children locked in apartments with grandparents and when they were opened up, many of the grandparents had been dead for days? It's only 9 years ago that the one child policy was stopped. Baby girls were left to die of exposure/starvation. I made the mistake of watching, 'the dying rooms' 1995, while heavily pregnant. It's fantastic if things are improving, but as said, there's a lot of legal abuses that happens.

I won't argue with your points on China but it's a little bit disingenuous to talk about slavery then call our cites vibrant and historical when a lot of that architecture was built on the money from exploitation and slavery.

That's NOT an excuse for any of the things you listed just something to think about as we can't pretend we're some sort of pinnacle of virtue and both York and London are the products of Roman invasion and occupation

Absolutely this. Plus all the posts from @saraclara and others about the Uighurs.

PP have also mentioned Tibet, the treatment of protesters in Hong Kong, punishment of practitioners of Falun Gong, etc.

We supply weapons to Saudi Arabia to use in Yemen where children starve to death and have done for a very long time which of course isn't and excuse for China (I feel I have to say this otherwise I'll be misunderstood).

I find it pretty depressing that someone can spend two years in a country and remain totally oblivious to the genocide within it, and all the other cruelties.

But I suppose if you spend the whole time in an expat bubble enjoying what a city like Shanghai, for instance, can offer, and show no curiosity about the rest of the country, it's quite possible to do.

Apples and oranges. It really is. Just as thinking that the contrast between London and York is germane to anything.

I taught a child whose mother had been taken by the Chinese government for speaking against it. As far as I know, she never reappeared.

I wouldn’t get too het up about this one. 🧐

Hmmm. Good point.

I'll take that as my cue to give up on this one, and go to sleep.

Perhaps that poster has a point and I'm a bit thick but they seem to think I'm some sort of Chinese delegate.

What is a Chinese delegate?

I'm torn between you being a stunningly naive 23 year old, or a Chinese bot.

Isn't it 'a little bit disingenuous' to imply that the historical slavery on which cities like London and York were built is exactly the same as the modern-day slavery many commentators have reported on in places like Xinjiang?

Here's a thought. We can't go back in history to change the former. But is there any pressure/influence, etc. that could be exerted today to try to put an end to the latter?

A friend taught in international schools in Ch8na for 6 years. I think such schools mean you're involved in buble of privilege. He was arrested at one point for something they hadn't done properly at school that thry were mandated to do, and was interrogated for about 48 hours.

Yes, the lifestyle can be great for western expats in the cities. But it's definitely all great.

Yes, you're probably right.

I follow a few content creators who show life in China and of course they control what they show, but it’s been eye opening.

I'm chronically online up the arse in US politics , and I'm a lefty , so of course my algorithm is chock-full of awful stories about ICE agents grabbing people off the streets and killing citizens in broad daylight.
I was obviously unduly concerned about the world cup 😖.
The thing is, these things do actually happen there, but most people living there will never actually see it or even hear about it.

I'm aware that I sound like those halfwits Americans that think that London is the most dangerous place on earth, and we simultaneously have Sharia law there somehow, but that's the thing with propaganda, it works both ways.

State sponsored protests are allowed in China and they do tolerate some level of grumbling. However, many topics ARE fiercely controlled and the social credit system, facial recognition software & Great Internet Firewall ARE strict controls.

Also be aware as a foreigner people will have been instructed to try to get across to you how positive the situation is.

How?

This sounds more individual strangeness rather than being Chinese. From what I've read & seen most do prioritise education.

I agree overall but I would say that the dog eating is much less common now. It was generally a regional thing, and yes often cruel.

Re the pets thrown of balconies, that was due to a doctor interview misleading saying they were high risk for spreading Covid.