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?

😂 And not over yet!

An acquaintance of mine worked as a inspector of working practices in factories all over the world to ensure laws were adhered to and human rights weren't being breached and when he visited China for his work he noticed the people working never left their stations.
When he asked about it, it turned out they were made to wear nappies so they didn't have toilet breaks ever. This was common practice.

He said some of the things he saw over there were so horrendous he wanted to quit his job. He was no softy either.

When I think of China I think of the Yulin dog festival. Fucking barbaric.

Oh OP you are so naive. Try being a Uighur.

I lived in China for 12 years and visited Xinjiang province and Tibet. The east of China is incredibly developed: massive shopping malls with luxury brands, excellent public transport, bullet trains, luxury hotels, incredible museums etc and this is perhaps not the standard perception of China. Friends of mine were amazed that we had ikea.
As a westerner we are somewhat protected from real life in China: you respect the rules (we are, of course, guests in the country) and life is pretty much as in the west but with tighter controls: you need your passport to stay in a hotel or to buy a train ticket, guests from overseas need to register with the police when they stay with you etc.

We aren’t as democratic as you think…. After 14 years of tory abuse the population was attacked by the constant media and online propaganda into not voting and then Labour one with all the manipulations that were supported by pro israel lobby groups. Now that Kier starmer was so unpopular, we have had anointment of another unelecter PM, lets not forget Truss or Sunak.

America is not the bastion of positive western culture I dont know why anyone would use this as some sort of example. America is just a rich banana republic.

The actual quote is - it’s not perfect, but nowhere is.

All of this.

I don’t think she is being naive, just sharing her own positive experience. As with lots of countries I think china has a lot of positive and negative aspects and it’s good to hear the different sides.

Don’t be daft

Ime in most families the grandparents will take on childcare responsibilities.

My main gripe about Western views of China isn't so much the accuracy. I don't really know much about China today, though I have had friends who taught there and enjoyed it (in private international schools, though). It's more that people talk about the terrible regime/human rights/communism, etc, whilst at the same time the West has exploited that regime for it's own gains for a very long time. We love to hate it, whilst taking full advantage of the low labor cost that comes with workers having much fewer rights.

Touker Suleiman on Dragon's Den is always telling entrepreneurs how he could reduce their manufacturing costs by moving production to China.

The reality is, as a pp said, it's almost impossible to avoid goods of Chinese manufacture altogether. The tech that has become essential for us is affordable because of China's industry.

We can criticise it all we like, the fact is the economic viability of this particular communist regime is supported by the West. The Chinese government have exploited our consumerism as we have exploited their regime.

Once upon a time, we built opium factories in China, whilst blaming the nasty Chinese for selling the drug. Our relationship has continued along those lines. We don't agree with their style of governance, but it's convenient.

I havent heard of those negative perceptions of China. What I have heard and what puts me off travelling there are that people smoke and spit a lot and that they don't have a European style concept of personal space. Are these true?

Our toilets may be smelly but at least we don’t have communal toilets with no walls - yes these exist in China!

or ones with no doors- have used those many times in China.

And imagine staying in hotels where military police carrying guns come into your room at night as part of their checks? This happened to a colleague when he was travelling for work.

Sure, if a country forcibly separating children from their families for cultural indoctrination and forcibly sterilising women with genocidal intent is positive. In addition, a widespread system of forced labour of prisoners - widely detained for their political views, transnational repression, and intense repression of all independent civic space.

I’m sure you did have a positive experience - you’re not one of the targets. You can have a very positive experience in Russia, Saudi Arabia - and arguably the USA - too. This post is pure clickbait, if you actually felt unsure, you’d just google and educate yourself on the situation. There’s plenty of resources including direct testimonies of people tortured under the system.

Spitting - men and women - common especially for older age groups.
smoking - mostly men ime
personal space - not really a concept in China!

Never experienced this in 12 years. Which province?

I went there as part of a government organised visit to do a schools exchange.

we were briefed in advance that there were certain things you did not mention.

yes it’s not like 1984, you are allowed to say you disagree with the government on certain things. But only on certain things.

Yes indeed. Not many people know about the secret political prisons in Wales where those who have voiced protests about the current and former governments are sent for political re education, to work in government run sweatshops making goods for export and , it is rumoured , used to provide transplantable body parts for surgery.

Yes, you don’t mention Tibet, Taiwan and Tiananmen Square.

Your framing of being lied to is somewhat exaggerated. You have a snapshot of experience but that doesn’t mean that other things are also true.

No, because low-level grumbling is normal. If they were organised or political it would be very different.

Thank you op for an interesting post.
Do you work for a government school because I thought the government had closed private schools and tuition centres?