(October 20, 2024 at 9:28 am)europeanatheist Wrote: China: I have been there, I have many chinese colleagues resident in EU and I have one of my best friends from University that is married to a chinese wife, is an entrepreneur there and he is trying to move his company to Thailand or another country because he is starting to get asphyxiated by the level of control over there.
Yes indeed someone can say even in the west somebody is tracking our IP and know who is behind this screen while I post here, but if I write that my PM is an utter idiot and corrupted nothing happens to me, conversely you can wait some police to knock on your door in China asking you why you wrote such judgement, this is the difference among we and them
If you say that's what you've experienced, then of course I believe you. It's just strange to me because my own visits were so different.
I've been at conferences in Shandong, Nanking, and Beijing. The undergrads at Beijing U. were amazing -- truly world-class. Then I stayed on for a few days and wandered around Beijing, to the main spots but mostly just aimlessly walking. Another time a carload of us went to Qufu to see Confucius's house, and went up Mt. Tai. No security issues and certainly no one following me.
The father of a good friend of mine was Taiwanese, and was making lots of money selling building supplies to the mainland. If he felt oppressed apparently the profits made it worthwhile.
Maybe I was treated differently because I'm based in Japan...? Or maybe they just knew that I'm not important enough to worry about.
