This Orwellian business is unsustainable because when Xi dies, the whole thing needs to be rebuilt for the next generation of politicians. They've got the inner party but they don't have Big Brother to keep things consistent.
Obv all anecdotal but I visited three different cities in China recently and it seems to depend on where you are a bit.
The security cameras thing is the most noticeable. They're fucking everywhere.
Some of my relatives were in one of the Muslim autonomous regions and said security was very oppressive and that there was even a security checkpoint to get into a small park.
In the cities the subway stations sometimes have x-ray machines and people with wands. Some subway exits had two soldiers watching them but I don't remember them holding weapons. There was security to get into the Tienanmen Square area and once or twice in Beijing we saw police doing a random check for ID cards, but nowhere else after that.
Then there are some places where you'd think they want a lot of security but except for the ever-present cameras it's pretty chill. There's a really awesome area in Xi'an that gets super crowded at night and is obviously a government funded set-piece, but everybody and there dog is there and you don't even see many policemen.
The nice thing is that even the people running security are very helpful and will smile if something funny happens, it's not like you're surrounded by cold government drones and depressed civilians.
Actually; because of the tariffs our goods are now increasingly being produced in Vietnam and other South East Asian nations. China doesn't talk about it but their growth is finally stunting.
While I hate the man, Trump has basically China'd China.
China's economic power has always been vastly overstated, and basically any hard move from the U.S. against China's economy was ultimately going to hurt them worse than us. We'd absolutely have a rough time, but we'd take it on the chin and endure. But they'd be getting it so much worse. Its one of the few areas I can say, "He's not completely wrong." And yeah Vietnam has also been clamoring for this opportunity. The rest of South-East Asia has been setting themselves up for exactly this, wanting to appeal to people who aren't interested in dealing with China any further.
Even if you get around that it doesn't work on mobile at all.
The china episode of The Grand Tour really hit home the levels of survalence in China. Just driving along a highway through the country subjects you to blinding flashes every 30 seconds.
Time to nuke China
I want to tell you guys this story I heard from a Chinese friend.
She is a Chinese Uyghur, which is an aboriginal tribe way up in the north west of China in Xinjiang.
She said that since she's studying far away from home in Taiwan and Beijing, she remained in contact with her family via phone.
One day her mom just stopped calling her and she was worried, her dad wouldn't tell her the truth either, so once the winter break started she rushed back home to Xinjiang,
ONLY to find that her mom had been sent to one of the concentration camps made for these tribesmen. (Apparently 5 million people have been sent to these camps)
They have no idea the exact locations all these people have been sent to, and apparently they were caught in their sleep randomly,
and the only reason is because they are Uyghurs, because they're not Chinese.
They've been forced to celebrate Chinese New Year and stick all those Chinese spring festival couplets on their walls, as soldiers will check each family DOOR TO DOOR.
Their own culture, festivals and celebrations are all forbidden and their phones are checked regularly.
They aren't allowed to speak their own language anymore and anyone who teaches the language will be sent to camp.
The mother had been a teacher for 30 years in Xinjiang and she taught the language, she got 10 YEARS, no lawyer, no court sessions, no nothing.
She got beaten to a pulp until she admit to her so called crimes.
The mother had it even worse as she was sent to a detention center instead of a concentration camp, as in concentration camps you can at least call or meet your family once a month, but you are denied any of those in a detention center. They also took all her clothes after she was sent in, and the family wasn't allowed to send any clothes to her.
The friend had to bribe her way in just to see her bloodied mom for 20 fucking minutes.
Apparently a lot of other elders killed themselves before they could be sent to the camps, it is THAT bad there.
And now her dad is hospitalized due to the pressure, her brother is still a student, everyone in the family have their passports taken away from them to make sure they will not leave Xinjiang.
China calls all this "re-education" when in reality is literally just torture and brainwashing
I cannot fucking believe that this is actually happening.
They are still being called terrorists as of this moment, when REALLY they're just minorities who want to be recognized and preserve their own culture.
Now after hearing ALL THIS FROM HER, all i can say is that if china's coming for us taiwanese,
im gonna fight for my freedom cuz this shits not gonna fly in taiwan
They already do that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDy0CTdtLL8
Before I start, don't get me wrong: China is a shit hole and it's fucking horrifying how well they've managed to make all this surveillance seem necessary to its citizens (although I'm sure most of them
would love to see it gone). But one other thing that terrifies me is that other nations are no doubt taking note, even Western countries. For years we've seen other countries increase their own surveillance and pass laws to tap into your phone's/brower's history without your consent or in some cases, even without your knowledge, all in the name of "security". It's bullshit, we all know it, but I am seriously
concerned that this kind of overwatch, maybe in a slightly watered down version at the least, will become the norm in the future.
I mean that's awesome if Vietnam can actually pay their workers, but that just sounds to me like the exploitation of underpaid, overworked laborers is just getting shifted somewhere.
Asia does not have a great track record for responsible industry, fair wages, ect, human rights as a whole really.
As long as entire industries are being dominated by a small part of the world in the interest of making as much profit as possible while leaving the workers in the dirt, the problem is only going to move around.
Hello, guess why China is getting richer? It's already moving there
How the fuck do criminal gangs/syndicates operate in such environment without having their heads chopped off?
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