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Student protesters dancing at Tiananmen Square before the massacre, Beijing, China, 1989
(lemmy.world)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests_and_massacre
The protests lasted over a month; the massacre ended them in a flood of state-sponsored murder.
But before CCP wasn't it ROC, not imperial China?
~~My point isn't ROC vs PRC, its to highlight that, even when all you hear about China is all doom and gloom, the Imperial era of China is still far worse. Criticism (as in, without violent threats) against Xi Jingping could land you in prison for some time, depending on the severity, but criticizing the Qing Monarch (or any monarch in any dynasty of Imperial Era China) would be considered an insult, and gets you a summary execution by beheading, possibly along with your close relatives.~~
~~That's how much progress have been made. Sure, it isn't as free as actual democracies, but its still progress nonetheless. And its a reminder that the struggle against autocrats isn't futile.~~
Nvm, I retract my argument.
It sounds like that's what I'm talking about. It was Imperial -> ROC -> PRC, not Imperial -> PRC.
The only progress was ROC. PRC was worse.
It's like saying "Oh you don't like Trump fucking up everything in our government so it's way more authoritarian? Well it's much better than when the US was imperial England, so it's still progress."
There's a step missing.
As much as I despise the PRC, thank you for making this point. It always bothers me when people ignore the progress made in the modern era - things may be horrible now, but goddamn were they worse in the past.
Everything was worse at some point earlier on. That doesnt mean much. PRC came from ROC, so it wasn't progress.