this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2026
77 points (98.7% liked)
chat
8555 readers
276 users here now
Chat is a text only community for casual conversation, please keep shitposting to the absolute minimum. This is intended to be a separate space from c/chapotraphouse or the daily megathread. Chat does this by being a long-form community where topics will remain from day to day unlike the megathread, and it is distinct from c/chapotraphouse in that we ask you to engage in this community in a genuine way. Please keep shitposting, bits, and irony to a minimum.
As with all communities posts need to abide by the code of conduct, additionally moderators will remove any posts or comments deemed to be inappropriate.
Thank you and happy chatting!
founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
and of course China is lowly rated on the democracy scale



Unironically not too different to some classes I've had in China (okay that is an exaggeration but profs are libs here too—I guess it being an English language curriculum doesn't help)
China is an authoritarian regime that crushes dissent, I say in china working at a university where I’m allowed to say china is an authoritarian regime that crushes dissent.
China has soft lines on what you can get away with. Criticism in private is basically always ok, because who cares even if the state could find out. Criticism of the state to foreign kids is similar because why would China really care what they think, and who’d report it anyway?
On the other hand, Chinese people saying certain things in public to other Chinese people could get them a visit from the cops, it happens. Saying dissent is “crushed” is probably a bit dramatic outside of extreme cases, more it’s sternly discouraged but only when it’s deemed to matter.
Shanghai mind virus
At least there are still some based people in the city; the other day I met an old Party member who upon learning that a PCF member (cringe I know, but there isn't anything better) shook my hand and said that France and China should unite to take down the US empire lol
Man that city has changed so much since the 90s and even the 00s. I can vividly recall the increase of the frequency of overheard brainworms as the decades passed by
If your Chinese professors are telling you Stalin was worse than Hitler then the Chinese youth are going to have to get way less ironic about the "second cultural revolution" memes.
Thankfully they don't do nazi crimes denialism, they often just repeat liberal arguments about central planning being bad due to lack of incentives and whatnot and this being why the USSR collapsed and that China's "state capitalism" is why it survived (that last part is kind of true I guess? but also so wrong at the same time!). I am learning some interesting things though, I'm still having an overall positive experience, but the liberalism does get annoying sometimes.
To be fair, they’re not sending their best to teach the laowai courses.
That's true, and plus I'm in Shanghai so liberalism is to be expected
I will never forgive them for turning the site of the founding of the CPC into a luxury mall
But Shanghai’s a great city in so many ways regardless, enjoy!