I get so much conflicting information about China, some say it's a dictatorship, a creepy dystopian surveillance state. Other times I hear it's a lovely, friendly country with a great quality of life.
I admit, I'm a lazy :LIB: and I don't know much about China. So I have a few questions:
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Is China a democracy? I know it's single-party ruled, but can they choose their leaders within the communist party?
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What is the work culture like for the average person? Are people overworked and underpaid, like I've read in western media, or is that all projection?
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Is the average person happy? How are disadvantaged people treated?
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What's privacy like there? As bad as the west, better or worse?
It would be cool to get some answers from someone who has actually lived in China, if any of you have. I'm pretty sure we have a couple of Chinese users?
P.S. Pls don't gulag me for being taking so long to learn more about world politics I am terrible at being a leftist :anarcho-bottom: :left-unity-4:
How open is china towards brown/black people? What about Indians, considering the rough relations between the two countries? I’ve heard horror stories about black people and other immigrants not being let in shops and being treated poorly but I’m not sure if that’s just western propaganda.
Most Chinese people are indifferent to other races in daily life. The stories about dark skinned people being treated poorly are real, but they aren't the norm. The bigger issue is the attitude towards race mixing. It is sadly too common for gen x and up to believe that bringing dark skinned people into the family is wrong. This is the same for LBGT. Slowly these attitudes are changing, but there is a long way to go. If you are dark skinned and not becoming part of a Chinese family, most likely the worst thing you will face is people either staring at you or sometimes even asking for a photo because you are the first dark skinned person they have seen in their life.
In general, very open. Most foreign students in China come from the Global South. I have classmates from Afghanistan, Ghana, India, Pakistan, etc. If I remember correctly, Koreans make up the majority of foreign students, followed closely by Indians and Pakistanis. And I wouldn't be surprised that if we grouped international students in China by regions instead countries, most students would come from Africa and South East Asia.
I think the attitude most Chinese have towards black people is a curious/innocent one, rather than a racist one. Although I must say that racism definitely exist, and there are still a lot of people that have prejudices against black people, especially when it comes marriage and relationships.
The same like with Westerners: most Chinese won't care and will treat them fine. Some people might secretly hold some grudges, but won't really do anything about it.
I have had Indian classmates and they weren't treated differently. My Pakistani and Indian classmates also seemed to get along. At the end of the day, people tell apart politics from reality.
I'm brown myself (morrocan decent), and I didn't face discrimination. Some people even think I'm from Xinjiang.
Those stories you talk about could partially be true, and might have happened at some point, but you know how it is with Western media: they are dishonest, rarely tell all the truth (or directly lie), and blow things out of proportion. The things you described are absolutely uncommon, and if they happen the government is quick to take action.
Reminds me of this Pakistani university student when she was asked if she was from XJ. My feel from that question was that XJ right now is pretty uncontroversial in the country, in glaring contrast to western reporting of it.
(Disclaimer: I don't live in China, just what I've heard) It does happen AFAIK but is rare and blown out of proportion. Most Chinese (along with other East Asians ofc) have never seen a black person and most of their exposure to them is through Western media which obviously stereotypes them. They'll stare and perhaps ask questions but generally won't be racist.