Okay disclaimer: I did not actually say that type of stuff, especially not in the capital. I wouldn’t dare actually saying it irl while in China.
But parents and grandparents were alive in the Mao era, they’ve seen lots of shit, the struggle sessions…
They talk about it in the livingroom/diningroom a lot…
I was raised with the “do not criticize government” mindset when I was old enough to start having these opinions.
Suppressing dissent is actaully tame compared to the fact that I was the 2nd child of my family and I wasn’t even legal, if they had found out that my mom had me, they would have taken her and forced an abortion. (circa 2002)
My mom told me about that One Child Policy stuff and I told her I hate the CCP, then she’s like “Okay you can say it at home, but be careful don’t say it outside, don’t post these things [meaning political things] online, the goverment people might come and you’d be in trouble” (paraphrased from Cantonese)
And when she said that, she meant it as in both criticisms against PRC and US government, so since we’re now in the US and she fear arrestes or deportations if we criticize the US government too much, and she also don’t wanna get banned from China / and she still have sisters (aka: my aunts) living there… So I was told to just focus on my life, to stop “worrying about things I can’t change”
Okay disclaimer: I did not actually say that type of stuff, especially not in the capital. I wouldn’t dare actually saying it irl while in China.
But parents and grandparents were alive in the Mao era, they’ve seen lots of shit, the struggle sessions…
They talk about it in the livingroom/diningroom a lot…
I was raised with the “do not criticize government” mindset when I was old enough to start having these opinions.
Suppressing dissent is actaully tame compared to the fact that I was the 2nd child of my family and I wasn’t even legal, if they had found out that my mom had me, they would have taken her and forced an abortion. (circa 2002)
My mom told me about that One Child Policy stuff and I told her I hate the CCP, then she’s like “Okay you can say it at home, but be careful don’t say it outside, don’t post these things [meaning political things] online, the goverment people might come and you’d be in trouble” (paraphrased from Cantonese)
And when she said that, she meant it as in both criticisms against PRC and US government, so since we’re now in the US and she fear arrestes or deportations if we criticize the US government too much, and she also don’t wanna get banned from China / and she still have sisters (aka: my aunts) living there… So I was told to just focus on my life, to stop “worrying about things I can’t change”
Damn, man. Thank you for sharing, genuinely. I always appreciate the opportunity to learn of lived, firsthand experiences in these topics.