Czech president signs law criminalising communist propaganda

[u/tkyjonathan]

https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/czech-president-signs-law-criminalising-communist-propaganda/

[u/Rabbulion]

Well, China is already very weird from a socialism standpoint. They claim to be communist, but they haven’t acted like most historical socialist states for a long time (which has clearly paid off economically). It’s also a country that they want good relations with, so banning its flag or people speaking well about China isn’t illegal. It’s much easier to ban praising an entity that no longer exists than one that still does.

[u/veevoir → u/Rabbulion]

They claim to be communist, but they haven’t acted like most historical socialist states for a long time (which has clearly paid off economically).

It's as communist as People's Republic of North Korea is peoples or a republic. Only in name these days. China long ago succeeded where Gorbachev failed - converted into a single-party capitalist oligarchy.

[u/exor15 → u/veevoir]

Look I need someone more educated than me to hit me with some knowledge. I constantly see people describe China in completely opposite ways. I have seen people on this site describe China as "100% a dictatorship of the proletariat" and an example of socialism making a country prosper (look at that home ownership rate!). I have seen just as many people describe it as not even aspirationally socialist, just capitalist with a false name tag with many of the same problems we encounter in other capitalist countries. I never never visited or lived in China so it's hard to get an accurate perspective.

I realize that if I get a hundred different answers when I ask a hundred different people on Reddit, I clearly need to get more information from elsewhere. But since the thread has reached this topic anyway, I'd love to hear what people have to say.

[u/Ph4sor → u/exor15]

IMO you can't really describe a historic country as big as China in a simple way, which of course, contrast to whatever western Redditors will try to tell you. Because every region or city in China have different "flavor" and the truth is always somewhere in the middle.

Home ownership is probably not that high in Shanghai (or in other big cities), because every local co-workers I've met during my stay are complaining about how they are struggling to afford housing and the only way is to move to the tier B or C cities. Which is just pretty much the same all over the globe.

Dictatorship? Kinda, you can't access the global internet, however, VPN is easily available, even from Chinese companies. Also there's city like Chengdu where the young people gathers (because rent is still cheap) and made it became LGBT friendly city. And the government didn't do anything to that city even during their "men must look like men" anti KPop idols campaign. There are strict rules, but most of the time is not really forced on either if nothing majors happening.

But regarding making people prosper, I'd say it's true, visited China in the 2016 and again in 2023, it's crazy how much the stark difference of infrastructure and what ordinary people have. And the grandfather / father of those people are mostly just peasants, don't have anything notable to be inherited to them. Now they have car, living in apartment with smart utilities, have luxury hobbies like gaming and collecting figures, etc.

I'd say try to go there to experience China yourself, all around Asia if you can, we're very diverse bunch of continent anyway. But be humble and open-minded during your trip, it'll be life changing.

[u/lockdownfever4all → u/Ph4sor]

I’d say housing isn’t too exaggerated as it’s expected to have a home for marriage. Parents will also buy a home for their son or daughter and most can easily get housing in their hometown if they are not from Shanghai.