as long as I live in China
Just something to consider: Are you sure they'll let you leave?
this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2025
17 points (77.4% liked)
No Stupid Questions
43319 readers
737 users here now
No such thing. Ask away!
!nostupidquestions is a community dedicated to being helpful and answering each others' questions on various topics.
The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:
Rules (interactive)
Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All post titles must include a question.
All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.
Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.
Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.
Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.
Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.
Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.
That's it.
Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.
Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.
Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.
Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.
On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it's in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.
If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.
Rule 7- You can't intentionally annoy, mock, or harass other members.
If you intentionally annoy, mock, harass, or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.
Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.
Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.
Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.
Let everyone have their own content.
Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here. This includes using AI responses and summaries.
Credits
Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!
The greatest banner of all time: by @TheOneWithTheHair!
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
... Are you sure it will only be four weeks? Sounds to me like your grandparents really want you to just stay there forever. Since traveling & living long-term (say a year or more) will be very different especially if I'm politically active
I did just go back to China for two months and was fine; lived in Beijing too so there's that (I think ppl in the South are less... monitored). China is huge... so if someone just minds their own business the authoritarian government (and probably 99% of the population) basically just leaves them alone. But then I also am not very social & most of my family circle are neutral-/anti-China so... If for any reason I offend the government or anyone affiliated who reports me, then I'd probably be done for, and I'm afraid it is bound to happen if I stay there for too long
So yeah, I dunno but I would never stay in China long-term if I were you. Traveling is fine but I really don't know how to make of your aituation
As a Chinese-American, I would never step foot in mainland China ever again, not for as long as the CCP is still in power. (Profile pic is used in protest, I'm was born in mainland China, not Taiwan)
I mean, there is one really narrow circumstances where I might. If I get denaturalized from US Citizenship and deported, then I try political asylum in Canada, Australia, maybe some EU countries, then maybe I'd try Taiwan, and Singapore is also kinda an option (Canada, Australia, Singapore, are countries that have a high level of ethnic Chinese population, which is why there are my first go-to locations, its easier to fit in), if all these options are exhausted, and I have a rich relative in mainland China, then maybe I'd consider going there as long as I can get a VPN. I mean I'd have to shut my mouth about all the things I hate about the CCP, but if I have a VPN connection and my hosts aren't too hostile, I can probably make that work.
But if I can't access western media, I'd just be too depressed to continue. Like all the TV shows that might not be accessible in mainland China. (I really dislike the tv dramas in mainland China, like its not even a political thing, it's just soooo boring, especially the majority of media is either romance or WW2 resistance against japan, I can't stand it)
TLDR: If I run out of options and I can get a VPN and the people I'm living with is not too hostile, I might consider it, but otherwise, nope.
Also to add:
-
The instance you are currently using (lemmy.ml) are operated by people who support PRC and Russia (colloquially known as "tankies"), you might wanna reconsider using a different instance considering your political opinions. (Also avoid hexbear.net and lemmygrad.ml, everything else should be fine)
-
As you said, you are Taiwanese American, so I'm assuming you're currently living in the US? The US is currently having political issues with regards to the xenophobia. I'd highly recommend you to Do Not Cross a US border (neither entry nor exit) until this administration is no longer in power. Either stay within the US for these 4 years, or if things deteriorate further and you decide to move away from the US (exit is usually much easier than entry, since they usually do not check citizenship when leaving), plan to stay away for at least 4 years (or longer, depending on 2028 election results). You don't wanna risk getting detained re-entering the US and this racist ass administration denying your citizenship. I personally am just gonna stay in the US, was planning on visiting Canada, but then this administration happened.
Maybe I'm paranoid but, considering you're politically active, I'd worry it's a honeypot, designed with the intention of bringing you to china on your own volition and then locking you up there.
Even if it isn't a designed honeypot, it sounds like OP will land themselves in jail either way.
If you already say in advance that you cannot accept the mainland Chinese political system and it's set of rules, then I can hardly suggest to go there. If you start disagreeing with others publically and become a problem person you will end up in jail rather quickly. Whether you believe that to be rightful/proper justice or not, will not matter.
Are you starving and homeless, or on the brink of becoming so, and with no other options? If so, it might be worth considering, but if you're not in an otherwise last resort situation, it doesn't seem like a good idea.
The biggest issue with accepting free housing and other perks is the unspoken cost. What are the expectations in return?
I've spent time in taiwan and mainland china, as well as many other asian countries, china has its citizenry riled up in rampant nationalism thanks to the isolation of the people and propaganda. The propaganda of taiwan (and hong kong) being part of china is deeply rooted in the state sponsored group-think and is not going away any time soon. I will say the people I met, while angry when speaking about taiwan, did not seem to wish the people there any ill will, rather they seemed upset about the very idea of taiwan being separate.
That's all to say, the political situation is complex. However the real question here is multifold. 1) is it against your chosen moral framework to capitulate and live in china and 2) if it is, what are your morals worth to you, what specific monetary amount would get you to renounce your views.
Parts of china are beautiful, the culture is lovely especially in rural areas, and living there could genuinely be nice. However your country is currently presenting the world's largest bullseye and while your presence won't swing the final result, if you feel you have a moral responsibility to stay and speak up, then do so!
If it's a month long experience and you go back to your regular life afterwards, I don't see why you shouldn't. I've always heard certain things about China, and since everybody says it, it must be true, right?
I don't know a single person who could verify or deny any of those claims.
A month is enough time to start to get a feel for what life is like. I'd like to see how much of what I've heard has just been pro-American propaganda.
It's not like China itself will greatly benefit from your visit or be horribly offended if you decline, so I really don't think whether or not you support them means anything at all.
By all means be safe and don't put yourself in danger. That's more important than anything.
No fucking way, if I was in a good European country and got forced to work 12 hours a day to buy a home I would accept it I am in an authoritarian country Iran and I have a free house, but It's still miserable, the free part isn't important the authoritarian part is important maybe I'm just in the worst authoritarian country and China is better