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Comment by tuna-piano | Hacker News Reader

I can't seem to find any studies on Chines-American or Chinese-in-the-US views on the Chinese government, but my anecdotal experiences are different than yours. I find a more typical view of, "It's a difficult situation, and there's not much we can do about it" and not "The Communist party is the best and democracy is terrible".

And on the spectrum of Complete Communism->Complete Capitalism (no country is completely on either end), I'm not so sure China is too far off from some completely western countries. According to the Index of Economic Freedom, China is only slightly lower than Croatia (EU Member), South Africa and Italy[1].

[1]http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking

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Dude, they love their government with extreme pride. You're probably talking to them as an obvious American, and they are backing down and downplaying it to hide it, because they know it's your home turf and they'd rather not get in a fight with a 'Murica-dude over it.

Try talking to them as another asian or foreigner. You will see their nationalism come out.

If you don't believe me, ask your non-American non-Chinese friends for their anecdotal experiences.

And yes, of course it's not all of them.

Most of them that have moved to America exhibit China as a "difficult" situation. Speaking to them as someone of Chinese ethnicity (I was born in Phoenix with parents from Taiwan and I also spent time in Taiwan), I don't think they believe China is great. Many are leaving because the air is bad, some believe a bubble is going to burst, etc.

I mean, that's some serious cognitive dissonance if they're living in America yet exhibit hyperpatriotic attitudes.

> Dude, they love their government with extreme pride

I'm going to present as much evidence as you have - none - but in my experience this is categorically and absurdly untrue. And your claim that others don't see this because they're "obvious American" is the opposite of reality. The only times I have seen Chinese express "love" for their government is when it's criticised by a foreigner. Between themselves they complain non stop. The best the CCP can hope for from the vast majority of its populace is, as far as I can see, a kind of grudging respect.

You really need to learn the difference between extreme pride in your country and in your government, because they are two very different things. Plenty of peoples have the former - including the Chinese and indeed Americans. I struggle to think of any large population of the latter and they certainly do not live in China.

I concur with this. I once saw an American student, studying in Europe. A European student was critisizing her country's government. The conversation did not go well, she eventually cried out in tears. That is when I realized Americans care deeply about their country. Americans complain among themselves about their government all the time but it is a different matter if an outsider complains about your government. Probably the same thing is happening when you talk to Chinese students.

> You're probably talking to them as an obvious American, and they are backing down and downplaying it to hide it

Not sure how do you get that. I suppose you do not have the super power to read mind.

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