Or worse, she defends them.
-I’ve screwed up, I’m in love.
-With a Chinese girl who has such great lines as
1 “Kruchev attacking Stalin destoryed the USSR, so modern Chinese must never complain about the CCP.”
2 “Lots of countries censor the internet (actually about 15 do)”
3 "You just want to defend America cause you’re from there " (I’m part arab, raised Roman Catholic, and have never had a full time job in the US)
4 “But Americans started a war in Libya, just like Iraq and Afghanistan” (She ignores the fact that I said the Iraq War was a neo-con clusterf*%^! Or Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires)
5 “Of course all foreign media says something bad about China! They are foreign! WHy don’t you listen to the Chinese side of things?” She did not appreciate my joke about North Korean News Papers being rather obviously biased…
She’s really a very sweet girl, just oblivious to certain Nobel Prize Winners and Certain Artists…
I need help!
How did the U.S. start a war in Libya? At most, we dropped a few bombs in a civil war that had already started…in support of a “People’s Revolution” no less. I thought commies were all about the people rising up to overthrow dictators and shit.
The more you argue with her, the more she has to defend her beliefs. Just hush about it, and as time goes on, and she is away from there, she’ll come around.
Is she safe and free, now? Is she an American citizen, under no threat of having to return?
No I live in China.
I don’t mean to insult you, you probably know this already, but just in case…do not put her at risk. Even being seen with you is probably enough to rouse suspicion, she absolutely must go over the top to certify herself as a “good citizen”. Change is coming to China, and hallelujah! But untill it does, she has to mind her every step.
You’re probably not going to change her beliefs on stuff like this, so if your relationship is predicated on her not having these beliefs, you’re in for a hard time.
Chinese in China have been subjected to a lifetime of propaganda.
I’m having a hard time believing things are that tightly controlled in China anymore. Anyone with actual experience living there care to comment?
Besides me?
Probably difficult for a Russian to imagine. Or an American, for that matter.
- It is a legitimate concern that the collapse of the CCP could lead to chaos, but is she really against all criticisms of the government? She never complains about government policies that lead to high housing prices or government corruption that leads to infrastructure failures? Should the communists have not complained about the Guomindang during the Civil War? Does she think the Guomindang were correct in killing communists, since they were against the ruling government? Was Sun Yat-sen wrong to complain about the Qing government?
- What does she want the government to censor? Would she be fine with being censored by you? Tell her she is not allowed to read any books by [insert favorite author], or sing [insert favorite song] because they are harmful to her mind. Was she fine with the censorship practiced during the Cultural Revolution?
- I’m sure you’ve already said this to her, but just keep saying that you are happy to criticize American policies.
- Try not to let her steer the conversation to US policy when criticizing the CCP. Make that a separate conversation.
- Instead of defending foreign media, you can show her views from Chinese who disagree with the CCP, such as Ai Weiwei, or the people who are behind Charter 08. Ask her if she thinks they have reasonable demands. Tell her that many things they want are already in the Constitution, but are not enforced, such as freedom of religion and private property rights.
There is no risk for discussing these topics. The only time I’ve seen a Chinese uneasy about a subject was when I brought up Falun Gong. He didn’t want others to hear us talking about them. Just discuss it in private and don’t upload your conversation to YouKu.
You do know A W W has been accused of tax crimes, and his name has been removed from all newspapers. Neither my GF nor he class mate have any idea who he is, and our web search was blocked.
Yeah, no, they are nowhere near that controlled. In private settings, you have a lot of room to express opinions and people can and do talk relatively freely. Anyone over 25 or so knows that “communism” is pretty much a joke. The only thing that would put you in danger is publicly questioning the right of the Party to rule, or trying to actually provoke action against the government. But a young person just mouthing off to their friends? Not really a problem.
There is still a half-assed attempt at indoctrination in universities and the like, and a lot of over-the-top nationalism. Most people kind of shrug it off and laugh, but some people get really in to it. Other people fake it (and can get so good at faking it that they sometimes manage to fool themselves) because they think it will get them ahead politically. It’s the same jingoistic demographic you’d find anywhere in the world. In America they’d be tea partiers.
For the OP, if you can wait it out a few year she’ll eventually get disillusioned and jaded about it all. If this is a “here and now” thing, then you’d probably be best off just focusing on whatever it is that you guys do have in common, because you are not going to see eye to eye on these things and you are not going to change her mind- the truth is out there, and she knows that perfectly well. China isn’t that restricted, so frankly I’d say someone that jingoistic is either very young, being purposefully obtuse or just not all that bright.
All english language searches for ch 08 are blocked too.
Can she cook?
Get a VPN, dude. Yes, Internet in China is restricted. Foreigners can get around that pretty easily. Chinese people can, too, but most people rarely feel the need to. This shouldn’t be a surprise. If you are looking for an intellectual equal, you need to start dating intellectual equals rather than “sweet” women. I’m reminded of my (30+ y/o) friends in China who would complain endlessly that their girlfriends acted like flighty teenagers and not mature, responsible, devoted women. My advice? Stop dating 18 year olds, duh.
Do you have Freegate or a VPN? Freegate costs nothing, is easy to set up (once you can find a place to download it) and does a good enough job.
Tell your girlfriend that there are many Chinese who love their country but don’t have a wide following due to censorship. Just because you criticize state policy doesn’t make you anti-China! How can a country improve without its citizens holding their government accountable? With all of the recent corruption scandals, you’d think every patriotic Chinese would be criticizing the government.
What is her view of Sun Yat-sen’s promotion of democracy?
Which brings up a good question for the OP: How old is she?
I think you’ll find most of the girls there Commies. Deal with it.