Is China freer now than before the Tian’anmen incident?
On the street level and everyday life, the Chinese are free. They can live where they like, go to school, travel to other countries, make investments and do business. Religions such as Christianity and Buddhism are back, by and large tolerated and with Buddhism even encouraged by the government.
My feeling is that Tiananmen scared the Chinese government to the point to where they decided to “chill out” and quit being such authoritarian dicks and allow the common man to make money, have a religion and leave the commune and the country. The Chinese saw the writing on the wall with the USSR and Eastern Europe, coupled with the knowledge that Communism as an economic model does not work has made China what it is today.