@DisasterHighway @Mamako @josh @2Pure4Purell @Kheapathic I've lived in China (my wife is Chinese), as well as the US (I'm half American) and a few European countries, so I can offer some perspective on this.

About 10 years ago, when I was living in China, it was hands down the best place to live. As long as you stayed away from politics, you had the biggest amount of freedom in your day to day life than any other Western country. And staying out of politics is a very easy sacrifice to make - it's a pointless waste of time anyway.

Things have obviously gotten much worse over the last years with Xi Jinping and his Covid policies, which have ended up turning large portions of the population against the CCP. I do believe the seeds have been sown for a big political change in China, which I think will happen particularly once Xi's generation dies off - the generation that grew up under Mao - and is replaced by the newer generation that has grown up under rampant consumerism and much broader perspectives on the world.