So much conservatism, patriarchy, toxic masculinity, ableism especially against people with mental illness or intellectual disabilities, even if the condition was mild.
Massive government corruption, inadequate safety regulations, when it come to the internet and press, those get censored, can’t even have fun watching foreign media.
Complete lack of understanding for people suffering with depression nobody take it seriously, spritualism is applied to medical issues.
Hukou system limiting the very little rights you have. (I had a rural Hukou and that sucks)
To top it all off, this is a country that have rejected me for being the 2nd child born in my family (during the One Child Policy). Legal papers were denied, the government effectively refused to ackowledge my existence and demanded/extorted a large amount of money, a “fine” they call it. My parent’s didn’t have it so it took several years of saving up for it, before I could get legal papers and legal recognition of my existence. (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heihaizi)
When I was a kid, I didn’t know it at the time, but when my mother explained my origins, I feel like society basically just rejected me. An outcast, an anomoly, something that shouldn’t have existed. All for the sin of existing without a government permission-slip.
US, got here in 2010s. Then, the ironic twist of fate, we got the 2017-2021 authoritarian test run, and now the 2025-ongoing shitshow lolol. Out of one hell, into another 🫠. Autocracy, here we go again!
I have hopes tho, Americans are rebellious and the recent protests keeps me hopeful. At least its not total apathy as with people in mainland China.
I’ve been considering moving to: Canada, Australia, and maybe Singapore; these have high levels of ethnic Chinese, which make intergration a lot easier, if I ever decide to try it, its all English speaking countries. (Thought about Taiwan, I can speak Mandarin, a bit, haven’t spoken it for over a decade; traditional Chinese is harder to read, I’d have to re-learn the language; but the biggest problem is that it’s a potential warzone so nope, don’t wanna get bombarded within like a decade)
But, anyways: Too depressed and tired to actually do the whole learning about a country from scratch thing again. Moving to another country is just an idea, the acual exexution takes a lot of energy, a lot of paperwork, it drains your brainpower. Probably just sit and wait this out, hopefully the spirit of American rebellion doesn’t die out. Need this flame to keep going.
You are a miracle. Bless you for existing. Mother Earth knows no borders, she knows only life and rebirth. You are life. You are her. Together, we are the Earth. ❤️ You are not unwanted.
Why do people shit on the sick and disabled, but revere doctors?
When the former is the only reason for doctors to exist in the first place. Shouldn’t we laud sick/disabled people in a sense for allowing an entire respected field to exist?
If you’re going to shit on them, then shit on the people who are trying to help them, too. Be consistent.
For example, even tho I was born in Guangzhou, I was still treated as though I was born in my father’s village in terms of Hukou (the actual place of birth on the birh certificate would be with Guangzhou as the birthplace, but that doesn’t matter to Hukou).
Even though my parents work in Guangzhou (广州), I couldn’t attend public school in Guangzhou, and my parents have to pay for a separate, privately-run “school”, which according to my mother, was worse than the officially government run public schools. But they still had the same “patriotic education” (This “patriotic education” would be considered indoctriction by most westerners). Same with my older brother.
If my family hadn’t left China, my mother told me I was gonna have to go back to somewhere in Taishan (That’s 台山，not 泰山) to continue beyond primary school because of there was supposely problems with getting enrolled in a Guangzhou middle school / highschool or something.
So like you’re basically treated as immigrants… sort of…
(I don’t know all the details of Hukou, I might ask my parents about it later.)
But even in the US, for example, even undocumented immigrant children (at least before the current admin, idk about now) could still enroll in public school, meanwhile China is denying their own citizens from attending public school, just because their ancestry is different. You could be born in Guangzhou and live your entire life there, and still have problems with your rights. It’s like countries within a country.
P.S. I remember my mother said she was a teacher before giving birth to me, but becuase she violated the One Child Policy, she can’t ever get any government-related jobs ever again, that includes being a teacher, or possibly even working at state-owned factory/warehouse.
Before 邓小平 (Deng Xiaoping)'s 开放改革 (Opening up and Reforms), you are not allowed to move outside of your Hukou. The Hukou we had was in 台山 (Taishan), so you were basically stuck there before, unless you have official matters or something.
After the 开放改革, people were allowed to move to cities. 广州 (Guangzhou) was the capital city of 广东 (Guangdong), so thats where a lot of people, my mother amongst them, moved to, for economic opportunities. All the rural places have is farming, farmed sucked, there were no machines at the time, unlike American farmers. As for the education thing, she said if we hadn’t immigrated to the US, that was gonna be a problem. We’d have to go back to Taishan for Highschool, because the 高考 (Gaokao, similar to SAT/ACT but like 10x harder) has to be taken where your Hukou is. And Hukou is also for social benefits, if your Hukou is rural, you get less of any social benefits you might have (which was barely anything to begin with).
And, although Hukou transfers existed, Guangzhou did not do them, so it was impossible.
I asked: “So its like being a permanent 2nd class resident?”, and she said Yes.
As messed up this administration is, at least naturalization still exists, my maternal grandmother just got approved for naturalization, the oath ceremony is next month. I know its weird, jumping from one burning pot to another, but a lot of our relatives are here, so… it is what it is. People say “Move to Canada, EU, etc…”, but, as my mother say, (paraphrased) “you can move to a lot of places, but can you find money there?”
We already have investments here almost everyone is already a US citizen, relatives are also US citizens, like what other options are there? In EU, for example, you gotta learn another language, have zero knowledge of where everything is, how thing work, income, zero relative to ask to borrow money if thing are dire, etc… All assets have to be liquidated, so… yeah… its unrealistic.
Not the best home ever, but its the one we have, it has been home for over a decade for us, its a home to 5 million of the Chinese diaspora, and its a diverse country, people aren’t as hostile as some other places in the world, like even Europe is pretty much a homogenous white society with not much diversity. So… this is home, the best that we can have given the circumstances. Lets hope 2028 election goes well and the constitutional order in the US is restored.
And god forbid, please no fucking USA-China conflicts, I don’t wanna get targeted by both governments (China would target me of being “Han-Traitor”, and the US would try to do the “Internment Camps” again), it would be the worst timeline ever.
People’s Republic of China.
Was born there, probably ain’t ever going back.
So much conservatism, patriarchy, toxic masculinity, ableism especially against people with mental illness or intellectual disabilities, even if the condition was mild.
Massive government corruption, inadequate safety regulations, when it come to the internet and press, those get censored, can’t even have fun watching foreign media.
Complete lack of understanding for people suffering with depression nobody take it seriously, spritualism is applied to medical issues.
Hukou system limiting the very little rights you have. (I had a rural Hukou and that sucks)
To top it all off, this is a country that have rejected me for being the 2nd child born in my family (during the One Child Policy). Legal papers were denied, the government effectively refused to ackowledge my existence and demanded/extorted a large amount of money, a “fine” they call it. My parent’s didn’t have it so it took several years of saving up for it, before I could get legal papers and legal recognition of my existence. (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heihaizi)
When I was a kid, I didn’t know it at the time, but when my mother explained my origins, I feel like society basically just rejected me. An outcast, an anomoly, something that shouldn’t have existed. All for the sin of existing without a government permission-slip.
That is terrible, I am glad you got out, where do you live now?
US, got here in 2010s. Then, the ironic twist of fate, we got the 2017-2021 authoritarian test run, and now the 2025-ongoing shitshow lolol. Out of one hell, into another 🫠. Autocracy, here we go again!
I have hopes tho, Americans are rebellious and the recent protests keeps me hopeful. At least its not total apathy as with people in mainland China.
I’ve been considering moving to: Canada, Australia, and maybe Singapore; these have high levels of ethnic Chinese, which make intergration a lot easier, if I ever decide to try it, its all English speaking countries. (Thought about Taiwan, I can speak Mandarin, a bit, haven’t spoken it for over a decade; traditional Chinese is harder to read, I’d have to re-learn the language; but the biggest problem is that it’s a potential warzone so nope, don’t wanna get bombarded within like a decade)
But, anyways: Too depressed and tired to actually do the whole learning about a country from scratch thing again. Moving to another country is just an idea, the acual exexution takes a lot of energy, a lot of paperwork, it drains your brainpower. Probably just sit and wait this out, hopefully the spirit of American rebellion doesn’t die out. Need this flame to keep going.
You are a miracle. Bless you for existing. Mother Earth knows no borders, she knows only life and rebirth. You are life. You are her. Together, we are the Earth. ❤️ You are not unwanted.
Hope you are living better wherever you moved to. I’d buy you a drink if I could.
Why do people shit on the sick and disabled, but revere doctors?
When the former is the only reason for doctors to exist in the first place. Shouldn’t we laud sick/disabled people in a sense for allowing an entire respected field to exist?
If you’re going to shit on them, then shit on the people who are trying to help them, too. Be consistent.
Did the rural Hukou mean you cannot move into a city?
You can, but there are rights being limited.
For example, even tho I was born in Guangzhou, I was still treated as though I was born in my father’s village in terms of Hukou (the actual place of birth on the birh certificate would be with Guangzhou as the birthplace, but that doesn’t matter to Hukou).
Even though my parents work in Guangzhou (广州), I couldn’t attend public school in Guangzhou, and my parents have to pay for a separate, privately-run “school”, which according to my mother, was worse than the officially government run public schools. But they still had the same “patriotic education” (This “patriotic education” would be considered indoctriction by most westerners). Same with my older brother.
If my family hadn’t left China, my mother told me I was gonna have to go back to somewhere in Taishan (That’s 台山，not 泰山) to continue beyond primary school because of there was supposely problems with getting enrolled in a Guangzhou middle school / highschool or something.
So like you’re basically treated as immigrants… sort of…
(I don’t know all the details of Hukou, I might ask my parents about it later.)
But even in the US, for example, even undocumented immigrant children (at least before the current admin, idk about now) could still enroll in public school, meanwhile China is denying their own citizens from attending public school, just because their ancestry is different. You could be born in Guangzhou and live your entire life there, and still have problems with your rights. It’s like countries within a country.
P.S. I remember my mother said she was a teacher before giving birth to me, but becuase she violated the One Child Policy, she can’t ever get any government-related jobs ever again, that includes being a teacher, or possibly even working at state-owned factory/warehouse.
That’s very interesting. I heard it could be harder to change your hukou in some instances than it is to change citizenships.
Okay so new update: I asked my mother about it:
Before 邓小平 (Deng Xiaoping)'s 开放改革 (Opening up and Reforms), you are not allowed to move outside of your Hukou. The Hukou we had was in 台山 (Taishan), so you were basically stuck there before, unless you have official matters or something.
After the 开放改革, people were allowed to move to cities. 广州 (Guangzhou) was the capital city of 广东 (Guangdong), so thats where a lot of people, my mother amongst them, moved to, for economic opportunities. All the rural places have is farming, farmed sucked, there were no machines at the time, unlike American farmers. As for the education thing, she said if we hadn’t immigrated to the US, that was gonna be a problem. We’d have to go back to Taishan for Highschool, because the 高考 (Gaokao, similar to SAT/ACT but like 10x harder) has to be taken where your Hukou is. And Hukou is also for social benefits, if your Hukou is rural, you get less of any social benefits you might have (which was barely anything to begin with).
And, although Hukou transfers existed, Guangzhou did not do them, so it was impossible.
I asked: “So its like being a permanent 2nd class resident?”, and she said Yes.
As messed up this administration is, at least naturalization still exists, my maternal grandmother just got approved for naturalization, the oath ceremony is next month. I know its weird, jumping from one burning pot to another, but a lot of our relatives are here, so… it is what it is. People say “Move to Canada, EU, etc…”, but, as my mother say, (paraphrased) “you can move to a lot of places, but can you find money there?”
We already have investments here almost everyone is already a US citizen, relatives are also US citizens, like what other options are there? In EU, for example, you gotta learn another language, have zero knowledge of where everything is, how thing work, income, zero relative to ask to borrow money if thing are dire, etc… All assets have to be liquidated, so… yeah… its unrealistic.
Not the best home ever, but its the one we have, it has been home for over a decade for us, its a home to 5 million of the Chinese diaspora, and its a diverse country, people aren’t as hostile as some other places in the world, like even Europe is pretty much a homogenous white society with not much diversity. So… this is home, the best that we can have given the circumstances. Lets hope 2028 election goes well and the constitutional order in the US is restored.
And god forbid, please no fucking USA-China conflicts, I don’t wanna get targeted by both governments (China would target me of being “Han-Traitor”, and the US would try to do the “Internment Camps” again), it would be the worst timeline ever.
Wow. I always thought if id been born in China that would be one of the worst developed places to be. Thats unfortunate but glad you got out
Would probably depend where in China. I think you’re better in China than in a lot of African countries or North Korea.