July 16, 2002 12:51 pm, Anne Wilson wrote: <snip> > My 2p worth - > > I was in China last October - well after the dates in the article. We > found the Chinese people talking much more freely than we expected about > past and present difficulties. One guide (remember, paid by the state) > told us that the government still only allowed foreign news channels into > the 4* hotels, for tourists, and that they could not be received by locals. > He went on to say that he expected that too to give way in the not too > distant future. He confidently talked of a large proportion of the city > dwellers having access to the internet, and said that it was expected that > even the government would have to admit defeat on that score. > > The impression we got was that change was still painful to the government, > who wanted it in theory but were still afraid of it, and that many of the > people, the more educated at least, had confidence in the country to change > at a pace that was right for them, even if they sometimes felt impatient. > > Anne ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <opinion>The biggest problem facing any repressive government is the fact that the human race doesn't 'tame' worth a damn. The Chinese government (and a few others) is eventually going to have to awaken to that, and stop trying to run their countries as though they were a "collective of emperors." All rights and privileges for party members, and the back of the hand to the peasants. They get only what they are given by the magnanimous all knowing rulers. They seem to all be dinosaurs, with no clue yet that their philosophies are never going to work no matter how they're applied. </opinion>
If they don't believe it perhaps they should ask the Russians. On the same subject; I read this morning (at The Reg I believe) that Yahoo! caved in to the censorship demands of the Beijing government. <sigh> They'll cave in to anyone, won't they? -- Charlie Edmonton,AB,Canada Registered user 244963 at http://counter.li.org Honi soit qui mal y pense. [Evil to him who evil thinks.] -- Motto of the Order of the Garter (est. Edward III)
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