Unpopular opinion

Compared to the clusterfuck that westerners (on both sides of the Atlantic) are living in these days, after almost a month there, China seemed to me like an exotic bubble of peace, order, education, and progress. But hey, the Chinese Communist Party is so mean... bla bla bla...

Yeah, they aren't free in the western sense of the word; they are pretty conformist, but they are generally peaceful, safe, productive, prosperous, and better-mannered.

Are we? Not anymore.

Are we still free, at least? Have we ever really been free?

I have my huge reservations