I think very few people from China understand how oppressive their government is as far as freedom of information, revisionist history, and confiscation of property goes. Most of the Chinese that come to the United States are from a fairly privileged life in China and thus have few negative associations in their brains with the Chinese government. Combine this with the Asian disinclination for individual or unorthodox thought, and they have a puzzling inability to understand the fundamental difference between a Western government and their own.
Of course, considering how bad most Western governments are these days, maybe they're not wrong. Maybe, it's like one of those prototypical instances when one tries explaining a complex issue to a child and they ask naive questions that completely derail the explanation.
"Your government is very oppressive compared to most Western governments."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, they've written history in a way that makes them appear far more favorable than they really should be."
"Your government doesn't do that in public schools?"
"Yeah, but your government has a state-operated media that uses red herrings and straw men to keep the people distracted and so they will never criticize the leadership."
"Does the American media criticize your president that much?"
"Well, no, but your government also monitors what you write, say, and read in order to flag people who are potentially dangerous to the state..."
And you get the idea. I suppose it's more than they don't understand the difference between their government and true liberal Western values. The few that do are currently out in the street in Hong Kong throwing rocks and getting pepper sprayed / beat / shot.
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