r/Glasgow Tools

Title
Author	EVE_ddred
Comment	I have Chinese friends and find that far from accurate. Most of them are from middle class backgrounds and definitely would put your average Glaswegian to shame, but they're honestly not as privileged as the wide brush you're using to paint them. The other commenter is right, foreign degrees no longer have the appeal they used to in China. Tsinghua is the harvard of China and that's where the upper 1% of the 1% go. I would actually argue that Hong Kong students are more likely to fit your category than the Chinese. As for how they feel about HK and such? Personally, I think you need to try and picture how you were when you first encountered a political situation that galvanised you. I doubt you were articulate and composed or approached arguments with the nuance that it takes to make someone see your point of view. Couple that with most of them growing up in a highly competitive education system that's stunted their social skills significantly. I know a few of them were warned by their parents about politics and it wasn't about avoiding sensitive issues like Tiananmen Square but about safety. Western media also romantises events like these far more than Chinese people do, even the ones that are pro-democracy. The perspective afforded to me by being able to speak some basic Chinese and talk about difficult topics with Chinese people has honestly been enlightening. I very seldom hear about the complexities of Hong Kong politics when spoken or written by western media and was surprised to find myself viewing it similarly with sectarianism. No one talks about the rampant racism that was well documented for decades in Hong Kong against other SE Asian countries and Mainland China before the protests, where the country is divided or the problems and challenges they face with things like property values where their lowest classes of citizens literally live in cages. If you want examples, the biggest two are probably that 10 years ago Hong Kong passed a law making discrimination in employment illegal and 10 years later not a single person has been charged with it or the hospital case where a [man lost his wife](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/04/martin-jacques-racism-justice-hongkong).
Reddit Link	https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/eognu7/say_no_to_china/feit64n/
Created	Thu 16th Jan 2020 3:49am
Status	normal ()

I have Chinese friends and find that far from accurate. Most of them are from middle class backgrounds and definitely would put your average Glaswegian to shame, but they're honestly not as privileged as the wide brush you're using to paint them. The other commenter is right, foreign degrees no longer have the appeal they used to in China. Tsinghua is the harvard of China and that's where the upper 1% of the 1% go. I would actually argue that Hong Kong students are more likely to fit your category than the Chinese.

As for how they feel about HK and such? Personally, I think you need to try and picture how you were when you first encountered a political situation that galvanised you. I doubt you were articulate and composed or approached arguments with the nuance that it takes to make someone see your point of view. Couple that with most of them growing up in a highly competitive education system that's stunted their social skills significantly.

I know a few of them were warned by their parents about politics and it wasn't about avoiding sensitive issues like Tiananmen Square but about safety. Western media also romantises events like these far more than Chinese people do, even the ones that are pro-democracy.

The perspective afforded to me by being able to speak some basic Chinese and talk about difficult topics with Chinese people has honestly been enlightening. I very seldom hear about the complexities of Hong Kong politics when spoken or written by western media and was surprised to find myself viewing it similarly with sectarianism.

No one talks about the rampant racism that was well documented for decades in Hong Kong against other SE Asian countries and Mainland China before the protests, where the country is divided or the problems and challenges they face with things like property values where their lowest classes of citizens literally live in cages. If you want examples, the biggest two are probably that 10 years ago Hong Kong passed a law making discrimination in employment illegal and 10 years later not a single person has been charged with it or the hospital case where a [man lost his wife](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/04/martin-jacques-racism-justice-hongkong).