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China’s Millennials

lrb.co.uk

101–110 of 111 posts

Re: China’s Millennials

#101
post #66

> They were offered free software that would enable them to dodge the Great Firewall of China – which blocks almost all major Western news sites and social media outlets – and browse the internet without restrictions. There was some surprise when it turned out that even elite students in China had little interest in finding out what Westerners were thinking. Only 53 per cent of the participants had activated the soft…

This is an even bigger joke if you know that residential areas of the 2 biggest Unis in Beijing have built-in VPNs allowing you to access google anyays :)

My limited understanding of how this works from reading descriptions by others is any registered organizational entity can apply to the CCP for an organization-wide VPN for approved purposes. But the CCP maintains the right to MITM the VPN and snoop your traffic to their hearts' content. I don't see how they can inspect your traffic in the clear though, without coercing you to install their VPN software in order to use a VPN appliance they supply/approve to forcibly modify your browser to accept their certificates, so I'm confused on just how much they can snoop.

So how do these "approved VPN's" really work?

Re: China’s Millennials

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a term to refer to "the current crop of young adults". I so rarely see the anti-"Millennial" crowd complain about the term "Baby Boomer"; usually it's the opposite, in fact.

But that was a real cohort with an actual cause (soldiers returning home from WWII and starting families, leading to a large increase in births in the decade following 1945). Later generations called Generation X and Millennials are much more arbitrary because there isn't really a defined cause for their existence.

The issue is that the boom went on for 30 years, so it's even more problematic to lump them in the same generation as the current 18-40 year old millennials.

Re: China’s Millennials

#104
post #24
post #10

>Now she is thinking of giving up the citizenship she worked so hard to get, and moving back to an authoritarian China where guns and drugs are strictly forbidden – at least her son would be safe. To quote a friend, "all 'authoritarian' states (really, all states) distribute their 'authoritarianism' unevenly. that you aren't experiencing any right now doesn't mean it isn't being done, it just means you're not part of…

Indeed. This was highlighted in the overthrow of Iraq. It was undoubtedly an authoritarian state where dissenters and minorities were murdered. However, non-dissenters from the ethnic majority were largely free to go about their business. The destruction of the state made the place entirely unsafe, with an interruption of basic food, medical and energy supplies. The invasion happened in March 2003. Sixteen years late…

Yes, and remember that Iraq was already bombed from the richest third world country to the middle ages by the US army in 1990, which then blockaded the country, resulting in an estimated death of half a million children in the following 5-6 years...

Re: China’s Millennials

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I don't think people born in the same time are all the same, the fact is a lot of Baby Boomers had at least a shared experience in having a father who came back from the war. I don't think there is anything comparable for us GenXers (who were basically defined as "not Baby Boomers") and the Millennials when the marketers realized the GenX term was going on for too long.

If I'm getting my dates right, "Baby Boomers" includes both the hippies who were shot at Kent State and the law-and-order types doing the shooting, so to speak. I still think that your objection applies as much to other generations as to Millennials, and that in all cases, the labels are shorthand for a very rough approximation of shared experience. As for Gen X, the X is lazy, for sure. What we have in common are Ba…

Oh not even that. The older GenXers like myself (born 1970) have "Silent Generation" (1925-1944) parents that were born before or during the war (a rather small generation as the Depression and war weren't great times to have kids in). My parents were never hippies nor did my father face the risk of being sent to Vietnam -- they were too old for either.

Re: China’s Millennials

#106
post #2

is behind a paywall, how can I read this article?

Late to respond, but because outline sometimes doesn't work for me (for instance bloomberg articles), I've found it easier to just disable javascript in that tab via chrome dev tools.

Re: China’s Millennials

#107
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eye of the beholder, brother. Poster asked for feedback. I thought I was being economical.

Ah ok. I see your point in this case.

Cheers and appreciated.

FWIW, my basic angle here is 'people are people'. If the board were overloaded with anti-American or anti-Russian stuff, I'd be making mostly the same points.

Re: China’s Millennials

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much time do westerners spend on the Chinese internet? How much relevance does either set of sites have to someone living in the other hemisphere? I find myself barely-remembering most western sites while I'm in China for even a couple of weeks, and language issues (mostly) keep me from spending much time on Chinese sites while I'm in the USA. Based on my experience as a Westerner making trips to China, I find th…

Every once in a while I baidu search something to see if there are any results that are totally different than on western search engines. I have never heard of any of my friends, coworkers, or family doing this so it's probably really uncommon.

The truth is that censorship is terrifyingly powerful as most people won't work around it. This is why we must be extraordinarily vigilant in defending our freedom and attacking those who would take it away or those who have taken it away in their countries (Communist Party of China which is now a dictatorship).

Boycott the NBA and Blizzard and support those such as South Park who fight back

Re: China’s Millennials

#109
post #69
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an even bigger joke if you know that residential areas of the 2 biggest Unis in Beijing have built-in VPNs allowing you to access google anyays :)

I know of few Western universities in China giving out VPN on campus from under the table, but nothing like that in BJ. Can you elaborate?

Go to Beijing. Go to one of the two best universities. Go to the residential area. Connect to wifi. Go to google.com. This worked at least 6 months ago and a student active confirmed that its how it has always been.

Re: China’s Millennials

#110
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an even bigger joke if you know that residential areas of the 2 biggest Unis in Beijing have built-in VPNs allowing you to access google anyays :)

My limited understanding of how this works from reading descriptions by others is any registered organizational entity can apply to the CCP for an organization-wide VPN for approved purposes. But the CCP maintains the right to MITM the VPN and snoop your traffic to their hearts' content. I don't see how they can inspect your traffic in the clear though, without coercing you to install their VPN software in order to u…

Yes this is how it works. Its not only VPN software, but also wifi that circumvents part of the wall.
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