The Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward notwithstanding because everyone died during those, the CCP has permitted Christians to practice as long as it is the state approved version of Catholicism

Likewise they permit Islam but not any flavor with influence from outside

And they allow Tibet their religion under the Panchen Lama whom they control

So again I'm not sure where the conflict comes from unless you consider their distaste for movements they cannot control

That's...not really permitting it

It's outlawing everything that's not some state religioin

Such as evangelical missionaries with their liberal democracy leanings

Tibet might be a different story, might be some history there

The west is irrational when we expect China to be like us

China is an alien culture. We should think of it like a first contact scenario.

Western philosophy with it's culmination being constitutional liberalist democracy has no foundation in China

China was always the needs of the many outweigh that of the individual

You need look no further than how family name comes first is China whereas it comes last for Euro-Americans

The Mandate of Heaven was to keep the rivers from flooding and direct the masses to immense public works

Everyone subsumed for a common goal

I dunno, man.

Probably cause instead of relligion they opt for teachings.

I had pasta with my pal from China.

Confucism is big there.

I think 90% of the issue we have had with China has been less the CCP and more 5000 years of history that is very different and distinct from Mesopotamian/Egyptian/Greco/Roman

Isolationist policy.

But seriously, though, I am closely following the faint stirrings of pro-democracy groups.

Because Himalayas

It's been kind of sobering so far.

Hong Kong or China proper, Undead?

Anything, but I guess there's been more in HK.

Very different

Ai Wei Wei is interesting for China, though.

That guy is tough as nails.

Telll us about it. The chinese overseas hate the mainlanders

I think they lean more towards the group, but it's probably a bit more nuanced than that

The Taiwanese are pretty different, as is HK

I don't understand all the political intricacies.

I think they also had a period of being a bunch of smaller provinces that got conquered by one

Just the general dynamics.

So kind of like if Charlemagne had succeeded

Chinas been reunified many times

I'm fascinated to see how the Chinese are managing what no one else did, a conversion from Communism to Fascism without missing a beat. Deng Xiaoping deserves immense credit for that.

And broken up

You just needed to be really authoritarian. Thats it really

I'm not sure if the lifetime appointment alone makes the difference between communism and fascism.