jteng24

How "free and open" does the regular Chinese citizen feel? I remember talking to some older Chinese people who had immigrated to Canada who were still a little worried about being openly critical about the Chinese government. In other words, do regular citizens feel safe in being able to speak openly about government policy and issues or is there still a feeling of paranoia?

Well, I'm also Chinese. My grandparents were KMT members that fled to Taiwan during the revolution and my parents immigrated to the United States for college. Although I'm not completely sure how these immigrants thought of me personally, I don't think they viewed me as just Westerner and didn't feel like their hesitancy was because they felt like they needed to save face. Mainly when I'd ask them what it was like on the Mainland, they always seemed extremely careful when they were being critical of certain things. I noticed it particularly with former party members.