Xi Broke the Social Contract That Helped China Prosper https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/01/opinion/china-covid-protests.html
Sure, TV, the Internet, and films were heavily censored, but you could buy pirated DVDs of nearly any genre on any street corner, and could set up an illegal satellite dish without fear.
(This isn't to say that there weren't plenty of attempts by local authorities to control, but such regulations were usually broken with absolute impunity. The classic example are university rules that students had to be back in their dorms by 9 every night. The standard response? "F**k this!" They would break doors so they couldn't be locked and break windows if they had to. And no one was ever punished for this.)
@John_Scotus I just have to ask, how are you so familiar with the inner workings of China? Have you lived there?
@see_the_sus 14 years. Wrote books about it even.
@John_Scotus Awesome!
Where are you living now?
@see_the_sus Japan.
@John_Scotus Oh well now I know three people living over there. I met a couple of cool fellas over on the bird. One is a professor from England, another is a photographer from Ireland. Both have lived in Tokyo for a long time.
The main goal of the CCP back then was not to control, but to maintain its monopoly on power. So long as its monopoly wasn't threatened, nearly anything could go.
Now that has changed, and everyone is under the government's thumb.