<story><title>WeChat suspends new user registration for security compliance</title><url>https://www.reuters.com/technology/tencents-wechat-suspends-new-user-registration-cites-technical-upgrade-2021-07-27/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>tablespoon</author><text>I think you&amp;#x27;re broadly correct.  With regard to China, a lot of people&amp;#x27;s understanding is driven in large part by wishful thinking, which is a serious weakness and vulnerability.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Sure lots of people disagree with the party, but that doesn&amp;#x27;t that they want a western liberal democracy. So lots of people will speak in favor of a benevolent elite and against populism or what they see as western chaos or oppression. When people are against the government, they aren&amp;#x27;t wishing for a different government system, just less corrupt or more benevolent authoritarians.&lt;p&gt;I think it&amp;#x27;s important to note those views are in large part created an reinforced a deliberate propaganda program.  For instance, I believe one of the ideas the Chinese government pushes is the Chinese people &amp;quot;aren&amp;#x27;t ready&amp;quot; for democracy (while carefully preventing anything that could make them ready).  When educated Chinese people were better exposed to ideas about liberal democracy, they were very clear that they wanted it (e.g. 80s leading up to Tiananmen Square, the Liberal Studies curriculum in Hong Kong), but the government has learned from those episodes and has taken action to get the ideological results it desires.</text></item><item><author>georgeecollins</author><text>&amp;gt;&amp;gt; The problem is that the CCP has nothing to replace this cultural vacuum with.&lt;p&gt;I am no expert, but I disagree and I think this is the kind of thinking that has failed the west for the last thirty years.  I think the idea started with the fall of the Soviet Union.  That culture and ideology was bankrupt.  So a lot of western people thought that when there was a free exchange of ideas with China, the Chinese would eventually reject the CCP.&lt;p&gt;My experience of people in China-- admittedly a long time ago-- was they are generally very patriotic or nationalistic, like Americans.   They appreciate the CCP and what it has accomplished.  They have a strong domestic arts industry making movies, books, games.   Sure lots of people disagree with the party, but that doesn&amp;#x27;t that they want a western liberal democracy.  So lots of people will speak in favor of a benevolent elite and against populism or what they see as western chaos or oppression.  When people are against the government, they aren&amp;#x27;t wishing for a different government system, just less corrupt or more benevolent authoritarians.&lt;p&gt;Anyway, that is the way I am thinking about these days.  But I could be very wrong and I would love to hear from people who are from or spend time in China.</text></item><item><author>vehemenz</author><text>The problem is that the CCP has nothing to replace this cultural vacuum with. They want to legislate a return to &amp;quot;old&amp;quot; (post 1949) values by banning foreign tutors, suppressing dissent on WeChat and Weibo, and doing generally authoritarian shit to encourage nationalism. Meanwhile, young, educated people almost exclusively consume the cultural products of the West, Korea, and Japan. And they find the North Korean style propaganda embarrassing. The disconnect really cannot be understated.</text></item><item><author>mc32</author><text>Naively, it looks like the CCP sees the influence and heft US tech exercises on the US population and world at large.&lt;p&gt;The CCP will forgo economic might (in this sector) for social stability and control every time.  They do not want these titans to have more power or influence than they have so they rein them in and let them know who holds the straps.</text></item><item><author>throwaway4good</author><text>&amp;quot;Shares in Tencent plunged 9.0% in Hong Kong on Tuesday amid widespread market jitters over Chinese regulatory crackdowns on high-growth sectors, including online platforms and, most recently, private tutoring. Hong Kong&amp;#x27;s benchmark Hang Seng Index (.HSI) fell 4.2%.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Fascinating how the Chinese authorities seem to be regulating the these companies with complete disregard on how the stock market might react.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dillondoyle</author><text>+1. When you take what you&amp;#x27;re saying with the parent above you, Xi is also pulling all the state media strings to play up the less-corrupt benevolence thing - using it to consolidate power. Check out this recent good article about their extrajudicial &amp;#x27;repatriations&amp;#x27; which has examples of the bragging in their government controlled media about it (kidnappings).&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s both trying to show less corruption and simultaneously scaring everyone away from dissent. Gross but seems powerful.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.propublica.org&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;operation-fox-hunt-how-china-exports-repression-using-a-network-of-spies-hidden-in-plain-sight&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.propublica.org&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;operation-fox-hunt-how-ch...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>WeChat suspends new user registration for security compliance</title><url>https://www.reuters.com/technology/tencents-wechat-suspends-new-user-registration-cites-technical-upgrade-2021-07-27/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>tablespoon</author><text>I think you&amp;#x27;re broadly correct.  With regard to China, a lot of people&amp;#x27;s understanding is driven in large part by wishful thinking, which is a serious weakness and vulnerability.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Sure lots of people disagree with the party, but that doesn&amp;#x27;t that they want a western liberal democracy. So lots of people will speak in favor of a benevolent elite and against populism or what they see as western chaos or oppression. When people are against the government, they aren&amp;#x27;t wishing for a different government system, just less corrupt or more benevolent authoritarians.&lt;p&gt;I think it&amp;#x27;s important to note those views are in large part created an reinforced a deliberate propaganda program.  For instance, I believe one of the ideas the Chinese government pushes is the Chinese people &amp;quot;aren&amp;#x27;t ready&amp;quot; for democracy (while carefully preventing anything that could make them ready).  When educated Chinese people were better exposed to ideas about liberal democracy, they were very clear that they wanted it (e.g. 80s leading up to Tiananmen Square, the Liberal Studies curriculum in Hong Kong), but the government has learned from those episodes and has taken action to get the ideological results it desires.</text></item><item><author>georgeecollins</author><text>&amp;gt;&amp;gt; The problem is that the CCP has nothing to replace this cultural vacuum with.&lt;p&gt;I am no expert, but I disagree and I think this is the kind of thinking that has failed the west for the last thirty years.  I think the idea started with the fall of the Soviet Union.  That culture and ideology was bankrupt.  So a lot of western people thought that when there was a free exchange of ideas with China, the Chinese would eventually reject the CCP.&lt;p&gt;My experience of people in China-- admittedly a long time ago-- was they are generally very patriotic or nationalistic, like Americans.   They appreciate the CCP and what it has accomplished.  They have a strong domestic arts industry making movies, books, games.   Sure lots of people disagree with the party, but that doesn&amp;#x27;t that they want a western liberal democracy.  So lots of people will speak in favor of a benevolent elite and against populism or what they see as western chaos or oppression.  When people are against the government, they aren&amp;#x27;t wishing for a different government system, just less corrupt or more benevolent authoritarians.&lt;p&gt;Anyway, that is the way I am thinking about these days.  But I could be very wrong and I would love to hear from people who are from or spend time in China.</text></item><item><author>vehemenz</author><text>The problem is that the CCP has nothing to replace this cultural vacuum with. They want to legislate a return to &amp;quot;old&amp;quot; (post 1949) values by banning foreign tutors, suppressing dissent on WeChat and Weibo, and doing generally authoritarian shit to encourage nationalism. Meanwhile, young, educated people almost exclusively consume the cultural products of the West, Korea, and Japan. And they find the North Korean style propaganda embarrassing. The disconnect really cannot be understated.</text></item><item><author>mc32</author><text>Naively, it looks like the CCP sees the influence and heft US tech exercises on the US population and world at large.&lt;p&gt;The CCP will forgo economic might (in this sector) for social stability and control every time.  They do not want these titans to have more power or influence than they have so they rein them in and let them know who holds the straps.</text></item><item><author>throwaway4good</author><text>&amp;quot;Shares in Tencent plunged 9.0% in Hong Kong on Tuesday amid widespread market jitters over Chinese regulatory crackdowns on high-growth sectors, including online platforms and, most recently, private tutoring. Hong Kong&amp;#x27;s benchmark Hang Seng Index (.HSI) fell 4.2%.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Fascinating how the Chinese authorities seem to be regulating the these companies with complete disregard on how the stock market might react.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jjaammee</author><text>That&amp;#x27;s maybe true when young people in China first learned western democracy ideas. Nowadays I think most of educated Chinese believe democracy is not suitable for China. They didn&amp;#x27;t get the whole picture of western world, but who does nowadays. They see signs of culture revolution in western social movements and rejected those wholeheartedly.</text></comment>