Do people in China have more freedom than in the USA?

A man in China is fighting attempts to evict him from his home by firing fireworks at property developers who are trying to claim his land by eminent domain.

If this were to happen in America, the homeowner would be labeled a "terrorist" and be taken out by SWAT teams. In China, the police protected the homeowner from the developers after he ran out of ammunition to fight them off.

Chinese Man Fights Eminent Domain With Fireworks

In 2005 the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of Kelo v. City of New London, ruled that governments in the United States have the right to steal their citizens’ property and transfer it to private developers as long as it serves a “public purpose,” namely bringing in more tax revenue. Thus, according to the court, the city of New London, Connecticut, was within its rights to evict Susette Kelo and others from their property in order to hand the property over to Pfizer for development — development that, in fact, never materialized.

In 2010 China, one man is not taking a similar situation lying down. Yang Youde, reports Reuters, “has declared war on property developers who want his land, building a cannon out of a wheelbarrow and pipes and firing rockets at would-be eviction teams.” Yang “says he has fended off two eviction attempts with his improvised weapon, which uses ammunition made from locally sold fireworks,” the report continues. Yang also says he has been careful not to hurt anyone, firing the shots over the heads of the erstwhile thieves.

Who outside of the government and the greedy developers could argue with Yang that his property is his property and no one has the right to take it from him by force? “Yang says the local government has offered him 130,000 yuan ($19,030) for his fields, on which they want to erect ‘department buildings,’ ” according to Reuters. “He is asking for five times that amount,” as is his right as the property owner. It is also his right to refuse any offer and to stay put, defending his property with deadly force if necessary.

Whereas in New London the police were prepared to evict Kelo if she refused to move, when Yang was attacked by an eviction team in February after he ran out of rockets, Reuters reports that “local police came to his rescue” and apparently allowed him to remain on his land, which he successfully defended against 100 people in May. Yes, in Communist China the local cops are on the side of average people, while in supposedly free America they side with the government, probably seeking their share of the increased tax booty from the promised new development.

Read more: The New American

We always think of China as a repressive communist government that tramples on the rights of it's people. If this guy has more rights to protect his property in communist China than "We the People" here in the US of A have, what does that say about our government?



[edit on 6/9/10 by FortAnthem]

I suggest you move to China for about a year or so....then get back wih us.

While you are there, try the internet. Go out and go to a church. Try publishing a leaflet on the shortcomings of the PRN government. I know...burn a Chinese flag.

Sure, I'm sure the Chinese are far more liberal in their freedoms.

Originally posted by AlreadyGone
I suggest you move to China for about a year or so....then get back wih us.

While you are there, try the internet. Go out and go to a church. Try publishing a leaflet on the shortcomings of the PRN government. I know...burn a Chinese flag.

Sure, I'm sure the Chinese are far more liberal in their freedoms.

You're right, China is anything but the worker's paradise their rulers would have us believe it is.

It's still a sad commentary to think that over there, in one of the most oppressive countries in the world, a homeowner has the right to defend his property from developers using eminent domain to steal it away from him but, here in the US, the Supreme Court sided with the developers.

Could you even imagine American police coming to the rescue of an American homeowner in a similar situation? The thought would probably never even cross their minds.



[edit on 6/9/10 by FortAnthem]

The political freedoms in China are scarce, and you can end up having your organs harvesting for reading your Bible and going to an unapproved church. However they have considerable more economic freedom than in the US>

The tax structure in the US and the barriers to starting a business are monumental, especially in the states ruined by out of control liberalism. You will pay fewer taxes in China and the state is generally smaller in size by proportion there.

In fact you will find far fewer police per citizen in China than in the US. I was amazed at how scarce the police were in Shanghei. You could probably get away with quite a bit before you got caught.

No, not yet anyway.

Americans are still not to the point that they would give up all their freedom. But it's getting there. If we don't fight it.

Not long ago in Australia the Chinese Government managed to organise thousands of its citizens(supposedly now loyal Ausssies to protest in accordance with its wishes) I forget the reason, but it sent shudders through many Aussies, and these so called fleers from Chinese communism , who number millions in the western world, how many of these people would fight for mother china?
Maos tze Tung how many sleepers does he have in the west?
China and freedom? we will perhaps find out soon.
The point is freedom to the chinese is about making money perhaps not about ideaology, and that may go for the Chinese expats,who essentially are chinese thru and thru?

Originally posted by AlreadyGone
I suggest you move to China for about a year or so....then get back wih us.

While you are there, try the internet. Go out and go to a church. Try publishing a leaflet on the shortcomings of the PRN government. I know...burn a Chinese flag.

Sure, I'm sure the Chinese are far more liberal in their freedoms.

How long ago was you in China?

I am in China at the moment.

Internet is censored a little.. I cant access my Facebook account. I can access ATS obvioulsy and porn sites are widely available. So probably censored just as much as many countries.

Not tried burning a flag etc.... would never feel the need to do that anyway.... I especially wouldn't try it in USA!

Yep not too many police around, quite a lot of CCTV cameras... as there are in the UK. I feel a lot safer walking the streets here than I would back in UK!

Full of westerners and expats, every nationality you can think of same goes for the restaurants etc.

Just like being in any other country I have visited... and that is quite a lot.

Have to say I am considering moving here long term.

I have travelled to China 4 different times, most recently was in 2005..

People treat each other quite well.. In a family setting the people are very happy usually, and the crime rate is far lower than in the USA.
This is talking just about civilian life at home.....but politically, people can not speak out against anyone in government no matter what the government does... If you do that they will come for you and they can punish people severely..
Like if you were a citizen there and wore a T-shirt that says: "The Chinese government are baby killing Bastards!
You would be detained and may be be beaten or tortured... but most of the time you would be sat down and they would chastize you verbally and threaten you with the punishing of your family members and yourself...
If you ignore anything political and keep your mouth shut, then no one will ever bother you...(but not always)
There is also a very low tolerance for Religious freedom.

Some people have had Christian churches there and never been bothered too much, but other people have started to build a church and the government entities would allow them to almost finish construction, then come there on the property with batons and bulldozers and destroy the almost completed building and then beat the dog crap out of all the people there including old people...

In other ways they are more freedoms, like for instance medicines at any pharmacy do not need any prescription whatsoever..
if you needed heart medication or any other potentially deadly medicine, you would not need a prescription...They seem to respect that people can actually think for themselves unlike western countries where they use prohibitive drug laws to exercize a form of control on people..
There are NO private pilots in China
There practically no pleasure boats there
No one goes water skiing on lakes there, or very rarely.
No one is allowed any firearm of any type.
People still commit crimes, but not anything even close to what you find happening in a city like Seattle, or Los Angeles..
The police there don't usually carry weapons except when they plan on using force against someone like waco or ruby ridge types of things

Girls can go for a walk in big cities like Shanghai at 3:AM and not even worry about any bad thing happening..

Being there gives a person the feeling that despite all those things, people can still seek and find happiness by promoting their family life there and they do that very well..

It appears to me that some posters may have not really gotten the point of your OP. They are focusing on it for the WRONG reasons. It is sick the things they seem to justify in court these days. THanks for bringing this to my attention. S&F!

i remember a quote from a lead singer in a chinese band when asked about the life over there ,

"its the same capitalism over there , difference is that we only have one political party"

Sure, the Chinese are free...to paint their cars as they see fit.

Snapped a photo of this sweet ride in Beijing just the other day. I thought this thread would be as good as any in which to post it.

I just wanted to thank everyone who had actually been to China and helped describe for me what life is really like there and how much freedom the people have in that country.

It's pretty interesting that the government pretty much leaves them alone so long as they don't criticize the government or get religion.

They may be more free than we here in the US are in many ways but, I'm not sure if I could live with the trade-offs.

[edit on 6/10/10 by FortAnthem]