I lived five years in China, first in the 70s then the 90s. I was a diplomat, so I didn’t have the intrusion that he had. But still I knew that they had a file on me and were keeping a close eye. It’s even more of a surveillance state today. China are the experts at it, on face recognition, on AI, on social credit scores….
I agree with Winston: something I’ve often said about China — lovely Chinese people; horrid CCP. In the end it was the system that did it for him. He and his wife left China.
I think China got worse exactly since Xi Jinping. Have a look at the Pew poll below. Xi took power in 2011. Negatives to China skyrocketed 2012 on.
I have friends still living and working in China. They say things have become tighter, more of a hassle. More visits by the cops and Neighbourhood Committee.
Commonplace racism in China: 
The sign actually says “Indian people prohibited from entering”. This would NOT be allowed in Hong Kong. Where we have strong anti-racism, anti-discrimination laws, and they are enforced. All here because of the horrid British colonialists. You know, the ones that insisted — insisted — on installing parliamentary democracies and the rule of law around the place. Goddam those colonialists.
