Comment by yieldcrv

Multiple things at play here

For candid Chinese dissidence there are a couple of tolerated zones on wechat, like an American Embassy’s wechat page. Its not protected, people just use it that way sometimes. And you just have to learn some of the slang.

There are in person clashes sometimes. The municipal level isn’t as quick to seem every little action as an affront to the territorial unity of China, which is against the Chinese constitution.

The social safety nets are very expansive and work decent for the population. Housing, healthcare, busy work for income.