[BE911SC]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Maybe not more freedoms, but definitely different freedoms. China is not a nanny state and they have no desire to increase their role the every day lives of normal citizens. Anyone can smoke and do so anywhere. Anyone can buy booze and drink it anywhere. Anyone can buy or sell sex. If you slip and fall on the sidewalk, it's your problem, not the shop owner whose shop is on that section of the block. If you don't want to wear a motorcycle helmet, no one else cares. I know these things are totally alien to present-day Americans, but they are nonetheless freedoms. What I like most about China is that they don't preach to the world that they are the greatest country on Earth, though I think most of them feel that way. They don't claim the rest of the world wants to be like them (like the US does). That lack of arrogance is refreshing, IMHO.

Uhh, wow. Now dwell on that answer for a while.