Maybe the west needs to rethink the meaning of freedom for the Chinese.

With the recent and rapid growth of China, it’s quickly become the center of attention of the world. Everyone’s got their eye on China, and everyone’s waiting for them to screw up. We see it in the news all the time. China’s ruining the environment, China’s cheating in the Olympics, China’s not playing by the rules. I’ll admit, as an American living in china, there’s a lot about the Chinese government, society, and people’s attitudes that just burns my cookie. I’ve got to see it and deal with it every day. But what’s right for us isn’t necessarily right for them. Haven’t you ever heard of, “One man man’s poison is another man’s pleasure.”?

This clever saying seems easy enough to understand, but living it is a different story. In this particular case I’m talking about internet censorship in China. To the west, and especially Americans, freedom is like food and water – essential to life. Is life worth living if you can’t choose how to live it? How could someone else tell me what to like or not like, what I can and can’t do, or what I should or shouldn’t know. These are all my choices, and having choices comes with being born.

But China is different. For 5000 years leaders have been telling the people what to do. From the time when small tribes roamed the land, into years of feudal society and eventually unification under a single emperor, it’s always been leaders making the decisions. The cultural revolution of the 1950’s with Mao Zi Dong and even today under the leadership of Hu Jin Tao people just accept that what the big man says goes. They’ve got a saying about the bad horse messing things up for the rest of the group, a saying akin to “One bad apple ruins the bunch.” China as a country is still developing, and unstable in many places, so the more stability they create, the more prosperous they will become in the future. The fewer bad apples (or horses) starting riots and looking up pornography, the better it will be for everyone.

It’s not to say that things can’t or shouldn’t change, but it’s interesting to note that most Chinese people just don’t care. The vast majority of people are concerned with their family, friends and what’s for dinner tonight. For most people, the riots in Xinjiang were just something that happened in a far away place. They didn’t go home that night and think to themselves, “I really wish I could tweet this!” They could care less who’s being poked on Facebook, they’ve got QQ.

At worst, they know there are sites they can’t access, and they accept it as good for the whole of society. Maybe they have a point. China is a developing country. It’s in a time when social stability is necessary to protect the future of the country. What they don’t need is a bunch of western hippies swinging their dreads around with free Tibet shirts on YouTube talking about things they really don’t understand. Freedom? What is freedom? What about the freedom of a secure future? And freedom of a prosperous country? What about the freedom from people who know nothing about your culture telling you how to live?