note the order. alphabetically liberty should be the 1st, so i guess the 1st one who said this admitted life is the most important thing, live free or die is just too extreme.

but china now is more or less a middle income nation, survival for most people is not an issue anymore. denying freedom can't be justified anymore. neighbors around all underwent deep political changes, some more successful than the others.

chinese is no special or unique race, freedom is one of the fundamental things in life, even for animals, just check their struggle when captured.

i can proudly say i came abroad mainly for freedom. if still in china, most likely my living standard would be at least similar.

especially looking back at the covid era, i can't imagine how i could survive there for 1 month, let alone 3 years. dr. fauci was shaking his head when asked about wuhan lockdown could be emulated in america 3 yrs ago, basically saying same thing "can't imagine..."

nowadays china us contact is like a childish game, every few months each other only say one thing:

Q: ready to say uncle?

A: in your dreams!

in this new cold war, we will find out how much "special" chinese is, how much bitterness they still can eat. vice versa for america too, just at a different level. 2008 was much like now, geithner used chinese idiom "same boat" that time, and hu/ wen delivered. no such niceties anymore, even obama now said he was too soft on china. kissinger back tracked too, clinton and bush jr mute, only dying carter brave enough to say sth dovish. no more panda huggers!

mercifully it is not a hot war, at least not there yet. i can't imagine, again i have to use this phrase, how much suffering in Ukraine now. day in, day out, still deep in tunnel. at least afghan, syria , yemen now all have ends in sight.

no matter which position one holds, consider the huge parallel with TW, any chinese heritage people can't comment on current world with a light heart