I have work friends in Beijing. I don’t get much chance to talk to them about life outside the box....
Ahhh... It’s really not as controlled and restricted as people tend to believe. In fact, the income tax even is pretty much truly voluntary because China has no way of really enforcing compliance, or auditing.
No socialized medicine, no social security, no unemployment, no free/subsidized housing, no free/subsidized food, and on and on. In many aspects, China is a lot more libertarian/capitalist than the US, and that is a sad thing.