The Chinese taxi driver who dares to speak up
A day towards the end of July, I was on my way from Xining in Central China to the airport to fly back to Hong Kong. The taxi driver who looked around 50-60 years old asked me about the situation in Hong Kong.
He said he saw from the news that the youngsters in Hong Kong are very violent. I told him he was only looking at filtered news, and he did not get to see the side of police-gang collusion.
He said it’s the same case in mainland China. He supports people striving for freedom as it’s a human nature, yet the restrictions in China are getting tighter and tighter - everything gets checked and censored.
He also said, “The CCP is an untrustworthy arsehole”. However, he also sees the government have been trying to improve people’s quality of life.
“If there’s a better political party, isn’t it better to overthrow the CCP?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said, “but it’s not for our generation, or even the next to see. If the CCP falls, it will inevitably get into civil strife and people will suffer. The CCP now is trying to improve people’s quality of life and to make sure everyone gets food, so no one will stand up against them.” However, the driver also understands that humans are constantly pursuing a better life, so after they are well fed, they will pursue more.
Then we talked about Xinjiang (where the Uyghur people reside in mainland China).
He considers the education camp in Xinjiang as a brainwashing education. "But it is undeniable that many Xinjiang people’s living quality has been improved because they participated in the education camp." He also said that the government hopes to turn Xinjiang into the next Tibet - basically meaning many Tibetans have no anti-CCP mentality now. They have all assimilated.
I’ve never thought a driver from mainland China, an ordinary citizen, would have such an in-depth view of what’s happening in society. He was very bold to talk about this, which surprised me. His thoughts and mentality are far more thorough than some Hong Kong people and high-ranking government officials. Or perhaps everyone knows, but they kneel before power and fortune, thus refuse to speak up.
In my opinion, the anti-extradition bill was only a trigger point of this movement. It detonated all other long-standing social problems at once.
If these problems are only due to different political views or people's livelihood issues, it is difficult to reach an unmanageable level. So far, the driving force of the whole campaign has been increasing, as we have been witnessing police brutality and high-ranking government officials distorting facts with no conscience.
Hong Kong people are actually very simple and are afraid of getting into trouble. But when their bottom line of morality is breached, there is no room for compromise.
Before I got off the taxi, the driver said normally people would not talk to him about these topics.
He said I dared to speak up, but I thought he was the truly ballsy one.
Graphic: Orange Peel
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