[papersmith]

I was reading a popular Chinese forum (tianya.cn) thread on contaminated food, and I was surprised at how anti-government the tone was. (think reddit, but more extreme) There were jokes taking direct jabs at the party and state, and I was amazed that they didn't get taken down.

I think Chinese tend to avoid talking shit about their country in front of foreigners to "save face". It seems to be part of the culture.