[m0zg]

I feel like China has learned from Perestroika and made a conscious choice not to go down that path, but instead focus on economic freedoms rather than political. To offer some perspective: the 90's were a dark time in Russia. The Soviet Union disintegrated, taking large chunks of deliberately decentralized economy with it, there was hunger, hyperinflation, deficit of basic goods (same shit you're seeing in Venezuela right now), and the poorer, older, less economically nimble part of society was disproportionately impacted.

This was, in large part, because people were given near total freedom (far more of it than you see in the US today) in one fell swoop, and _way_ before they knew what to do with it. Naturally, some people were much better than others at turning this to their advantage, opportunistically injecting themselves into the corridors of power, buying up previously state-owned factories for fractions of a penny on the dollar, swindling the common people out of whatever breadcrumbs the government threw to them during privatization.

This shit was allowed to run unabated for a decade or so, and ended up with Yeltsin hanging up his hat and apologizing on TV, before de-facto installing Putin as his successor. The people behind this were Siloviki: the powerful folks who run or otherwise control Russia's several security services.

In retrospect, given the amount of pain, death, and suffering inflicted on the general public, it could be that shooting a few hotheads early on would be an objectively better option. The country could then proceed to a much more controlled and measured liberalization, with law and order carefully enforced throughout, rather than a decade-long free-for-all (or rather "a few") that ensued in practice.

That's not to say that Tiananmen suppression was justified. I grew up in Russia, so I was a direct observer and participant of the events I describe above, so in the case of Russia I can tell you with a good degree of confidence that if the wild 90's weren't allowed to happen there to the extent that they did, Russia would be far better off.

Stuff like this also can't be judged by reading propaganda, foreign or domestic, so those who haven't been there at that time should refrain from commenting one way or the other. That'd be just regurgitating someone else's talking points: an entirely pointless exercise.

I'd love to hear from someone who lived in China at that time and for whom this is not something they've read about on the Internet.

[partingshots]

Were you still a child/teenager during the 90s while living in Russia? Or were you already an adult and working at that point?

It’s always very interesting to hear from someone who’s directly lived through experience. Thanks for offering your perspective.

[m0zg]

I was a student for most of the 90s (6 year MSc). But I was also working part-time. So I guess a little of both. Still remember it all pretty vividly 20+ years later. Not having any money to buy food for weeks on end especially (subsisted on eggs, potatoes, and pickles). I also remember converting all my ruble denominated savings into dollars on a whim 2 weeks before the 1998 default. That was a major coup for me: before the default USD/RUR was about 6, after - about 21, and most prices were revised upward correspondingly. Imagine losing 2/3rds of your money in the span of a few days for no fault of your own, just because the oligarchs are picking the rotting corpse of your country clean and can't be bothered to pay taxes (some of which would normally go to service the debts).

People still remember all of this. That's why Putin is so popular: he is widely credited (and rightly so) with pulling Russia from the brink of disintegration. I always voted for anyone but Putin, though: can't stand vote rigging, and he rigs every single election, even though he doesn't need to: he'd be elected by quite a margin anyway.