[rippercushions]

It's not a "free" region, just a remote, poor province where the central government is less relevant. As the Chinese say, 山高皇帝远: the mountains are high and the emperor is far away.

If there was a genuine insurgency, as in Xinjiang and Tibet, the central government does get involved and stomps down hard.

[seanmcdirmid]

I heard it as 天高皇帝远. Just change mountain 山 for sky 天 (and probably meaning heaven where the gods live).

[abudabi123]

  天 (and probably meaning heaven where the gods live).

A grounding would be to visit Mount Tai and see the clouds beneath you when the weather conditions are just right. You have the same picture looking out the window of a Boeing 737max8. Anyway the ruler and ruling elites used to perform ceremonies on Mount Tai, poeticly gods living in heaven.

天 looks a bit like the picture postcards of Mount Fuji from various angles.

[dmitriid]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35029186