[seanmcdirmid]

I think people overestimate how authoritarian China is. Not in the good sense, but in the central government has limitations in what it can pay attention to (large country, lots of local governments, not a lot of police, etc...). Truth is, China can be a very free place at the same time it is restrictive (easy to break laws and not get caught, hard to hand out fliers in public criticizing the government...at least in Beijing).

[dmitriid]

It's both, really.

Let's say you're a teacher with known dissident tendencies. Boom. Suddenly the only place you can get work is one of these remote regions with lax control. Yes there is less government there, and you can even start a book club or something to read and discuss banned literature, and no one will bother you.

But try and get out because you're tired of rural life... and no place in the "mainland" will acept you. Or will only offer you menial jobs and unskilled labor.

This was a very widely and well-used tactic in the USSR. Can't see why China (or any other authoritatian state) wouldn't do the same. Especially China with their current state of surveillance tech.

[seanmcdirmid]

Your hukou is going to limit where you can get work. So you just can’t move to a remote region and become a teacher there, since it is a government job. But exiling is really rare, it’s much more possible that you are stuck in the backwards rural place where you were born or your parents held hukou.