[quandrum]

Xi is head of state as president, but not head of government (like King of England).

Li Qiang is head of government as premier and is chief executive of the Chinese government.

If you ask a Chinese citizen what their biggest problem is, many of them would say too much federalism. Individual provinces have more individual authority than even US States and most controversial policies (1 child, social credit, lockdowns) you hear about are provincial and not federal policies.

[muglug]

> If you ask a Chinese citizen what their biggest problem is, many of them would say too much federalism.

Presumably that’s because protesting against the central government endangers not just your own livelihood but also the livelihoods of your relatives. Much safer to criticise the region next door.

[janalsncm]

This logic doesn’t pass the smell test. It’s not any less illegal to protest your regional government than the central Chinese government.

[roywiggins]

There was (is?) a whole thing where local governments would kidnap people trying to petition the central government to crack down on some local government wrongdoing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/08/world/asia/chinese-petiti...

[krainboltgreene]

It's weird to read pieces like this from the NY Times when I watched it happen in Portland and the same media basically brushed it off.

[muglug]

Yeah, but it's easier to complain about a different region's government.

[whitemary]

> Presumably

I for one appreciate the self-awareness

[EntrePrescott]

> Xi is head of state as president, but not head of government (like King of England).

Uhm: the king of England (which incidentally happens to be king of quite a number of other territories that have yet to fully emancipate themselves from monarchy) is NOT the head of government in any of the the territories he is king of, but merely the head of state… which in constitutional monarchies is a rather formal show pomp role with very little political power. Conversely, the head of government in the UK with actual executive power is the Prime Minister, not the king.

[umanwizard]

That’s exactly what they said.

[hsjqllzlfkf]

> If you ask a Chinese citizen what their biggest problem is, many of them would say too much federalism

That's also what Xi would say.