expect a set of 3 articles about China situation and a prediction following

[ArticMine]

Consider the evolution of P2P file sharing for music that got the government all up in a tizzy trying to regulate it and protect the corporate music industry. ...

The same evolution happened exactly with the movie industry and television networks ...

Same exact evolution happened with the publishing industry when people opted for the freedom ...

The entire entertainment industry has been co opted by the will of the people refusing to accept the rules ...

The same thing is happening with marijuana...

Freedom is the only option and people do choose it and they do thrive.

Before any of these happened, as long as I can remember (> 12 years), http://mp3.baidu.com has been offering amazing repertoire of music to download from Woody Guthrie to Bartok (you must come from an IP address of China to download these illegal copies, and I drunk this well like crazy), and every other rule of entertainment industry you mentioned has been broken in Chian from the start - so is software copyright, e.g. few pays Microsoft Tax here.

But I don't see this freedom bring any influnce on the free thinking to China. I also cannot ascribe the entertainment and software industry development to this freedom. Indeed observing from China, this 'freedom' is slowly reducing thanks to stronger and richer Chinese entertainment industry. So, observing from this end of the earth, it is difficult to convince a Chinese that the world trend is the one you describe, and there is still no proof freedom brining productivity if you look from here. we observed reverse trends, that merger and takeover are mainstream in china internet sector.

Personally I know the event and 'development' you described and observed, but my fellow countrymen doesn't, thus they joined Bitcoin game for a very different reason than yours. I wrote another article to address the reason Chinese joined Bitcoin since late 2013, still it is in the editing workflow.

You also said freedom bring indie developers with new technology. We have every new Internet technology the West have, with our state controled imitation, many have more users than the original. So lack of innovation does not make life harder. If you link freedom to innovation, you will find a funny fact, that we decided to outsource this freedom to the West and see what they produce, and copy it. So without adding more freedom here, we enjoy the fruit none the less. Mindboggingly: If freedome can be outsourced, there is no reason why we must produce it ourselves.

There is a historical parallel when it come to intellectual property between China and the United States in the late 20th and 21st centuries and between the United States and Great Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries. Industrial designs were actually smuggled aboard sailing ships for shipment from Great Britain to the United States.  What many do not realize is that China is copying from the United States now much in the same fashion as the United States was copying from Great Britain back then. The United States did not ratify the Berne Convention on copyright until 1989 over 100 years after it was effective in 1887. The Untied States' aggressive stance on Intellectual property is actually rather recent, largely driven by the fact that most manufacturing has left the United States. If a significant amount of manufacturing starts to leave China I would expect China to start taking a much tougher stance on intellectual property also.

[Pepin]

Milton Friedman suggested "a society allowing free market will eventually evolve into a free society thanks to its influnce on people's willingness to choose; free market is incompatible with regime of centralism in the long term". What Chinese calls Socialism with chinese characteristics worked well enough and long enough to disapprove Milton.

China does not have a free market. A free market is a whole lot more than individuals being able to choose between McDonald's and KFC or Huawei and Xiaomi. There are some free market elements at play, but China has a mixed planned economy. The People's Republic of China has very low productivity and very large amounts of economic waste. I'm not sure how having a GDP per capita roughly equal to Iraq or Angola proves anything other than that China is a poor developing country. A developed economy requires market liberalizations that would end the current form of government. So far, economic growth in China has been relatively easy. But moving forward, it is always going to get a lot harder for each 1 yuan increase in GDP per capita. The CPC's "social harmony" and "Confucian values" excuses can only go so far when the economy stagnates because the party is unwilling to relinquish its control over the economy and society as a whole.

In china people compare China to India and conclude democracy not a condition for high productivity.

Well the people who say that are puppets of the party, gullible idiots, or both. That doesn't make any logical sense. Show me one high productivity country ruled by despotism

[serenitys]

And again, freedom is first a state of mind before it's a state of the flesh.

The cold, harsh truth is that nobody is stopping anyone - not even in communist/totalitarian style rulership nations - from being free but you. I understand the brainwashing and conditioning but when you are capable of looking around and seeing other people choosing freedom and refusing to live in servitude to anyone else and you make excuses for it and shrink back down instead of rising up for your own best interests, the problem lies with you. Most people won't do anything - even here for that matter - because they're terrified their government enforcers will just kill them. So they settle down and comply.

That is the mark of a slave.

And an accomplice.

There's a saying here in the USA, I think it initiated from Oprah or someone along those lines about domestic violence and abused women that goes, "The first time, she's a victim. Every time after that, she's an accomplice." Because she makes a choice to stick around and cling to her bad beliefs and conditioning, and indulge her fears of radical change.

I'd never allow myself to become a servant of anyone else...and I'll surely, gladly die preventing it - taking out the arrogant psychos with me, guaranteed.

But that's me. Clearly, the people of China (and elsewhere) haven't managed to join us in the 21st century paradigm of freedom the way they have with certain technology. Nothing worse than a bronze aged paradigm in a $5000 suit.

[zhangweiwu]

There's a saying here in the USA, I think it initiated from Oprah or someone along those lines about domestic violence and abused women that goes, "The first time, she's a victim. Every time after that, she's an accomplice." Because she makes a choice to stick around and cling to her bad beliefs and conditioning, and indulge her fears of radical change.

The principle is correct (indulge fear) but the extent is different.

Put aside moral choices, in the case of an abused wife, the advantage of breaking away for freedom outweights the risk of looking for another husband, and freedom is a rational choice. If the man, instead of beating the wife as he wish, decides to beat his wife only when she is disloyal to him, she got less incentive to fight for freedom, at least before she fall in love with another.

Chinese living in mainland China enjoys a considerable degree of freedom, in many aspects more than the west. In general you enjoy the seemingly free life, but you know if you touch the lord's 'red line' you are in trouble. The Chinese can't identify themselves with the people in  1984 or "The brave new world", thanks to the current freedom they enjoy, hence these books are not forbidden.

It seems to every individual that the effort to break free brings in China offer little advantage. One cannot be sure freedom is a necessity or just a hobby.

[r0ach]

I came very close to making a "Tankmancoin".

[bitcoinsrus]

I came very close to making a "Tankmancoin".

what stopped you

[TrueAccess]

China holds only 7% of total bitcoin volume. They are important but not that important.

One of those is interesting but I couldn't read it all trough.

[Pepin]

Chinese living in mainland China enjoys a considerable degree of freedom, in many aspects more than the west. In general you enjoy the seemingly free life, but you know if you touch the lord's 'red line' you are in trouble. The Chinese can't identify themselves with the people in  1984 or "The brave new world", thanks to the current freedom they enjoy, hence these books are not forbidden.

It seems to every individual that the effort to break free brings in China offer little advantage. One cannot be sure freedom is a necessity or just a hobby.

Could you be more specific? More freedom to do what, exactly?

[r34tr783tr78]

Members can't rely information on market share on cryptocoincharts because it doesn't include Huobi. The share of chineses markets is currently around 68%: http://www.bitcoinity.org/markets/list?currency=ALL&span=24h
Huobi still decides the price of bitcoin, western exchanges just follow it.

[zhangweiwu]

Chinese living in mainland China enjoys a considerable degree of freedom, in many aspects more than the west. In general you enjoy the seemingly free life, but you know if you touch the lord's 'red line' you are in trouble. The Chinese can't identify themselves with the people in  1984 or "The brave new world", thanks to the current freedom they enjoy, hence these books are not forbidden.

It seems to every individual that the effort to break free brings in China offer little advantage. One cannot be sure freedom is a necessity or just a hobby.

Could you be more specific? More freedom to do what, exactly?

The "More" part is the Freedom of doing everything without much regard to law. (A true librarian wouldn't call it a freedom.) The red line is not to touch Lord's regime and not to get negative media attention. Media is growing power these days.

It's easier to explain by quoting.   Gavin Elster in the movie "Vertigo":

"The things that spell San Francisco to me are disappearing fast. . . . I should have liked to live here then. Color, excitement, power, freedom. . . ."

The "More" part of Chinese freedom is the kind of freedom mentioned there. It's a time of heros, scoundrels and barons. People can be wealthy and as powerful as not to touch or damage Lord's regime, the state is not in their way. Unlike the western view, this game, despite being relentless merciless, is not even unfair, because everyone can be a baron and do have a chance. 90% of the wealthest started empty handed: Quote http://thinkingchinese.com/index.php?page_id=284

This time, the threshold for entering the rich and powerful list is wealth of 1 billion RMB, and altogether there are 56 up-and-coming rich and powerful on the list, who are all younger than 40. Among them, 11 own a wealth value that exceeds $1 billion, 44 who have started from scratch and 12 who have inherited wealth.

People can dream. Society structure in regarding to wealth is fluid. You can be what you want, if what you want is wealth (the only true want). The path to wealthy is open.

Small examples: Special businesses doesn't require special registration and regulation. There is a man who buildt his small mound on top of apartment buildings (he enjoys the view of mountain) and stopped at media pressure but not law pressure. Police dooesn't want to bother you or can be bribed, but unlike western imagination, the more usual case is "they don't want to bother you", not that "they can be bribed". Postive examples I mentioned above. I also have many provoking examples: you can drink on the street, eat in subway, block airport access in rage of delayed plane without worrying police taking you.

I keep referring the central government as the lord because:

If you are rich and powerful, the Lord can still take you down, doom your reputation and confesticate your business in an overnight, but you know the Lord won't do it without a good reason. The central is so efficient, that you better think it as a unified person with integrity, that he doesn't retaliate without reason and purpose, and he doesn't act on too small offenses or lack of briibe, he knows if you are loyal by the look, and he acts relentlessly - you can even love him for his integrity.

[Torque]

I keep referring the central government as the lord because:

If you are rich and powerful, the Lord can still take you down, doom your reputation and confesticate your business in an overnight, but you know the Lord won't do it without a good reason. The central is so efficient, that you better think it as a unified person with integrity, that he doesn't retaliate without reason and purpose, and he doesn't act on too small offenses or lack of briibe, he knows if you are loyal by the look, and he acts relentlessly - you can even love him for his integrity.

Yep, what you keep describing is soooo much better than what we have in the West.  So much better to be filthy rich and powerful but still live in a cage and live in fear, than the system we have.

In fact, the Nazi leaders and military commanders were also rich and powerful, but lived under a state of control and fear.  And we have all seen how that turned out...

/s

[Pepin]

Ah Mr. Zhang, that kind of freedom. I know what you mean, but I'm not so sure that letting your business hurt customers, pollute a lot, beat up workers, and/or squeeze out competitors can really be considered "freedoms" when they are only freedoms for a few people and hindering the freedoms of a lot more people.

And for other things likes drugs, prostitution, gambling, ignoring traffic laws, counterfeit goods, etc., sometimes people do get into big trouble, randomly taken down, and/or are made an example of, all on the whim of party officials.