A talk about the state of Personal Freedom in China Today, I had a talk with a countryman on Quera, a famous Q&A site. Our talk is about if Chinese people have personal freedom. Yeah, a common topic about China. We are all native Chinese, but, for some reason, we have great differences, which is no surprise for me. Because I am the guy who always think independently and is different from most Chinese. There is a universal and enormous misunderstanding in their mind: Personal authority is more dependable and resonable than social rules, even the law. But, It doesn't mean that Chinese people absolutely disrespect the social rules. Actually, almost all of us apprently show that social rules is important and necessary, and some of Chinese even try their best to avoid the situation in which they could have to break the rules. However, you will find a truth that it is almost impossible to be a man who never break some rules in this country. Because rules can't furnish guaranteed livelihood, and you will be the target for scorn or hate there. If you want to get your child into a good school, trying bribery is more effective than participating in competition according to the rules. If you want to get a job, guanxi is the golden key to the door. Yes, guanxi means a special relationship between you and certain power-holder, which could bring some temporary or standing personal interests to you. Once you have got this kind of relationship between you and personal authority, you are above the social rules. The more people choose to belive in personal authority, the harder for individual to belive in rules. The rules is open and steady, which make people act predictable and orderly. If a community believe in rules, personal freedom will be appropriate and guaranteed. If a community belive in personal authority, some individuals' freedom could be too much, some individuals' freedom could be too less, all the individuals's freedom could be full of uncertainty, which is equeted with no freedom. How can we consider a nation which respect personal authority ,the great enemy of freedom, as a freedoom nation?