China is Not What You Think

If you think China is living in the future, guess again. Welcome to China Uncensored, I'm Chris Chappell. Be sure to leave a honeypot emoji in the comments below for the algorithm, and check back every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday for new episodes, because YouTube probably won't notify you. So if you spend any amount of time on the internet, you've gotten the message that China is the future. A high-tech society with glittery skyscrapers and futuristic high-speed rails. An orderly society with no crime. And absolutely no genocide in Xinjiang. Nope, not at all. There's a reason you're seeing this stuff. China literally has a fake network of bots pushing pro-China propaganda. The most futuristic thing about China is that it has robots lying about how futuristic it is. It creates a narrative, a fake vision of China that's hard to counter because the real China is cut off from the rest of the world by the Great Firewall of China. But that is no longer the case. India is devastating China with a secret weapon. Just show what China actually looks like. Like vampires and the Irish, nothing destroys them faster than exposing them to sunlight. Indian netizens are penetrating the Great Firewall to show what life is really like in China. And it makes Skid Row look like Napa Valley. You see, India and China have not had the most amicable of relationships. The two countries actually went to war over a border dispute in 1962. And conflict still flares up there. But the tensions between China and India goes well beyond a border dispute. The Chinese Communist Party claims that a country with over a billion people cannot be run in a liberal democratic way. Let me guess, they should instead be run by this guy? He's obviously doing a great job. Except India has over a billion people, and it's a liberal democracy. And because of its size and freedom, India could one day replace China as the world's manufacturer. India is a huge threat to the CCP's iron rule. And so China has turned its bot army on India to portray it as poverty stricken, dirty, disgusting. China could actually be a utopia if they spent half as much time on infrastructure as they did raising a troll robot army. But Indians have had enough, and decided to break through the firewall to show what China is really like. And it turns out every accusation is a confession. India is so dirty. Oh wait, it's China? Yes, it turns out when you get past the propaganda videos of glittery skylines, China too is rife with poverty and trash. Indian commentators are sharing videos of extreme poverty and social strife in China. And a pretty big garbage problem that makes New York City look like Napa Valley. They also point out that China has one of the largest wealth gaps in the world, with many people forced to live on the streets. Or in incredibly cramped quarters. The videos they're finding are insane. If only the CCP could be tossed out as easily as the rest of the trash in China. And they're taking aim at some of China's biggest propaganda talking points, like the quality of China's rails. High speed rail? More like high speed fail? I'd call it a train wreck, but that's too on the nose. There's also video of some interesting culinary choices. I won't show you the picture of a guy eating a literal baby. That's the kind of psychic damage I take making this show that I'll spare you from. Apparently he read a modest proposal and saw it less as satire and more as a recipe. They're also getting AI in on the job. Someone made a GTA 6 India version, so of course there's a GTA 6 China version. Which we of course got before the actual GTA 6. The use of AI means not all of these videos are real. Some videos are fake, like this one. I've never seen AI Slop be so actually sloppy. And this video isn't actually even of China. But you can see how this kind of tit for tat narrative warfare between China and India is going full force. What you need to understand, though, is that this is more than just a spat between two regional powers throwing shade on each other. The Chinese Communist Party is actively trying to portray itself as the inevitable world superpower, with a system that surpasses any other. Behold China's utopia. Just showing what China really is like is a brilliant strategy we can all use. One of the CCP's favorite talking points is that it has lifted 800 million people out of poverty. Well, conveniently leaving out the fact that they tossed them right back into it like a catch and release fisherman. This line has been so successful it gets repeated verbatim by the World Bank. And even by influential Westerners like the former Deputy Mayor of London. China has lifted 728 million people out of poverty by international standards. I was really deeply moved. You might even hear my voice slightly waver. Yes, my voice also wavers when I'm desperately trying to keep a straight face while lying through my teeth. And as more and more young Americans view socialism, and even communism, more favorably than capitalism, they become susceptible to Chinese propaganda, like my favorite Chinese state-run media, the Global Times, saying that China's socialist model outperforms capitalism. But you want to know how China lifted people out of poverty? They set the threshold for extreme poverty lower at $1.69 a day compared to the World Bank's global threshold of $1.90 a day. Which means all those people living on $1.70 a day, not in extreme poverty, already lifted out of it. Hurrah for the CCP! And that's a lot of people. In 2020, former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang revealed that 600 million people, about 43% of China's population, earn less than $145 a month. So saying that's lifting people out of poverty is like saying you saved someone from drowning by making sure only their scalp was above water. China's youth unemployment is astronomical. So when Indianesans go online and just show you what China looks like, they are knocking down the entire legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party, which is built on a house of cards more precarious than, well, any other building built by China. The only reason I can show you what life under communism is really like is thanks to the support of the China Uncensored 50-Cent Army. Those are the fans who support the show on my exclusive website, ChinaUncensored.tv. Without them, I'd go broke. If I had to live off YouTube ad revenue, I'd only be making $900 a month after paying my staff. So better than a Chinese peasant. But as a thank you, I'll answer one of my 50-Cent Army members' questions. Eric H asks, Nice you have been able to show footage of protests in China. How does it usually get out? That's a great question, Eric. Recently, I made several videos showing protests in Wuhan and Hefei. And today's episode was all about how Indianesans are getting footage out from beyond the Great Firewall. Chinese censors are quick, and they're getting quicker with the use of AI. But there are so many Chinese people with phones and internet access now filming things and uploading them to the Chinese internet. Because no one hates the CCP more than the people who are ruled by the CCP. It's still cut off from the global internet and is doomed to be deleted. But that still takes the censors time. And so a bunch of dedicated people have made it their mission to scour the Chinese internet collecting these videos before they get taken down. Sites like China Digital Times, Whatsonweibo.com, or this account on X called Teacher Li. These are great sources, but still only a fraction makes it out to the other side of the firewall. The CCP is obsessed with its image of a beautiful utopia, and will fight tooth and nail to protect it while hiding the uglier and uglier truth away like a picture of Dorian Gray in an attic of the internet. Which is why I'm glad to have the China Uncensored 50 Cent Army at my back. If you want to join, head over to ChinaUncensored.tv or click this button here. Without your support, I couldn't make China Uncensored. Once again, I'm Chris Chappell. See you next time.