INSKEEP: So Americans look at China and see a lack of political freedom. So freedom and the ability to be free has changed a lot just in my lifetime. They can't send their kids to where they want to go. And that is an understatement because my parents' generation, they can't buy whatever they want to buy. But I think, in many ways, Chinese people are still free to pursue what kind of lives that they want to live. You have to worry about if people are looking at what you post online, people are listening into what you're talking about. Yes, in the sense that you might not be able to speak out of your own heart a lot of times. INSKEEP: Americans would like to think they have a freer society. And you see that all in this one megacity. So at least to start with, the wealth gap is huge. In this city of Beijing, I would see people line up in big bus stations trying to get on a bus that will take them about two hours to get to their homes alongside Lamborghinis and Ferraris and Bentleys. China is not all very poor, but China is not very rich either. JONATHAN: I just think there's a lot more flavor, a lot more layers when you look deeper into China. But you're saying it's not going as deep as it might seem in society. INSKEEP: You can see why Americans would see China as one giant blob, though, because it is a one-party state, and there's a lot of central planning and everything else. JONATHAN: The biggest misconception, I think, is China is this one big blob that does everything together, which is absolutely not true. INSKEEP: What is one misconception about China that your American friend had? Some of them need a little bit of context. JONATHAN: And some of them need a little bit of explanation. JONATHAN: So one funny relationship that I've created - one of my best friends till today, we started having coffee to talk about the things that she's read on The Economist about China and whether those things are true. INSKEEP: How were you received by other students at George Washington? JONATHAN: Because it's almost never like that in China because the pollution. INSKEEP: Because it's not always that way. And I was just looking at the sky and thinking - wow, the sky is blue. INSKEEP: Do you remember your first impressions? JONATHAN: So I went abroad to the United States to Washington, D.C., where I spent three years. And probably, this means they will not give me money for my wedding, which I hope will be fine. So this is an investment that parents put into me. They were the one who brought this idea to me, given that I studied English language and literature in my undergraduate degree. JONATHAN: Funny enough, it started from my parents. INSKEEP: Where did you get the idea to go to the United States? I think so - because it is commonly expected for sons to actually travel far, to actually see what's going on outside of the family and to learn and know more. INSKEEP: And you grew up and thought you'd go out and see a little bit of the world, I guess? JONATHAN: I'm from a small city of 8 million people in southern China called Hangzhou. He works in Beijing for a Western financial research firm. And he asked that we not use his full name so that he could speak freely. So when we met another sea turtle here in Beijing, he was a little reluctant to speak out. She praised American free speech, which caused her to be attacked on Chinese social media as a traitor or a tool of the U.S. In May, a sea turtle gave the commencement address at the University of Maryland. They emerge from that experience with distinctive views, sometimes dangerous views. In recent years, China has sent 300,000 students per year across the Pacific to the U.S. That's China's nickname for young people who go abroad and return. Let's hear a comparison between the United States and China from a person who knows both.
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