> Chinese speak very freely about all topics in private and with people they know.

It sounds like that's not always the case:

https://www.inkstonenews.com/politics/tiananmen-crackdown-aw...

> Mark was intrigued by the seemingly unlikely scene, in which his now civil servant father chanted slogans against the government. But before he could probe him for more information, his mother had called an end to the discussion: “Stop talking about this.”

> ....Anecdotes of talented people punished for taking part in the protests are part of the Tiananmen story that witnesses have been passing on. The underlying message is: stay away or you will end up like that.

My dad was a student in Beijing at the time and was going to join in because that was the cool thing to do for students at the time, however he was stopped at a bridge by soldiers and didn't participate. He is pretty chill about the whole thing and says that if he did end up participating, he probably wouldn't be alive or his career would be ruined.

Perhaps that’s the norm, though my coworker commented a few minutes ago about how she has asked her parents questions about politically-related issues or events in private and they still are evasive about answering.

Her experiences may be uncommon and is only a single data point.

>though my coworker commented a few minutes ago about how she has asked her parents questions about politically-related issues or events in private and they still are evasive about answering.

Some people are more skirmish than others. In every country, there are people who won't discuss politics, for fear of "getting in trouble", even more so in a place like China.

But that doesn't mean the average citizen wont discuss them with friends/family/etc.

Agreed, which is why I attempted to make the original statement grey and not black/ white. Skittishness around discussing items is a form of self-censorship.

You might consider this akin to parents being uncomfortable discussing certain topics with their children - much like many parents feel uncomfortable discussing topics about sex and sexual practices here in North America. It's not necessarily that it's forbidden, it's just that many people have been made to feel awkward and uncomfortable discussing sex. I imagine the same mechanism of guilt is at play all over the world for various topics.

Or maybe they just remember the Cultural Revolution where children were encouraged to inform on their parents.

Or just an effort to protect their children.

Also, there are forums in which the Chinese do freely discuss these topics, obviously with to some degree of discretion. But yes, they generally stick to speaking about sensitive topics to verbal conversation since there's significantly less 'keyboard warriors' over there - especially ones with any strong political lean.

> since there's significantly less 'keyboard warriors' over there - especially ones with any strong political lean.

Really? I was under the impression that had quite a few, and even thousands that are paid by the government to post: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party.

> there's significantly less 'keyboard warriors' over there

HN is not blocked in China. Interesting. What is the sentiment when access to a popular website is removed? Does everyone just VPN, or forget about it?

Speaking "freely in private" is an oxymoron.