I think there is a big difference between missionaries (I have met some fruitcakes) coaching teenagers going through that age when they seek a sense of belonging, and 20 somethings who have formed their own opinions.

University students here can be 18 and even slightly younger and many respects show little evidence of having formed many of their own opinions.

What video?

I think she should of used a straw with that large serving of American ass she just sucked up!

Maybe Kunming's air isn't the greatest in the world but it's hardly at the level she's made it out to be. You get some kind of apocalypse feeling of here with the speech. Barely even notice the difference going between London and Kunming myself!

Someone could make a speeh about "traditional Chinese values", praising confucianism, taoism and buddhism, say, as "moral basises", as opposed to the total chaos going on in West at moment. Speech could also mention the benefits of dictatorships in keeping law and order, and how you throw mad people and rioters in jail. And borders in control. That she is implicitly praising the Los Angeles riots means she is on side of rioters and lunatics. The "fresh air" is used as a political fragrance here.

If she was coached, she was done a disservice. If she spoke from her heart, she is naive.

Either way, when she returns her life will not be pleasant. She is of the opinion she has learned to how to think but I fear her speech disproves that. Her words play well in the liberal US university environment but will be seen as proof of the danger a foreign education can have for Chinese society.

Ignore my last post.

Does sound a bit like ass-kissing - Kunming air isn't that bad, though I wish it were still as good as it used to be.

I do agree that one of the better things about polities that call themselves democratic is that such systems virtually require a certain amount of freedom of information and expression, even though both are usually distorted by economic interests (especially in media of all types) in one way or another, and encourage the false idea that 'the people' are really in charge - yet the freedom I've mentioned does provide certain opportunities for advancing towards that goal. The worst thing about it, however, is that, under the distortions mentioned, so many people seem to believe that the goal has already been more or less achieved, and so they go drawing heavy black lines between 2 imaginary categories of actual societies - the 'free' and the 'unfree', and tend not to see the very real differences in actual 'freedom' enjoyed by people of different socio-economic classes everywhere..
Propaganda works in many forms.

Depending on were she lived, when she left would have been around the

peak of kunming tearing down older buildings and in some areas the dust was very intense. Would have been around time i came to kunming and remember cleaning my house and coming back hours later to a thick layer of red dust everywhere. Also remember around that time having to stay inside somedays because i was having a tightness in my chest and difficulty breathing.

For speeches of such nature you'll find plenty freedom of speech. She wouldn't have gotten away with any praise of the communist party. This girl is so naive. Real freedom of speech in America is disappearing fast whilst it grows in China.