@Alien: Your perception of free speech in the US is a bit weird, sorta like it comes from a propaganda script. There is only a few things things that are curtained by law.

It seems these days that political correctness is the biggest thing that attenuates speech but being un-PC is not illegal. Even hate speech is protected by the 1st Amendment. PC is now pretty much a left wing tool to limit divergent opinion and attempts to shame disagreement with labels like racist, denier, sexist and various phobias. Should the argument continue then the non-PC person is personally attacked.

In the case of Yang, most Americans would not even blink at her words. The reaction in China is quite different. To me, the issue is not about free speech but one of being naive.

Could be

@Trumpster You have constructed a response and argument to a position I did not state or refer to. My comment above provided a reaction of several of her fellow Chinese students. Other than pointing out the reaction was to defend Kunming's air quality, those comments avoided addressing freedom of speech, I did not comment on the merits of her, or their, words.

I have no issue with her speech nor the responses it generated. People have every right, in this American's thinking, to think and speak as they feel and do it freely. That said, in the context of a Chinese person, getting a liberal education at a US university who would shortly return to China, I find her words to be incredibly naive.

I have no doubt Ms. Yang read that speech to friends and perhaps faculty at UM. That no one suggested to her that those words held consequences strikes me as incredible. Further, the CSSA reaction was entirely predictable. It is my opinion Yang has a complete lack of situational awareness and that is unfortunate.

The Chinese Student and Scholar Association (CSSA) at the University of Maryland, which the Post describes as "loyal to the Communist Party," created a seven-minute video in which Chinese students and alumni respond to Yang's critique. You can view it here. What's striking about the response is how many of the students focus on debunking Yang's comments about the quality of China's air. None of them directly address what was clearly the point of her analogy.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG-s9nenvcw

Oddly enough, China committed to increased education spending about the same time it was renovating it's first aircraft carrier. The second carrier was launched this week.