I'm not sure how symbolic it is, it's not like the US is going to arrest a Harvard student who is also the daughter of the Chinese dictator for political reasons.
"The report states that Xi Mingzhi was unsatisfied with her life in China after living for several years as a student in the United States."
I dunno what's symbolic about that exactly...
If you look at it from the perspective of a collectivist culture, which China is, this is indeed a very big deal. The president's own daughter jetting off to the USA whilst the party has been ramping up its anti-western rhetoric has major political ramifications. However, I highly doubt this news will reach the majority of people in China.
What news does reach "the majority of people in China"?
The children of senior officials routinely study overseas, it's painfully mundane.
As for China "ramping up anti-western rhetoric", I'm truly struggling to see what you mean being in a unique position between the two, would actually say the opposite.
Are you sure about that or is it more a localized viewpoint far removed from statements made by the Chinese government and media arms?
Xi's daughter goes to Harvard is common news. It wasn't particularly scandalous. She majored in English at Zhejiang University, which is a "C9" institution, aka Chinese Ivy League. C9 universities have academic connections to western institutions, including Harvard where she studies English translation. It makes sense to study English translation in an English school.
This is filler news from Taiwan with all the associated agenda and bias. Don't read too much into it.
I rarely agree with comments like this, I default to trusting the mob over self-anointed editors of social media, It's actually against the rules to comment on it. But it's true. This will provide little value to the wider conversations and she's largely an innocent bystander in world events, outside of some fuel for low quality political platitudes.
Wealthy kids get the very best schooling since childhood and often have tons of pressure to succeed. Just because some exploit nepotism does not mean all do, and many often exhibit high academic aptitude with all the required side stuff to make them interesting. Not every world leader's kid goes to Harvard either or is capable of either.
It should also be of no surprise that a wealthy child from a country in the emerging/growth stage with a median income of $12k is going to the most advanced country in the world to study.
The children of leaders getting exposure to western society and academia is also arguably a good thing.
Furthermore, the guidelines explicitly note that these types of articles are off-topic - politics, generally.
I have avoided commenting on this since, as you wrote, it's not kosher, but I have noticed an increase in political articles (unrelated to tech) that make it to the front page. It is worrying to me.
The selection tends to be far more of the classic high-quality HN style and less Reddit-y.
The politically obsessed people already ruined Twitter, which for some reason doesn't let you opt-out of seeing some random hyper-politicized tweet that a person you followed 6yrs ago liked (not even retweeted). It's natural that their "my pet political issues are more important than everything you care about" mentality is expanding onto other platforms when it's been so encouraged elsewhere.
It's irony. The most dangerous part of Cambridge is bicycles. I ride to and from work past BU, Harvard, and MIT everyday - I was imagining a scenario of how screwed I would be if I ran over the leader or whatever's daughter while she was taking a photo on the bike road like so many do.
You'll be in... hot water for biased claims. The school founded in 1636 is 'over' because of what, computers? It's primarily a liberal arts school. What's the basis for this claim?
yeah China is great strong superpower, that's why all their politicians send their families abroad... sadly there are too many brainwashed Chinese not realizing irony of this
China respects certain aspects of the U.S. That's why they steal our patents and knock-off our products. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The best nations copy the best aspects and ideas from other nations.
Kim Jong Un studied in Switzerland and spent most of his youth in the west. It really seems to be peak communism to send your children to study in western countries.
Obviously Harvard is a really good school and learning English is useful, but it also makes me wonder if dictators and their daughters would be even more radical without a western education.
This would have been a closely guarded secret known by only a few people. I wonder if this leak is in response to the situation in Hong Kong. Anyhow, as China's president Xi wouldn't have taken the decision to let her go back to the US lightly. Given how Xi treated his own political opponents and real possibility of mounting opposition to him within the CCP, allowing his daughter to return to the US starts to make sense.
