Public Opinion in Authoritarian States
It feels kind of surreal to read an academic discussion on a subject that I have personally lived through my whole life.  I was born in Taiwan in 1970. I emigrated to US around 1983. Before I came to the US I was thoroughly indoctrinated by KMT propaganda(KMT version of the history). I felt patriotic to the KMT regime and totally believed KMT narrative until the time I started my study in US university where I was able to read books and magazines which talked by history and issues that were banned by KMT.  I was deeply angered and felt betrayed by the KMT government. The emotion that I experienced was a strong motivation for me to seek &quot;Taiwanese identity&quot;. I wanted to point out that CCP(Chinese Communist Party) do have strong control over the Chinese students who studied oversea just like what KMT has done in the past. All major universities with sizable Chinese students have &quot;Chinese Student Association&quot; which keep track of the students on campus. There are Chinese students who got paid by CCP to file regular reports on their fellow students. These are a powerful tool for CCP to control what Chinese students can say or do while they study oversea.