Humans, not Governments, are supposed to have rights?

This seems to be the take many political systems have on the rights of the individual. In places like China, they've proven to be almost non-existent. Especially with the on-set of the Olympics in Beijing, Chinese citizens found themselves faced with more governmental issues than before.

An article that sheds some insight into how bad things were during the Olympics...

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSPEK5747220080807

Problems with societal life in China did not begin, nor do they end, with the Olympics. Problems have been around since as far back as history books, or I, can recount. Most of the problems are suppression of the people by the government. The go-to course of action seems to be, if it's good for the majority, it'll do for the rest. Taking a look into the film we watched in class, many people have become sick with cancer because of waste deposit in waterways. The company at fault, is hardly being held responsible, and those who have become sick aren't provided proper medical care by the government. This leads to many deaths and even more dislike of the way things are in the country.

Like the story of Neda, the young woman who was killed as a bystander of a protest in Iran, her only hope if she had one day to live would have been to leave the country; many Chinese want to leave their country as well.

The best part of China's government...they'll happily dictate how many children you can have. Just what we need.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-04/13/content_322740.htm

Essentially the amendment to the previous law is saying that everyone and every family needs to be putting in their part, with regards to working, to making China better or more prosperous. There will be no free-living off of the government---which is exactly what we need in the United States, but perhaps not to this extent.

One last bit on society in China and in many other countries, the way women are treated/not respected in society. Arranged marriages are vary prominent and it not only disgraces the person who refuses to be in an arranged marriage, but the entire family. The best example of a country that primarily has arranged marriages is India, but there are quite a lot out there. Arranged marriages, while keeping the family's name in society, does little for those who simply feel forced into it. So is it worth disgracing your family for your own happiness?