I believe now that the shooting by the border guard was true after I confirmed the news from different sources. I think that China should give more religion freedom although I am an atheist. There are about 50 ethnic minorities in China. Tibet and Uygur areas are the troubled areas because some of these two ethnic minorities are seeking independence. Generally, most of Han Chinese do not know much about Tibetan and Uygur because they live in remote provinces. Generally, Han Chinese do not hate Tibetan and Uygur and Han Chinese just feel that Tibetan and Uygur culture are exotic and interesting. However, most Chinese oppose the independence of Tibet and East Turkistan.
There are significant number of foreigners living Beijing and several other big cities. Generally, most foreigners in China are tourists and businessmen. Foreigners in China generally have good education and have high level jobs. So foreigners are generally well respected in China. In smaller cities, Chinese have some curiosity about foreigners with different facial looking because they have rarely seen foreigners. Unlike Japanese, Chinese certainly do not have the smugness. China had one century of humiliation by military defeat and foreign occupation and poor living standard for long time. In fact, many Chinese still have inferiority sense although Chinese have regained some confidence in recent years. Most Chinese have never been to foreign counties and have little knowledge about foreign countries. Most Chinese believe that foreign countries are much better developed. That is why some first-time Chinese visitors to the US get a little bit surprised and find out that America was much better developed in their imagination than in the reality. I think that you should feel comfortable when you visit China if you do not raise banner supporting Falun Gong or Tibet independence.
