Overall there may be less censorship in America than in China, but censorship and self-censorship are not only from political pressure, but also pressures from other places in a society.
Yiyun LiSome people in China don't look at freedom of speech as an abstract ideal, but more as a means to an end.
Yiyun LiThe decaying that had dragged on for too long had only turned tragedy into nuisance; death, when it strikes, better completes its annihilating act on the first try.
Yiyun Li