‘Democracy and free speech should be taken for granted. Democracy and freedom are the fresh air that is worth fighting for.’ When the outspoken Chinese graduate Shuping Yang delivered her graduation speech at the University of Maryland in the United States on 21 May 2017 – arguing that in China, ‘only authorities owned the narrative’ and praising the U.S. for ‘the fresh air of free speech’ – she might not have anticipated the extent to which her ‘politically incorrect’ speech would draw such harsh critique from many Chinese students in America and social media users in China. They considered her speech as pandering to America and as ‘insulting China’. One such person commented in fury: ‘Don't let me meet you in the United States; I am afraid I could not stop myself from going up and smacking you in the face.’

Is the reputation of the nation more valuable than freedom of speech? As the BBC's China expert Carrie Gracie commented, Shuping Yang's case ‘highlighted a conflict between a commitment to free speech in Western countries that host large communities of Chinese students and the growing determination of the Chinese government and some of its citizens that free speech should be limited when it comes to talking about China, even beyond Chinese borders’.