Honestly, you're probably going to have a hard time getting a legitimate answer from someone with experience. Misinformation and disinformation are likely to be tried on both sides but the reality is that it's very difficult to really know.
- Even when China does release statistics, you have to take it with a grin of salt.
- homeless statistics, accounts and even acknowledgement of their existence is hard to trust even in the most democratic societies simply because of the nature of homeless living. Homeless generally tend to avoid official looking people if they can.
- propaganda abounds from every angle when it comes to homeless, propaganda built from within, for within. Propaganda built from within, for export. Propaganda from outside, for themselves. Propaganda from outside, built for us.
- The odds of getting first hand experience from a homeless (or formerly) person in China, on Lenny is unrealistically small. A large portion of Chinese housed don't have internet, let alone the homeless. What I can guarantee you is that it's not like the homeless you see in the west. They're not sitting outside of a Starbucks on a cell phone.