[hga]

But this sort of "stability" without massively greater levels of repression† is only metastable, it sets the rulers up for things like preference cascades, such as the one that sparked the "Arab Spring". The PRC's nomenklatura ought to be worried about this recent example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceau%C8%99escu%27s_final_speec... 4 days later he and his wife were summarily executed (and large numbers of public/publicized executions remain a tool of control for the PRC's nomenklatura).

†In the context of the PRC, say a return to ration coupons being required to buy food, this allowed your local block or village committee to trivially starve you to death if you get on their wrong side. My 1988 roommates, straight from the PRC to the US for grad school, told me the development of an open market for food was the single greatest change on the ground, getting on the committee's wrong side "only" increased your cost of food.

[longcheng]

please don't educate me on China. I was born there and much older than your 1988 roommates. China is not perfect, but it's way better than what western media depicts. On the other hand, you have to be political correct in every country, even in US ...

[jryle80]

Care to show how western media depicts China? Do you want to bet that for every negative article you cite, I can find a positive one?

I was in China last week. Major Western news sources such as NYT, WSJ, Bloomberg, BBC are all blocked as far as I can tell. So Chinese audience is deprived of major alternative sources, political correct or not.

Also, not sure how your age is relevant?