Thank you Brian for this excellent commentary. It has been said that while the worst effects of an oppressive regime are often felt in the remote areas, it takes the middle class in cities to start a revolution. In my superficial visits to Beijing and Shanghai it often seemed to me that the new wealthy (especially the young ones) were more interested in fashion and night-clubbing than in politics, but your experience obviously informs you differently. I await further developments with interest.

I have just returned from China. Everywhere, high-rise buildings are springing up like mushrooms after rain.

I wondered who was buying these large apartments. Certainly not those who have been pushed from their land.

But I do have faith in the Chinese people. They have survived Emperors and various Mandarins and political dictators for centuries. They are very family oriented which explains much of their longevity.

I have more faith in China's survival than that of the U.S..

The Chinese possess wisdom in spades!

China's problem in my view is that they are keeping wages low to export cheaply, but people cannot save enough to buy the goods they are producing.Building empty cites like Japan built usless infrastructure is folly.If China expands the middle class it can consume more of its own production and then rely less on exports.

I agree with David G.China will surivive better than the West since they have lots of Govt Banks that can create new money for growth and are not consumed by debt.

The glorious advance that China has been making in the past few decades may have been Act Two of the Great Leap Forward.

This may be the only way that China knows how to manage itself, coming from its historical DNA.