Replying to [kimtan]:
Thanks kimtan! Can't agree more. Nice to read something like this.
Most of the issues we can read about China in the main stream media are only important to outsiders, like interllectual property,human rights,prisoner labour products,etc. People there have different things in their agenda. People, and sometimes the government, are more concerned about their kids' safety, polution,toxic stuff in their food, corruption of the government and society as a whole,and so on. IP and human rights are far down the list.
These concerns are relavant to our topic, because they will affect the general stability of China.
Back to China's future, I believe the big question mark is how long and how well the communist government can control (or lead, or govern,whatever you like) the market-driven economy.
Market economy basically goes well with democratic system. The current situation is like a clumsy jockey (150kg or more?) riding on a galloping horse. The rider is improving his technics but is not willing to do something about his diet. And he doesn't want to get off, understandably. Even if he wants to give the horse to another rider, the horse must stop first, like what happened in the USSR. And there is no guarantee the new rider would be a better one.
I have no answer for such a big question. And don't forget the external factors, the political geography.
So you see I am pessimist. And fortunately China has proved me wrong in the past quite frequently. So let's ( maybe just let me
![[em1]](http://img.alibaba.com/images/eng/style/icon/emoticons_smile.gif)
) wish China all the best!