| Numerous commentators have puzzled about the resilience of China’s One Party State (OPS) and the fact that China’s millennial, autocratic political heritage remains intact. China’s economy has grown remarkably rapidly and almost continuously for over two decades. As a result, wealth — and hence a private property owning, “middle class” — have both grown at prodigious rates, in the midst of continuing, massive, comparative and absolute poverty. Most reports indicate that corruption at all levels of society likely has grown at an even more rapid rate. This particular mix of conditions, argue many commentators, should be driving the OPS towards some form of political reform — political pluralism — by now. |