| Governing China is no easy task-
- 1.3 bn people, many clannish and parochial. Chinese tend to place a high emphasis on their regionality- Cantonese, Mandarin etc- while remaining very aware of their 'Chineseness'. Then you have a significant minority that are not Han Chinese- ethnically diverse. Tibetans, uighurs, mongols etc.
- A growing rich/ poor divide.
-A growing city/ Country wealth divide.
- A growing affluent coastal east/ poor inland west wealth divide.
- Decentralisation of power. Contrary to many Western peoples perception, China is not a centralised, monolithic system of political power centred on the Communist party at national level. Regions and provinces have a fair amount of autonomy, even the PLA is a major power base in it's own right.
All things considered, these results are quite a positive endorsement on the job the central government is doing. The fact that it is a Communist, one party country, gradually adopting a market economy, makes it quite unique in modern history- and perhaps an interesting challenge to those of us who believe that nothing but a pluralistic, democratic, free market based system can survive and prosper.
China is changing, for sure, but at it's own pace and in it's own fashion.
__________________
To err is human. To blame someone else is politics. |