So has there been a coup in China?

Again like the warning/points system we have here..

Jeez..the parallels are striking..

This is before it happened. Hard to know really.

Okay. Take a page out of Mao's handbook. Take the countryside, isolate the cities, starve them of resources, and the government will crumble due to social unrest. There's a lot of bitterness that could be tapped into.

The vast majority of those goons come from the poorer regions who have suffered the most under CCP control. People tend to ignore that China isn't as ideologically driven as it used to be. The propaganda and indoctrination remains, but it's effectiveness has been seriously tempered by education and access to mass media.

However, most in China don't want rid of the CCP, because they know that would come after the CCP, would likely be much worse. Which is why nothing is likely to change. Apart from a few romantics, most Chinese people are practical enough to realise that the alternatives and the steps involved towards those alternatives would be horrible, and with little reassurance that things would be better.

No idea what "on a hiding to nothing" means. And I didn't counter that point because that point wasn't made in the post I quoted. In any case, in all political systems, the place of the average person to influence their country is extremely limited. Democracy makes big noises about it, but it remains a rather elitist system of governance once the initial one or two decades pass from it's first introduction, and politicians have time to effect change to the original principles.

Sure, it is. A matter of choice. They choose not to establish a guerrilla movement and fight against the established government. Mao opened that door when the traditional rule of governance was overthrown. Just as most choose not to step beyond their basic CCP party membership, and become active cogs within the system seeking to bring about change from within. Just as most, haven't taken the option to enter the other areas of power in China, such as the criminal factions. The choice remains all the same though.

China remains a country with a system for how power and authority is granted. It's different to the western way of society, but there is still a framework allowing people to work within it. At the same time, history has provided examples of how to operate outside it. Those with the appropriate amount of guanxi have the ability to form connections, and move within their environment, but even without the appropriate amount/type of guanxi, there remains other avenues to achieve positions of authority. It's a corrupt, often brutal system, but it's one native to them and carried over from the systems before social revolution even started in China.

People everywhere (both inside and outside of China) "jut get on with life", because few want to make the sacrifices involved to achieve any kind of position of authority or influence.

There's some truth to inheriting the seeds of prosperity that came before him, although it's worth remembering he was part of the overall movement to modernise China's economy before he achieved higher positions of power. However, he's simply a leader and a focus point for attention rather than the architect of the whole system. He's still limited by the various factions within the government system.

As for China's economy sliding, that was always going to happen. It's growth was artifical and most economists agree that a slide downwards would be the best thing overall for the economy, as it would take pressure off the system, and allow it to settle somewhat. People tend to assume a sense of normality for China's rapid growth, but it's a growth that has created many stresses. China sliding towards stagnation would give them time to refocus their attentions away from stimulation, towards re-establishing a stable foundation.

I don't think we're seeing any kind of end of the Chinese powerhouse. They're going to remain economically strong, although not the world leader for growth. They just have to manage (rather than resolve) a lot of problems, such as their manufacturing base, infrastructure issues, government corruption, unemployment, etc.

Oh, there's logic there. The CCP have been worried about the changes in Chinese society, and the influence of foreign concepts within their people. The decline of "morality" and also the decline of traditional thinking. The CCP have always believed that they don't need to be connected to the rest of the world, and that China can operate within a bubble, and this move to re-establish their authority on businesses harks back to that belief of a bubble, The business people have gained too much power, and influence and this is a move to push that power/influence back into the hands of the CCP, decreasing the dilution of their own authority, both in practical terms, but also in the minds of people/society.

It's all about control.

Anyone serious about their investments would know that China never changed from it's past. Oh, on the surface it appeared to have opened up, but it never really did. Everyone knows that doing business in China was dodgy as hell, but the potential profits made such risks less important. Anyone who has spent any significant time in China, could tell you that the iron glove of the CCP has never been withdrawn.. they just encouraged the illusion of it happening. Smoke and mirrors.

It's economic success didn't come about from opening up, and becoming more "free"... because ultimately little really changed from before, except that the special economic zones could step out for a while from the oppression, but they were never truly free. Just another illusion, but illusions can be very successful.

Only by those who had never been to China, or if they had, they never stepped outside the tourist areas. They willingly bought the illusion.. rather than seeing the cold hard practicalities of Chinese society. Which is fair enough, as it takes time to appreciate just how different Chinese culture can be. So much of what happens is never spoken about, and you need to sit back and observe them for extended periods, comparing what you think you know, with what's happening around you. The other problem being that of confirmation bias, in that people brought their expectations with them, and jumped at the chance to confirm what they expected.

Nah. China wasn't going to change that quickly, except in the most superficial of ways.

The exact same as it is now. Oh, in terms of prosperity, there will be a definite decline, but ultimately Chinese society will continue as it always has. The culture reinforces the expectation of bad times being the norm.. It'll be hard for young people, but they'll adapt quick. After all, they understand that they were simply enjoying a temporary period of success as part of the illusion, but that it was always going to end sometime. They've been prepared for that by their families throughout their lifetimes.

(It's worth remembering that for most people nothing really changed. The social systems remained the same. Guanxi was still needed for success. Corruption remained rampant. limitations based along location, and "class" remained, as did the stereotypes about family names or ethnic groups. All that really changed was more disposable income, but the systems remained the same throughout the last forty years. So, China will remain mostly the same regardless of their economy weakening.)