Bullets Over Beijing: 20 Years After Tiananmen Square

New York Times:

It was exactly 20 years ago that I stood on the northwest corner of Tiananmen Square and watched "People's China" open fire on the people.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[Tyler-Durden]

great article. key here though, is this:
"So, 20 years later, what happened to that bold yearning for democracy? Why is China still frozen politically — the regime controls the press more tightly today than it did for much of the 1980s — even as China has transformed economically? Why are there so few protests today?

One answer is that most energy has been diverted to making money, partly because it’s a safer outlet. One of my Chinese friends explains that if he were to protest loudly, he might be arrested; if he were to protest quietly, it would be a waste of time. “I may as well just spend the time watching a pirated DVD,” he said.

Another answer is that many of those rickshaw drivers and bus drivers and others in 1989 were demanding not precisely a parliamentary democracy, but a better life — and they got it. The Communist Party has done an extraordinarily good job of managing China’s economy and of elevating economically the same people it oppresses politically.

the chinese govt has learned that MATERIALISM BREEDS COMPLACENCY.
they will grow their population to be the new global consumer market, as the US once was. US corporations will cater to their needs with glee. the US population will be left to wither and die in its own ignorance, clamoring about abortion clinics and who's on American Idol.