The idea that China will ascend without having to change seems silly to me too. Either the great firewall will come down or the country will stagnate. Economics and sociology doesn't change simply because the government says it does. China is either due for a massive correction or another civil war. People will only take being oppressed for so long and generally they stop taking crap from their government when things are getting better not worse. How things shake out in Hong Kong are going to echo through China.