I wouldn't put it that way. Think of the subsistence farmer struggling to make ends meet after the social safety net got taken away. Or the factory worker who

I wouldn't put it that way. Think of the subsistence farmer struggling to make ends meet after the social safety net got taken away. Or the factory worker whose newborn child has birth defects likely induced by hazardous pollution in the work environment. These people fall well within the category of "work pretty hard" but they are also the most likely advocates of reform. I think the article got it right -- the "conservatives" simply feel they have more to lose. China's urban baby-boomer generation grew up during the Cultural Revolution in the '60s and '70s, where it was effectively mob rule by the Red Guards at a local level and many were sent to the countryside for re-education. They've seen what misguided "reform" can do and are not clamoring for it to happen again.