The author is a China scholar whose writings I have read since the 1970s. I haven't always agreed with his take on conditions in China, but what I have apprecia

The author is a China scholar whose writings I have read since the 1970s. I haven't always agreed with his take on conditions in China, but what I have appreciated about Orville Schell as a writer about China is that he takes a long-term view informed by deep study of Chinese history and a thorough knowledge of the Chinese language (too rare among writers about China) and culture. Some of the social and political forces he comments about in this thoughtful piece have been right on the surface ready to be noticed by other observers for a long time, but they have been willfully ignored by many people who view China simply as a place to get rich quick.