In another 10 years they will be in leadership roles in every aspect of Chinese society. The Tiananmen generation is not the only force for change. Not even a dictatorship can stop the advance of new ideas about business, politics, and technology that are reshaping the world outside China. Not until you are exposed to the possibility of difference do you begin to realize that you too are different. Thanks to the communications revolution, more and more Chinese are being exposed to those differences.
Dictatorship is in an unwinnable war against technology.
To be sure, there's a role for outside political pressure. That's precisely what Li Lu predicts will unfold. An estimated 100 million peasants are floating around rural areas looking for jobs. That's why the country will change. He expects to be able to return to China one day.