As Tiananmen Square proved, the current leadership has its own pride and survival as its primary concerns. Yet Tiananmen Square was a focused, isolated event, led only by one class of society. There is a difference between quelling a group of protesting students in one location, and controlling a growing class of millions of owners spread throughout the country. People tend to fight harder for something tangible that they own and have for something intangible that they want. The writing on the Great Wall is clear.
China now operates as a capitalist-oriented economy inside a totalitarian Communist shell.
There is no mechanism for succession of power and therefore the protection of power will remain a priority. Yet the process is occurring and in that knowledge lies the hope and opportunity for democratic reform.