In addition to changes in vocabulary, other fundamental changes in the relationship between Chinese citizens, the Communist Party and the government since 1989 have also affected human rights in a broad sense. In the daily lives of individual Chinese, the government is less and less intrusive. That leverage was once exercised largely through people's work units, but at least 25 percent of the economy is now in private hands. Now that individuals possess property and savings, Chinese are eager to protect their hard-earned gains. Consumers demand consumer rights, and are suing stores and seeking refunds.
Workers demand labor rights, frequently taking their case to mediation.
Everyone is trying to protect his own economic interests, which some scholars predict will give rise to a demand for political rights among different interest groups. Nonetheless, China has not yet turned irrevocably toward a liberal political approach. It maintains a massive state security apparatus, which monitors the private affairs of anyone it deems a threat to the Communist Party's monopoly on political power. The jails hold more than 2,000 political prisoners, including 150 or so arrested after the Tiananmen Square protests. Among the 200,000 other people in labor camps, at least some are political offenders.