The Last Frontier

We are sitting in a Starbucks coffee shop in the toniest neighborhood in Shanghai, around the corner from the Louis Vuitton store, and Wang Ling is getting steamed up over being evicted from her home. "They're liars," she says, pulling out official documents. "They're not going according to government regulations!" The Wangs got caught up in the dealings of a shady property tycoon who is serving three years in jail for stock manipulation--but not before they and thousands of others were tossed out of their homes to make way for the tycoon's now deferred project. They allege the developer got the property unfairly because of his cozy relationship with state officials. Wang has traveled to Beijing several times--so far with no success--to petition for help from the government. "We are fighting for our rights," she says.

To anyone who has followed China, it's an incredible scene. Not long ago, it would have been unimaginable for Wang to so openly criticize the government or to arm herself with the law--and all while sipping a cappuccino. True, Wang hasn't found justice yet. But compared with the repression of the past, when complainers went to jail and the Communist Party controlled every aspect of life, China can be exhilaratingly free. The Chinese can do virtually anything today, from finding a job to singing karaoke in sparkling brothels to organizing to protect the environment. If you stood on a street corner and cursed the leaders, passersby might think you were nuts, but you might not even be arrested.

As long as you were alone. The government can still be brutal--particularly with anyone who tries to organize politically. Remember Falun Gong? After 10,000 practitioners of the meditation philosophy showed up outside Beijing's leadership compound in 1999 to protest discrimination, the government launched an effort to wipe out the religion, arresting and, according to believers, beating thousands of members. In China's Northwest, the government has jailed ethnic Uighurs who complained about Han Chinese repression of Islamic culture. The government also controls the media (a Chinese assistant in the New York Times's Beijing bureau was detained in September for allegedly leaking state secrets), and it blocks websites it doesn't like: authorities shut down Everything Is a Mess, a lively political site.

Should China be praised for its progress on human rights or criticized for its continued failings? Probably both. According to human-rights monitor John Kamm, some 3,000 people are sentenced for nonviolent political and religious offenses every year. And yet, China's people have gained room to maneuver, especially in pursuit of their livelihood. That has set off shock waves--huge income disparities and corruption--that could threaten party control. By official accounts, there were 58,000 protests in 2003, as workers, peasants and even stock-market investors fought everything from corruption to overtaxation. China can't stop the outbursts, but it won't let anyone use those grievances to challenge party rule.

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