China Rising: The Last Frontier

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A key test of China's tolerance is religion. From Buddhism to Christianity, religion is flourishing, as people once immersed in Mao's revolution search for something to believe in. The party tries to steer Christians into officially sanctioned churches (the legal Catholic Church doesn't accept the Vatican's full authority). But millions instead worship in underground "household" churches that don't accept party constraints. I recently visited one in Beijing. A few dozen young office workers crowded into an apartment to pray and sing hymns at the top of their lungs. The preacher, intoning with the energy of a Billy Graham, talked of how the promise of economic freedom has given way to dashed dreams. "We thought we would be spiritually fulfilled," he said. "Instead, in our society we have lying, we have cheating, we have stealing, we have murder. That shows us Jesus' Second Coming is imminent."

What's missing in China today is a sense of idealism. I remember marching with students in 1989 in the midst of a mass demonstration for democracy and an end to corruption. There was a spirit of hope and possibility, as young and old talked soldiers out of cracking down on the protests. In the end, the hard-liners--and, indirectly, capitalism--won. The Tiananmen Square massacre led to a repression of anything viewed as a threat to the party. Beijing made a tacit deal with its citizens: We will give you the freedom to make money, but politics is off limits.

China rejects Western criticism of its human-rights record, contending that the rights that matter aren't free speech or an unfettered press but the right to be clothed, housed and fed. Beijing even publishes an annual report on human rights in the U.S., highlighting crime, racial discrimination, income disparities and a democracy that is "manipulated by the rich." But even by China's definition of rights, the country's new capitalist society can be cruel: farmers struggle to stay ahead, with living standards for the poorest peasants falling since 2001. Many migrant laborers, desperate for work, live in squalor and uncertainty.

Will a freer economy lead to more freedom? Optimists believe that a growing middle class will push for legal protections--and, eventually, political change. The cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing already have hired an independent pollster to find out what the people think of their governance. Sure, there's a long way to go. Wang, the evicted Shanghai resident, can't even find a lawyer to take up her case. That may be because more than 400 lawyers have been detained since 1997 in connection with defending clients. "This country is far from having rule of law," says Mo Shaoping, China's leading human-rights lawyer.