remind me what happened to the guy in the photo in Tianenmen Sq, standing in front of the tank
He became a legend. Dissenters in China have that image burnt firmly in their mind regardless of however hard the government tries to erase it.
Sharp's (and Gandhi's) thesis holds in this case - the Chinese government has popular support (probably because people are ready to sacrifice long-term social freedom for short-term economic gains - that's a problem in India as well with different effects, though - but, in the long term, as Keynes said, we're all dead) - and that's primarily because everyone has links to the CCP or the PLA.
Remember, their government has ultimate authority because it has the largest military in the world under its control.
But the members of that military also have family members - whose welfare is paramount to them (except for, maybe a few ideologue nutcases) - if civilian support for the government ever went away, the army would soon follow.
He became a legend. Dissenters in China have that image burnt firmly in their mind regardless of however hard the government tries to erase it.
Sharp's (and Gandhi's) thesis holds in this case - the Chinese government has popular support (probably because people are ready to sacrifice long-term social freedom for short-term economic gains - that's a problem in India as well with different effects, though - but, in the long term, as Keynes said, we're all dead) - and that's primarily because everyone has links to the CCP or the PLA.
Remember, their government has ultimate authority because it has the largest military in the world under its control. But the members of that military also have family members - whose welfare is paramount to them (except for, maybe a few ideologue nutcases) - if civilian support for the government ever went away, the army would soon follow.