Will China Democratize? A “Gray” Transformation

China is heading toward a tipping point, with two likely scenarios for how a political opening will come about. Most Chinese intellectuals think that only gradualism—“slow and steady,” step-by-step reform—can…

China is gradually changing. In the coming years, the pursuit of individual dignity and human rights will increasingly come to the fore.

Xi reads Tiananmen as a cautionary tale, and he has sought to centralize power and reverse years of ideological atrophy. By controlling the past, he is trying to determine how…