Twenty Five years after the Tiananmen Square Uprising which was subsequently crushed by the brutal Chinese leadership, not much has changed politically.  Economically, much as changed.  China has become an economic powerhouse.  Her so-called Communist leaders finally comprehending that Communism doesn’t work.  It’s an unmitigated failure driven by men who sought to oppress and cage the human drive to succeed.  Unfortunately what they or the rest of the world don’t seem to understand is that China couldn’t be further from a Communist state as understood from the teachings of Karl Marx and his Communist Manifesto.

Communism is an economic, not a political system.  Just as Capitalism is an economic system.  People often confuse the two.  It’s theoretically possible to have Communism and a Republic, it’s just never happened.  So on the one hand, China has made great strides by rejecting Communism.  On the other it remains a primitive, totalitarian, autocratic state politically, and that must change.

If students in Hong Kong continue their current course, the Chinese military will put an end to it just like the Tiananmen Square uprising.  It’s time for the Chinese power brokers, the billionaires, men like Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba and all who are driving economic prosperity to demand change.  That may be a dream, certainly in the near term but eventually, when the old guard dies off, and the Chinese are enjoying the fruits of their labor, change may actually be realized.  This current uprising may be the beginning of the end for the old guard.  And if not this one, perhaps the next.  But change is inevitable.  Economic prosperity on a wide scale, not just at the top, goes hand in hand with freedom.  Or more directly, freedom drives economic prosperity.  The Chinese Government will not be able to oppress her people indefinitely, without threatening the very heart of China’s economic expansion.