That's interesting:
The unspoken compact that has anchored the relationship between China's government and its people - stay out of politics and we'll help you prosper - is being tested like never before by President Xi Jinping's move to extend his power.
The decision this week to abolish presidential term limits, setting the stage for Xi to rule indefinitely, has engendered widespread unease and jolted a generation that was brought up largely apathetic about politics.
But is it true? The "deal" has always been about Chines Communist Party supremacy in China and not any particular ruler. Why would the Chinese people reject one-man rule by one man when they accepted one-man rule by serial rulers? I know I'm deficient in nuance, but what's the point in drawing the line there?
If the Chinese people are growing uncomfortable with the "deal," it is something that has been building and not something caused by Xi's move to extend his power.
Indeed, there has long been a worry that the Chinese rulers may rely more on aggressive nationalism to justify their rule as communist-imposed discipline and belief by the people wanes in a modernizing China.
It would be kind of funny if consolidating power in the person of Xi to be better able to control China's levers of power over the people actually provokes popular unrest that overwhelms the party levers of power.
Not that unease--even widespread--indicates that chaos is around the corner, of course.
