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Every dynasty in China fell because of revolt from the rural area, not the middle class/city wealthy. China’s main problem is the rich who are connected to powerful party officials and family. Most of the corrupt officials and CEO’s in China are children of party officials. Farmers are very angry as precious farmland are takened to build MacMansions and golf courses and compensations are 1/3 of what was promised. Any farmer that complains about the abuse is arrested and charged with sedition or rebellion. Local officials cannot be touched or charged because they have powerful relatives or connections. The only institution in China untouched by corruption is the military. Every year ten of thousands of Chinese soldiers retire, who were raised in a professional merit culture (promotion based on achievement, and less on connection). These men are givened government jobs after they retire from the military and many are apalled at the corruption and abuse of the farmers and poor in China. A number of the armed riots in China have been lead and organized by former Chinese soldiers. Failure of China’s central government will make these revolts more frequent and widespread. China will have revolution in the 21st Century and it will be lead by her military.

Every year ten of thousands of Chinese soldiers retire, who were raised in a professional merit culture (promotion based on achievement, and less on connection). These men are givened government jobs after they retire from the military and many are apalled at the corruption and abuse of the farmers and poor in China. A number of the armed riots in China have been lead and organized by former Chinese soldiers. Failure of China’s central government will make these revolts more frequent and widespread. China will have revolution in the 21st Century and it will be lead by her military.

The gentry have always played a big part in Chinese revolts, since they've been necessary to provide organizational and logistical expertise to get the rebels trained up and supplied and to get members of the existing officialdom to join the rebels. The real question is whether this government will offend enough segments of the population to provoke a revolution. What I find interesting are the occasional incidents involving thousands of rioters who attack local party offices or police stations. It just boggles the mind that grievances can get so heated there that they override the mob's sense of self-preservation. It's one thing to hear of this kind of thing in India, whose elected government is a little more careful about civilian casualties and where ethnic and caste grievances play no small part in rioting, and quite another to hear about it in mostly ethnically homogeneous China, a country that uses tanks to crush student demonstrations.