Bo represented a fraction in China that abhors the corruption brought forth by free market reforms. Bo did not live like he preached but he is popular in the western core China and many in the military. The military in general became a merit based institution who are taught how the ideal Chinese government should function. Many who retired ended up with a second career in government. Many were shocked by the widespread corruption and abuse by civilian officials towards the people. Some of the riots by local villagers against abusive local gov officials were organized by retired army officers and soldiers. These soldiers and former soldiers as well as many in rural China are sympathetic of Bo position against corruption and desire to go back to the clean and simpler life under the Maoist era. Free markets had made the 1/10th of China richer but the remaining ones without connections and powerful family members in gov are left out of the Chinese economic miracle. Bo was able to tap into this discontent in the rural China and members of the military. I think the rumors of a military coup after Bo was taken down scared the leaders in China who represent the connected class and new business class. IMHO Bo is no reformer. He lives like a prince and has his own business dealings. He is more like a typical third world dictator. If not in power he is a reformer and political bomb thrower against the thieves in power. Once in power he will become the thief. Someone else would come along and play the role of reformer and protest against him. The cycle will simply go on and on.
Bo’s crackdown on corruption (tm) included kidnapping and torturing and killing businessmen and shaking them down. Some may have been corrupt of course and some may not have been. From what I’ve read of Bo, he was no better at all than those he supposedly was taking down.
It certainly will be interesting to see what happens.
Once on the top, though, Bo Xilai could become an emperor with limitless sense of grandeur, his wife,a typical ruthless empress of boundless vanity, and his son would inherit all of those traits. Boxun, quoting its source, reported that Bo started to see himself the 3rd great man in Chinese history after Qinshihuang and Mao Zedong. As you said, another familiar cycle in Chinese history.
Great analysis..!
One third-world dictator is often preferred over a thousand oligarchs. A single man is limited in how many mistresses he needs to support, how many palaces he can live in, and how many Mercedes limos he can be driven around in.