The west has to wake up and understand that the world is now moving faster than the west expects or accepts.It is easy to go on spreading woolly idealistic conceptual jargon about the right kind of democracy and freedom.At the end of the day are all people happy in the west and USA. Barring Scandinavian,Nordic and Dutch Europe the rest of the region is a mixed bag of discontent and discord.In the US the average quality of life is so varying it intrigues sometimes how there can be such a boast about US being a developed nation.Freedom to talk is not license to only condemn and criticize.Whatever be the form of government the progress China has made is undeniable and visible.An average Chinese like any other average national expresses dismay and concern over policies and this is universal.the poor in US with no participation in the machinery of governing will be as disappointed and annoyed as any Chinese.Only difference is your media makes a business of everything including good and bad news.I will challenge the media to give reports on events of human condition whether local or international without pedaling products and services on the airways.The media should accept the professional responsibility of providing true and accurate reports about events and not use the opportunity to make exposes and start beating the chest.Yes Beijing is growing and it has pains,did not New York suffer this after the great depression.I think people lived more miserable lives then and we only have pictures of their past.So please learn to admire what is good after hard work and effort and don't go on playing the lone man blocking the tank card.It is history and much has changed in sociology since then.

People asked me, "What's China like?" when I returned from my trip in the Spring. "Pollution and prosperity," was my answer.

People dismiss China as the makers of crappy happy-meal toys, but there is a culture of precision waiting to break through, a precision that surpasses anything I've seen from the Germans or Japanese, and I'm reminded of how Honda's and Toyota's went from being cheap, junky cars, to the standard for quality and reliability. I see the same potential in China.

The opening ceremonies were precision on a massive scale. This is a culture where patience, precision, self sacrifice, and responsibility are core. Yes, China has plenty of problems, but I question if my own America could have pulled off that opening ceremony. I wonder who will be next to the Moon, and beyond. Will Ford and GM turn around, or will there be a new global competitor, with the will to rise to the top, whatever it takes?

OK, I will learn to appreciate and praise China's successes and to turn a blind eye to its barbaric violence against its own people, its constant struggle to make life less free inside and outside of its borders, and its relentless championing of lies and smiling propaganda over inquiry and truth. Thank you for the civics lesson.

What often goes unmentioned in this type of discussion is that the development of China (and the country it is most often compred to, India) is a two way street. China has depended on globalization and the West, particularly the US, in order to drive its progress forward. At the same time, trade with China has continued to increase US productivity and improve our standard of living.

China's friends around the world should continue to keep up the pressure on the government to improve the openness and legitimacy of the regime. The fact is that the West is well positioned to do this, because of the co-dependent relationship, and the progress in this regard has been real (the Chinese really do care how the rest of the world views them). So it is wrong to either paint China as a monolithic state or alternatively to assume that China is a lumbering giant, rising up, shaking off the shackles of 'Western Imperialism' and staggering off to a destination independent of the rest of the world. The fact is that China and the West depend upon each other - and that, in itself, is reason to optimistic about China's future.