They're on the upswing until the bubble pops, anyway. They've got some demographic issues coming down the pike at them, as well.
I hope things don't deteriorate into massive bloodshed and revolt when the music stops and the economy backslides, but that's what has tended to happen in the past, and Chinese history is more cyclical than most...
And they're very proactive in handling their issues. I do agree with you that history moves into cycles - some of the most most powerful entities that were at least in part democracies (athens, poland, etc..) were bested by absolutist regimes , which afterwards were overcome by democracies themselves.
Top-down approach doesn't always work, but did wonders for them for the past 30 years. Meanwhile members of the British working class have voted for Brexit to protect their interests (good for them), and US might follow soon with Trump. How confident were they in things getting better compared with the Chinese?
I hope things don't deteriorate into massive bloodshed and revolt when the music stops and the economy backslides, but that's what has tended to happen in the past, and Chinese history is more cyclical than most...