It's all relative

Previously I commented on how the Chinese see (and are led to see) hope for the future, particularly compared to their rather miserable recent past, as a reason why there is no real threat for social stability in China compared to what has been happening in the Middle East. Now, despite the hundreds of thousands of minor protest a year, and a paranoid government that takes rather extreme preventative measures to maintain social stability, this still holds true.

If there were a protest, it would likely focus on a short-term problem which could either be solved, promised to be solved, or ignored. It is unlikely to turn into a wider movement against the government itself - and in the issue of corruption, the government continues to happily get rid of the guilty, or create fall guys if necessary, and make sure the public know the government is doing its utmost at all times. In general, then, there is not so much to fear.

However, when one considers the issue of relativity (and I am not talking about Einstein's theory here), then it's possible to reconsider this. Because ultimately human nature is selfish, and yes, we like to think we have hope and our lives will get better, but if we see other people's lives getting better faster than ours, without considering that they deserve that, then we might think that the hope we see is not enough. That we deserve more, and that someone else deserves less. There is of course the perception and reality of endemic corruption that is mostly small-scale but which still allows society to function (and maybe even more efficiently than if there was no corruption).

Recently an internal government report was mistakenly released online that revealed that:
"more than 10,000 corrupt Chinese officials collectively spirited £80 billion out of the country in a 15-year spree of embezzlement, bribes and defections" and "The research, with revelations of corruption that are breathtaking even by Chinese standards, estimates that between 16,000 and 18,000 officials may have fled the country with monumental hoards of ill-gotten money between the mid-1990s and 2008".
That is pretty incredible. Clearly the government is aware of the problem of corruption and is sort of dealing with it, slowly... just as rural incomes are slowly increasing. But as rural incomes increase, urban incomes are increasing faster and the gap continues to grow. Meanwhile more and more Chinese are flaunting their wealth. So far there has been minimal crime in China, and limited attention in the media that might make regular people feel like they are owed better. But it could change and if there is not more progress soon on ensuring that the people think that those who are successful deserve it then it just might change.