And washing it down with liberal tears

EDIT: lol the replies are pure liberal idealism

China faces the same issue as any other authoritarian nation. It's only as good as it's leadership. A benign dictator may well be the most effective form of governance, yet so few dictators are in fact benign. On a long enough timeline, all dictatorships degrade into graft and systemic human rights abuse.

It's taken precisely one nationalistic 'president for life' to strip China of it's emerging civil liberties, turn the nation inward, enormously increase xenophobia and create a prison camp from an entire region (Xinjiang). Where is the freedom of movement, let alone economic success for rural Chinese who cannot freely travel within the country, and need state approval to apply for a passport?

Perhaps China seems so appealing because the United States is so evidently failing as a state. But if there is hope for the future, it should be in systems which decrease power distance, not those that deify glorious leaders.