Mao Zedong famously suggested
in 1957 that 100 flowers should bloom. Ostensibly it was an invitation for intellectuals to air diverse, even critical, opinions about the direction China’s leadership was taking. The campaign lasted six weeks. When it was over, many of those who had taken the Chairman at his word were marched off to labour camps.
The problem China’s leadership faces today is that there are no longer 100 flowers to worry about. There are 500m horticultural specimens thrusting into the light – and not a few of them have thorns. That is roughly the number of internet users in China today. While most of them are content to download music and chat innocuously to their friends, a significant minority use the internet to criticise the government and voice grievances.