More On The Constitution Changes; Liu He The "Super-Regulator"; Minority Region, Minority Report; Class Struggle In Beijing

In the last couple of years before we left Beijing in 2015 I started hearing jokes, in the dark humor cynical Beijingers have mastered, that Xi's vision for China meant that in a few years the only people left in the country would be "poor people and slaves 穷人和奴才". After the announcement of the scrapping of term limits it seems from PRC social media that more people are coming around to that very depressing view. I hope it is all a big overreaction, but hope has never been a great strategy, especially when it comes to the PRC.

The process to get to the term-limit announcement raises several questions. I mentioned some yesterday, but it is also worth asking why the notice of the proposed amendments (（受权发布）中国共产党中央委员会关于修改宪法部分内容的建议) was signed by the Central Committee and dated January 26 (中国共产党中央委员会 2018年1月26日) when the Second Plenum was held January 18-19?

I doubt there will be many “no” votes at the National People's Congress in a few days but we can't totally dismiss that possibility, …