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.