Cathy, the "fake happiness" you see is what is called "Nationalism". It is something to be feared. When a gov't beats the drums of Nationalism, it is because it is trying to hide something and make people think everything is wonderful. It is a tool of fascism! Hitler beat the drums of Nationalism and we got the Nazis Bush beat the drums of Nationalism after 9/11 and we got four wars, the war against terrorism, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq and the war against Privacy. So yes, Cathy there is a reason for making believe everything is going great. And that is that things are NOT going great, and in fact if the Chinese ppl knew how bad everything really is, you would demand regime change. That is what they fear, and that is why they are beating the drums loudly!
skip , if China will become a democracy now (as many naive and uneducated Westerners wish) , the Chinese would vote for the most Nationalist aggressive party available. We will have another Putin . This is not good for China and not good for the world. The only way democracy will be effective in China is though a slow change , the kind that the "communist" party is carrying in China now. If democracy and stability is what you wish for then you should support the ciurrent regime, if however you wish for Russian style mob rule the go ahead a nd support a revolution.
dalai is also on the cia payroll, and we all know the cia is an organisation of peace, and never advocates terrorism
i suppose the 5 million or so native americans who had their homes demolished by european settlers werent too happy about that. come to think of it, neither were the australia aborigines, maoris
one thing youre forgeting is that the chinese pollution comes from factories that are producing goods for western countries. if youre so concerned about pollution, stop wasteful consumption. if youre so concerned about human rights abuses, why not have a look at what americans are doing in iraq. 1 million dead iraqis and counting. 4 million refugees.