THERE'S ONLY ONE SAFE HAVEN:

Traveling here last week after America's partial government shutdown and near-default, I expected to encounter a surge of confidence in China's inevitable, eventual emergence as the world's greatest power. That is not what I found. [...]

[W]hatever people's views of America, what is striking in many cases is their uncertainty and, at times, even pessimism about China's future. [...]

What I'm talking about is a deeper-seated anxiety about navigating the next stages of growth. In interviews and informal conversations organized for me and three other journalists by the Committee of 100, a U.S. nonprofit dedicated to U.S.-China mutual understanding, two themes emerged. "The easy part is over" was one. The second was: the next stages of economic reform will depend on political reform that the Communist Party may not be willing or able to deliver.

One result is that not only China's billionaires but also, increasingly, the new middle class is hedging bets, thinking about obtaining foreign passports and moving money abroad. The mirthless joke is that President Xi Jinping's inchoate slogan of "a Chinese dream" refers to getting your kids into an American university.

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