Stanley Lubman writes for the Wall Street Journal China Real Time blog, December 18, 2013
Although relative freedom has become possible in the growing private sector of the economy, the Party’s version of the rule of law continues to control legal institutions. Meanwhile, public discontent has grown, fed by widening economic inequality, widespread corruption, official arbitrariness, land theft by local governments, looseness of Party discipline, the rise of privileged elites and a persistent lack of protection for private rights.