As long as they continue down the righteous path under the rules of the sickle and the hammer, ie communism, there will be no change. The reason why the USSR fell was that the people got tired with dealing with the hardliners who use the idealogy of Stalin and Mao. It's the people that need to make the change. You have a large population in China if the population over throws the regime then they will have democracy in that country. It might take 1000 years to realize something is wrong. Castro even admitted it recently that the economic situation in Cuba was not working under the communist rule, so something has to give. US and the European Union and the UN need to mellow out of China's business.

I wonder wether VenezuelanRedneck has ever visited China long enough (or has ever visited China at all) and met enough of the Chinese people to really understand how the Communist Party power structure operates from the local level up to the Central Committee? I have my own dissatisfactions with the way Congress and our government representatives operate, but the comparison of the US Congress to the Communist Party in China is shows a real lack of knowledge of or appreciation for the US political system. While greed, avarice, thirst for power, and acting in naked self-interest are common character flaws that exist to all human beings everywhere to some degree, there is little similarity between the ways in which the US Congress and congressmen wield power and the ways that is accomplished by the Communist Party hierarchy. Congressmen at least have to worry about getting enough votes from the citizenry across all social levels in order to be re-elected every 2 years or 6 years. They or their supporters may try to influence voting by misuse of campaign funds, but at least they have to consider whether or not the voters can and will be influenced. The Communist hierarchy has no such concerns, since voting by ordinary Chinese citizens is virtually non-existent.

The petitioners described in the article are taking a huge risk just by being there. First, in order to get to Beijing, they probably had to sneak away from their homes and avoid efforts by the local officials to "retrieve" and detain them before they arrive in Beijing. When they try to present their petitions, it is likely that they will be arrested and shipped back to their home areas where the often corrupt local officials they are petitioning about can have them, their families, and friends monitored by police; be placed under virtual house arrest; be thrown in local jails indefinitely on administrative detention; be beaten by local thugs retained by officials; and even possibly die (as has been documented in the past by various media that try to report the reality of life in China). It is extremely unlikely that anyone in the US Congress or government agencies could get away with such actions.

Congress or the US government doing things that we, as citizens, don't agree with is not even remotely similar to losing our freedoms or living in a dictatorship.

China is in transition. You can't compare it to the US as they are currently drawing a massive influx of investments and it is just too new for them to handle currently. You think you suffer in the US but imagine uber wealthy and poverty with no middle class. That is the current China.

Much of Beijing has every luxury store that New York has so as you stand in front of Gucchi men on old bicycles loaded with building materials peddle past you. Poverty and wealth abounds and they are currently trying to work on trickle down due to their success in free trade. They have issues more related to overnight success than what others may imagine.

This is the new China I witnessed this year:

http://community.webshots.com/user/norcal2

i disagree there are about 300million-400million chinese middle class currently live fairly well in china. still the gap between rich and poor are big. there are still alot peasant who live on country side that are extremely poor. most chinese don't worry about democracy or human right issues, the ONLY issues they worry right now are corruption, inflation and housing price.

soo2 I am basing that gap on the Gini coefficient numbers of China which were at an alarming .4 and now stand at .47. In fact we were there in August when the Chinese Government addressed new measures to try and address the gap.

Stop blaming the Chinese people for the foibles of government. How about protesting to companies rather than taking your wrath out on the people? Like, for instance, Hasbro Toy Company. They make all the toys that the American kids want. Petition our government to raise the tariffs on these toys. Take your little notebook and walk through the toy department then tell the government and the company how you feel about importing goods from a civil right abuser. Let's see how American companies respond. I will bet they respond with their CEO's bottom line. He's the guy who likes the tarnished money!

They make all the toys that the American kids want.

Fixed!

They make all the lead poisoning that the American kids want.

I already have boycotted China and all it's products. I did that years ago after the Tiananmen Square incident. A government that behaves like that to it's own people doesn't deserve any kind of support. Our government needs to put their foot down no matter how much we owe the Chinese.

Much of the commodities that are U.S. made, most of the parts those commodities are manufactured from wer still outsourced overseas.

Now as for tarrifs. Right now the United States has placed a duty on aluminum products from China, increasing those costs 400% and forcing U.S. local aluminum vendors to outsource to other countries. Guess where they are turning too? They are turning to Mexico.

The news about lead based paint on toys, is becoming OBSOLETE NEWS now. From the time China first started making their way into the Global market, they have taken great measures in bringing the quality of their products up to the standards required by the rest of the world. Japan was in that same boat after WWII and they did what was necessary to improve the quality of their products so much to the point that U.S. companies couldn't compete, Ford and General Motors and Chrysler are nearly bankrupt because of the superior quality of Japanese cars to U.S. manufactured automobiles. The auto manufacturers sell Japanese made automobiles and put their own logo on them just to maintain a market.

Every since Hong Kong was reclaimed by China and the latitude the Chinese people have been given to access the internet world wide, these changes are becoming more apparent.

I don't think you have been to China. Human rights, can you explain what is the Human rights? The human rights you are thinking is Western Countries' human rights. The way of Human Rights you are thinking won't work in China, as same for the case of Chopsticks and Knife and Fork, we thought chopsticks are easier to use than knife and fork, but you may think the knife and fork is better, right? Some of people complainted that a lot of American's job moved to China, did you ever think that how much huge value for the American's companies got from China. For example, the cost of a normal worker of a manufacture, his normal pay only $250 a month or even lower than this, such products price will doubled when they exported to America. I have been working in American companies for 13 years, if like you said " Human Right", why the same level position for a Chinese employees and American employees are so different with the same work scope. for example, an American co-worker's salary is 5-8 time than my salary with the same job title and position. Do you think it's fair. don't you think this is not Human rights? Don't be silly....

Western human rights won't work in China?? Let's stop perpetuating the myth of 'Asian Values'. It should be pretty clear by now that it was just invented to try to legitimize totalitarian governments in Asia. People are people no matter where they live and they all deserve the chance to live their lives the way they want to. The Chinese people are right to be mad at their government.

Western human rights and culture suit westerners, Asian values and human rights has to suit Asians. East is east and West is west. Islam suit the Arabs, Buddhism suit Asians, Hinduism suit the Hindus, Christianity suit the westerners. To each his own. Africans eat worms and insects, Asians eat offals and dogs, Japanese eat whales and dolphins, Islamists and Jews don't eat pork, American love their ham, Indians won't touch any beef.

Human rights mean different things to different peoples. Well fed and wealthy westerners take the basic life necessities for granted, the average Asian and African life is a daily struggle to stay alive with enough food in his stomach. Westerners can have the luxury to think about abstract ideals like human rights, the poor folks in other countries will be happy if they have a full stomach and basic necessities fulfilled.

Westerners have more than ten times the income of other countries. That is not right. Where is the human rights? Poor people from other countries should have the right to migrate to the western countries to live and work there at their higher wage levels. This is the basic universal human right. Poor countries have over populated and polluted cities, they should have the right to migrate to under-populated western countries to enjoy the better environment. That is the basic human rights that poor people want. There should be a world without borders, people should have the human rights to settle wherever they want with no restrictions of immigration at all. We are all humans, all humans should be treated equal. Westerners should not be better off than Chinese, Indians, Africans. We should all have the same rights and good fortunes as the westerners. We are one people, the same Homo Sapients, one World, we all should have the same human rights as the westerners.

Wow. Ok, first of all I find it very ironic that you would use the concept of freedom of religion to help support your argument against universal human rights. CHOOSING a religion is one thing, being born in a country with a totalitarian government is another. Secondly, the comparison between rights and food preference is laughable. As if having Chinese ancestry implies that you must like Chinese food. Anywhere people have the freedom to CHOOSE, you'll find diverse food choices (eg Hong Kong). We're not as different as you thing. The dog and the cat may prefer different foods but they both feel pain when they're hungry. At the end of the day they're fundamentally the same. It's true that differences exist, but these differences are so small that they are irrelevant. Not only does the need for freedom exist among all nationalities, it transcends the human race. Most animals detest captivity. Are the Chinese more docile than zoo animals? I refuse to believe it. We are more similar than you're admitting.

You're point about human rights being a luxury for the rich is totally wrong. The fundamental need for human rights is even more dire for the poor because these people don't have the power and wealth to defend their rights. Indeed, the 'western' notion of human rights is at least partially a result of the abuses suffered by the poor masses of Europe. I put western in quotes because there is a pretty good indication that historical writings about the need for human rights can be found in eastern cultures as well.

Your third paragraph about the right of the poor to take wealth by force is also totally silly. Ownership rights form one of the cornerstones of modern economic theory. Look no further than Africa for a case study in the ill effects of poor ownership rights. If you pollute the land that belongs to you, don't expect to be able to just move move someone else's side of the world where the grass is greener. Also, China could be every bit as wealthy as the west (maybe more wealthy) if it had a decent government. Look at Japan, it was decimated by the US on a level China has never seen, yet their per capita income today puts China to shame. Look a Hong Kong for an example that is closer to home. The western countries aren't just randomly wealthy, they're wealthy because their people are free.

I see police in Britain beating and violence against student protests in London. I see American police beating and violence against Blacks and protesters in USA. Same for European countries, their police beat up and use violence against peaceful protesters. Minorities in western countries are subject to discrimination and racism. Better solve your own problems first before you point fingers at others. More minorities end up in jails than whites.

Lol.

*facepalm*

You think your country is almost gone. Give me a break. Did you ever see how many foreigners working in China, at Beijing's street, if you see 10 people, at least 1-2 are foreigners. As our Chinese, we would request these foreigners go back to their countries, so we can get our China back. Boycott any countries product will not help America's current economy, since in America, there is no as many cheap labors as China has, which can do a " Made in USA". If the labor cost can be as low as China, I don't think those American's capitalists were so stupid to travel far away to manufacture the product in a far away country. Wake up....

Yes Peter, the U.S. is really not much better, it's only perceived that we are better. People here in the U.S. don't want to see the problems in our own country. They want to be imperialistic and think we are better than everyone else in the world.

When in Rome do as the Romans do. When in China respect their values, culture, obey their laws, do as they do, eat as they eat. You never get into trouble. When Chinese open new business in Nevada, they will do as Nevadans do. They will treat Americans the same way as Americans treat their own people, except that they will not be discriminated by Americans, since now they are the boss. On top of that they get to enjoy your human rights, or rather your civil rights as you Americans call it in America. In other countries Americans call it Human Rights, when it comes to America, you have double standards, and you don't call it Human Rights, you rather call it Civil Rights. I guess it sounds better when America violated Human Rights, you violates Civil Rights, not Human Rights.