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China’s ‘Haves’ Stir the ‘Have Nots’ to Violence.

Minor street quarrel provokes mass riot. The Communist Party, obsessed with enforcing social stability, has few worse fears. Yet the Wanzhou uprising, which occurred on Oct. 18, is one of nearly a dozen such incidents in the past three months, many touched off by government corruption, police abuse and the inequality of the riches accruing to the powerful and well connected.

“People can see how corrupt the government is while they barely have enough to eat,” said Mr. Yu, reflecting on the uprising that made him an instant proletarian hero – and later forced him into seclusion. “Our society has a short fuse, just waiting for a spark.”

Though it is experiencing one of the most spectacular economic expansions in history, China is having more trouble maintaining social order than at any time since the Tiananmen Square democracy movement in 1989.

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