The American moguls who served as thought leaders on China and gatekeepers to the Chinese market—men like Henry Kissinger, Hank Paulson, Steve Schwartzman, and Mike Bloomberg—really had only one idea to offer: Do what the Chinese want, and you can make money there. U.S. businesses acquiesced to the self-censorship that comes with operating in China. U.S. venture capital helped build a Chinese tech sector that was perfecting methods of surveillance. U.S. popular culture gradually expunged the democratic themes that would make a movie, show, or game less welcome in the Chinese market.
