After the Fall: Being American in the World We've Made

by Ben Rhodes

As Chinese rule entered its second decade, Beijing’s efforts to assert control over Hong Kong began to accelerate in ways that were imperceptible day to day, but transformative over time. “The way that the Chinese government does these things,” Wilson explained, “is really through a whole-of-society approach.” Businesses that relied on the Chinese market were told their employees should not express political views. Mainland Chinese tycoons with ties to the government began to buy up nearly all the major newspapers and television stations and toe a reliably pro–Communist Party line. Independent media were denied a license to operate. Certain kinds of speech began to disappear—not because any one dictate went out, but simply because they began to be regarded as outside the realm of accepted discourse. Life became less free. Even as these changes were taking place, the relative prosperity and the feeling of openness remained. No Berlin Wall went up; no troops were in the streets. “What’s so interesting,” Wilson said, “is that life is basically similar, right?”