Although modernisation in China resulted in dramatic social changes, huge geographical and social polarisation and increasing uncertainty of subsistence for many, it still can be seen as a success – the regime is stable. One of the determining factors for this is that changes increased the average life standard regardless to tensions. Another important reason is that dissatisfied people mainly attribute the responsibility for problems to local elites while the trust in the benevolence and competence of the central authority is mostly not broken.

"In China, one of our main problems is that there is no connection between intellectuals and the object of their worry – the people. This is partly due to the negative effect of the ‘Cultural Revolution' when same conditions were forced to both intellectuals and blue collar workers, which induced conflicts between the two social groups. In China, intellectuals either withdraw to their ivory towers, where they make research on scientific topics or become consultants of multinational companies, public organisations or maybe the World Bank". The author gives a picture in his essay on the situation, strategy and opportunities of Chinese intellectuals, especially the ones with critical attitude.

According to the author, the most important problem in China is the problem of agriculture – the growing excess of agricultural labour force and the shortage of resources. Chinese authorities have an alternative, he thinks, either realising a kind of Chinese ‘New Deal' directing the huge excess labour force produced in agriculture to infrastructure projects or approving the establishment of a well functioning agriculture sector based on small-scale property and rural communities.

The study gives detailed data on questions of demography, labour migration and unemployment in China. "What concerns market economy and privatisation, the present tendency is in fact the establishing of a competitive economic structure, and making optimal resource allocation by market forces. But … how can hundreds of millions of rural inhabitants integrate to the market? How can they become potential competitors? If it is a ‘rule of nature' that stronger ones inevitably exclude all losers from competition then it is very likely that those losers will come from rural areas." .

The economic crisis about 2000 has not left China intact – its exports decreased relevantly both in volume and value. Chinese authorities opted for stimulating domestic demand to counterweight the unfavourable developments, which required establishing consumer mentality for Chinese people. "It became the first time in the history of China that the idea of consumption received full moral support. Consumer behaviour developed into national ideology." On the other hand, Chinese are increasingly realising that the gap between the poor fighting for daily survival and the rich consuming luxury goods is getting wider in their society still called ‘socialism'.