Thomas Lifson at American Thinker has an important item out about growing unrest in China. Huge riots are occurring, not just in the remote, impoverished west, but now in the wealthier coastal cities. At issue is corruption and impunity. And with the rise of mass communications and Internet connectivity, Chinese expectations about governance are rising. A billion people are getting sick of all the corruption and oppression they see around them.

The root of the problem is this: the government will not renounce unworkable communism as its philosophy. It says communism is its system but capitalism is its policy. That contradiction leaves the worst bureaucratic and political features of communism in place (you can’t get rid of anyone via ballot box, for one thing), while the growing private sector watches the horror from an increasingly capitalist framework. This is big news. Thomas explains that China’s repression is not a sign of its government’s strength, but its weakness. Read it here.

Thomas isn’t the only one who’s got his eye on this. Voice of America Beijing bureau chief Luis Ramirez is doing a Pulitzer-prize-worthy job of uncovering the extent and virulence of the unrest. I hear he knows Mandarin and not only can talk to the locals, but has the street smarts and reporter’s motivation to go out to the back boonies and get the deal on China’s simmering, and soon explosive revolution in the making. Read some of his important work here, here, here, here, here (a real good one), and here.

UPDATE: Daily Demarche, the secret-diplomat site, has an excellent China roundup here. I wonder if the VOA guy knows these people. Hat tip: Instapundit.

UPDATE: Drudge has a link to an NYT/IHT item that reports the Chinese are rioting over pollution in the eastern province of Zhejiang. Read it here.

UPDATE: This entry from Glittering Eye about China’s explosive pollution problems is particularly good.

UPDATE: Some mention that the riots I speak of are the anti-Japanese riots that have been in the news. They are not. They are the anti-corruption, anti-impunity riots this blogger, Angry Chinese Blogger also is highlighting. I have been hearing about these riots for six months now, they are like a slow burning fire. But they are real and signal something in the air in China, the scent of smoke. Angry Chinese Blogger explains what it’s all about here.

UPDATE: Simon World, a first-rate Hong Kong-based blog that really ‘gets it’ on China, has some excellent material on ‘China’s Other Riots.’ Don’t miss this one. Read it here.