In May 2005, when the corporate world's enthusiasm for China was at its peak, I spent a few days in Beijing in the company of a bunch of top business executives from the U.S. and Europe. The occasion was a conference sponsored by my then employer, Fortune, and as I sat through the speeches and panels and dinners, I was repeatedly struck by the almost puppy-like devotion to the Middle Kingdom voiced by Western CEOs. This can't possibly last, I remember thinking. I had no real idea how it would end, though, just a vague sense that the Chinese mix of economic freedom and political repression might eventually prove combustible.
