90%+ is both the middle and lower income classes. That’s more than 1.2 billion.

> 600 million is not "90 percent"

600 million are people making 1000yuan or less a month.

> do you think 2/3 of China are uniquely brain-washable

Yes. Everyone is brain-washable.

> ..that they're living in really bad conditions yet believe they're good...

No. It’s more complicated than this.

> is it possible... way better than 30 years ago

Yes. Due to Deng’s policy, which Xi has been reverting. My parents have both experienced the cultural revolution. We know how bad it was. My grandfather (who I never met) committed suicide.

I'm with you that Xi represents a threat to the order Deng created, most scarily by exceeding term limits, but I think invoking the cultural revolution is several steps too far at this point.

Xi is more a fusion of traditionalism with nationalism for political convenience. None of that is compatible with banning monasteries, struggle sessions and sending people to the countryside as he personally was.

The biggest threat from Xi, imo with a crystal ball and huge error bars, is a brezhnev-like stasis where he stagnates the country in order to stay on top for multiple decades. Hopefully he isn't allowed to do that.